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diff --git a/40540-8.txt b/40540-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2c1adc0..0000000 --- a/40540-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,34418 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Opera Book, by Gustav Kobbé - -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 - - -Title: The Complete Opera Book - The Stories of the Operas, together with 400 of the Leading - Airs and Motives in Musical Notation - -Author: Gustav Kobbé - -Release Date: August 19, 2012 [EBook #40540] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE OPERA BOOK *** - - - - -Produced by Charlene Taylor, Linda Cantoni, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -[Transcriber's Note: _The Complete Opera Book_ has been an important -opera reference work since its first publication in 1919. It has been -revised and updated a number of times, most famously by George -Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and most recently in 1997. - -This e-book was prepared from the 1919 first edition. Gustav Kobbé was -killed in a sailing accident in 1918 and apparently did not have the -opportunity to make corrections before the book was published. There -are consequently numerous typographical, spelling, and formatting -errors and inconsistencies in the first edition, the most obvious of -which have been corrected without note in this e-book. Ambiguous -errors are noted in a [Transcriber's Note] where they appear. The -author's deliberate interchanges of foreign words or names and their -equivalents in English or other languages have been preserved as they -appear in the original. Misplaced Table of Contents and index entries -have been moved to their proper places. - -Photograph illustrations have been moved so as not to break up the -flow of the text. - -Italic text is marked with _underscores_, and bold text with =equal -signs=.] - - - - -The Complete Opera Book - -The Stories of the Operas, together with 400 of the Leading Airs and -Motives in Musical Notation - - -By - -Gustav Kobbé - -Author of "Wagner's Music-Dramas Analysed," "All-of-a-Sudden Carmen," -etc. - - -_Illustrated with One Hundred Portraits in Costume and Scenes from -Opera_ - - - G.P. Putnam's Sons - New York and London - =The Knickerbocker Press= - 1919 - - COPYRIGHT, 1919 - BY - GUSTAV KOBBÉ - -=The Knickerbocker Press, New York= - - - - -_By Gustav Kobbé_ - - All-of-a-Sudden Carmen - The Complete Opera Book - - - - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Mary Garden as Sapho] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Pirie MacDonald - -GUSTAV KOBBÉ] - - - - -FOREWORD - - -Through the thoughtfulness of William J. Henderson I was asked to -supply material for _The Complete Opera Book_, which was missing at -the time of Mr. Kobbé's death. - -In performing my share of the work it has been my endeavor to confine -myself to facts, rather than to intrude with personal opinions upon a -work which should stand as a monument to Mr. Kobbé's musical knowledge -and convictions. - -KATHARINE WRIGHT. - -NEW YORK, 1919. - - - - -Contents - - - PAGE - - Schools of Opera 1 - - Opera before Gluck 4 - - Christoph Willibald Gluck, 1714-1787 8 - Orpheus and Eurydice - Armide - Iphigenia in Tauris - - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791 21 - Marriage of Figaro - Don Giovanni - Magic Flute - - Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827 54 - Fidelio - - Carl Maria von Weber, 1786-1826 63 - Freischütz - Euryanthe - Oberon - - Why Some Operas are rarely given 77 - - From Weber to Wagner 79 - - Richard Wagner, 1813-1883 81 - Rienzi - Flying Dutchman - Tannhäuser - Lohengrin - Ring of the Nibelung - Rheingold--Walküre--Siegfried--Götterdämmerung - Tristan and Isolde - Meistersinger - Parsifal - - Gioachino Antonio Rossini, 1792-1868 293 - Barber of Seville - Semiramide - William Tell - - Vincenzo Bellini, 1802-1835 318 - Sonnambula - Norma - Puritani - - Gaetano Donizetti, 1797-1848 334 - Elisire d'Amore - Lucrezia Borgia - Lucia di Lammermoor - Daughter of the Regiment - Favorita - Linda di Chamounix - Don Pasquale - - Giuseppe Verdi, 1813-1901 376 - Ernani - Rigoletto - Trovatore - Traviata - Ballo in Maschera - - Before and After "Ballo in Maschera" 433 - Luisa Miller - Sicilian Vespers - Force of Destiny - Don Carlos - Aïda - Othello - Falstaff - - Arrigo Boïto, 1842- 474 - Mephistopheles - Nero - - Amilcare Ponchielli, 1834-1886 481 - Gioconda - - French Opera 493 - - Méhul to Meyerbeer 495 - - Étienne Nicholas Méhul, 1763-1817 495 - Joseph - - François Adrien Boieldieu, 1775-1834 495 - Caliph of Bagdad - Jean de Paris - Dame Blanche - - Daniel François Esprit Auber, 1782-1871 496 - Masaniello - Fra Diavolo - - Louis J.F. Hérold, 1791-1833 497 - Zampa - - Adolphe Charles Adam, 1802-1856 497 - Postilion of Longumeau - - Jacques François Fromental Élie Halévy, 1799-1862 498 - Juive - - Giacomo Meyerbeer, 1791-1864 499 - Robert le Diable - Huguenots - Prophet - L'Africaine - Star of the North - Dinorah - - Hector Berlioz, 1803-1869 535 - Benvenuto Cellini - Beatrice and Benedict - Trojans - Damnation of Faust - - Friedrich von Flotow, 1812-1883 546 - Martha - - Charles François Gounod, 1818-1893 561 - Faust - Romeo and Juliet - - Ambroise Thomas, 1811-1896 580 - Mignon - Hamlet - - Georges Bizet 586 - Carmen - Pearl Fishers - Djamileh - - Italian Opera Since Verdi 607 - - Pietro Mascagni, 1863- 610 - Cavalleria Rusticana - Maschere - Friend Fritz - Iris - Lodoletta - Isabeau - - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, 1858- 627 - Pagliacci - - Giacomo Puccini, 1858- 638 - Villi - Manon Lescaut - Bohème - Tosca - Madam Butterfly - Girl of the Golden West - Rondine - Sister Angelica - Tabarro - Gianni Schicchi - - Riccardo Zandonai 680 - Francesca da Rimini - - Franco Leoni, 1864- 686 - L'Oracolo - Rip Van Winkle - Raggio di Luna - Ib and Little Christina - - Italo Montemezzi, 1875- 690 - Love of Three Kings - Giovanni Gallurese - Hélléra - - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, 1876- 698 - Jewels of the Madonna - Donne Curiose - Secret of Suzanne - Doctor Cupid - - Umberto Giordano, 1867- 707 - Madame Sans-Gêne - André Chénier - Fedora - Siberia - - Modern Italian Opera 715 - - Luigi Mancinelli 715 - Ero e Leandro - - Riccardo Zandonai 716 - Conchita - - Alberto Franchetti 717 - Cristoforo Colombo - - Luigi and Federico Ricci 718 - Crispino e la Comare - - Alfred Catalani 719 - Loreley - - Umberto Giordano 720 - Fedora - - Alberto Franchetti 721 - Germania - - Modern French Opera 723 - - Jacques Offenbach 723 - Tales of Hoffmann - - Delibes 724 - Lakmé - - Saint-Saëns 725 - Samson et Dalila - - Lalo 727 - Roi d'Ys - - Massenet 727 - Grisélidis - Thaïs - Manon - Le Cid - Don Quichotte - Cinderella - Navarraise - Jongleur de Nôtre Dame - Werther - Hérodiade - Sapho - Cléopâtre - - Gustave Charpentier 750 - Louise - - Reyer 752 - Salammbô - - Debussy 752 - Pelléas and Mélisande - - Pierre Louÿs 756 - Aphrodite - - Alfred Bruneau 758 - Attack on the Mill - - Paul Dukas 759 - Ariadne and Blue-Beard - - Henri Février 761 - Monna Vanna - Gismonda - - Henri Rabaud 763 - Marouf - - Sylvio Lazzari 764 - Grasshopper - - Xavier Leroux 765 - Queen Fiammette - Wayfarer - - Raoul Gunsbourg 767 - Old Eagle - - Modern German and Bohemian Opera 769 - St. Elizabeth - - Peter Cornelius 770 - Barber of Bagdad - - Herman Goetz 772 - Taming of the Shrew - - Karl Goldmark 773 - Queen of Sheba - Cricket on the Hearth - - Engelbert Humperdinck 776 - Königskinder - Hänsel and Gretel - - Brüll 779 - Golden Cross - - Blech 781 - Sealed In - - Viktor E. Nessler 784 - Trumpeter of Säkkingen - - Wilhelm Kienzl 787 - Evangelist - Kuhreigen - - Ludwig Thuille 791 - Lobetanz - - Hugo Wolf 792 - Magistrate - - Richard Strauss, 1864- 796 - Fire Famine - Guntram - Salome - Elektra - Rosenkavalier - Ariadne on Naxos - - Friedrich Smetana 815 - Bartered Bride - - Russian Opera 818 - - Michael Ivanovich Glinka 818 - Russlan and Ludmilla - - Borodin 819 - Prince Igor - - Moussorgsky 822 - Boris Godounoff - - Peter Ilitsch Tschaikowsky 825 - Eugen Onegin - Pique-Dame - - Rimsky-Korsakoff 828 - Coq d'Or - - Ignace Jan Paderewski 830 - Manru - - American Opera 832 - - Frederick Shepherd Converse 832 - Sacrifice - Pipe of Desire - - Charles Wakefield Cadman 834 - Shanewis - - John Adams Hugo 834 - Temple Dancer - - Joseph Breil 836 - Legend - - Victor Herbert 837 - Natomah - - Horatio Parker 840 - Mona - - Walter Damrosch 841 - Cyrano - - Reginald de Koven 843 - Canterbury Pilgrims - - Spanish Opera 849 - - Enrique Granados, 1867-1916 849 - Goyescas - - Index 851 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - Mary Garden as Sapho _Frontispiece_ - - Louise Homer as Orpheus in "Orpheus and Eurydice" 10 - - Hempel (_Susanna_), Matzenauer (_The Countess_), and - Farrar (_Cherubino_) in "Le Nozze di Figaro" 26 - - Scotti as _Don Giovanni_ 34 - - Sembrich as _Zerlina_ in "Don Giovanni" 35 - - Scotti as _Don Giovanni_ 42 - - Alten and Goritz as _Papagena_ and _Papageno_ in "The - Magic Flute" 43 - - Matzenauer as _Fidelio_ 56 - - Farrar as _Elizabeth_ in "Tannhäuser" 108 - - "Tannhäuser," Finale, Act II. _Tannhäuser_ (Maclennan), - _Elizabeth_ (Fornia), _Wolfram_ (Dean), _The - Landgrave_ (Cranston) 109 - - Sembach as _Lohengrin_ 122 - - Schumann-Heink as _Ortrud_ in "Lohengrin" 123 - - Emma Eames as _Elsa_ in "Lohengrin" 128 - - Louise Homer as _Fricka_ in "The Ring of the Nibelung" 129 - - Lilli Lehmann as _Brünnhilde_ in "Die Walküre" 166 - - "The Valkyr" Act I. _Hunding_ (Parker), _Sieglinde_ - (Rennyson), and _Siegmund_ (Maclennan) 167 - - Fremstad as _Brünnhilde_ in "Die Walküre" 172 - - Fremstad as _Sieglinde_ in "Die Walküre" 173 - - Weil as _Wotan_ in "Die Walküre" 178 - - "Die Walküre" Act III. _Brünnhilde_ (Margaret - Crawford) 179 - - Édouard de Reszke as _Hagen_ in "Götterdämmerung" 210 - - Jean de Reszke as _Siegfried_ in "Götterdämmerung" 211 - - Nordica as _Isolde_ 228 - - Lilli Lehmann as _Isolde_ 236 - - Jean de Reszke as _Tristan_ 237 - - Gadski as _Isolde_ 242 - - Ternina as _Isolde_ 243 - - Emil Fischer as _Hans Sachs_ in "Die Meistersinger" 248 - - Weil and Goritz as _Hans Sachs_ and _Beckmesser_ in "Die - Meistersinger" 249 - - The Grail-Bearer 272 - - Winckelmann and Materna as _Parsifal_ and _Kundry_ 273 - - Scaria as _Gurnemanz_ 273 - - Sammarco as _Figaro_ in "The Barber of Seville" 298 - - Galli-Curci as _Rosina_ in "The Barber of Seville" 302 - - Sembrich as _Rosina_ in "The Barber of Seville" 303 - - Hempel (_Adina_) and Caruso (_Nemorino_) in "L'Elisir - d'Amore" 336 - - Caruso as _Edgardo_ in "Lucia di Lammermoor" 348 - - Galli-Curci as _Lucia_ in "Lucia di Lammermoor" 349 - - Galli-Curci as _Gilda_ in "Rigoletto" 392 - - Caruso as the Duke in "Rigoletto" 393 - - The Quartet in "Rigoletto." _The Duke_ (Sheehan), - _Maddalena_ (Albright), _Gilda_ (Easton), _Rigoletto_ - (Goff) 400 - - Riccardo Martin as _Manrico_ in "Il Trovatore" 401 - - Schumann-Heink as _Azucena_ in "Il Trovatore" 410 - - Galli-Curci as _Violetta_ in "La Traviata" 411 - - Farrar as _Violetta_ in "La Traviata" 420 - - Scotti as _Germont_ in "La Traviata" 421 - - Emma Eames as _Aïda_ 442 - - Saléza as _Rhadames_ in "Aïda" 443 - - Louise Homer as _Amneris_ in "Aïda" 448 - - Rosina Galli in the Ballet of "Aïda" 449 - - Alda as _Desdemona_ in "Otello" 460 - - Amato as _Barnaba_ in "La Gioconda" 461 - - Caruso as _Enzo_ in "La Gioconda" 488 - - Louise Homer as _Laura_ in "La Gioconda" 489 - - Plançon as _Saint Bris_ in "The Huguenots" 508 - - Jean de Reszke as _Raoul_ in "The Huguenots" 509 - - Ober and De Luca; Caruso and Hempel in "Martha" 548 - - Plançon as _Méphistophélès_ in "Faust" 549 - - Galli-Curci as _Juliette_ in "Roméo et Juliette" 578 - - Calvé as _Carmen_ with Sparkes as _Frasquita_, and Braslau - as _Mercedes_ 579 - - Caruso as _Don José_ in "Carmen" 590 - - Caruso as _Don José_ in "Carmen" 591 - - Calvé as _Carmen_ 594 - - Amato as _Escamillo_ in "Carmen" 595 - - Gadski as _Santuzza_ in "Cavalleria Rusticana" 614 - - Bori as _Iris_ 615 - - Caruso as _Canio_ in "I Pagliacci" 630 - - Farrar as _Nedda_ in "I Pagliacci" 631 - - Farrar as _Mimi_ in "La Bohème" 644 - - Café Momus Scene, "La Bohème." Act II. _Mimi_ - (Rennyson), _Musette_ (Joel), _Rudolph_ (Sheehan) 645 - - Cavalieri as _Tosca_ 656 - - Scotti as _Scarpia_ 657 - - Emma Eames as _Tosca_ 660 - - Caruso as _Mario_ in "Tosca" 661 - - Farrar as _Tosca_ 664 - - "Madama Butterfly." Act I. (Francis Maclennan, - Renée Vivienne, and Thomas Richards) 665 - - Farrar as _Cio-Cio-San_ in "Madama Butterfly" 668 - - Destinn as _Minnie_, Caruso as _Johnson_, and Amato as - _Jack Rance_ in "The Girl of the Golden West" 669 - - Alda as _Francesca_, and Martinelli as _Paolo_ in "Francesca - da Rimini" 682 - - Bori and Ferrari-Fontana in "The Love of Three - Kings" 683 - - Farrar as Catherine in "Mme. Sans-Gêne" 710 - - Galli-Curci as _Lakmé_ 711 - - Caruso as _Samson_ in "Samson and Dalila" 726 - - Mary Garden as _Grisélidis_ 727 - - Mary Garden as _Thaïs_ 730 - - Farrar and Amato as _Thaïs_ and _Athanaël_ 731 - - Farrar as _Thaïs_ 734 - - Farrar and Amato as _Thaïs_ and _Athanaël_ 735 - - Caruso as _Des Grieux_ in "Manon" 738 - - Mary Garden in "Le Jongleur de Nôtre Dame" 739 - - Mary Garden as _Louise_ 750 - - Lucienne Bréval as _Salammbô_ 751 - - Mary Garden as _Mélisande_ in "Pelléas and Mélisande" 754 - - Farrar as the _Goose Girl_ in "Königskinder" 776 - - Van Dyck and Mattfeld as _Hänsel_ and _Gretel_ 777 - - Mary Garden as _Salome_ 802 - - Hempel as the _Princess_ and Ober as _Octavian_ in "Der - Rosenkavalier" 803 - - Scene from the Ballet in "Prince Igor" (with Rosina - Galli) 820 - - Anna Case as _Feodor_, Didur as _Boris_, and Sparkes as - _Xenia_ in "Boris Godounoff" 821 - - - - -The Complete Opera Book - - - - -Schools of Opera - - -There are three great schools of opera,--Italian, French, and German. -None other has developed sufficiently to require comment in this brief -chapter. - -Of the three standard schools, the Italian is the most frankly -melodious. When at its best, Italian vocal melody ravishes the senses. -When not at its best, it merely tickles the ear and offends common -sense. "Aïda" was a turning point in Italian music. Before Verdi -composed "Aïda," Italian opera, despite its many beauties, was largely -a thing of temperament, inspirationally, but often also carelessly set -forth. Now, Italian opera composers no longer accept any libretto -thrust at them. They think out their scores more carefully; they -produce works in which due attention is paid to both vocal and -orchestral effect. The older composers still represented in the -repertoire are Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. The last-named, -however, also reaches well over into the modern school of Italian -opera, whose foremost living exponent is Puccini. - -Although Rameau (1683-1764), whose "Castor and Pollux" held the stage -until supplanted by Gluck's works, was a native of France, French -opera had for its founder the Italian, Lully; and one of its chief -exponents was the German, Meyerbeer. Two foreigners, therefore, have -had a large share in developing the school. It boasts, however, many -distinguished natives--Halévy, Auber, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet. - -In the French school of opera the instrumental support of the voice is -far richer and the combination of vocal and instrumental effect more -discriminating than in the old school of Italian opera. A first cousin -of Italian opera, the French, nevertheless, is more carefully thought -out, sometimes even too calculated; but, in general, less florid, and -never indifferent to the librettist and the significance of the lines -he has written and the situations he has evoked. Massenet is, in the -truest sense, the most recent representative of the school of -Meyerbeer and Gounod, for Bizet's "Carmen" is unique, and Débussy's -"Pelléas et Mélisande" a wholly separate manifestation of French art -for the lyric stage. - -The German school of opera is distinguished by a seriousness of -purpose that discards all effort at vocal display for itself alone, -and strives, in a score, well-balanced as between voice and orchestra, -to express more forcibly than could the spoken work, the drama that -has been set to music. - -An opera house like the Metropolitan, which practically has three -companies, presents Italian, French, and German operas in the language -in which they were written, or at least usually does so. Any speaker -before an English-speaking audience can always elicit prolonged -applause by maintaining that in English-speaking countries opera -should be sung in English. But, in point of fact, and even -disregarding the atrocities that masquerade as translations of opera -into English, opera should be sung in the language in which it is -written. For language unconsciously affects, I might even say -determines, the structure of the melody. - -Far more important than language, however, is it that opera be sung by -great artists. For these assimilate music and give it forth in all -its essence of truth and beauty. Were great artists to sing opera in -Choctaw, it would still be welcome as compared with opera rendered by -inferior interpreters, no matter in what language. - - - - -Opera Before Gluck - - -Gluck's "Orfeo ed Euridice" (Orpheus and Eurydice), produced in 1762, -is the oldest opera in the repertoire of the modern opera house. But -when you are told that the Grand Opéra, Paris, was founded by Lully, -an Italian composer, in 1672; that Italians were writing operas nearly -a century earlier; that a German, Reinhard Keiser (1679-1739), is -known to have composed at least 116 operas; and that another German, -Johann Adolph Hasse, composed among his operas, numbering at least a -hundred, one entitled "Artaxerxes," two airs from which were sung by -Carlo Broschi every evening for ten years to soothe King Philip V. of -Spain;--you will realize that opera existed, and even flourished -before Gluck produced his "Orpheus and Eurydice." - -Opera originated in Florence toward the close of the sixteenth -century. A band of composers, enthusiastic, intellectual, aimed at -reproducing the musical declamation which they believed to have been -characteristic of the representation of Greek tragedy. Their scores -were not melodious, but composed in a style of declamatory recitative -highly dramatic for its day. What usually is classed as the first -opera, Jacopo Peri's "Dafne," was privately performed in the Palazzo -Corsi, Florence, in 1597. So great was its success that Peri was -commissioned, in 1600, to write a similar work for the festivities -incidental to the marriage of Henry IV. of France with Maria de -Medici, and composed "Euridice," said to have been the first opera -ever produced in public. - -The new art form received great stimulus from Claudio Monteverdi, the -Duke of Mantua's director of music, who composed "Arianna" (Ariadne) -in honor of the marriage of Francesco Gonzaga with Margherita, Infanta -of Savoy. The scene in which _Ariadne_ bewails her desertion by her -lover was so dramatically written (from the standpoint of the day, of -course) that it produced a sensation. The permanency of opera was -assured, when Monteverdi brought out, with even greater success, his -opera "Orfeo," which showed a further advance in dramatic expression, -as well as in the treatment of the instrumental score. This composer -invented the tremolo for strings--marvellous then, commonplace now, -and even reprehensible, unless employed with great skill. - -Monteverdi's scores contained, besides recitative, suggestions of -melody. The Venetian composer, Cavalli, introduced melody more -conspicuously into the vocal score in order to relieve the monotonous -effect of a continuous recitative, that was interrupted only by brief -melodious phrases. In his airs for voice he foreshadowed the aria -form, which was destined to be freely developed by Alessandro -Scarlatti (1659-1725). Scarlatti was the first to introduce into an -opera score the _ritornello_--the instrumental introduction, -interlude, or postlude to a composition for voice. Indeed, Scarlatti -is regarded as the founder of what we call Italian opera, the chief -characteristic of which is melody for the voice with a comparatively -simple accompaniment. - -By developing vocal melody to a point at which it ceased to be -dramatically expressive, but degenerated into mere voice pyrotechnics, -composers who followed Scarlatti laid themselves open to the charge of -being too subservient to the singers, and of sacrificing dramatic -truth and depth of expression to the vanity of those upon the stage. -Opera became too much a series of show-pieces for its interpreters. -The first practical and effective protest against this came from -Lully, who already has been mentioned. He banished all meaningless -embellishment from his scores. But in the many years that intervened -between Lully's career and Gluck's, the abuse set in again. Then -Gluck, from copying the florid Italian style of operatic composition -early in his career, changed his entire method as late as 1762, when -he was nearly fifty years old, and produced "Orfeo ed Euridice." From -that time on he became the champion for the restoration of opera to -its proper function as a well-balanced score, in which the voice, -while pre-eminent, does not "run away with the whole show." - -Indeed, throughout the history of opera, there have been recurring -periods, when it has become necessary for composers with the true -interest of the lyric stage at heart, to restore the proper balance -between the creator of a work and its interpreters, in other words to -prevent opera from degenerating from a musical drama of truly dramatic -significance to a mere framework for the display of vocal -pyrotechnics. Such a reformer was Wagner. Verdi, born the same year as -Wagner (1813), but outliving him nearly twenty years, exemplified both -the faults and virtues of opera. In his earlier works, many of which -have completely disappeared from the stage, he catered almost entirely -to his singers. But in "Aïda" he produced a masterpiece full of melody -which, while offering every opportunity for beautiful singing, never -degenerates into mere vocal display. What is here said of Verdi could -have been said of Gluck. His earlier operas were in the florid style. -Not until he composed "Orpheus and Eurydice" did he approach opera -from the point of view of a reformer. "Orpheus" was his "Aïda." - -Regarding opera Gluck wrote that "the true mission of music is to -second the poetry, by strengthening the expression of the sentiments -and increasing the interest of the situations, without interrupting -and weakening the action by superfluous ornaments in order to tickle -the ear and display the agility of fine voices." - -These words might have been written by Richard Wagner, they express so -well what he accomplished in the century following that in which Gluck -lived. They might also have been penned by Verdi, had he chosen to -write an introduction to his "Aïda," "Otello," or "Falstaff"; and they -are followed by every successful composer of grand opera -today--Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Massenet, Strauss. - -In fact, however much the public may be carried away temporarily by -astonishing vocal display introduced without reason save to be -astonishing, the fate of every work for the lyric stage eventually has -been decided on the principle enunciated above. Without being aware of -it, the public has applied it. For no matter how sensationally popular -a work may have been at any time, it has not survived unless, -consciously or unconsciously, the composer has been guided by the -cardinal principle of true dramatic expression. - -Finally, I must not be misunderstood as condemning, at wholesale, -vocal numbers in opera that require extraordinary technique. Scenes in -opera frequently offer legitimate occasion for brilliant vocal -display. Witness the arias of the _Queen of the Night_ in "The Magic -Flute," "Una voce poco fa" in "The Barber of Seville," "Ah! non -giunge" in "Sonnambula," the mad scene in "Lucia," "Caro nome" in -"Rigoletto," the "Jewel Song" in "Faust," and even _Brünnhilde's_ -valkyr shout in "Die Walküre"--works for the lyric stage that have -escorted thousands of operatic scores to the grave, with Gluck's -gospel on the true mission of opera for a funeral service. - - - - -Christoph Willibald Gluck - -(1714-1787) - - -Gluck is the earliest opera composer represented in the repertoire of -the modern opera house. In this country three of his works survive. -These are, in the order of their production, "Orfeo ed Euridice" -(Orpheus and Eurydice), "Armide," and "Iphigénie en Tauride" -(Iphigenia in Tauris). "Orpheus and Eurydice," produced in 1762, is -the oldest work of its kind on the stage. It is the great-great-grandfather -of operas. - -Its composer was a musical reformer and "Orpheus" was the first -product of his musical reform. He had been a composer of operas in the -florid vocal style, which sacrificed the dramatic verities to the -whims, fancies, and ambitions of the singers, who sought only to show -off their voices. Gluck began, with his "Orpheus," to pay due regard -to true dramatic expression. His great merit is that he accomplished -this without ignoring the beauty and importance of the voice, but by -striking a correct balance between the vocal and instrumental portions -of the score. - -Simple as his operas appear to us today, they aroused a strife -comparable only with that which convulsed musical circles during the -progress of Wagner's career. The opposition to his reforms reached its -height in Paris, whither he went in 1772. His opponents invited Nicola -Piccini, at that time famous as a composer of operas in the florid -Italian style, to compete with him. So fierce was the war between -Gluckists and Piccinists, that duels were fought and lives sacrificed -over the respective merits of the two composers. Finally each produced -an opera on the subject of "Iphigenia in Tauris." Gluck's triumphed, -Piccini's failed. - -Completely victorious, Gluck retired to Vienna, where he died, -November 25, 1787. - - -ORFEO ED EURIDICE - -ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE - - Opera in three acts. Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck; - book by Raniero di Calzabigi. Productions and revivals. - Vienna, October 5, 1762; Paris, as "Orphée et Eurydice," - 1774; London, Covent Garden, June 26, 1860; New York, - Metropolitan Opera House, 1885 (in German); Academy of - Music, American Opera Company, in English, under Theodore - Thomas, January 8, 1886, with Helene Hastreiter, Emma Juch, - and Minnie Dilthey; Metropolitan Opera House, 1910 (with - Homer, Gadski, and Alma Gluck). - - CHARACTERS - - ORPHEUS _Contralto_ - EURYDICE _Soprano_ - AMOR, God of Love _Soprano_ - A HAPPY SHADE _Soprano_ - - Shepherds and Shepherdesses, Furies and Demons, Heroes and - Heroines in Hades. - - _Time_--Antiquity. - - _Place_--Greece and the Nether Regions. - -Following a brief and solemn prelude, the curtain rises on Act I, -showing a grotto with the tomb of _Eurydice_. The beautiful bride of -_Orpheus_ has died. Her husband and friends are mourning at her tomb. -During an affecting aria and chorus ("Thou whom I loved") funeral -honours are paid to the dead bride. A second orchestra, behind the -scenes, echoes, with charming effect, the distracted husband's -evocations to his bride and the mournful measures of the chorus, -until, in answer to the piercing cries of _Orpheus_ and the -exclamatory recitative, "Gods, cruel gods," _Amor_ appears. He tells -the bereaved husband that Zeus has taken pity on him. He shall have -permission to go down into Hades and endeavour to propitiate Pluto and -his minions solely through the power of his music. But, should he -rescue _Eurydice_, he must on no account look back at her until he has -crossed the Styx. - -Upon that condition, so difficult to fulfil, because of the love of -_Orpheus_ for his bride, turns the whole story. For should he, in -answer to her pleading, look back, or explain to her why he cannot do -so, she will immediately die. But _Orpheus_, confident in his power of -song and in his ability to stand the test imposed by Zeus and bring -his beloved _Eurydice_ back to earth, receives the message with great -joy. - -"Fulfil with joy the will of the gods," sings _Amor_, and _Orpheus_, -having implored the aid of the deities, departs for the Nether World. - -[Illustration: Copyright Photo by Dupont - -Louise Homer as Orpheus in "Orpheus and Eurydice"] - -Act I. Entrance to Hades. When _Orpheus_ appears, he is greeted with -threats by the _Furies_. The scene, beginning with the chorus, "Who is -this mortal?" is still considered a masterpiece of dramatic music. The -_Furies_ call upon Cerberus, the triple-headed dog monster that guards -the entrance to the Nether World, to tear in pieces the mortal who so -daringly approaches. The bark of the monster is reproduced in the -score. This effect, however, while interesting, is but a minor -incident. What lifts the scene to its thrilling climax is the -infuriated "No!" which is hurled at _Orpheus_ by the dwellers at the -entrance to Hades, when, having recourse to song, he tells of his love -for _Eurydice_ and his grief over her death and begs to be allowed to -seek her. He voices his plea in the air, "A thousand griefs, -threatening shades." The sweetness of his music wins the sympathy of -the _Furies_. They allow him to enter the Valley of the Blest, a -beautiful spot where the good spirits in Hades find rest. (Song for -_Eurydice_ and her companions, "In this tranquil and lovely abode -of the blest.") _Orpheus_ comes seeking _Eurydice_. His recitative, -"What pure light!" is answered by a chorus of happy shades, "Sweet -singer, you are welcome." To him they bring the lovely _Eurydice_. -_Orpheus_, beside himself with joy, but remembering the warning of -_Amor_, takes his bride by the hand and, with averted gaze, leads her -from the vale. - -She cannot understand his action. He seeks to soothe her injured -feelings. (Duet: "On my faith relying.") But his efforts are vain; nor -can he offer her any explanation, for he has also been forbidden to -make known to her the reason for his apparent indifference. - -Act III. A wood. _Orpheus_, still under the prohibition imposed by the -gods, has released the hand of his bride and is hurrying on in advance -of her urging her to follow. She, still not comprehending why he does -not even cast a glance upon her, protests that without his love she -prefers to die. - -_Orpheus_, no longer able to resist the appeal of his beloved bride, -forgets the warning of _Amor_. He turns and passionately clasps -_Eurydice_ in his arms. Immediately she dies. - -It is then that _Orpheus_ intones the lament, "Che farò senza -Euridice" (I have lost my _Eurydice_), that air in the score which has -truly become immortal and by which Gluck, when the opera as a whole -shall have disappeared from the stage, will still be remembered. - -[Music] - -"All forms of language have been exhausted to praise the stupor of -grief, the passion, the despair expressed in this sublime number," -says a writer in the Clément and Larousse _Dictionnaire des Opéras_. -It is equalled only by the lines of Virgil: - - Vox ipsa et frigida lingua, - "Ah! miseram Eurydicen," anima fugiente, vocabat; - "Eurydicen;" toto referabant flumine ripae. - - [E'en then his trembling tongue invok'd his bride; - With his last voice, "Eurydice," he cried, - "Eurydice," the rocks and river banks replied. - - DRYDEN.] - -In fact it is so beautiful that _Amor_, affected by the grief of -_Orpheus_ appears to him, touches _Eurydice_ and restores her to life -and to her husband's arms. - -The legend of "Orpheus and Eurydice" as related in Virgil's -_Georgics_, from which are the lines just quoted is one of the -classics of antiquity. In "Orfeo ed Euridice" Gluck has preserved the -chaste classicism of the original. Orpheus was the son of Apollo and -the muse Calliope. He played so divinely that trees uprooted -themselves and rocks were loosened from their fastnesses in order to -follow him. His bride, Eurydice, was the daughter of a Thracian -shepherd. - -The rôle of _Orpheus_ was written for the celebrated male contralto -Guadagni. For the Paris production the composer added three bars to -the most famous number of the score, the "Che farò senza Euridice," -illustrated above. These presumably were the three last bars, the -concluding phrases of the peroration of the immortal air. He also was -obliged to transpose the part of _Orpheus_ for the tenor Legros, for -whom he introduced a vocal number not only entirely out of keeping -with the rôle, but not even of his own composition--a bravura aria -from "Tancred," an opera by the obscure Italian composer Fernandino -Bertoni. It is believed that the tenor importuned Gluck for something -that would show off his voice, whereupon the composer handed him the -Bertoni air. Legros introduced it at the end of the first act, where -to this day it remains in the printed score. - -When the tenor Nourrit sang the rôle many years later, he substituted -the far more appropriate aria, "Ô transport, ô désordre extrême" (O -transport, O ecstasy extreme) from Gluck's own "Echo and Narcissus." - -But that the opera, as it came from Gluck's pen, required nothing -more, appeared in the notable revival at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, -November, 1859, under Berlioz's direction, when that distinguished -composer restored the rôle of _Orpheus_ to its original form and for a -hundred and fifty nights the celebrated contralto, Pauline -Viardot-Garcia, sang it to enthusiastic houses. - -The best production of the work in this country was that of the -American Opera Company. It was suited, as no other opera was, to the -exact capacity of that ill-starred organization. The representation -was in four acts instead of three, the second act being divided into -two, a division to which it easily lends itself. - -The opera has been the object of unstinted praise. Of the second act -the same French authority quoted above says that from the first note -to the last, it is "a complete masterpiece and one of the most -astonishing productions of the human mind. The chorus of demons, 'What -mortal dares,' in turn questions, becomes wrathful, bursts into a -turmoil of threats, gradually becomes tranquil and is hushed, as if -subdued and conquered by the music of _Orpheus's_ lyre. What is more -moving than the phrase 'Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs'? (A -thousand griefs, threatening shades.) Seeing a large audience -captivated by this mythological subject; an audience mixed, frivolous -and unthinking, transported and swayed by this scene, one recognizes -the real power of music. The composer conquered his hearers as his -_Orpheus_ succeeded in subduing the _Furies_. Nowhere, in no work, is -the effect more gripping. The scene in the Elysian fields also has -its beauties. The air of _Eurydice_, the chorus of happy shades, have -the breath of inalterable calm, peace and serenity." - -Gaetano Guadagni, who created the rôle of _Orpheus_, was one of the -most famous male contralti of the eighteenth century. Händel assigned -to him contralto parts in the "Messiah" and "Samson," and it was Gluck -himself who procured his engagement at Vienna. The French production -of the opera was preceded by an act of homage, which showed the -interest of the French in Gluck's work. For while it had its first -performance in Vienna, the score was first printed in Paris and at the -expense of Count Durazzo. The success of the Paris production was so -great that Gluck's former pupil, Marie Antoinette, granted him a -pension of 6,000 francs with an addition of the same sum for every -fresh work he should produce on the French stage. - -The libretto of Calzabigi was, for its day, charged with a vast amount -of human interest, passion, and dramatic intensity. In these -particulars it was as novel as Gluck's score, and possibly had an -influence upon him in the direction of his operatic reforms. - - -ARMIDE - - Opera in five acts by Gluck; words by François Quinault, - founded on Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_. - - Produced, Paris, 1777, at the Académie de Musique; New York, - Metropolitan Opera House, November 14, 1910, with Fremstad, - Caruso, Homer, Gluck, and Amato. - - CHARACTERS - - ARMIDE, a Sorceress, Niece of Hidraot _Soprano_ - PHENICE } { _Soprano_ - SIDONIE } her attendants { _Soprano_ - HATE, a Fury _Soprano_ - LUCINDE } { _Soprano_ - MÉLISSE } apparitions { _Soprano_ - RENAUD (RINALDO), a Knight of the Crusade - under Godfrey of Bouillon _Tenor_ - ARTEMIDORE, Captive Knight Delivered by Renaud _Tenor_ - THE DANISH KNIGHT } Crusaders { _Tenor_ - UBALDE } { _Bass_ - HIDRAOT, King of Damascus _Bass_ - ARONTES, leader of the Saracens _Bass_ - A Naiad, a Love _Apparitions_ - - Populace, Apparitions and Furies. - - _Time_--First Crusade, 1098. - - _Place_--Damascus. - -Act I. Hall of _Armide's_ palace at Damascus. _Phenice_ and _Sidonie_ -are praising the beauty of _Armide_. But she is depressed at her -failure to vanquish the intrepid knight, _Renaud_, although all others -have been vanquished by her. _Hidraot_, entering, expresses a desire -to see _Armide_ married. The princess tells him that, should she ever -yield to love, only a hero shall inspire it. People of Damascus enter -to celebrate the victory won by _Armide's_ sorcery over the knights of -Godfrey. In the midst of the festivities _Arontes_, who has had charge -of the captive knights, appears and announces their rescue by a single -warrior, none other than _Renaud_, upon whom _Armide_ now vows -vengeance. - -Act II. A desert spot. _Artemidore_, one of the Christian knights, -thanks _Renaud_ for his rescue. _Renaud_ has been banished from -Godfrey's camp for the misdeed of another, whom he will not betray. -_Artemidore_ warns him to beware the blandishments of _Armide_, then -departs. _Renaud_ falls asleep by the bank of a stream. _Hidraot_ and -_Armide_ come upon the scene. He urges her to employ her supernatural -powers to aid in the pursuit of _Renaud_. After the king has departed, -she discovers _Renaud_. At her behest apparitions, in the disguise of -charming nymphs, shepherds and shepherdesses, bind him with garlands -of flowers. _Armide_ now approaches to slay her sleeping enemy with a -dagger, but, in the act of striking him, she is overcome with love for -him, and bids the apparitions transport her and her hero to some -"farthest desert, where she may hide her weakness and her shame." - -Act III. Wild and rugged landscape. _Armide_, alone, is deploring the -conquest of her heart by _Renaud_. _Phenice_ and _Sidonie_ come to her -and urge her to abandon herself to love. They assure her that _Renaud_ -cannot fail to be enchanted by her beauty. _Armide_, reluctant to -yield, summons _Hate_, who is ready to do her bidding and expel love -from her bosom. But at the critical moment _Armide_ cries out to -desist, and _Hate_ retires with the threat never to return. - -Act IV. From yawning chasms and caves wild beasts and monsters emerge -in order to frighten _Ubalde_ and a _Danish Knight_, who have come in -quest of _Renaud_. _Ubalde_ carries a magic shield and sceptre, to -counteract the enchantments of _Armide_, and to deliver _Renaud_. The -knights attack and vanquish the monsters. The desert changes into a -beautiful garden. An apparition, disguised as _Lucinde_, a girl -beloved by the _Danish Knight_, is here, accompanied by apparitions in -various pleasing disguises. _Lucinde_ tries to detain the knight from -continuing upon his errand, but upon _Ubalde_ touching her with the -golden sceptre, she vanishes. The two then resume their journey to the -rescue of _Renaud_. - -Act V. Another part of the enchanted garden. _Renaud_, bedecked with -garlands, endeavours to detain _Armide_, who, haunted by dark -presentiment, wishes to consult with the powers of Hades. She leaves -_Renaud_ to be entertained by a company of happy _Lovers_. They, -however, fail to divert the lovelorn warrior, and are dismissed by -him. _Ubalde_ and the _Danish Knight_ appear. By holding the magic -shield before _Renaud's_ eyes, they counteract the passion that has -swayed him. He is following the two knights, when _Armide_ returns and -vainly tries to detain him. Proof against her blandishments, he leaves -her to seek glory. _Armide_ deserted, summons _Hate_ to slay him. But -_Hate_, once driven away, refuses to return. _Armide_ then bids the -_Furies_ destroy the enchanted palace. They obey. She perishes in the -ruins. (Or, according to the libretto, "departs in a flying car"--an -early instance of aviation in opera!) - -There are more than fifty operas on the subject of _Armide_. Gluck's -has survived them all. Nearly a century before his opera was produced -at the Académie, Paris, that institution was the scene of the first -performance of "Armide et Renaud," composed by Lully to the same -libretto used by Gluck, Quinault having been Lully's librettist in -ordinary. - -"Armide" is not a work of such strong human appeal as "Orpheus"; but -for its day it was a highly dramatic production; and it still admits -of elaborate spectacle. The air for _Renaud_ in the second act, "Plus -j'observe ces lieux, et plus je les admire!" (The more I view this -spot the more charmed I am); the shepherd's song almost immediately -following; _Armide's_ air at the opening of the third act, "Ah! si la -liberté me doit être ravie" (Ah! if liberty is lost to me); the -exquisite solo and chorus in the enchanted garden, "Les plaisirs ont -choisi pour asile" (Pleasure has chosen for its retreat) are classics. -Several of the ballet numbers long were popular. - -In assigning to a singer of unusual merit the ungrateful rôle of the -_Danish Knight_, Gluck said: "A single stanza will compensate you, I -hope, for so courteously consenting to take the part." It was the -stanza, "Nôtre général vous rappelle" (Our commander summons you), -with which the knight in Act V recalls _Renaud_ to his duty. "Never," -says the relater of the anecdote, "was a prediction more completely -fulfilled. The stanza in question produced a sensation." - - -IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE - -IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS - - Opera in four acts by Gluck, words by François Guillard. - - Produced at the Académie de Musique, Paris, May 18, 1779; - Metropolitan Opera House, New York, November 25, 1916, with - Kurt, Weil, Sembach, Braun, and Rappold. - - CHARACTERS - - IPHIGÉNIE, Priestess of Diana _Soprano_ - ORESTES, her Brother _Baritone_ - PYLADES, his Friend _Tenor_ - THOAS, King of Scythia _Bass_ - DIANA _Soprano_ - - SCYTHIANS, Priestesses of Diana. - - _Time_--Antiquity, after the Trojan War. - - _Place_--Tauris. - -_Iphigénie_ is the daughter of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae. Agamemnon -was slain by his wife, Clytemnestra, who, in turn, was killed by her -son, _Orestes_. _Iphigénie_ is ignorant of these happenings. She has -been a priestess of Diana and has not seen _Orestes_ for many years. - -Act I. Before the atrium of the temple of Diana. To priestesses and -Greek maidens, _Iphigénie_ tells of her dream that misfortune has come -to her family in the distant country of her birth. _Thoas_, entering, -calls for a human sacrifice to ward off danger that has been foretold -to him. Some of his people, hastily coming upon the scene, bring with -them as captives _Orestes_ and _Pylades_, Greek youths who have landed -upon the coast. They report that _Orestes_ constantly speaks of having -committed a crime and of being pursued by Furies. - -Act II. Temple of Diana. _Orestes_ bewails his fate. _Pylades_ sings -of his undying friendship for him. _Pylades_ is separated from -_Orestes_, who temporarily loses his mind. _Iphigénie_ questions him. -_Orestes_, under her influence, becomes calmer, but refrains from -disclosing his identity. He tells her, however, that he is from -Mycenae, that Agamemnon (their father) has been slain by his wife, -that Clytemnestra's son, _Orestes_, has slain her in revenge, and is -himself dead. Of the once great family only a daughter, Electra, -remains. - -Act III. _Iphigénie_ is struck with the resemblance of the stranger to -her brother and, in order to save him from the sacrifice demanded by -_Thoas_, charges him to deliver a letter to Electra. He declines to -leave _Pylades_; nor until _Orestes_ affirms that he will commit -suicide, rather than accept freedom at the price of his friend's life, -does _Pylades_ agree to take the letter, and then only because he -hopes to bring succour to _Orestes_. - -Act IV. All is ready for the sacrifice. _Iphigénie_ has the knife -poised for the fatal thrust, when, through an exclamation uttered by -_Orestes_, she recognizes him as her brother. The priestesses offer -him obeisance as King. _Thoas_, however, enters and demands the -sacrifice. _Iphigénie_ declares that she will die with her brother. At -that moment _Pylades_ at the head of a rescue party enters the temple. -A combat ensues in which _Thoas_ is killed. _Diana_ herself appears, -pardons _Orestes_ and returns to the Greeks her likeness which the -Scythians had stolen and over which they had built the temple. - -Gluck was sixty-five, when he brought out "Iphigénie en Tauride." A -contemporary remarked that there were many fine passages in the opera. -"There is only one," said the Abbé Arnaud. "Which?"--"The entire -work." - -The mad scene for _Orestes_, in the second act, has been called -Gluck's greatest single achievement. Mention should also be made of -the dream of _Iphigénie_, the dances of the Scythians, the air of -_Thoas_, "De noirs pressentiments mon âme intimidée" (My spirit is -depressed by dark forebodings); the air of _Pylades_, "Unis dès la -plus tendre enfance" (United since our earliest infancy); -_Iphigénie's_ "Ô malheureuse (unhappy) Iphigénie," and "Je t'implore -et je tremble" (I pray you and I tremble); and the hymn to Diana, -"Chaste fille de Latone" (Chaste daughter of the crescent moon). - -Here may be related an incident at the rehearsal of the work, which -proves the dramatic significance Gluck sought to impart to his music. -In the second act, while _Orestes_ is singing, "Le calme rentre dans -mon coeur," (Once more my heart is calm), the orchestral -accompaniment continues to express the agitation of his thoughts. -During the rehearsal the members of the orchestra, not understanding -the passage, came to a stop. "Go on all the same," cried Gluck. "He -lies. He has killed his mother!" - -Gluck's enemies prevailed upon his rival, Piccini, to write an -"Iphigénie en Tauride" in opposition. It was produced in January, -1781, met with failure, and put a definite stop to Piccini's rivalry -with Gluck. At the performance the prima donna was intoxicated. This -caused a spectator to shout: - -"'Iphigénie en Tauride!' allons donc, c'est 'Iphigénie en Champagne!'" -(Iphigenia in Tauris! Do tell! Shouldn't it be Iphigenia in -Champagne?) - -The laugh that followed sealed the doom of the work. - -The Metropolitan production employs the version of the work made by -Richard Strauss, which involves changes in the finales of the first -and last acts. Ballet music from "Orfeo" and "Armide" also is -introduced. - - - - -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - -(1756-1791) - - -The operas of Gluck supplanted those of Lully and Rameau. Those of -Mozart, while they did not supplant Gluck's, wrested from them the -sceptre of supremacy. In a general way it may be said that, before -Mozart's time, composers of grand opera reached back to antiquity and -mythology, or to the early Christian era, for their subjects. Their -works moved with a certain restricted grandeur. Their characters were -remote. - -Mozart's subjects were more modern, even contemporary. Moreover, he -was one of the brightest stars in the musical firmament. His was a -complete and easy mastery of all forms of music. "In his music -breathes the warm-hearted, laughter-loving artist," writes Theodore -Baker. That is a correct characterization. "The Marriage of Figaro" is -still regarded as a model of what a comic grand opera, if so I may -call it, should be. "Don Giovanni," despite its tragic _dénouement_, -sparkles with humour, and _Don Giovanni_ himself, despite the evil he -does, is a jovial character. "The Magic Flute" is full of amusing -incidents and, if its relationship to the rites of freemasonry has -been correctly interpreted, was a contemporary subject of strong human -interest, notwithstanding its story being laid in ancient Egypt. In -fact it may be said that, in the evolution of opera, Mozart was the -first to impart to it a strong human interest with humour playing -about it like sunlight. - -The libretto of "The Marriage of Figaro" was derived from a -contemporary French comedy; "Don Giovanni," though its plot is taken -from an old Spanish story, has in its principal character a type of -libertine, whose reckless daring inspires loyalty not only in his -servant, but even in at least one of his victims--a type as familiar -to Mozart's contemporaries as it is to us; the probable contemporary -significance of "The Magic Flute" I have already mentioned, and the -point is further considered under the head of that opera. - -For the most part as free from unnecessary vocal embellishments as are -the operas of Gluck, Mozart, being the more gifted composer, attained -an even higher degree of dramatic expression than his predecessor. May -I say that he even gave to the voice a human clang it hitherto had -lacked, and in this respect also advanced the art of opera? By this I -mean that, full of dramatic significance as his voice parts are, they -have, too, an ingratiating human quality which the music of his -predecessor lacks. In plasticity of orchestration his operas also mark -a great advance. - -Excepting a few works by Gluck, every opera before Mozart and the -operas of every composer contemporary with him, and for a considerable -period after him, have disappeared from the repertoire. The next two -operas to hold the stage, Beethoven's "Fidelio" (in its final form) -and Rossini's "Barber of Seville" were not produced until 1814 and -1816--respectively twenty-three and twenty-five years after Mozart's -death. - -That Mozart was a genius by the grace of God will appear from the -simple statement that his career came to an end at the age of -thirty-five. Compare this with the long careers of the three other -composers, whose influence upon opera was supreme--Gluck, Wagner, and -Verdi. Gluck died in his seventy-third year, Wagner in his -seventieth, and Verdi in his eighty-eighth. Yet the composer who laid -down his pen and went to a pauper's grave at thirty-five, contributed -as much as any of these to the evolution of the art of opera. - - -LE NOZZE DI FIGARO - -THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO - - Opera in four acts by Mozart; words by Lorenzo da Ponte, - after Beaumarchais. Produced at the National Theatre, - Vienna, May 1, 1786, Mozart conducting. Académie de Musique, - Paris, as "Le Mariage de Figaro" (with Beaumarchais's - dialogue), 1793; as "Les Noces de Figaro" (words by Barbier - and Carré), 1858. London, in Italian, King's Theatre, June - 18, 1812. New York, 1823, with T. Phillips, of Dublin, as - _Figaro_; May 10, 1824, with Pearman as _Figaro_ and Mrs. - Holman, as _Susanna_; January 18, 1828, with Elizabeth - Alston, as _Susanna_; all these were in English and at the - Park Theatre. (See concluding paragraph of this article.) - Notable revivals in Italian, at the Metropolitan Opera - House: 1902, with Sembrich, Eames, Fritzi Scheff, de Reszke, - and Campanari; 1909, Sembrich, Eames, Farrar, and Scotti; - 1916, Hempel, Matzenauer, Farrar, and Scotti. - - CHARACTERS - - COUNT ALMAVIVA _Baritone_ - FIGARO, his valet _Baritone_ - DOCTOR BARTOLO, a Physician _Bass_ - DON BASILIO, a music-master _Tenor_ - CHERUBINO, a page _Soprano_ - ANTONIO, a gardener _Bass_ - DON CURZIO, counsellor at law _Tenor_ - COUNTESS ALMAVIVA _Soprano_ - SUSANNA, her personal maid, affianced - to FIGARO _Soprano_ - MARCELLINA, a duenna _Soprano_ - BARBARINA, ANTONIO's daughter _Soprano_ - - _Time_--17th Century. - - _Place_--The Count's château of Aguas Frescas, near Seville. - -"Le Nozze di Figaro" was composed by Mozart by command of Emperor -Joseph II., of Austria. After congratulating the composer at the end -of the first performance, the Emperor said to him: "You must admit, -however, my dear Mozart, that there are a great many notes in your -score." "Not one too many, Sire," was Mozart's reply. - -(The anecdote, it should be noted, also, is told of the first -performance of Mozart's "Così Fan Tutte.") - -No opera composed before "Le Nozze di Figaro" can be compared with it -for development of ensemble, charm and novelty of melody, richness and -variety of orchestration. Yet Mozart composed this score in a month. -The finale to the second act occupied him but two days. In the music -the sparkle of high comedy alternates with the deeper sentiment of the -affections. - -Michael Kelly, the English tenor, who was the _Basilio_ and _Curzio_ -in the original production, tells in his memoirs of the splendid -sonority with which Benucci, the _Figaro_, sang the martial "Non più -andrai" at the first orchestral rehearsal. Mozart, who was on the -stage in a crimson pelisse and cocked hat trimmed with gold lace, kept -repeating _sotto voce_, "Bravo, bravo, Benucci!" At the conclusion the -orchestra and all on the stage burst into applause and vociferous -acclaim of Mozart: - -"Bravo, bravo, Maestro! Viva, viva, grande Mozart!" - -Further, the _Reminiscences_ of Kelly inform us of the enthusiastic -reception of "Le Nozze di Figaro" upon its production, almost -everything being encored, so that the time required for its -performance was nearly doubled. Notwithstanding this success, it was -withdrawn after comparatively few representations, owing to Italian -intrigue at the court and opera, led by Mozart's rival, the composer -Salieri--now heard of only because of that rivalry. In Prague, where -the opera was produced in January, 1787, its success was so great that -Bondini, the manager of the company, was able to persuade Mozart to -compose an opera for first performance in Prague. The result was "Don -Giovanni." - -The story of "Le Nozze di Figaro" is a sequel to that of "The Barber -of Seville," which Rossini set to music. Both are derived from -"Figaro" comedies by Beaumarchais. In Rossini's opera it is _Figaro_, -at the time a barber in Seville, who plays the go-between for _Count -Almaviva_ and his beloved _Rosina_, _Dr. Bartolo's_ pretty ward. -_Rosina_ is now the wife of the _Count_, who unfortunately, is -promiscuous in his attentions to women, including _Susanna_, the -_Countess's_ vivacious maid, who is affianced to _Figaro_. The latter -and the music-master _Basilio_ who, in their time helped to hoodwink -_Bartolo_, are in the service of the _Count_, _Figaro_ having been -rewarded with the position of valet and majordomo. _Bartolo_, for -whom, as formerly, _Marcellina_ is keeping house, still is _Figaro's_ -enemy, because of the latter's interference with his plans to marry -_Rosina_ and so secure her fortune to himself. The other characters in -the opera also belong to the personnel of the _Count's_ household. - -Aside from the difference between Rossini's and Mozart's scores, which -are alike only in that each opera is a masterpiece of the comic -sentiment, there is at least one difference between the stories. In -Rossini's "Barber" _Figaro_, a man, is the mainspring of the action. -In Mozart's opera it is _Susanna_, a woman; and a clever woman may -possess in the rôle of protagonist in comedy a chicness and sparkle -quite impossible to a man. The whole plot of "Le Nozze di Figaro" -plays around _Susanna's_ efforts to nip in the bud the intrigue in -which the _Count_ wishes to engage her. She is aided by the _Countess_ -and by _Figaro_; but she still must appear to encourage while evading -the _Count's_ advances, and do so without offending him, lest both she -and her affianced be made to suffer through his disfavour. In the -libretto there is much that is _risqué_, suggestive. But as the -average opera-goer does not understand the subtleties of the Italian -language, and the average English translation is too clumsy to -preserve them, it is quite possible--especially in this advanced -age--to attend a performance of "Le Nozze di Figaro" without -imperilling one's morals. - -There is a romping overture. Then, in Act I, we learn that _Figaro_, -_Count Almaviva's_ valet, wants to get married. _Susanna_, the -_Countess's_ maid, is the chosen one. The _Count_ has assigned to them -a room near his, ostensibly because his valet will be able to respond -quickly to his summons. The room is the scene of this Act. _Susanna_ -tells her lover that the true reason for the _Count's_ choice of their -room is the fact that their noble master is running after her. Now -_Figaro_ is willing enough to "play up" for the little _Count_, if he -should take it into his head "to venture on a little dance" once too -often. ("Se vuol ballare, Signor Contino!") - -[Music] - -Unfortunately, however, _Figaro_ himself is in a fix. He has borrowed -money from _Marcellina_, _Bartolo's_ housekeeper, and he has promised -to marry her in case of his inability to repay her. She now appears, -to demand of _Figaro_ the fulfilment of his promise. _Bartolo_ -encourages her in this, both out of spite against _Figaro_ and because -he wants to be rid of the old woman, who has been his mistress and -even borne him a son, who, however, was kidnapped soon after his -birth. There is a vengeance aria for _Bartolo_, and a spiteful duet -for _Marcellina_ and _Susanna_, beginning: "Via resti servita, madama -brillante" (Go first, I entreat you, Miss, model of beauty!). - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Hempel (Susanna), Matzenauer (the Countess), and Farrar (Cherubino) in -"Le Nozze di Figaro"] - -The next scene opens between the page, _Cherubino_, a boy in love -with every petticoat, and _Susanna_. He begs _Susanna_ to intercede -for him with the _Count_, who has dismissed him. _Cherubino_ desires -to stay around the _Countess_, for whom he has conceived one of his -grand passions. "Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio"--(Ah, what feelings -now possess me!). The _Count's_ step is heard. _Cherubino_ hides -himself behind a chair, from where he hears the _Count_ paying court -to _Susanna_. The voice of the music-master then is heard from -without. The _Count_ moves toward the door. _Cherubino_, taking -advantage of this, slips out from behind the chair and conceals -himself in it under a dress that has been thrown over it. The _Count_, -however, instead of going out, hides behind the chair, in the same -place where _Cherubino_ has been. _Basilio_, who has entered, now -makes all kinds of malicious remarks and insinuations about the -flirtations of _Cherubino_ with _Susanna_ and also with the -_Countess_. The _Count_, enraged at the free use of his wife's name, -emerges from behind the chair. Only the day before, he says, he has -caught that rascal, _Cherubino_, with the gardener's daughter -_Barbarina_ (with whom the _Count_ also is flirting). _Cherubino_, he -continues, was hidden under a coverlet, "just as if under this dress -here." Then, suiting the action to the words, by way of demonstration, -he lifts the gown from the chair, and lo! there is _Cherubino_. The -_Count_ is furious. But as the page has overheard him making love to -_Susanna_, and as _Figaro_ and others have come in to beg that he be -forgiven, the _Count_, while no longer permitting him to remain in the -castle, grants him an officer's commission in his own regiment. It is -here that _Figaro_ addresses _Cherubino_ in the dashing martial air, -"Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso" (Play no more, the part of a -lover). - -Act II. Still, the _Count_, for whom the claims of _Marcellina_ upon -_Figaro_ have come in very opportunely, has not given consent for his -valet's wedding. He wishes to carry his own intrigue with _Susanna_, -the genuineness of whose love for _Figaro_ he underestimates, to a -successful issue. _Susanna_ and _Figaro_ meet in the _Countess's_ -room. The _Countess_ has been soliloquizing upon love, of whose -fickleness the _Count_ has but provided too many examples.--"Porgi -amor, qualche ristoro" (Love, thou holy, purest passion.) _Figaro_ has -contrived a plan to gain the consent of the _Count_ to his wedding -with _Susanna_. The valet's scheme is to make the _Count_ ashamed of -his own flirtations. _Figaro_ has sent a letter to the _Count_, which -divulges a supposed rendezvous of the _Countess_ in the garden. At the -same time _Susanna_ is to make an appointment to meet the _Count_ in -the same spot. But, in place of _Susanna_, _Cherubino_, dressed in -_Susanna's_ clothes, will meet the _Count_. Both will be caught by the -_Countess_ and the _Count_ thus be confounded. - -_Cherubino_ is then brought in to try on _Susanna's_ clothes. He sings -to the _Countess_ an air of sentiment, one of the famous vocal numbers -of the opera, the exquisite: "Voi che sapete, che cosa è amor" (What -is this feeling makes me so sad). - -[Music] - -The _Countess_, examining his officer's commission, finds that the -seal to it has been forgotten. While in the midst of these proceedings -someone knocks. It is the _Count_. Consternation. _Cherubino_ flees -into the _Countess's_ room and _Susanna_ hides behind a curtain. The -evident embarrassment of his wife arouses the suspicions of her -husband, who, gay himself, is very jealous of her. He tries the door -_Cherubino_ has bolted from the inside, then goes off to get tools to -break it down with. He takes his wife with him. While he is away, -_Cherubino_ slips out and leaps out of a window into the garden. In -his place, _Susanna_ bolts herself in the room, so that, when the -_Count_ breaks open the door, it is only to discover that _Susanna_ is -in his wife's room. All would be well, but unfortunately _Antonio_, -the gardener, enters. A man, he says, has jumped out of the -_Countess's_ window and broken a flowerpot. _Figaro_, who has come in, -and who senses that something has gone wrong, says that it was he who -was with _Susanna_ and jumped out of the window. But the gardener has -found a paper. He shows it. It is _Cherubino's_ commission. How did -_Figaro_ come by it? The _Countess_ whispers something to _Figaro_. -Ah, yes; _Cherubino_ handed it to him in order that he should obtain -the missing seal. - -Everything appears to be cleared up when _Marcellina_, accompanied by -_Bartolo_, comes to lodge formal complaint against _Figaro_ for breach -of promise, which for the _Count_ is a much desired pretext to refuse -again his consent to _Figaro's_ wedding with _Susanna_. These, the -culminating episodes of this act, form a finale which is justly -admired, a finale so gradually developed and so skilfully evolved -that, although only the principals participate in it, it is as -effective as if it employed a full ensemble of soloists, chorus, and -orchestra worked up in the most elaborate fashion. Indeed, for -effectiveness produced by simple means, the operas of Mozart are -models. - -But to return to the story. At the trial in Act III, between -_Marcellina_ and _Figaro_, it develops that _Figaro_ is her long-lost -natural son. _Susanna_ pays the costs of the trial and nothing now -seems to stand in the way of her union with _Figaro_. The _Count_, -however, is not yet entirely cured of his fickle fancies. So the -_Countess_ and _Susanna_ hit upon still another scheme in this play of -complications. During the wedding festivities _Susanna_ is to contrive -to send secretly to the _Count_ a note, in which she invites him to -meet her. Then the _Countess_, dressed in _Susanna's_ clothes, is to -meet him at the place named. _Figaro_ knows nothing of this plan. -Chancing to find out about the note, he too becomes jealous--another, -though minor, contribution to the mix-up of emotions. In this act the -concoction of the letter by the _Countess_ and _Susanna_ is the basis -of the most beautiful vocal number in the opera, the "letter duet" or -Canzonetta sull'aria (the "Canzonetta of the Zephyr")--"Che soave -zeffiretto" (Hither gentle zephyr); an exquisite melody, in which the -lady dictates, the maid writes down, and the voices of both blend in -comment. - -[Music] - -The final Act brings about the desired result after a series of -amusing _contretemps_ in the garden. The _Count_ sinks on his knees -before his _Countess_ and, as the curtain falls, there is reason to -hope that he is prepared to mend his ways. - -Regarding the early performances of "Figaro" in this country, these -early performances were given "with Mozart's music, but adapted by -Henry Rowley Bishop." When I was a boy, a humorous way of commenting -upon an artistic sacrilege was to exclaim: "Ah! Mozart improved by -Bishop!" I presume the phrase came down from these early -representations of "The Marriage of Figaro." Bishop was the composer -of "Home, Sweet Home." In 1839 his wife eloped with Bochsa, the harp -virtuoso, afterwards settled in New York, and for many years sang in -concert and taught under the name of Mme. Anna Bishop. - - -DON GIOVANNI - - Opera in two acts by Mozart; text by Lorenzo da Ponte. - Productions, Prague, Oct. 29, 1787; Vienna, May 17, 1788; - London, April 12, 1817; New York, Park Theatre, May 23, - 1826. - - Original title: "Il Dissoluto Punito, ossia il Don Giovanni" - (The Reprobate Punished, or Don Giovanni). The work was - originally characterized as an _opera buffa_, or _dramma - giocoso_, but Mozart's noble setting lifted it out of that - category. - - CHARACTERS - - DON PEDRO, the Commandant _Bass_ - DONNA ANNA, his daughter _Soprano_ - DON OTTAVIO, her betrothed _Tenor_ - DON GIOVANNI _Baritone_ - LEPORELLO, his servant _Bass_ - DONNA ELVIRA _Soprano_ - ZERLINA _Soprano_ - MASETTO, betrothed to ZERLINA _Tenor_ - [Transcriber's Note: should be 'Baritone'] - -"Don Giovanni" was presented for the first time in Prague, because -Mozart, satisfied with the manner in which Bondini's troupe had sung -his "Marriage of Figaro" a little more than a year before, had agreed -to write another work for the same house. - -The story on which da Ponte based his libretto--the statue of a -murdered man accepting an insolent invitation to banquet with his -murderer, appearing at the feast and dragging him down to hell--is -very old. It goes back to the Middle Ages, probably further. A French -authority considers that da Ponte derived his libretto from "Le Festin -de Pierre," Molière's version of the old tale. Da Ponte, however, made -free use of "Il Convitato di Pietra" (The Stone-Guest), a libretto -written by the Italian theatrical poet Bertati for the composer -Giuseppe Gazzaniga. Whoever desires to follow up this interesting -phase of the subject will find the entire libretto of Bertati's -"Convitato" reprinted, with a learned commentary by Chrysander, in -volume iv of the _Vierteljahrheft für Musikwissenschaft_ (Music -Science Quarterly), a copy of which is in the New York Public Library. - -Mozart agreed to hand over the finished score in time for the autumn -season of 1787, for the sum of one hundred ducats ($240). Richard -Strauss receives for a new opera a guarantee of ten performances at a -thousand dollars--$10,000 in all--and, of course, his royalties -thereafter. There is quite a distinction in these matters between the -eighteenth century and the present. And what a lot of good a few -thousand dollars would have done the impecunious composer of the -immortal "Don Giovanni!" Also, one is tempted to ask oneself if any -modern ten thousand dollar opera will live as long as the two hundred -and forty dollar one which already is 130 years old. - -Bondini's company, for which Mozart wrote his masterpiece of dramatic -music, furnished the following cast: _Don Giovanni_, Signor Bassi, -twenty-two years old, a fine baritone, an excellent singer and actor; -_Donna Anna_, Signora Teresa Saporiti; _Donna Elvira_, Signora -Catarina Micelli, who had great talent for dramatic expression; -_Zerlina_, Signora Teresa Bondini, wife of the manager; _Don Ottavio_, -Signor Antonio Baglioni, with a sweet, flexible tenor voice; -_Leporello_, Signor Felice Ponziani, an excellent basso comico; _Don -Pedro_ (the Commandant), and _Masetto_, Signor Giuseppe Lolli. - -Mozart directed the rehearsals, had the singers come to his house to -study, gave them advice how some of the difficult passages should be -executed, explained the characters they represented, and exacted -finish, detail, and accuracy. Sometimes he even chided the artists for -an Italian impetuosity, which might be out of keeping with the charm -of his melodies. At the first rehearsal, however, not being satisfied -with the way in which Signora Bondini gave _Zerlina's_ cry of terror -from behind the scenes, when the _Don_ is supposed to attempt her -ruin, Mozart left the orchestra and went upon the stage. Ordering the -first act finale to be repeated from the minuet on, he concealed -himself in the wings. There, in the peasant dress of _Zerlina_, with -its short skirt, stood Signora Bondini, waiting for her cue. When it -came, Mozart quickly reached out a hand from his place of concealment -and pinched her leg. She gave a piercing shriek. "There! That is how I -want it," he said, emerging from the wings, while the Bondini, not -knowing whether to laugh or blush, did both. - -One of the most striking features of the score, the warning words -which the statue of the _Commandant_, in the plaza before the -cathedral of Seville, utters within the hearing of _Don Giovanni_ and -_Leporello_, was originally accompanied by the trombones only. At -rehearsal in Prague, Mozart, not satisfied with the way the passage -was played, stepped over toward the desks at which the trombonists -sat. - -One of them spoke up: "It can't be played any better. Even you -couldn't teach us how." - -Mozart smiled. "Heaven forbid," he said, "that I should attempt to -teach you how to play the trombone. But let me have the parts." - -Looking them over he immediately made up his mind what to do. With a -few quick strokes of the pen, he added the wood-wind instruments as -they are now found in the score. - -It is well known that the overture of "Don Giovanni" was written -almost on the eve of the first performance. Mozart passed a gay -evening with some friends. One of them said to him: "Tomorrow the -first performance of 'Don Giovanni' will take place, and you have not -yet composed the overture!" Mozart pretended to get nervous about it -and withdrew to his room, where he found music-paper, pens, and ink. -He began to compose about midnight. Whenever he grew sleepy, his wife, -who was by his side, entertained him with stories to keep him awake. -It is said that it took him but three hours to produce this overture. - -The next evening, a little before the curtain rose, the copyists -finished transcribing the parts for the orchestra. Hardly had they -brought the sheets, still wet, to the theatre, when Mozart, greeted by -enthusiastic applause, entered the orchestra and took his seat at the -piano. Although the musicians had not had time to rehearse the -overture, they played it with such precision that the audience broke -out into fresh applause. As the curtain rose and _Leporello_ came -forward to sing his solo, Mozart laughingly whispered to the musicians -near him: "Some notes fell under the stands. But it went well." - -The overture consists of an introduction which reproduces the scene of -the banquet at which the statue appears. It is followed by an allegro -which characterizes the impetuous, pleasure-seeking _Don_, oblivious -to consequences. It reproduces the dominant character of the opera. - -Without pause, Mozart links up the overture with the song of -_Leporello_. The four principal personages of the opera appear early -in the proceedings. The tragedy which brings them together so soon and -starts the action, gives an effective touch of fore-ordained -retribution to the misdeeds upon which _Don Giovanni_ so gaily enters. -This early part of the opera divides itself into four episodes. -Wrapped in his cloak and seated in the garden of a house in Seville, -Spain, which _Don Giovanni_, on amorous adventure bent, has -entered secretly during the night--it is the residence of the -_Commandant_--_Leporello_ is complaining of the fate which makes him a -servant to such a restless and dangerous master. "Notte e giorno -faticar" (Never rest by day or night), runs his song. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Scotti as Don Giovanni] - -_Don Giovanni_ hurriedly issues from the house, pursued by _Donna -Anna_. There follows a trio in which the wrath of the insulted woman, -the annoyance of the libertine, and the cowardice of _Leporello_ are -expressed simultaneously and in turn in manner most admirable. _The -Commandant_, attracted by the disturbance, arrives, draws his sword, -and a duel ensues. In the unequal combat between the aged -_Commandant_ and the agile _Don_, the _Commandant_ receives a fatal -wound. The trio which follows between _Don Giovanni_, the dying -_Commandant_, and _Leporello_ is a unique passage in the history of -musical art. The genius of Mozart, tender, profound, pathetic, -religious, is revealed in its entirety. Written in a solemn rhythm and -in the key of F minor, so appropriate to dispose the mind to a gentle -sadness, this trio, which fills only eighteen measures, contains in a -restricted outline, but in master-strokes, the fundamental idea of -this mysterious drama of crime and retribution. While the _Commandant_ -is breathing his last, emitting notes broken by long pauses, _Donna -Anna_, who, during the duel between her father and _Don Giovanni_, has -hurried off for help, returns accompanied by her servants and by _Don -Ottavio_, her affianced. She utters a cry of terror at seeing the dead -body of her father. The recitative which expresses her despair is -intensely dramatic. The duet which she sings with _Don Ottavio_ is -both impassioned and solicitous, impetuous on her part, solicitous on -his; for the rôle of _Don Ottavio_ is stamped with the delicacy of -sentiment, the respectful reserve of a well-born youth who is -consoling the woman who is to be his wife. The passage, "Lascia, O -cara, la rimembranza amara!" (Through love's devotion, dear one) is of -peculiar beauty in musical expression. - -After _Donna Anna_ and _Don Ottavio_ have left, there enters _Donna -Elvira_. The air she sings expresses a complicated nuance of passion. -_Donna Elvira_ is another of _Don Giovanni's_ deserted ones. There are -in the tears of this woman not only the grief of one who has been -loved and now implores heaven for comfort, but also the indignation of -one who has been deserted and betrayed. When she cries with emotion: -"Ah! chi mi dice mai quel barbaro dov'è?" (In memory still lingers his -love's delusive sway) one feels that, in spite of her outbursts of -anger, she is ready to forgive, if only a regretful smile shall -recall to her the man who was able to charm her. - -_Don Giovanni_ hears from afar the voice of a woman in tears. He -approaches, saying: "Cerchiam di consolare il suo tormento" (I must -seek to console her sorrow). "Ah! yes," murmurs _Leporello_, under his -breath: "Così ne consolò mille e otto cento" (He has consoled fully -eighteen hundred). _Leporello_ is charged by _Don Giovanni_, who, -recognizing _Donna Elvira_, hurries away, to explain to her the -reasons why he deserted her. The servant fulfils his mission as a -complaisant valet. For it is here that he sings the "Madamina" air, -which is so famous, and in which he relates with the skill of a -historian the numerous amours of his master in the different parts of -the world. - -The "Air of Madamina," "Madamina! il catalogo"--(Dear lady, the -catalogue) is a perfect passage of its kind; an exquisite mixture of -grace and finish, of irony and sentiment, of comic declamation and -melody, the whole enhanced by the poetry and skill of the accessories. -There is nothing too much, nothing too little; no excess of detail to -mar the whole. Every word is illustrated by the composer's imagination -without his many brilliant sallies injuring the general effect. -According to _Leporello's_ catalogue his master's adventures in love -have numbered 2065. To these Italy has contributed 245 [Transcriber's -Note: should be '640'], Germany 231, France 100, Turkey 91, and Spain, -his native land, 1003. The recital enrages _Donna Elvira_. She vows -vengeance upon her betrayer. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Sembrich as Zerlina in "Don Giovanni"] - -The scene changes to the countryside of _Don Giovanni's_ palace near -Seville. A troop of gay peasants is seen arriving. The young and -pretty _Zerlina_ with _Masetto_, her affianced, and their friends are -singing and dancing in honour of their approaching marriage. _Don -Giovanni_ and _Leporello_ join this gathering of light-hearted and -simple young people. Having cast covetous eyes upon _Zerlina_, and -having aroused her vanity and her spirit of coquetry by polished words -of gallantry, the _Don_ orders _Leporello_ to get rid of the jealous -_Masetto_ by taking the entire gathering--excepting, of course, -_Zerlina_--to his château. _Leporello_ grumbles, but carries out his -master's order. The latter, left alone with _Zerlina_, sings a duet -with her which is one of the gems, not alone of this opera, but of -opera in general: "Là ci darem la mano!" (Your hand in mine, my -dearest). _Donna Elvira_ appears and by her denunciation of _Don -Giovanni_, "Ah! fuggi il traditore," makes clear to _Zerlina_ the -character of her fascinating admirer. _Donna Anna_ and _Don Ottavio_ -come upon the stage and sing a quartette which begins: "Non ti fidar, -o misera, di quel ribaldo cor" (Place not thy trust, O mourning one, -in this polluted soul), at the end of which _Donna Anna_, as _Don -Giovanni_ departs, recognizes in his accents the voice of her father's -assassin. Her narrative of the events of that terrible night is a -declamatory recitative "in style as bold and as tragic as the finest -recitatives of Gluck." - -_Don Giovanni_ orders preparations for the festival in his palace. He -gives his commands to _Leporello_ in the "Champagne aria," "Finch' han -dal vino" (Wine, flow a fountain), which is almost breathless with -exuberance of anticipated revel. Then there is the ingratiating air of -_Zerlina_ begging _Masetto's_ forgiveness for having flirted with the -_Don_, "Batti, batti, o bel Masetto" (Chide me, chide me, dear -Masetto), a number of enchanting grace, followed by a brilliantly -triumphant allegro, "Pace, pace o vita mia" (Love, I see you're now -relenting). - -[Music] - -The finale to the first act of "Don Giovanni" rightly passes for one -of the masterpieces of dramatic music. _Leporello_, having opened a -window to let the fresh evening air enter the palace hall, the violins -of a small orchestra within are heard in the first measures of the -graceful minuet. _Leporello_ sees three maskers, two women and a man, -outside. In accordance with custom they are bidden to enter. _Don -Giovanni_ does not know that they are _Donna Anna_, _Donna Elvira_, -and _Don Ottavio_, bent upon seeking the murderer of the _Commandant_ -and bringing him to justice. But even had he been aware of their -purpose it probably would have made no difference, for courage this -dissolute character certainly had. - -After a moment of hesitation, after having taken council together, and -repressing a movement of horror which they feel at the sight of the -man whose crimes have darkened their lives, _Donna Elvira_, _Donna -Anna_, and _Don Ottavio_ decide to carry out their undertaking at all -cost and to whatever end. Before entering the château, they pause on -the threshold and, their souls moved by a holy fear, they address -Heaven in one of the most touching prayers written by the hand of man. -It is the number known throughout the world of music as the "Trio of -the Masks," "Protegga, il giusto cielo"--(Just Heaven, now defend -us)--one of those rare passages which, by its clearness of form, its -elegance of musical diction, and its profundity of sentiment, moves -the layman and charms the connoisseur. - -[Music: - - D ANNA - Protegga il giusto cielo - - D ELVIRA - Vendichi - - D OTTAV - Protegga il giusto cielo] - -The festivities begin with the familiar minuet. Its graceful rhythm is -prolonged indefinitely as a fundamental idea, while in succession, -two small orchestras on the stage, take up, one a rustic quadrille in -double time, the other a waltz. Notwithstanding the differences in -rhythm, the three dances are combined with a skill that piques the ear -and excites admiration. The scene would be even more natural and -entertaining than it usually is, if the orchestras on the stage always -followed the direction _accordano_ (tune up) which occurs in the score -eight bars before each begins to play its dance, and if the dances -themselves were carried out according to directions. Only the ladies -and gentlemen should engage in the minuet, the peasants in the -quadrille; and before _Don Giovanni_ leads off _Zerlina_ into an -adjoining room he should have taken part with her in this dance, while -_Leporello_ seeks to divert the jealous _Masetto's_ attention by -seizing him in an apparent exuberance of spirits and insisting on -dancing the waltz with him. _Masetto's_ suspicions, however, are not -to be allayed. He breaks away from _Leporello_. The latter hurries to -warn his master. But just as he has passed through the door, -_Zerlina's_ piercing shriek for help is heard from within. _Don -Giovanni_ rushes out, sword in hand, dragging out with him none other -than poor _Leporello_, whom he has opportunely seized in the entrance, -and whom, under pretence that he is the guilty party, he threatens to -kill in order to turn upon him the suspicion that rests upon himself. -But this ruse fails to deceive any one. _Donna Anna_, _Donna Elvira_, -and _Don Ottavio_ unmask and accuse _Don Giovanni_ of the murder of -the _Commandant_, "Tutto già si sà" (Everything is known and you are -recognized). Taken aback, at first, _Don Giovanni_ soon recovers -himself. Turning, at bay, he defies the enraged crowd. A storm is -rising without. A storm sweeps over the orchestra. Thunder growls in -the basses, lightning plays on the fiddles. _Don Giovanni_, cool, -intrepid, cuts a passage through the crowd upon which, at the same -time, he hurls his contempt. (In a performance at the Academy of -Music, New York, about 1872, I saw _Don Giovanni_ stand off the crowd -with a pistol.) - -The second act opens with a brief duet between _Don Giovanni_ and -_Leporello_. The trio which follows: "Ah! taci, ingiusto core" (Ah, -silence, heart rebellious), for _Donna Elvira_, _Leporello_, and _Don -Giovanni_, is an exquisite passage. _Donna Elvira_, leaning sadly on a -balcony, allows her melancholy regrets to wander in the pale moonlight -which envelops her figure in a semi-transparent gloom. In spite of the -scene which she has recently witnessed, in spite of wrongs she herself -has endured, she cannot hate _Don Giovanni_ or efface his image from -her heart. Her reward is that her recreant lover in the darkness -below, changes costume with his servant and while _Leporello_, -disguised as the _Don_, attracts _Donna Elvira_ into the garden, the -cavalier himself addresses to _Zerlina_, who has been taken under -_Donna Elvira's_ protection, the charming serenade: "Deh! vieni alla -finestra" (Appear, love at thy window), which he accompanies on the -mandolin, or should so accompany, for usually the accompaniment is -played pizzicato by the orchestra. - -As the result of complications, which I shall not attempt to follow, -_Masetto_, who is seeking to administer physical chastisement to _Don -Giovanni_, receives instead a drubbing from the latter. - -_Zerlina_, while by no means indifferent to the attentions of the -dashing _Don_, is at heart faithful to _Masetto_ and, while I fancy -she is by no means obtuse to the humorous aspect of his chastisement -by _Don Giovanni_, she comes trippingly out of the house and consoles -the poor fellow with the graceful measures of "Vedrai carino, se sei -buonino" (List, and I'll find love, if you are kind love). - -Shortly after this episode comes _Don Ottavio's_ famous air, the solo -number which makes the rôle worth while, "Il mio tesoro intanto" (Fly -then, my love, entreating). Upon this air praise has been exhausted. -It has been called the "pietra di paragone" of tenors--the touchstone, -the supreme test of classic song. - -[Music] - -Retribution upon _Don Giovanni_ is not to be too long deferred. After -the escapade of the serenade and the drubbing of _Masetto_, the _Don_, -who has made off, chances to meet in the churchyard (or in the public -square) with _Leporello_, who meanwhile has gotten rid of _Donna -Elvira_. It is about two in the morning. They see the newly erected -statue to the murdered _Commandant_. _Don Giovanni_ bids it, through -_Leporello_, to supper with him in his palace. Will it accept? The -statue answers, "Yea!" _Leporello_ is terrified. And _Don Giovanni_? - -"In truth the scene is bizarre. The old boy comes to supper. Now -hasten and bestir yourself to spread a royal feast." - -Such is the sole reflection that the fateful miracle, to which he has -just been a witness, draws from this miscreant, who, whatever else he -may be, is brave. - -Back in his palace, _Don Giovanni_ seats himself at table and sings of -the pleasures of life. An orchestra on the stage plays airs from -Vincente Martino's "Una Cosa Rara" (A Rare Thing); Sarti's "Fra Due -Litiganti" (Between Two Litigants), and Mozart's own "Nozze di -Figaro," _Leporello_ announcing the selections. The "Figaro" air is -"Non più andrai" (Play no more, boy, the part of a lover). - -_Donna Elvira_ enters. On her knees she begs the man who has betrayed -her to mend his ways. Her plea falls on deaf ears. She leaves. Her -shriek is heard from the corridor. She re-enters and flees the palace -by another door. - -"Va a veder che cos'è stato" (Go, and see what it is) _Don Giovanni_ -commands _Leporello_. - -The latter returns trembling with fright. He has seen in the corridor -"l'uom di sasso, l'uomo bianco"--the man of stone, the big white man. - -Seizing a candle, drawing his sword, _Don Giovanni_ boldly goes into -the corridor. A few moments later he backs into the room, receding -before the statue of the _Commandant_. The lights go out. All is dark -save for the flame of the candle in _Don Giovanni's_ hand. Slowly, -with heavy footsteps that re-echo, the statue enters. It speaks. - -"Don Giovanni, you have invited me to sit at table with you. Lo! I am -here." - -Well knowing the fate in store for him, yet, with unebbing courage, -_Don Giovanni_ nonchalantly commands _Leporello_ to serve supper. - -"Desist!" exclaims the statue. "He who has sat at a heavenly banquet, -does not break the bread of mortals.... Don Giovanni, will you come to -sup with me?" - -"I will," fearlessly answers the _Don_. - -"Give me your hand in gage thereof." - -"Here it is." - -_Don Giovanni_ extends his hand. The statue's huge hand of stone -closes upon it. - -"Huh! what an icy grasp!"--"Repent! Change your course at your last -hour."--"No, far from me such a thought."--"Repent, O miscreant!"--"No, -you old fool."--"Repent!"--"No!" - -Nothing daunts him. A fiery pit opens. Demons seize him--unrepentant -to the end--and drag him down. - -The music of the scene is gripping, yet accomplished without an -addition to the ordinary orchestra of Mozart's day, without straining -after effect, without any means save those commonly to his hand. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Scotti as Don Giovanni] - -In the modern opera house the final curtain falls upon this scene. -In the work, however, there is another scene in which the other -characters moralize upon _Don Giovanni's_ end. There is one -accusation, however, none can urge against him. He was not a coward. -Therein lies the appeal of the character. His is a brilliant, -impetuous figure, with a dash of philosophy, which is that, sometime, -somewhere, in the course of his amours, he will discover the perfect -woman from whose lips he will be able to draw the sweetness of all -women. Moreover he is a villain with a keen sense of humour. -Inexcusable in real life, he is a debonair, fascinating figure on the -stage, whereas _Donna Anna_, _Donna Elvira_, and _Don Ottavio_ are -mere hinges in the drama and as creations purely musical. _Zerlina_, -on the other hand, is one of Mozart's most delectable characters. -_Leporello_, too, is clearly drawn, dramatically and musically; a -coward, yet loyal to the master who appeals to a strain of the -humorous in him and whose courage he admires. - -For the Vienna production Mozart wrote three new vocal numbers, which -are printed in the score as additions. Caterina Cavalieri, the -_Elvira_, had complained to Mozart, that the Viennese public did not -appreciate her as did audiences of other cities and begged him for -something that would give her voice full scope. The result was the -fine aria: "Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata." The _Ottavio_, Signor -Morello, was considered unequal to "Il mio tesoro," so Mozart wrote -the less exacting "Dalla sua pace," for him. To amuse the public he -inserted a comic duet, "Per queste tue manine," for _Zerlina_ and -_Leporello_. This usually is omitted. The other two inserts were -interpolated in the second act of the opera before the finale. In the -Metropolitan Opera House version, however, _Donna Elvira_ sings "Mi -tradì" to express her rage after the "Madamina" of Leporello; and _Don -Ottavio_ sings "Dalla sua pace" before the scene in _Don Giovanni's_ -château. - -The first performance of "Don Giovanni" in America took place in the -Park Theatre, New York, on Tuesday evening, May 23, 1826. I have -verified the date in the file of the New York _Evening Post_. "This -evening for the first time in America, the semi-serious opera of 'Il -Don Giovanni,'" reads the advertisement of that date. Then follows the -cast. Manuel Garcia played the title rôle; Manuel Garcia, Jr., -afterwards inventor of the laryngoscope, who reached the age of 101, -dying in London in 1906, was _Leporello_; Mme. Barbieri, _Donna Anna_; -Mme. Garcia, _Donna Elvira_; Signorina Maria Garcia (afterwards famous -under her married name of Malibran), _Zerlina_; Milon, whom Mr. -Krehbiel identifies as a violoncellist later with the Philharmonic -Society, _Don Ottavio_; and Carlo Angrisani, _Masetto_, a rôle he had -sung at the first London performance of the work. - -Da Ponte, the librettist of the work, who had become Professor of -Italian at Columbia College, had induced Garcia to put on the opera. -At the first performance during the finale of the first act everything -went at sixes and sevens, in spite of the efforts of Garcia, in the -title rôle, to keep things together. Finally, sword in hand, he -stepped to the front of the stage, ordered the performance stopped, -and, exhorting the singers not to commit the crime of ruining a -masterwork, started the finale over again, which now went all right. - -It is related by da Ponte that "my 'Don Giovanni,'" as he called it, -made such a success that a friend of his who always fell asleep at -operatic performances, not only remained awake during the whole of -"Don Giovanni," but told him he couldn't sleep a wink the rest of the -night for excitement. - -Pauline Viardot-Garcia, sister of Signorina Garcia (afterwards Mme. -Malibran), the _Zerlina_ of the first New York performance, owned the -original autograph score of "Don Giovanni." She bequeathed it to the -Paris Conservatoire. - -The opera has engaged the services of famous artists. Faure and Maurel -were great _Don Giovannis_, Jean de Reszke sang the rôle, while he was -still a baritone; Scotti made his _début_ at the Metropolitan Opera -House, December 27, 1899, in the rôle, with Nordica as _Donna Anna_, -Suzanne Adams, as _Donna Elvira_, Sembrich as _Zerlina_, and Édouard -de Reszke as _Leporello_. Renaud appeared as _Don Giovanni_ at the -Manhattan Opera House. Lablache was accounted the greatest of -_Leporellos_. The rôle of _Don Ottavio_ has been sung by Rubini and -Mario. At the Mozart Festival, Salzburg, 1914, the opera was given -with Lilli Lehmann, Farrar, and McCormack in the cast. - -A curious aside in the history of the work was an "adaptation," -produced by Kalkbrenner in Paris, 1805. How greatly this differed from -the original may be judged from the fact that the trio of the masks -was sung, not by _Donna Anna_, _Donna Elvira_, and _Don Ottavio_, but -by three policemen! - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Alten and Goritz as Papagena and Papageno in "The Magic Flute"] - - -THE MAGIC FLUTE - -DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE - - Opera in two acts by Mozart; words by Emanuel Schikaneder - and Gieseke. Produced, September 30, 1791, in Vienna, in the - Theatre auf der Wieden; Paris, 1801, as "Les Mystères - d'Isis"; London, King's Theatre, June 6, 1811 (Italian); - Covent Garden, May 27, 1833 (German); Drury Lane, March 10, - 1838 (English); New York, Park Theatre, April 17, 1833 - (English). The rôle of _Astrofiammante, Queen of the Night_, - has been sung here by Carlotta Patti, Ilma di Murska, - Gerster, Sembrich, and Hempel. - - CHARACTERS - - SARASTRO, High Priest of Isis _Bass_ - TAMINO, an Egyptian Prince _Tenor_ - PAPAGENO, a bird-catcher _Baritone_ - ASTROFIAMMANTE, Queen of the Night _Soprano_ - PAMINA, her daughter _Soprano_ - MONOSTATOS, a Moor, chief slave of - the Temple _Baritone_ - PAPAGENA _Soprano_ - - Three Ladies-in-Waiting to the Queen; Three Youths of the - Temple; Priests, Priestesses, Slaves, etc. - - _Time_--Egypt, about the reign of Rameses I. - - _Place_--Near and at the Temple of Isis, Memphis. - -The libretto to "The Magic Flute" is considered such a jumble of -nonsense that it is as well to endeavour to extract some sense from -it. - -Emanuel Johann Schikaneder, who wrote it with the aid of a chorister -named Gieseke, was a friend of Mozart and a member of the same Masonic -Lodge. He also was the manager of a theatrical company and had -persuaded Mozart to compose the music to a puppet show for him. He had -selected for this show the story of "Lulu" by Liebeskind, which had -appeared in a volume of Oriental tales brought out by Wieland under -the title of "Dschinnistan." In the original tale a wicked sorcerer -has stolen the daughter of the Queen of Night, who is restored by a -Prince by means of magic. While Schikaneder was busy on his libretto, -a fairy story by Perinet, music by Wenzel Müller, and treating of the -same subject, was given at another Viennese theatre. Its great success -interfered with Schikaneder's original plan. - -At that time, however, freemasonry was a much discussed subject. It -had been interdicted by Maria Theresa and armed forces were employed -to break up the lodges. As a practical man Schikaneder saw his chance -to exploit the interdicted rites on the stage. Out of the wicked -sorcerer he made _Sarastro_, the sage priest of Isis. The ordeals of -_Tamino_ and _Pamina_ became copies of the ceremonials of freemasonry. -He also laid the scene of the opera in Egypt, where freemasonry -believes its rites to have originated. In addition to all this -Mozart's beautiful music ennobled the libretto even in its dull and -unpoetical passages, and lent to the whole a touch of the mysterious -and sacred. "The muse of Mozart lightly bears her century of -existence," writes a French authority, of this score. - -Because of its supposed relation to freemasonry, commentators have -identified the vengeful _Queen of the Night_ with Maria Theresa, and -_Tamino_ with the Emperor. _Pamina_, _Papageno_, and _Papagena_ are -set down as types of the people, and _Monostatos_ as the fugleman of -monasticism. - -Mozart wrote on "The Magic Flute" from March until July and in -September, 1791. September 30, two months before his death, the first -performance was given. - -In the overture to "The Magic Flute" the heavy reiterated chords -represent, it has been suggested, the knocking at the door of the -lodge room, especially as they are heard again in the temple scene, -when the novitiate of _Tamino_ is about to begin. The brilliancy of -the fugued allegro often has been commented on as well as the -resemblance of its theme to that of Clementi's sonata in B-flat. - -The story of "The Magic Flute" opens Act I, with _Tamino_ endeavouring -to escape from a huge snake. He trips in running and falls -unconscious. Hearing his cries for help, three black-garbed -_Ladies-in-Waiting_ of the _Queen of the Night_ appear and kill the -snake with their spears. Quite unwillingly they leave the handsome -youth, who, on recovering consciousness, sees dancing toward him an -odd-looking man entirely covered with feathers. It is _Papageno_, a -bird-catcher. He tells the astonished _Tamino_ that this is the realm -of the _Queen of the Night_. Nor, seeing that the snake is dead, does -he hesitate to boast that it was he who killed the monster. For this -lie he is immediately punished. The three _Ladies-in-Waiting_ reappear -and place a padlock on his mouth. Then they show _Tamino_ the -miniature of a maiden, whose magical beauty at once fills his heart -with ardent love. Enter the _Queen of the Night_. She tells _Tamino_ -the portrait is that of her daughter, _Pamina_, who has been taken -from her by a wicked sorcerer, _Sarastro_. She has chosen _Tamino_ to -deliver the maiden and as a reward he will receive her hand in -marriage. The _Queen_ then disappears and the three _Ladies-in-Waiting_ -come back. They take the padlock from _Papageno's_ mouth, give him a -set of chimes and _Tamino_ a golden flute. By the aid of these magical -instruments they will be able to escape the perils of their journey, -on which they will be accompanied by three youths or genii. - -Change of scene. A richly furnished apartment in _Sarastro's_ palace -is disclosed. A brutal Moor, _Monostatos_, is pursuing _Pamina_ with -unwelcome attentions. The appearance of _Papageno_ puts him to flight. -The bird-catcher recognizes _Pamina_ as the daughter of the _Queen of -the Night_, and assures her that she will soon be rescued. In the -meantime the _Three Youths_ guide _Tamino_ to a grove where three -temples stand. He is driven away from the doors of two, but at the -third there appears a priest who informs him that _Sarastro_ is no -tyrant, no wicked sorcerer as the _Queen_ had warned him, but a man of -wisdom and of noble character. - -The sound of _Papageno's_ voice arouses _Tamino_ from the meditations -inspired by the words of the priest. He hastens forth and seeks to -call his companion by playing on his flute. _Papageno_ is not alone. -He is trying to escape with _Pamina_, but is prevented by the -appearance of _Monostatos_ and some slaves, who endeavour to seize -them. But _Papageno_ sets the Moor and his slaves dancing by playing -on his magic chimes. - -Trumpet blasts announce the coming of _Sarastro_. _Pamina_ falls at -the feet of the High Priest and explains that she was trying to escape -the unwelcome attentions of the Moor. The latter now drags _Tamino_ -in, but instead of the reward he expects, receives a sound flogging. -By the command of _Sarastro_, _Tamino_ and _Pamina_ are brought into -the Temple of Ordeals, where they must prove that they are worthy of -the higher happiness. - -Act II. In the Palm Grove. _Sarastro_ informs the priests of the plans -which he has laid. The gods have decided that _Pamina_ shall become -the wife of the noble youth _Tamino_. _Tamino_, however, must prove, -by his own power, that he is worthy of admission to the Temple. -Therefore _Sarastro_ has taken under his protection _Pamina_, daughter -of the _Queen of the Night_, to whom is due all darkness and -superstition. But the couple must go through severe ordeals in order -to be worthy of entering the Temple of Light, and thus of thwarting -the sinister machinations of the _Queen_. - -In the succeeding scenes we see these fabulous ordeals, which -_Tamino_, with the assistance of his magic flute and his own purity of -purpose, finally overcomes in company with _Pamina_. Darkness is -banished and the young couple enter into the light of the Temple of -the Sun. _Papageno_ also fares well, for he receives _Papagena_ for -wife. - -There is much nonsense and even buffoonery in "The Magic Flute"; and, -in spite of real nobility in the rôle and music of _Sarastro_, Mr. -Krehbiel's comment that the piece should be regarded as somewhat in -the same category as a Christmas pantomime is by no means far-fetched. -It lends itself to elaborate production, and spectacular performances -of it have been given at the Metropolitan Opera House. - -Its representation requires for the rôle of _Astrofiammante, Queen of -the Night_, a soprano of extraordinarily high range and agility of -voice, as each of the two great airs of this vengeful lady extend to -high F and are so brilliant in style that one associates with them -almost anything but the dire outpouring of threats their text is -intended to convey. They were composed because Mozart's -sister-in-law, Josepha Weber (Mme. Hofer) was in the cast of the first -performance and her voice was such as has been described above. The -_Queen_ has an air in Act I and another in Act II. A quotation from -the second, the so-called "Vengeance aria," will show the range and -brilliancy of voice required of a singer in the rôle of -_Astrofiammante_. - -[Music] - -One is surprised to learn that this _tour de force_ of brilliant -vocalization is set to words beginning: "Vengeance of hell is boiling -in my bosom"; for by no means does it boil with a vengeance. - -_Papageno_ in his dress of feathers is an amusing character. His first -song, "A fowler bold in me you see," with interludes on his pipes, is -jovial; and after his mouth has been padlocked his inarticulate and -oft-repeated "Hm!" can always be made provocative of laughter. With -_Pamina_ he has a charming duet "The manly heart that love desires." -The chimes with which he causes _Monostatos_ and his slaves to dance, -willy-nilly, are delightful and so is his duet with _Papagena_, near -the end of the opera. _Tamino_, with the magic flute, charms the wild -beasts. They come forth from their lairs and lie at his feet. "Thy -magic tones shall speak for me," is his principal air. The concerted -number for _Pamina_ and trio of female voices (the _Three Youths_ or -genii) is of exceeding grace. The two _Men in Armour_, who in one of -the scenes of the ordeals guard the portal to a subterranean cavern -and announce to _Tamino_ the awards that await him, do so to the vocal -strains of an old German sacred melody with much admired counterpoint -in the orchestra. - -Next, however, in significance to the music for _Astrofiammante_ and, -indeed, of far nobler character than the airs for the _Queen of the -Night_, are the invocation of Isis by _Sarastro_, "O, Isis and -Osiris," with its interluding chant of the priests, and his air, -"Within this hallowed dwelling." Not only the solemnity of the vocal -score but the beauty of the orchestral accompaniment, so rich, yet so -restrained, justly cause these two numbers to rank with Mozart's -finest achievements. - -"Die Zauberflöte" (The Magic Flute) was its composer's swan-song in -opera and perhaps his greatest popular success. Yet he is said to have -made little or nothing out of it, having reserved as his compensation -the right to dispose of copies of the score to other theatres. Copies, -however, were procured surreptitiously; his last illness set in; and, -poor business man that he was, others reaped the rewards of his -genius. - -In 1801, ten years after Mozart's death, there was produced in Paris -an extraordinary version of "The Magic Flute," entitled "Les Mystères -d'Isis" (The Mysteries of Isis). Underlying this was a considerable -portion of "The Magic Flute" score, but also introduced in it were -fragments from other works of the composer ("Don Giovanni," "Figaro," -"Clemenza di Tito") and even bits from Haydn symphonies. Yet this -hodge-podge not only had great success--owing to the magic of Mozart's -music--it actually was revived more than a quarter of a century later, -and the real "Zauberflöte" was not given in Paris until 1829. - -Besides the operas discussed, Mozart produced (1781) "Idomeneo" and -(1791) "La Clemenza di Tito." In 1768, when he was twelve years old, a -one-act "Singspiel" or musical comedy, "Bastien and Bastienne," based -on a French vaudeville by Mme. Favart, was privately played in Vienna. -With text rearranged by Max Kalbeck, the graceful little piece has -been revived with success. The story is of the simplest. Two lovers, -_Bastien_ (tenor) and _Bastienne_ (soprano), have quarrelled. Without -the slightest complication in the plot, they are brought together by -the third character, an old shepherd named _Colas_ (bass). "Der -Schauspieldirektor" (The Impresario), another little comedy opera, -produced 1786, introduces that clever rogue, Schikaneder, at whose -entreaty "The Magic Flute" was composed. The other characters include -Mozart himself, and Mme. Hofer, his sister-in-law, who was the _Queen -of the Night_ in the original cast of "The Magic Flute." The story -deals with the troubles of an impresario due to the jealousy of prima -donnas. "Before they are engaged, opera singers are very engaging, -except when they are engaged in singing." This line is from H.E. -Krehbiel's translation of the libretto, produced, with "Bastien and -Bastienne" (translated by Alice Matullah, as a "lyric pastoral"), at -the Empire Theatre, New York, October 26, 1916. These charming -productions were made by the Society of American Singers with a -company including David Bispham (Schikaneder and Colas), Albert Reiss -(Mozart and Bastien), Mabel Garrison, and Lucy Gates; the direction -that of Mr. Reiss. - -There remain to be mentioned two other operatic comedies by Mozart: -"The Elopement from the Serail" (Belmonte und Constanze), 1782, in -three acts; and "Così fan Tutte" (They All Do It), 1790, in two. The -music of "Così fan Tutte" is so sparkling that various attempts have -been made to relieve it of the handicap imposed by the banality of the -original libretto by da Ponte. Herman Levi's version has proven the -most successful of the various rearrangements. The characters are two -Andalusian sisters, _Fiordiligi_ (soprano), _Dorabella_ (soprano); two -officers, their fiancés, _Ferrando_ (tenor), and _Guglielmo_ -(baritone); _Alfonso_ (bass); and _Despina_ (soprano), maid to the two -sisters. - -_Alfonso_ lays a wager with the officers that, like all women, their -fiancées will prove unfaithful, if opportunity were offered. The men -pretend their regiment has been ordered to Havana, then return in -disguise and lay siege to the young ladies. In various ways, including -a threat of suicide, the women's sympathies are played upon. In the -original they are moved to pledge their hearts and hands to the -supposed new-comers. A reconciliation follows their simple -pronouncement that "they all do it." - -In the revised version, they become cognizant of the intrigue, play -their parts in it knowingly, at the right moment disclose their -knowledge, shame their lovers, and forgive them. An actual wager laid -in Vienna is said to have furnished the basis for da Ponte's -libretto. - - - - -Ludwig van Beethoven - - -FIDELIO - - "Fidelio," opera in two acts, by Ludwig van Beethoven. - Produced in three acts, as "Fidelio, oder, die eheliche - Liebe" (Fidelio, or Conjugal Love), at the Theatre on the - Wien [Transcriber's Note: should be 'Theater auf der Wieden, - Vienna'], November 20, 1805. Revised and given at the - Imperial Private Theatre, March 29, 1806, but withdrawn after - a few performances. Again revised and successfully brought - out May 23, 1814, at the Kärnthnerthor Theatre (Theatre at - the Carinthian Gate), Vienna. Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, May 5, - 1860. London, King's Theatre, May 18, 1832; Covent Garden, - June 12, 1835, with Malibran; May 20, 1851, in Italian, with - recitatives by Balfe. New York, Park Theatre, September 9, - 1839. (See last paragraph of this article.) The libretto was - by Sonnleithner after Bouilly; first revision by Breuning; - second by Treitschke. Four overtures, "Leonore," Nos. 1, 2, - and 3; and "Fidelio." - - CHARACTERS - - FLORESTAN, a Spanish Nobleman _Tenor_ - LEONORE, his wife, in male attire as FIDELIO _Soprano_ - DON FERNANDO, Prime Minister of Spain _Bass_ - PIZARRO, Governor of the prison and enemy - to FLORESTAN _Bass_ - ROCCO, chief jailer _Bass_ - MARCELLINA, daughter of ROCCO _Soprano_ - JACQUINO, assistant to ROCCO _Tenor_ - - Soldiers, prisoners, people. - - _Time_--18th Century. - - _Place_--A fortress, near Seville, Spain, used as a prison - for political offenders. - -Ludwig van Beethoven, composer of "Fidelio," was born at Bonn, -December 16, 1770. He died at Vienna, March 26, 1827. As he composed -but this one opera, and as his fame rests chiefly on his great -achievements outside the domain of the stage--symphonies, sonatas, -etc.--it is possible, as Storck suggests in his _Opernbuch_, to -dispense with biographical data and confine ourselves to facts -relating to "Fidelio." - -The libretto, which appealed to the composer by reason of its pure and -idealistic motive, was not written for Beethoven. It was a French book -by Bouilly and had been used by three composers: Pierre Gabeaux -(1798); Simon Mayr, Donizetti's teacher at Bergamo and the composer of -more than seventy operas (1805); and Paër, whose "Leonora, ossia -l'Amore Conjugale" (Leonora, or Conjugal Love) was brought out at -Dresden in December, 1804. - -It was Schikaneder, the librettist and producer of Mozart's "Magic -Flute," who commissioned Beethoven to compose an opera. But it was -finally executed for Baron von Braun, who had succeeded to the -management of the Theatre on the Wien. - -Beethoven's heart was bound up in the work. Conscientious to the last -detail in everything he did, this noble man, inspired by a noble -theme, appears to have put even more labour into his opera than into -any other one work. There are no less than sixteen sketches for the -opening of _Florestan's_ first air and 346 pages of sketches for the -opera. Nor did his labour in it cease when the opera was completed and -performed. - -Bouilly's libretto was translated and made over for Beethoven by -Schubert's friend Joseph Sonnleithner. The opera was brought out -November 20th and repeated November 21 and 22, 1805. It was a failure. -The French were in occupation of Vienna, which the Emperor of Austria -and the court had abandoned, and conditions generally were upset. But -even Beethoven's friends did not blame the non-success of the opera -upon these untoward circumstances. It had inherent defects, as was -apparent even a century later, when at the "Fidelio" centennial -celebration in Berlin, the original version was restored and -performed. - -To remedy these, Beethoven's friend, Stephan von Breuning, condensed -the three acts to two and the composer made changes in the score. This -second version was brought forward April 29, 1806, with better -success, but a quarrel with von Braun led Beethoven to withdraw it. It -seems to have required seven years for the _entente cordiale_ between -composer and manager to become re-established. Then Baron von Braun -had the book taken in hand by a practical librettist, Georg Friedrich -Treitschke. Upon receiving the revision, which greatly pleased him, -Beethoven in his turn re-revised the score. In this form "Fidelio" was -brought out May 23, 1814, in the Theatre am Kärnthnerthor. There was -no question of failure this time. The opera took its place in the -repertoire and when, eight years later, Mme. Schröder-Devrient sang -the title rôle, her success in it was sensational. - -There are four overtures to the work, three entitled "Leonore" (Nos. -1, 2, and 3) and one "Fidelio." The "Leonore" overtures are -incorrectly numbered. The No. 2 was given at the original performance -and is, therefore, No. 1. The greatest and justly the most famous, the -No. 3, is really No. 2. The so-called No. 1 was composed for a -projected performance at Prague, which never came off. The score and -parts, in a copyist's hand, but with corrections by Beethoven, were -discovered after the composer's death. When it was recognized as an -overture to the opera, the conclusion that it was the earliest one, -which he probably had laid aside, was not unnaturally arrived at. The -"Fidelio" overture was intended for the second revision, but was not -ready in time. The overture to "The Ruins of Athens" was substituted. -The overture to "Fidelio" usually is played before the opera and the -"Leonore," No. 3, between the acts. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Matzenauer as Fidelio] - -Of the "Leonore," No. 3, I think it is within bounds to say that it is -the first great overture that sums up in its thematic material and in -its general scope, construction, and working out, the story of the -opera which it precedes. Even the trumpet call is brought in with -stirring dramatic effect. It may be said that from this time on the -melodies of their operas were drawn on more and more by composers for -the thematic material of their overtures, which thus became -music-dramas in miniature. The overture "Leonore," No. 3, also is an -established work in the classical concert repertoire, as is also -_Leonore's_ recitative and air in the first act. - -In the story of the opera, _Florestan_, a noble Spaniard, has aroused -the enmity of _Pizarro_, governor of a gloomy mediæval fortress, used -as a place of confinement for political prisoners. _Pizarro_ has been -enabled secretly to seize _Florestan_ and cast him into the darkest -dungeon of the fortress, at the same time spreading a report of his -death. Indeed, _Pizarro_ actually plans to do away with _Florestan_ by -slow starvation; or, if necessary, by means more swift. - -One person, however, suspects the truth--_Leonore_, the wife of -_Florestan_. Her faithfulness, the risks she takes, the danger she -runs, in order to save her husband, and the final triumph of conjugal -love over the sinister machinations of _Pizarro_, form the motive of -the story of "Fidelio," a title derived from the name assumed by -_Leonore_, when, disguised as a man, she obtains employment as -assistant to _Rocco_, the chief jailer of the prison. _Fidelio_ has -been at work and has become a great favourite with _Rocco_, as well as -with _Marcellina_, the jailer's daughter. The latter, in fact, much -prefers the gentle, comely youth, _Fidelio_, to _Jacquino_, the -turnkey, who, before _Fidelio's_ appearance upon the scene, believed -himself to be her accepted lover. _Leonore_ cannot make her sex known -to the girl. It would ruin her plans to save her husband. Such is the -situation when the curtain rises on the first act, which is laid in -the courtyard of the prison. - -Act I. The opera opens with a brisk duet between _Jacquino_ and -_Marcellina_, in which he urges her definitely to accept him and she -cleverly puts him off. Left alone she expresses her regret for -_Jacquino_, but wishes she were united with _Fidelio_. ("O wär' ich -schon mit dir vereint"--O, were I but with you united.) - -Afterward she is joined by her father. Then _Leonore_ (as _Fidelio_) -enters the courtyard. She has a basket of provisions and also is -carrying some fetters which she has taken to be repaired. -_Marcellina_, seeing how weary _Leonore_ is, hastens to relieve the -supposed youth of his burden. _Rocco_ hints not only tolerantly but -even encouragingly at what he believes to be the fancy _Fidelio_ and -_Marcellina_ have taken to each other. This leads up to the quartet in -canon form, one of the notable vocal numbers of the opera, "Mir ist so -wunderbar" (How wondrous the emotion). Being a canon, the theme -enunciated by each of the four characters is the same, but if the -difference in the sentiments of each character is indicated by subtle -nuance of expression on the part of the singers, and the intonation be -correct, the beauty of this quartet becomes plain even at a first -hearing. The participants are _Leonore_, _Marcellina_, _Rocco_, and -_Jacquino_, who appears toward the close. "After this canon," say the -stage directions, so clearly is the form of the quartet recognized, -"_Jacquino_ goes back to his lodge." - -[Music] - -_Rocco_ then voices a song in praise of money and the need of it for -young people about to marry. ("Wenn sich Nichts mit Nichts -verbindet"--When you nothing add to nothing.) The situation is -awkward for _Leonore_, but the rescue of her husband demands that she -continue to masquerade as a man. Moreover there is an excuse in the -palpable fact that before she entered _Rocco's_ service, _Jacquino_ -was in high favour with _Marcellina_ and probably will have no -difficulty in re-establishing himself therein, when the comely youth -_Fidelio_, turns out to be _Leonore_, the faithful wife of -_Florestan_. - -Through a description which _Rocco_ gives of the prisoners, _Leonore_ -now learns what she had not been sure of before. Her husband is -confined in this fortress and in its deepest dungeon. - -A short march, with a pronounced and characteristic rhythm, announces -the approach of _Pizarro_. He looks over his despatches. One of them -warns him that _Fernando_, the Minister of State, is about to inspect -the fortress, accusations having been made to him that _Pizarro_ has -used his power as governor to wreak vengeance upon his private -enemies. A man of quick decision, _Pizarro_ determines to do away with -_Florestan_ at once. His aria, "Ha! welch' ein Augenblick!" (Ah! the -great moment!) is one of the most difficult solos in the dramatic -repertoire for bass voice. When really mastered, however, it also is -one of the most effective. - -_Pizarro_ posts a trumpeter on the ramparts with a sentry to watch the -road from Seville. As soon as a state equipage with outriders is -sighted, the trumpeter is to blow a signal. Having thus made sure of -being warned of the approach of the _Minister_, he tosses a -well-filled purse to _Rocco_, and bids him "for the safety of the -State," to make away with the most dangerous of the prisoners--meaning -_Florestan_. _Rocco_ declines to commit murder, but when _Pizarro_ -takes it upon himself to do the deed, _Rocco_ consents to dig a grave -in an old cistern in the vaults, so that all traces of the crime will -be hidden from the expected visitor. - -_Leonore_, who has overheard the plot, now gives vent to her feelings -in the highly dramatic recitative: "Abscheulicher! wo eilst du hin!" -("Accursed one! Where hasten'st thou!"); followed by the beautiful -air, "Komm Hoffnung" (Come, hope!), a deeply moving expression of -confidence that her love and faith will enable her, with the aid of -Providence, to save her husband's life. Soon afterwards she learns -that, as _Rocco's_ assistant, she is to help him in digging the grave. -She will be near her husband and either able to aid him or at least -die with him. - -The prisoners from the upper tiers are now, on _Leonore's_ -intercession, permitted a brief opportunity to breathe the open air. -The cells are unlocked and they are allowed to stroll in the garden of -the fortress, until _Pizarro_, hearing of this, angrily puts an end to -it. The chorus of the prisoners, subdued like the half-suppressed joy -of fearsome beings, is one of the significant passages of the score. - -Act II. The scene is in the dungeon where _Florestan_ is in heavy -chains. To one side is the old cistern covered with rubbish. Musically -the act opens with _Florestan's_ recitative and air, a fit companion -piece to _Leonore's_ "Komm Hoffnung" in Act I. The whispered duet -between _Leonore_ and _Rocco_ as they dig the grave and the orchestral -accompaniment impress one with the gruesome significance of the scene. - -_Pizarro_ enters the vault, exultantly makes himself known to his -enemy, and draws his dagger for the fatal thrust. _Leonore_ throws -herself in his way. Pushed aside, she again interposes herself between -the would-be murderer and his victim, and, pointing at him a loaded -pistol, which she has had concealed about her person, cries out: -"First slay his wife!" - -At this moment, in itself so tense, a trumpet call rings out from the -direction of the fortress wall. _Jacquino_ appears at the head of the -stone stairway leading down into the dungeon. The _Minister of State_ -is at hand. His vanguard is at the gate. _Florestan_ is saved. There -is a rapturous duet, "O, namenlose Freude" (Joy inexpressible) for him -and the devoted wife to whom he owes his life. - -In _Florestan_ the _Minister of State_ recognizes his friend, whom he -believed to have died, according to the reports set afloat by -_Pizarro_, who himself is now apprehended. To _Leonore_ is assigned -the joyful task of unlocking and loosening her husband's fetters and -freeing him from his chains. A chorus of rejoicing: "Wer ein solches -Weib errungen" (He, whom such a wife has cherished) brings the opera -to a close. - -It is well said in George P. Upton's book, _The Standard Operas_, that -"as a drama and as an opera, 'Fidelio' stands almost alone in its -perfect purity, in the moral grandeur of its subject, and in the -resplendent ideality of its music." Even those who do not appreciate -the beauty of such a work, and, unfortunately their number is -considerable, cannot fail to agree with me that the trumpet call, -which brings the prison scene to a climax, is one of the most dramatic -moments in opera. I was a boy when, more than forty years ago, I first -heard "Fidelio" in Wiesbaden. But I still remember the thrill, when -that trumpet call split the air with the message that the _Minister of -State_ was in sight and that _Leonore_ had saved her husband. - -[Music] - -When "Fidelio" had its first American performance (New York, Park -Theatre, September 9, 1839) the opera did not fill the entire evening. -The entertainment, as a whole, was a curiosity from present-day -standards. First came Beethoven's opera, with Mrs. Martyn as -_Leonore_. Then a _pas seul_ was danced by Mme. Araline; the whole -concluding with "The Deep, Deep Sea," in which Mr. Placide appeared as -_The Great American Sea Serpent_. This seems incredible. But I have -searched for and found the advertisement in the New York _Evening -Post_, and the facts are stated. - -Under Dr. Leopold Damrosch, "Fidelio" was performed at the -Metropolitan Opera House in the season of 1884-85; under Anton Seidl, -during the season of 1886-87, with Brandt and Niemann as well as with -Lehmann and Niemann as _Leonore_ and _Florestan_. - -The 1886-87 representations of "Fidelio," by great artists under a -great conductor, are among the most vivid memories of opera-goers so -fortunate as to have heard them. - - - - -Weber and his Operas - - -Carl Maria von Weber, born at Eutin, Oldenberg, December 18, 1786, -died in London, June 5, 1826, is the composer of "Der Freischütz;" -"Euryanthe," and "Oberon." - -"Der Freischütz" was first heard in Berlin, June 18, 1821. "Euryanthe" -was produced in Vienna, October 25, 1823. "Oberon" had its first -performance at Covent Garden, London, April 12, 1826. Eight weeks -later Weber died. A sufferer from consumption, his malady was -aggravated by over-exertion in finishing the score of "Oberon," -rehearsing and conducting the opera, and attending the social -functions arranged in his honour. - - -DER FREISCHÜTZ - - The first American performance of this opera, which is in - three acts, was in English. The event took place in the Park - Theatre, New York, March 2, 1825. This was only four years - later than the production in Berlin. It was not heard here - in German until a performance at the old Broadway Theatre. - This occurred in 1856 under the direction of Carl Bergmann. - London heard it, in English, July 23, 1824; in German, at - the King's Theatre, May 9, 1832; in Italian, as "Il Franco - Arciero," at Covent Garden, March 16, 1825. For this - performance Costa wrote recitatives to replace the dialogue. - Berlioz did the same for the production at the Grand Opéra, - Paris, as "Le Franc Archer," June 7, 1841. "Freischütz" - means "free-shooter"--someone who shoots with magic bullets. - - CHARACTERS - - PRINCE OTTOKAR _Baritone_ - CUNO, head ranger _Bass_ - MAX, a forester _Tenor_ - KASPAR, a forester _Bass_ - KILIAN, a peasant _Tenor_ - A HERMIT _Bass_ - ZAMIEL, the wild huntsman _Speaking Part_ - AGATHE, Cuno's daughter _Soprano_ - AENNCHEN (ANNETTE), her cousin _Soprano_ - - _Time_--Middle of 18th Century. - - _Place_--Bohemia. - -Act I. At the target range. _Kilian_, the peasant, has defeated _Max_, -the forester, at a prize shooting, a Schützenfest, maybe. _Max_, of -course, should have won. Being a forester, accustomed to the use of -fire-arms, it is disgraceful for him to have been defeated by a mere -peasant. - -_Kilian_ "rubs it in" by mocking him in song and the men and girls of -the village join in the mocking chorus--a clever bit of teasing in -music and establishing at the very start the originality in melody, -style, and character of the opera. - -The hereditary forester, _Cuno_, is worried over the poor showing -_Max_ has made not only on that day, but for some time past. There is -to be a "shoot" on the morrow before _Prince Ottokar_. In order to win -the hand in marriage of _Agathe_, _Cuno's_ daughter, and the eventual -succession as hereditary forester, _Max_ must carry off the honours in -the competition now so near at hand. He himself is in despair. Life -will be worthless to him without _Agathe_. Yet he seems to have lost -all his cunning as a shot. - -It is now, when the others have gone, that another forester, _Kaspar_, -a man of dark visage and of morose and forbidding character, -approaches him. He hands him his gun, points to an eagle circling far -on high, and tells him to fire at it. _Max_ shoots. From its dizzy -height the bird falls dead at his feet. It is a wonderful shot. -_Kaspar_ explains to him that he has shot with a "free," or charmed -bullet; that such bullets always hit what the marksman wills them to; -and that if _Max_ will meet him in the Wolf's Glen at midnight, they -will mould bullets with one of which, on the morrow, he easily can win -_Agathe's_ hand and the hereditary office of forester. _Max_, to whom -victory means all that is dear to him, consents. - -Act II. _Agathe's_ room in the head ranger's house. The girl has -gloomy forebodings. Even her sprightly relative, _Aennchen_, is unable -to cheer her up. At last _Max_, whom she has been awaiting, comes. -Very soon, however, he says he is obliged to leave, because he has -shot a deer in the Wolf's Glen and must go after it. In vain the girls -warn him against the locality, which is said to be haunted. - -The scene changes to the Wolf's Glen, the haunt of _Zamiel_ the wild -huntsman (otherwise the devil) to whom _Kaspar_ has sold himself, and -to whom now he plans to turn over _Max_ as a victim, in order to gain -for himself a brief respite on earth, his time to _Zamiel_ being up. -The younger forester joins him in the Wolf's Glen and together they -mould seven magic bullets, six of which go true to the mark. The -seventh goes whither _Zamiel_ wills it. - -Act III. The first scene again plays in the forester's house. _Agathe_ -still is filled with forebodings. She is attired for the test shooting -which also will make her _Max's_ bride, if he is successful. Faith -dispels her gloom. The bridesmaids enter and wind the bridal garland. - -The time arrives for the test shooting. But only the seventh bullet, -the one which _Zamiel_ speeds whither he wishes, remains to _Max_. His -others he has used up on the hunt in order to show off before the -_Prince_. _Kaspar_ climbs a tree to watch the proceedings from a safe -place of concealment. He expects _Max_ to be _Zamiel's_ victim. Before -the whole village and the _Prince_ the test shot is to be made. The -Prince points to a flying dove. At that moment _Agathe_ appears -accompanied by a _Hermit_, a holy man. She calls out to _Max_ not to -shoot, that she is the dove. But _Max_ already has pulled the trigger. -The shot resounds. _Agathe_ falls--but only in a swoon. It is _Kaspar_ -who tumbles from the tree and rolls, fatally wounded, on the turf. -_Zamiel_ has had no power over _Max_, for the young forester had not -come to the Wolf's Glen of his own free will, but only after being -tempted by _Kaspar_. Therefore _Kaspar_ himself had to be the victim -of the seventh bullet. Upon the _Hermit's_ intercession, _Max_, who -has confessed everything, is forgiven by _Prince Ottokar_, the test -shot is abolished and a year's probation substituted for it. - -Many people are familiar with music from "Der Freischütz" without -being aware that it is from that opera. Several melodies from it have -been adapted as hymn tunes, and are often sung in church. In Act I, -are _Kilian's_ song and the chorus in which the men and women, young -and old, rally _Max_ upon his bad luck. There is an expressive trio -for _Max_, _Kaspar_, and _Cuno_, with chorus "O diese Sonne!" (O -fateful morrow.) There is a short waltz. _Max's_ solo, "Durch die -Wälder, durch die Auen" (Through the forest and o'er the meadows) is a -melody of great beauty, and this also can be said of his other solo in -the same scene, "Jetzt ist wohl ihr Fenster offen" (Now mayhap her -window opens), while the scene comes to a close with gloomy, -despairing accents, as _Zamiel_, unseen of course by _Max_, hovers, a -threatening shadow, in the background. There follows _Kaspar's_ -drinking song, forced in its hilariousness and ending in grotesque -laughter, _Kaspar_ being the familiar of _Zamiel_, the wild huntsman. -His air ("Triumph! Triumph! Vengeance will succeed") is wholly in -keeping with his sinister character. - -Act II opens with a delightful duet for _Agathe_ and _Aennchen_ and a -charmingly coquettish little air for the latter (Comes a comely youth -a-wooing). Then comes _Agathe's_ principal scene. She opens the window -and, as the moonlight floods the room, intones the prayer so simple, -so exquisite, so expressive: "Leise, leise, fromme Weise" (Softly -sighing, day is dying). - -[Music] - -This is followed, after a recitative, by a rapturous, descending -passage leading into an ecstatic melody: "Alle meine Pulse schlagen" -(All my pulses now are beating) as she sees her lover approaching. - -[Music] - -The music of the Wolf's Glen scene long has been considered the most -expressive rendering of the gruesome that is to be found in a musical -score. The stage apparatus that goes with it is such that it makes the -young sit up and take notice, while their elders, because of its -naïveté, are entertained. The ghost of _Max's_ mother appears to him -and strives to warn him away. Cadaverous, spooky-looking animals crawl -out from caves in the rocks and spit flames and sparks. Wagner got -more than one hint from the scene. But in the crucible of his genius -the glen became the lofty Valkyr rock, and the backdrop with the wild -hunt the superb "Ride of the Valkyries," while other details are -transfigured in that sublime episode, "The Magic Fire Scene." - -After a brief introduction, with suggestions of the hunting chorus -later in the action, the third act opens with _Agathe's_ lovely -cavatina, "And though a cloud the sun obscure." There are a couple of -solos for _Aennchen_, and then comes the enchanting chorus of -bridesmaids. This is the piece which Richard Wagner, then seven years -old, was playing in a room, adjoining which his stepfather, Ludwig -Geyer, lay in his last illness. Geyer had shown much interest in the -boy and in what might become of him. As he listened to him playing the -bridesmaids' chorus from "Der Freischütz" he turned to his wife, -Wagner's mother, and said: "What if he should have a talent for -music?" - -In the next scene are the spirited hunting chorus and the brilliant -finale, in which recurs the jubilant melody from _Agathe's_ second act -scene. - -The overture to "Der Freischütz" is the first in which an operatic -composer unreservedly has made use of melodies from the opera itself. -Beethoven, in the third "Leonore" overture, utilizes the theme of -_Florestan's_ air and the trumpet call. Weber has used not merely -thematic material but complete melodies. Following the beautiful -passage for horns at the beginning of the overture (a passage which, -like _Agathe's_ prayer, has been taken up into the Protestant hymnal) -is the music of _Max's_ outcry when, in the opera, he senses rather -than sees the passage of _Zamiel_ across the stage, after which comes -the sombre music of _Max's_ air: "Hatt denn der Himmel mich -verlassen?" (Am I then by heaven forsaken?). This leads up to the -music of _Agathe's_ outburst of joy when she sees her lover -approaching; and this is given complete. - -The structure of this overture is much like that of the overture to -"Tannhäuser" by Richard Wagner. There also is a resemblance in contour -between the music of _Agathe's_ jubilation and that of _Tannhäuser's_ -hymn to Venus. Wagner worshipped Weber. Without a suggestion of -plagiarism, the contour of Wagner's melodic idiom is that of Weber's. -The resemblance to Weber in the general structure of the finales to -the first acts of "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin" is obvious. Even in -some of the leading motives of the Wagner music-dramas, the student -will find the melodic contour of Weber still persisting. What could be -more in the spirit of Weber than the ringing _Parsifal_ motive, one of -the last things from the pen of Richard Wagner? - -Indeed the importance of Weber in the logical development of music and -specifically of opera, lies in the fact that he is the founder of the -romantic school in music;--a school of which Wagner is the -culmination. Weber is as truly the forerunner of Wagner as Haydn is of -Mozart, and Mozart of Beethoven. From the "Freischütz" Wagner derived -his early predilection for legendary subjects, as witness the "Flying -Dutchman," "Tannhäuser," and "Lohengrin," from which it was but a step -to the mythological subject of the "Ring" dramas. - -"Der Freischütz" is heard far too rarely in this country. But Weber's -importance as the founder of the romantic school and as the inspired -forerunner of Wagner long has been recognized. Without this -recognition there would be missing an important link in the evolution -of music and, specifically, of opera. - - -EURYANTHE - - Opera in three acts by Weber. Book, by Helmine von Chezy, - adapted from "L'Histoire de Gérard de Nevers et de la belle - et vertueuse Euryanthe, sa mie." Produced, Vienna, - Kärnthnerthor Theatre (Theatre at the Carinthian Gate), - October 25, 1823. New York, by Carl Anschütz, at Wallack's - Theatre, Broadway and Broome Street, 1863; Metropolitan - Opera House, December 23, 1887, with Lehmann, Brandt, - Alvary, and Fischer, Anton Seidl conducting. - - CHARACTERS - - EURYANTHE DE SAVOIE _Soprano_ - EGLANTINE DE PUISET _Mezzo-Soprano_ - LYSIART DE FORÊT _Baritone_ - ADOLAR DE NEVERS _Tenor_ - LOUIS VI _Bass_ - - _Time_--Beginning of the Twelfth Century. - - _Place_--France. - -Act I. Palace of the King. Count _Adolar_ chants the beauty and virtue -of his betrothed, _Euryanthe._ Count _Lysiart_ sneers and boasts that -he can lead her astray. The two noblemen stake their possessions upon -the result. - -Garden of the Palace of Nevers. _Euryanthe_ sings of her longing for -_Adolar_. _Eglantine_, the daughter of a rebellious subject who, made -a prisoner, has, on _Euryanthe's_ plea, been allowed the freedom of -the domain, is in love with _Adolar._ She has sensed that _Euryanthe_ -and her lover guard a secret. Hoping to estrange _Adolar_ from her, -she seeks to gain _Euryanthe's_ confidence and only too successfully. -For _Euryanthe_ confides to her that _Adolar's_ dead sister, who lies -in the lonely tomb in the garden, has appeared to _Adolar_ and herself -and confessed that, her lover having been slain in battle, she has -killed herself by drinking poison from her ring; nor can her soul find -rest until someone, innocently accused, shall wet the ring with tears. -To hold this secret inviolate has been imposed upon _Euryanthe_ by -_Adolar_ as a sacred duty. Too late she repents of having communicated -it to _Eglantine_ who, on her part, is filled with malicious glee. -_Lysiart_ arrives to conduct _Adolar's_ betrothed to the royal palace. - -Act II. _Lysiart_ despairs of accomplishing his fell purpose when -_Eglantine_ emerges from the tomb with the ring and reveals to him its -secret. In the royal palace, before a brilliant assembly, _Lysiart_ -claims to have won his wager, and, in proof, produces the ring, the -secret of which he claims _Euryanthe_ has communicated to him. She -protests her innocence, but in vain. _Adolar_ renounces his rank and -estates with which _Lysiart_ is forthwith invested and endowed, and, -dragging _Euryanthe_ after him, rushes into the forest where he -intends to kill her and then himself. - -Act III. In a rocky mountain gorge _Adolar_ draws his sword and is -about to slay _Euryanthe_, who in vain protests her innocence. At that -moment a huge serpent appears. _Euryanthe_ throws herself between it -and _Adolar_ in order to save him. He fights the serpent and kills it; -then, although _Euryanthe_ vows she would rather he slew her than not -love her, he goes his way leaving her to heaven's protection. She is -discovered by the _King_, who credits her story and promises to -vindicate her, when she tells him that it was through _Eglantine_, to -whom she disclosed the secret of the tomb, that _Lysiart_ obtained -possession of the ring. - -Gardens of Nevers, where preparations are making for the wedding of -_Lysiart_ and _Eglantine_. _Adolar_ enters in black armour with visor -down. _Eglantine_, still madly in love with him and dreading her union -with _Lysiart_, is so affected by the significance of the complete -silence with which the assembled villagers and others watch her pass, -that, half out of her mind, she raves about the unjust degradation she -has brought upon _Euryanthe_. - -_Adolar_, disclosing his identity, challenges _Lysiart_ to combat. But -before they can draw, the _King_ appears. In order to punish _Adolar_ -for his lack of faith in _Euryanthe_, he tells him that she is dead. -Savagely triumphant over her rival's end, _Eglantine_ now makes known -the entire plot and is slain by _Lysiart_. At that moment _Euryanthe_ -rushes into _Adolar's_ arms. _Lysiart_ is led off a captive. -_Adolar's_ sister finds eternal rest in her tomb because the ring has -been bedewed by the tears wept by the innocent _Euryanthe_. - -The libretto of "Euryanthe" is accounted extremely stupid, even for an -opera, and the work is rarely given. The opera, however, is important -historically as another stepping-stone in the direction of Wagner. -Several Wagnerian commentators regard the tomb motive as having -conveyed to the Bayreuth master more than a suggestion of the -Leitmotif system which he developed so fully in his music-drama. -_Adolar_, in black armour, is believed to have suggested _Parsifal's_ -appearance in sable harness and accoutrements in the last act of -"Parsifal." In any event, Wagner was a close student of Weber and -there is more than one phrase in "Euryanthe" that finds its echo in -"Lohengrin," although of plagiarism in the ordinary sense there is -none. - -While "Euryanthe" has never been popular, some of its music is very -fine. The overture may be said to consist of two vigorous, stirringly -dramatic sections separated by the weird tomb motive. The opening -chorus in the _King's_ palace is sonorous and effective. There is a -very beautiful romanza for _Adolar_ ("'Neath almond trees in -blossom"). In the challenge of the knights to the test of Euryanthe's -virtue occurs the vigorous phrase with which the overture opens. -_Euryanthe_ has an exquisite cavatina ("Chimes in the valley"). There -is an effective duet for _Euryanthe_ and _Eglantine_ ("Threatful -gather clouds about me"). A scene for _Eglantine_ is followed by the -finale--a chorus with solo for _Euryanthe_. - -_Lysiart's_ recitations and aria ("Where seek to hide?"), expressive -of hatred and defiance--a powerfully dramatic number--opens the second -act. There is a darkly premonitory duet for _Lysiart_ and _Eglantine_. -_Adolar_ has a tranquil aria ("When zephyrs waft me peace"); and a -duet full of abandon with _Euryanthe_ ("To you my soul I give"). The -finale is a quartette with chorus. The hunting chorus in the last act, -previous to the _King's_ discovery of _Euryanthe_, has been called -Weber's finest inspiration. - -Something should be done by means of a new libretto or by re-editing -to give "Euryanthe" the position it deserves in the modern operatic -repertoire. An attempt at a new libretto was made in Paris in 1857, at -the Théâtre Lyrique. It failed. Having read a synopsis of that -libretto, I can readily understand why. It is, if possible, more -absurd than the original. Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" is derived from -the same source as "Euryanthe," which shows that, after all, something -could be made of the story. - - -OBERON, - -OR THE ELF-KING'S OATH - - Opera in three acts, by Weber. Words by James Robinson - Planché. - - CHARACTERS - - OBERON _Tenor_ - TITANIA _Mute Character_ - PUCK _Contralto_ - DROLL _Contralto_ - HUON DE BORDEAUX _Tenor_ - SCHERASMIN, his esquire _Baritone_ - HAROUN EL RASCHID _Baritone_ - REZIA, his daughter _Soprano_ - FATIMA, her slave _Soprano_ - PRINCE BABEKAN _Tenor_ - EMIR ALMANSOR _Baritone_ - ROSCHANA, his wife _Contralto_ - ABDALLAH, a pirate _Bass_ - CHARLEMAGNE _Bass_ - -In a tribute to Weber, the librettist of "Oberon" wrote a sketch of -the action and also gave as the origin of the story the tale of "Huon -de Bordeaux," from the old collection of romances known as "La -Bibliothèque Bleue." Wieland's poem "Oberon," is based upon the old -romance and Sotheby's translation furnished Planché with the -groundwork for the text. - -According to Planché's description of the action, _Oberon_, the Elfin -King, having quarrelled with his fairy partner, _Titania_, vows never -to be reconciled to her till he shall find two lovers constant through -peril and temptation. To seek such a pair his "tricksy spirit," -_Puck_, has ranged in vain through the world. _Puck_, however, hears -sentence passed on _Sir Huon_, of Bordeaux, a young knight, who, -having been insulted by the son of _Charlemagne_, kills him in single -combat, and is for this condemned by the monarch to proceed to Bagdad, -slay him who sits on the _Caliph's_ left hand, and claim the -_Caliph's_ daughter as his bride. _Oberon_ instantly resolves to make -this pair the instruments of his reunion with his queen, and for this -purpose he brings up _Huon_ and _Scherasmin_ asleep before him, -enamours the knight by showing him _Rezia_, daughter of the _Caliph_, -in a vision, transports him at his waking to Bagdad, and having given -him a magic horn, by the blasts of which he is always to summon the -assistance of _Oberon_, and a cup that fills at pleasure, disappears. -_Sir Huon_ rescues a man from a lion, who proves afterwards to be -_Prince Babekan_, who is betrothed to _Rezia_. One of the properties -of the cup is to detect misconduct. He offers it to _Babekan_. On -raising it to his lips the wine turns to flame, and thus proves him a -villain. He attempts to assassinate _Huon_, but is put to flight. The -knight then learns from an old woman that the princess is to be -married next day, but that _Rezia_ has been influenced, like her -lover, by a vision, and is resolved to be his alone. She believes that -fate will protect her from her nuptials with _Babekan_, which are to -be solemnized on the next day. _Huon_ enters, fights with and -vanquishes _Babekan_, and having spellbound the rest by a blast of the -magic horn, he and _Scherasmin_ carry off _Rezia_ and _Fatima_. They -are soon shipwrecked. _Rezia_ is captured by pirates on a desert -island and brought to Tunis, where she is sold to the _Emir_ and -exposed to every temptation, but she remains constant. _Sir Huon_, by -the order of _Oberon_, is also conveyed thither. He undergoes similar -trials from _Roschana_, the jealous wife of the _Emir_, but proving -invulnerable she accuses him to her husband, and he is condemned to be -burned on the same pyre with _Rezia_. They are rescued by -_Scherasmin_, who has the magic horn, and sets all those who would -harm _Sir Huon_ and _Rezia_ dancing. _Oberon_ appears with his queen, -whom he has regained by the constancy of the lovers, and the opera -concludes with _Charlemagne's_ pardon of _Huon_. - -The chief musical numbers are, in the first act, _Huon's_ grand scene, -beginning with a description of the glories to be won in battle: in -the second act, an attractive quartette, "Over the dark blue waters," -_Puck's_ invocation of the spirits and their response, the great scene -for _Rezia_, "Ocean, thou mighty monster, that liest like a green -serpent coiled around the world," and the charming mermaid's song; -and, in the third act, the finale. - -As is the case with "Euryanthe," the puerilities of the libretto to -"Oberon" appear to have been too much even for Weber's beautiful -music. Either that, or else Weber is suffering the fate of all obvious -forerunners: which is that their genius finds its full and lasting -fruition in those whose greater genius it has caused to germinate and -ripen. Thus the full fruition of Weber's genius is found in the Wagner -operas and music-dramas. Even the fine overtures, "Freischütz," -"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," in former years so often found in the -classical concert repertoire, are played less and less frequently. The -"Tannhäuser" overture has supplanted them. The "Oberon" overture, like -that to "Freischütz" and "Euryanthe," is composed of material from the -opera--the horn solo from _Sir Huon's_ scena, portions of the fairies, -chorus and the third-act finale, the climax of _Rezia's_ scene in the -second act, and _Puck's_ invocation. - -In his youth Weber composed, to words by Heimer, an amusing little -musical comedy entitled "Abu Hassan." It was produced in Dresden under -the composer's direction. The text is derived from a well-known tale -in the _Arabian Nights_. Another youthful opera by Weber, "Silvana," -was produced at Frankfort-on-Main in 1810. The text, based upon an -old Rhine legend of a feud between two brothers, has been rearranged -by Ernst Pasqué, the score by Ferdinand Lange, who, in the ballet in -the second act, has introduced Weber's "Invitation à la Valse" and his -"Polonaise," besides utilizing other music by the composer. The -fragment of another work, a comic opera, "The Three Pintos," text by -Theodor Hell, was taken in hand and completed, the music by Gustav -Mahler, the libretto by Weber's grandson, Carl von Weber. - - - - -Why Some Operas are Rarely Given - - -There is hardly a writer on music, no matter how advanced his views, -who will not agree with me in all I have said in praise of "Orpheus -and Eurydice," the principal Mozart operas, Beethoven's "Fidelio," and -Weber's "Freischütz" and "Euryanthe." The question therefore arises: -"Why are these works not performed with greater frequency?" - -A general answer would be that the modern opera house is too large for -the refined and delicate music of Gluck and Mozart to be heard to best -effect. Moreover, these are the earliest works in the repertoire. - -In Mozart's case there is the further reason that "Don Giovanni" and -"The Magic Flute" are very difficult to give. An adequate performance -of "Don Giovanni" calls for three prima donnas of the highest rank. -The demands of "The Magic Flute" upon the female personnel of an opera -company also are very great--that is if the work is to be given at all -adequately and effectively. Moreover, the _recitativo secco_ (dry -recitative) of the Mozart operas--a recitative which, at a performance -of "Don Giovanni" in the Academy of Music, New York, I have heard -accompanied by the conductor on an upright pianoforte--is tedious to -ears accustomed to have every phrase in modern opera sung to an -expressive orchestral accompaniment. As regards "Fidelio" it has -spoken dialogue; and if anything has been demonstrated over and over -again, it is that American audiences of today simply will not stand -for spoken dialogue in grand opera. That also, together with the -extreme naïveté of their librettos, is the great handicap of the Weber -operas. It is neither an easy nor an agreeable descent from the -vocalized to the spoken word. And so, works, admittedly great, are -permitted to lapse into unpardonable desuetude, because no genius, -willing or capable, has come forward to change the _recitativo secco_ -of Mozart, or the dialogue that affronts the hearer in the other works -mentioned, into recitatives that will restore these operas to their -deserved place in the modern repertoire. Berlioz tried it with "Der -Freischütz" and appears to have failed; nor have the "Freischütz" -recitatives by Costa seemingly fared any better. This may have -deterred others from making further attempts of the kind. But it seems -as if a lesser genius than Berlioz, and a talent superior to Costa's, -might succeed where they failed. - - - - -From Weber to Wagner - - -In the evolution of opera from Weber to Wagner a gap was filled by -composers of but little reputation here, although their names are -known to every student of the lyric stage. Heinrich Marschner -(1795-1861) composed in "Hans Heiling," Berlin, 1833, an opera based -on legendary material. Its success may have confirmed Wagner's bent -toward dramatic sources of this kind already aroused by his admiration -for Weber. "Hans Heiling," "Der Vampyr" (The Vampire), and "Der -Templer und Die Judin" (Templar and Jewess, a version of _Ivanhoe_) -long held an important place in the operatic repertoire of their -composer's native land. On the other hand "Faust" (1818) and -"Jessonda" (1823), by Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859), have about completely -disappeared. Spohr, however, deserves mention as being one of the -first professional musicians of prominence to encourage Wagner. -Incapable of appreciating either Beethoven or Weber, yet, strange to -say, he at once recognized the merits of "The Flying Dutchman" and -"Tannhäuser," and even of "Lohengrin"--at the time sealed volumes to -most musicians and music lovers. As court conductor at Kassel, he -brought out the first two Wagner operas mentioned respectively in 1842 -and 1853; and was eager to produce "Lohengrin," but was prevented by -opposition from the court. - -Meyerbeer and his principal operas will be considered at length in the -chapters in this book devoted to French opera. There is no doubt, -however, that what may be called the "largeness" of Meyerbeer's style -and the effectiveness of his instrumentation had their influence on -Wagner. - -Gasparo Spontini (1774-1851) was an Italian by birth, but I believe -can be said to have made absolutely no impression on the development -of Italian opera. His principal works, "La Vestale" (The Vestal -Virgin), and "Fernando Cortez," were brought out in Paris and later in -Berlin, where he was general music director, 1820-1841. His operas -were heavily scored, especially for brass. Much that is noisy in -"Rienzi" may be traced to Spontini, but later Wagner understood how to -utilize the brass in the most eloquent manner; for, like Shakespeare, -Wagner possessed the genius that converts the dross of others into -refined gold. - -Mention may be here made of three composers of light opera, who -succeeded in evolving a refined and charming type of the art. We at -least know the delightful overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor," by -Otto Nicolai (1810-1849); and the whole opera, produced in Berlin a -few months before Nicolai died, is equally frolicksome and graceful. -Conradin Kreutzer (1780-1849) brought out, in 1836, "Das Nachtlager in -Granada" (A Night's Camp in Granada), a melodious and sparkling score. - -But the German light opera composer par excellence is Albert Lortzing -(1803-1851). His chief works are, "Czar und Zimmermann" (Czar and -Carpenter), 1834, with its beautiful baritone solo, "In childhood I -played with a sceptre and crown"; "Der Wildschütz" (The Poacher); -"Undine"; and "Der Waffenschmied" (The Armourer) which last also has a -deeply expressive solo for baritone, "Ich auch war einst Jüngling mit -lockigem Haar" (I too was a youth once with fair, curly hair). - - - - -Richard Wagner - -(1813-1883) - - -Richard Wagner was born at Leipsic, May 22, 1813. His father was clerk -to the city police court and a man of good education. During the -French occupation of Leipsic he was, owing to his knowledge of French, -made chief of police. He was fond of poetry and had a special love for -the drama, often taking part in amateur theatricals. - -Five months after Richard's birth his father died of an epidemic fever -brought on by the carnage during the battle of Leipsic, October 16, -18, and 19, 1813. In 1815 his widow, whom he had left in most -straitened circumstances, married Ludwig Geyer, an actor, a -playwright, and a portrait painter. By inheritance from his father, by -association with his stepfather, who was very fond of him, Wagner -readily acquired the dramatic faculty so pronounced in his operas and -music-dramas of which he is both author and composer. - -At the time Wagner's mother married Geyer, he was a member of the -Court Theatre at Dresden. Thither the family removed. When the boy was -eight years old, he had learned to play on the pianoforte the chorus -of bridesmaids from "Der Freischütz," then quite new. The day before -Geyer's death, September 30, 1821, Richard was playing this piece in -an adjoining room and heard Geyer say to his mother: "Do you think he -might have a gift for music?" Coming out of the death room Wagner's -mother said to him: "Of you he wanted to make something." "From this -time on," writes Wagner in his early autobiographical sketch, "I -always had an idea that I was destined to amount to something in this -world." - -At school Wagner made quite a little reputation as a writer of verses. -He was such an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare that at the age of -fourteen he began a grand tragedy, of which he himself says that it -was a jumble of _Hamlet_ and _Lear_. So many people died in the course -of it that their ghosts had to return in order to keep the fifth act -going. - -In 1833, at the age of twenty, Wagner began his career as a -professional musician. His elder brother Albert was engaged as tenor, -actor, and stage manager at the Würzburg theatre. A position as chorus -master being offered to Richard, he accepted it, although his salary -was a pittance of ten florins a month. However, the experience was -valuable. He was able to profit by many useful hints from his brother, -the Musikverein performed several of his compositions, and his duties -were not so arduous but that he found time to write the words and -music of an opera in three acts entitled "The Fairies"--first -performed in June, 1888, five years after his death, at Munich. In the -autumn of 1834 he was called to the conductorship of the opera at -Magdeburg. There he wrote and produced an opera, "Das Liebesverbot" -(Love Veto), based on Shakespeare's _Measure for Measure_. The theatre -at Magdeburg was, however, on the ragged edge of bankruptcy, and -during the spring of 1836 matters became so bad that it was evident -the theatre must soon close. Finally only twelve days were left for -the rehearsing and the performance of his opera. The result was that -the production went completely to pieces, singers forgetting their -lines and music, and a repetition which was announced could not come -off because of a free fight behind the scenes between two of the -principal singers. Wagner describes this in the following amusing -passage in his autobiographical sketch: - -"All at once the husband of my prima donna (the impersonator of -_Isabella_) pounced upon the second tenor, a very young and handsome -fellow (the singer of my _Claudio_), against whom the injured spouse -had long cherished a secret jealousy. It seemed that the prima donna's -husband, who had from behind the curtains inspected with me the -composition of the audience, considered that the time had now arrived -when, without damage to the prospects of the theatre, he could take -his revenge on his wife's lover. _Claudio_ was so pounded and -belaboured by him that the unhappy individual was compelled to retire -to the dressing-room with his face all bleeding. _Isabella_ was -informed of this, and, rushing desperately toward her furious lord, -received from him such a series of violent cuffs that she forthwith -went into spasms. The confusion among my personnel was now quite -boundless: everybody took sides with one party or the other, and -everything seemed on the point of a general fight. It seemed as if -this unhappy evening appeared to all of them precisely calculated for -a final settling up of all sorts of fancied insults. This much was -evident, that the couple who had suffered under the 'love veto' -(Liebesverbot) of _Isabella's_ husband, were certainly unable to -appear on this occasion." - -Wagner was next engaged as orchestral conductor at Königsberg, where -he married the actress Wilhelmina, or Minna Planer. Later he received -notice of his appointment as conductor and of the engagement of his -wife and sister at the theatre at Riga, on the Russian side of the -Baltic. - -In Riga he began the composition of his first great success, -"Rienzi." He completed the libretto during the summer of 1838, and -began the music in the autumn, and when his contract terminated in the -spring of 1839 the first two acts were finished. In July, accompanied -by his wife and a huge Newfoundland dog, he boarded a sailing vessel -for London, at the port of Pilau, his intention being to go from -London to Paris. "I shall never forget the voyage," he says. "It was -full of disaster. Three times we nearly suffered shipwreck, and once -were obliged to seek safety in a Norwegian harbour.... The legend of -the 'Flying Dutchman' was confirmed by the sailors, and the -circumstances gave it a distinct and characteristic colour in my -mind." No wonder the sea is depicted so graphically in his opera "The -Flying Dutchman." - -He arrived in Paris in September, 1839, and remained until April 7, -1842, from his twenty-sixth to his twenty-ninth year. This Parisian -sojourn was one of the bitter experiences of his life. At times he -actually suffered from cold and hunger, and was obliged to do a vast -amount of most uncongenial kind of hack work. - -November 19, 1840, he completed the score of "Rienzi," and in December -forwarded it to the director of the Royal Theatre at Dresden. While -awaiting a reply, he contributed to the newspapers and did all kinds -of musical drudgery for Schlesinger, the music publisher, even making -arrangements for the cornet à piston. Finally word came from Dresden. -"Rienzi" had aroused the enthusiasm of the chorus master, Fischer, and -of the tenor Tichatschek, who saw that the title rôle was exactly -suited to his robust, dramatic voice. Then there was Mme. -Schröder-Devrient for the part of _Adriano_. The opera was produced -October 20, 1842, the performance beginning at six and ending just -before midnight, to the enthusiastic plaudits of an immense audience. -So great was the excitement that in spite of the late hour people -remained awake to talk over the success. "We all ought to have gone -to bed," relates a witness, "but we did nothing of the kind." Early -the next morning Wagner appeared at the theatre in order to make -excisions from the score, which he thought its great length -necessitated. But when he returned in the afternoon to see if they had -been executed, the copyist excused himself by saying the singers had -protested against any cuts. Tichatschek said: "I will have no cuts; it -is too heavenly." After a while, owing to its length, the opera was -divided into two evenings. - -The success of "Rienzi" led the Dresden management to put "The Flying -Dutchman" in rehearsal. It was brought out after somewhat hasty -preparations, January 2, 1843. The opera was so different from -"Rienzi," its sombre beauty contrasted so darkly with the glaring, -brilliant music and scenery of the latter, that the audience failed to -grasp it. In fact, after "Rienzi," it was a disappointment. - -Before the end of January, 1843, not long after the success of -"Rienzi," Wagner was appointed one of the Royal conductors at Dresden. -He was installed February 2d. One of his first duties was to assist -Berlioz at the rehearsals of the latter's concerts. Wagner's work in -his new position was somewhat varied, consisting not only of -conducting operas, but also music between the acts at theatrical -performances and at church services. The principal operas which he -rehearsed and conducted were "Euryanthe," "Freischütz," "Don -Giovanni," "The Magic Flute," Gluck's "Armide," and "Iphigenia in -Aulis." The last-named was revised both as regards words and music by -him, and his changes are now generally accepted. - -Meanwhile he worked arduously on "Tannhäuser," completing it April 13, -1844. It was produced at Dresden, October 19, 1845. At first the work -proved even a greater puzzle to the public than "The Flying Dutchman" -had, and evoked comments which nowadays, when the opera has actually -become a classic, seem ridiculous. Some people even suggested that the -plot of the opera should be changed so that _Tannhäuser_ should marry -_Elizabeth_. - -The management of the Dresden theatre, which had witnessed the -brilliant success of "Rienzi" and had seen "The Flying Dutchman" and -"Tannhäuser" at least hold their own in spite of the most virulent -opposition, looked upon his next work, "Lohengrin," as altogether too -risky and put off its production indefinitely. - -Thinking that political changes might put an end to the routine -stagnation in musical matters, Wagner joined in the revolutionary -agitation of '48 and '49. In May, 1849, the disturbances at Dresden -reached such an alarming point that the Saxon Court fled. Prussian -troops were dispatched to quell the riot and Wagner thought it -advisable to flee. He went to Weimar, where Liszt was busy rehearsing -"Tannhäuser." While attending a rehearsal of this work, May 19, news -was received that orders had been issued for his arrest as a -politically dangerous individual. Liszt at once procured a passport -and Wagner started for Paris. In June he went to Zurich, where he -found Dresden friends and where his wife joined him, being enabled to -do so through the zeal of Liszt, who raised the money to defray her -journey from Dresden. - -Liszt brought out "Lohengrin" at Weimar, August 28, 1850. The -reception of "Lohengrin" did not at first differ much from that -accorded to "Tannhäuser." Yet the performance made a deep impression. -The fact that the weight of Liszt's influence had been cast in its -favour gave vast importance to the event, and it may be said that -through this performance Wagner's cause received its first great -stimulus. The so-called Wagner movement may be said to have dated from -this production of "Lohengrin." - -He finished the librettos of the "Nibelung" dramas in 1853. By May, -1854, the music of "Das Rheingold" was composed. The following month -he began "Die Walküre" and finished all but the instrumentation during -the following winter and the full score in 1856. Previous to this, in -fact already in the autumn of 1854, he had sketched some of the music -of "Siegfried," and in the spring of 1857 the full score of the first -act and of the greater part of the second act was finished. Then, -recognizing the difficulties which he would encounter in securing a -performance of the "Ring," and appalled by the prospect of the battle -he would be obliged to wage, he was so disheartened that he abandoned -the composition of "Siegfried" at the _Waldweben_ scene and turned to -"Tristan." His idea at that time was that "Tristan" would be short and -comparatively easy to perform. Genius that he was, he believed that -because it was easy for him to write great music it would be easy for -others to interpret it. A very curious, not to say laughable, incident -occurred at this time. An agent of the Emperor of Brazil called and -asked if Wagner would compose an opera for an Italian troupe at Rio de -Janeiro, and would he conduct the work himself, all upon his own -terms. The composition of "Tristan" actually was begun with a view of -its being performed by Italians in Brazil! - -The poem of "Tristan" was finished early in 1857, and in the winter of -the same year the full score of the first act was ready to be -forwarded to the engraver. The second act is dated Venice, March 2, -1859. The third is dated Lyons, August, 1859. - -It is interesting to note in connection with "Tristan" that, while -Wagner wrote it because he thought it would be easy to secure its -performance, he subsequently found more difficulty in getting it -produced than any other of his works. In September, 1859, he again -went to Paris with the somewhat curious hope that he could there find -opportunity to produce "Tristan" with German artists. Through the -intercession of the Princess Metternich, the Emperor ordered the -production of "Tannhäuser" at the Opéra. Beginning March 13, 1861, -three performances were given, of which it is difficult to say whether -the performance was on the stage or in the auditorium, for the uproar -in the house often drowned the sounds from the stage. The members of -the Jockey Club, who objected to the absence of a ballet, armed -themselves with shrill whistles, on which they began to blow whenever -there was the slightest hint of applause, and the result was that -between the efforts of the singers to make themselves heard and of -Wagner's friends to applaud, and the shrill whistling from his -enemies, there was confusion worse confounded. But Wagner's friendship -with Princess Metternich bore good fruit. Through her mediation, it is -supposed, he received permission to return to all parts of Germany but -Saxony. It was not until March, 1862, thirteen years after his -banishment, that he was again allowed to enter the kingdom of his -birth and first success. - -His first thought now was to secure the production of "Tristan," but -at Vienna, after fifty-seven rehearsals, it was put upon the shelf as -impossible. - -In 1863, while working upon "Die Meistersinger," at Penzing, near -Vienna, he published his "Nibelung" dramas, expressing his hope that -through the bounty of one of the German rulers the completion and -performance of his "Ring of the Nibelung" would be made possible. But -in the spring of 1864, worn out by his struggle with poverty and -almost broken in spirit by his contest with public and critics, he -actually determined to give up his public career, and eagerly grasped -the opportunity to visit a private country seat in Switzerland. Just -at this very moment, when despair had settled upon him, the long -wished-for help came. King Ludwig II., of Bavaria, bade him come to -Munich, where he settled in 1864. "Tristan" was produced there June -10, 1865. June 21, 1868, a model performance of "Die Meistersinger," -which he had finished in 1867, was given at Munich under the direction -of von Bülow, Richter acting as chorus master and Wagner supervising -all the details. Wagner also worked steadily at the unfinished portion -of the "Ring," completing the instrumentation of the third act of -"Siegfried" in 1869 and the introduction and first act of "The Dusk of -the Gods" in June, 1870. - -August 25, 1870, his first wife having died January 25, 1866, after -five years' separation from him, he married the divorced wife of von -Bülow, Cosima Liszt. In 1869 and 1870, respectively "The Rhinegold" -and "The Valkyr" were performed at the Court Theatre in Munich. - -Bayreuth having been determined upon as the place where a theatre for -the special production of his "Ring" should be built, Wagner settled -there in April, 1872. By November, 1874, "Dusk of the Gods" received -its finishing touches, and rehearsals had already been held at -Bayreuth. During the summer of 1875, under Wagner's supervision, Hans -Richter held full rehearsals there, and at last, twenty-eight years -after its first conception, on August 13th, 14th, 16th, and 17th, -again from August 20 to 23, and from August 27 to 30, 1876, "The Ring -of the Nibelung" was performed at Bayreuth with the following cast: -_Wotan_, Betz; _Loge_, Vogel; _Alberich_, Hill; _Mime_, Schlosser; -_Fricka_, Frau Grün; _Donner_ and _Gunther_, Gura; _Erda_ and -_Waltraute_, Frau Jaide; _Siegmund_, Niemann; _Sieglinde_, Frl. -Schefsky; _Brünnhilde_, Frau Materna; _Siegfried_, Unger; _Hagen_, -Siehr; _Gutrune_, Frl. Weckerin; _Rhinedaughters_, Lilli and Marie -Lehmann, and Frl. Lammert. First violin, Wilhelmj; conductor, Hans -Richter. The first _Rhinedaughter_ was the same Lilli Lehmann who, in -later years, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, became one of -the greatest of prima donnas and, as regards the Wagnerian repertoire, -set a standard for all time. Materna appeared at that house in the -"Valkyr" production under Dr. Damrosch, in January, 1885, and Niemann -was heard there later. - -To revert to Bayreuth, "Parsifal" was produced there in July, 1882. In -the autumn of that year, Wagner's health being in an unsatisfactory -state, though no alarming symptoms had shown themselves, he took up -his residence in Venice at the Palazzo Vendramini, on the Grand Canal. -He died February 13, 1883. - -In manner incidental, that is, without attention formally being called -to the subject, Wagner's reform of the lyric stage is set forth in the -descriptive accounts of his music-dramas which follow, and in which -the leading motives are quoted in musical notation. But something -directly to the point must be said here. - -Once again, like Gluck a century before, Wagner opposed the assumption -of superiority on the part of the interpreter--the singer--over the -composer. He opposed it in manner so thorough-going that he changed -the whole face of opera. A far greater tribute to Wagner's genius than -the lame attempts of some German composers at imitating him, is the -frank adoption of certain phases of his method by modern French and -Italian composers, beginning with Verdi in "Aïda." While by no means a -Wagnerian work, since it contains not a trace of the theory of the -leading motive, "Aïda," through the richness of its instrumentation, -the significant accompaniment of its recitative, the lack of mere -_bravura_ embellishment in its vocal score, and its sober reaching out -for true dramatic effect in the treatment of the voices, substituting -this for ostentatious brilliancy and ear-tickling fluency, plainly -shows the influence of Wagner upon the greatest of Italian composers. -And what is true of "Aïda," is equally applicable to the whole school -of Italian _verismo_ that came after Verdi--Mascagni, Leoncavallo, -Puccini. - -Wagner's works are conceived and executed upon a gigantic scale. They -are Shakespearian in their dimensions and in their tragic power; or, -as in the "Meistersinger," in their comedy element. Each of his works -is highly individual. The "Ring" dramas and "Tristan" are unmistakably -Wagner. Yet how individually characteristic the music of each! That of -the "Ring" is of elemental power. The "Tristan" music is molten -passion. Equally characteristic and individual are his other scores. - -The theory evolved by Wagner was that the lyric stage should present -not a series of melodies for voice upon a mere framework of plot and -versified story, but a serious work of dramatic art, the music to -which should, both vocally and instrumentally, express the ever -varying development of the drama. With this end in view he invented a -melodious recitative which only at certain great crises in the -progress of the action--such as the love-climax, the gathering at the -Valkyr Rock, the "Farewell," and the "Magic Fire" scenes in "The -Valkyr"; the meeting of _Siegfried_ and _Brünnhilde_ in "Siegfried"; -the love duet and "Love-Death" in "Tristan"--swells into prolonged -melody. Note that I say prolonged melody. For besides these prolonged -melodies, there is almost constant melody, besides marvellous -orchestral colour, in the weft and woof of the recitative. This is -produced by the artistic use of leading motives, every leading motive -being a brief, but expressive, melody--so brief that, to one coming to -Wagner without previous study or experience, the melodious quality of -his recitative is not appreciated at first. After a while, however, -the hearer begins to recognize certain brief, but melodious and -musically eloquent phrases--leading motives--as belonging to certain -characters in the drama or to certain influences potent in its -development, such as hate, love, jealousy, the desire for revenge, -etc. Often to express a combination of circumstances, influences, -passions, or personal actions, these leading motives, these brief -melodious phrases, are combined with a skill that is unprecedented; or -the voice may express one, while the orchestra combines with it in -another. - -To enable the orchestra to follow these constantly changing phases in -the evolution and development of the drama, and often to give -utterance to them separately, it was necessary for Wagner to have most -intimate knowledge of the individual tone quality and characteristics -of every instrument in the orchestra, and this mastery of what I may -call instrumental personality he possessed to a hitherto undreamed-of -degree. Nor has anyone since equalled him in it. The result is a -choice and variety of instrumentation which in itself is almost an -equivalent for dramatic action and enables the orchestra to adapt -itself with unerring accuracy to the varying phases of the drama. - -Consider that, when Wagner first projected his theory of the -music-drama, singers were accustomed in opera to step into the -limelight and, standing there, deliver themselves of set melodies, -acknowledge applause and give as many encores as were called for, in -fact were "it," while the real creative thing, the opera, was but -secondary, and it is easy to comprehend the opposition which his works -aroused among the personnel of the lyric stage; for music-drama -demands a singer's absorption not only in the music but also in the -action. A Wagner music-drama requires great singers, but the singers -no longer absorb everything. They are part--a most important part, it -is true--of a performance, in which the drama itself, the orchestra, -and the stage pictures are also of great importance. A performance of -a Wagner music-drama, to be effective, must be a well-rounded, -eloquent whole. The drama must be well acted from a purely dramatic -point of view. It must be well sung from a purely vocal point of view. -It must be well interpreted from a purely orchestral point of view. It -must be well produced from a purely stage point of view. For all these -elements go hand in hand. It is, of course, well known that Wagner was -the author of his own librettos and showed himself a dramatist of the -highest order for the lyric stage. - -While his music-dramas at first aroused great opposition among -operatic artists, growing familiarity with them caused these artists -to change their view. The interpretation of a Wagner character was -discovered to be a combined intellectual and emotional task which -slowly, but surely, appealed more and more to the great singers of the -lyric stage. They derived a new dignity and satisfaction from their -work, especially as audiences also began to realize that, instead of -mere entertainment, performances of Wagner music-dramas were -experiences that both stirred the emotions to their depths and -appealed to the intellect as well. To this day Lilli Lehmann is -regarded by all, who had the good fortune to hear her at the -Metropolitan Opera House, as the greatest prima donna and the most -dignified figure in the history of the lyric stage in this country; -for on the lyric stage the interpretation of the great characters in -Wagnerian music-drama already had come to be regarded as equal to the -interpretation of the great Shakespearian characters on the dramatic. - -Wagner's genius was so supreme that, although he has been dead -thirty-four years, he is still without a successor. Through the force -of his own genius he appears destined to remain the sole exponent of -the art form of which he was the creator. But his influence is still -potent. This we discover not only in the enrichment of the orchestral -accompaniment in opera, but in the banishment of senseless vocal -embellishment, in the search for true dramatic expression and, in -general, in the greater seriousness with which opera is taken as an -art. Even the minor point of lowering the lights in the auditorium -during a performance, so as to concentrate attention upon the stage, -is due to him; and even the older Italian operas are now given with an -attention to detail, scenic setting, and an endeavour to bring out -their dramatic effects, quite unheard of before his day. He was, -indeed, a reformer of the lyric stage whose influence long will be -potent "all along the line." - - -RIENZI, DER LETZTE DER TRIBUNEN - -RIENZI, THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES - - Opera in five acts. Words and music by Wagner. Produced, - Dresden, October 20, 1842. London, Her Majesty's Theatre, - April 16, 1869. New York, Academy of Music, 1878, with - Charles R. Adams, as _Rienzi_, Pappenheim as _Adriano_; - Metropolitan Opera House, February 5, 1886, with Sylva as - _Rienzi_, Lehmann as _Irene_, Brandt as _Adriano_, Fischer - as _Colonna_. - - CHARACTERS - - COLA RIENZI, Roman Tribune and Papal Notary _Tenor_ - IRENE, his sister _Soprano_ - STEFFANO COLONNA _Bass_ - ADRIANO, his son _Mezzo-Soprano_ - PAOLO ORSINO _Bass_ - RAIMONDO, Papal Legate _Bass_ - BARONCELLO } { _Tenor_ - CECCO DEL VECCHIO } Roman citizens { _Bass_ - MESSENGER OF PEACE _Soprano_ - - Ambassadors, Nobles, Priests, Monks, Soldiers, Messengers, - and Populace in General. - - _Time_--Middle of the Fourteenth Century. - - _Place_--Rome. - -_Orsino_, a Roman patrician, attempts to abduct _Irene_, the sister of -_Rienzi_, a papal notary, but is opposed at the critical moment by -_Colonna_, another patrician. A fight ensues between the two factions, -in the midst of which _Adriano_, the son of _Colonna_, who is in love -with _Irene_, appears to defend her. A crowd is attracted by the -tumult, and among others _Rienzi_ comes upon the scene. Enraged at the -insult offered his sister, and stirred on by _Cardinal Raimondo_, he -urges the people to resist the outrages of the nobles. _Adriano_ is -impelled by his love for _Irene_ to cast his lot with her brother. The -nobles are overpowered, and appear at the capitol to swear allegiance -to _Rienzi_, but during the festal proceedings _Adriano_ warns him -that the nobles have plotted to kill him. An attempt which _Orsino_ -makes upon him with a dagger is frustrated by a steel breastplate -which _Rienzi_ wears under his robe. - -The nobles are seized and condemned to death, but on _Adriano's_ -pleading they are spared. They, however, violate their oath of -submission, and the people again under _Rienzi's_ leadership rise and -exterminate them, _Adriano_ having pleaded in vain. In the end the -people prove fickle. The popular tide turns against _Rienzi_, -especially in consequence of the report that he is in league with the -German emperor, and intends to restore the Roman pontiff to power. As -a festive procession is escorting him to church, _Adriano_ rushes upon -him with a drawn dagger, being infuriated at the slaughter of his -family, but the blow is averted. Instead of the "Te Deum," however, -with which _Rienzi_ expected to be greeted on his entrance to the -church, he hears the malediction and sees the ecclesiastical -dignitaries placing the ban of excommunication against him upon the -doors. _Adriano_ hurries to _Irene_ to warn her of her brother's -danger, and urges her to seek safety with him in flight. She, however, -repels him, and seeks her brother, determined to die with him, if need -be. She finds him at prayer in the capitol, but rejects his counsel to -save herself with _Adriano_. _Rienzi_ appeals to the infuriated -populace which has gathered around the capitol, but they do not heed -him. They fire the capitol with their torches, and hurl stones at -_Rienzi_ and _Irene_. As _Adriano_ sees his beloved one and her -brother doomed to death in the flames, he throws away his sword, -rushes into the capitol, and perishes with them. - -The overture of "Rienzi" gives a vivid idea of the action of the -opera. Soon after the beginning there is heard the broad and stately -melody of _Rienzi's_ prayer, and then the Rienzi Motive, a typical -phrase, which is used with great effect later in the opera. It is -followed in the overture by the lively melody heard in the concluding -portion of the finale of the second act. These are the three most -conspicuous portions of the overture, in which there are, however, -numerous tumultuous passages reflecting the dramatic excitement which -pervades many scenes. - -The opening of the first act is full of animation, the orchestra -depicting the tumult which prevails during the struggle between the -nobles. _Rienzi's_ brief recitative is a masterpiece of declamatory -music, and his call to arms is spirited. It is followed by a trio -between _Irene_, _Rienzi_, and _Adriano_, and this in turn by a duet -for the two last-named which is full of fire. The finale opens with a -double chorus for the populace and the monks in the Lateran, -accompanied by the organ. Then there is a broad and energetic appeal -to the people from _Rienzi_, and amid the shouts of the populace and -the ringing tones of the trumpets the act closes. - -The insurrection of the people against the nobles is successful, and -_Rienzi_, in the second act, awaits at the capitol the patricians who -are to pledge him their submission. The act opens with a broad and -stately march, to which the messengers of peace enter. They sing a -graceful chorus. This is followed by a chorus for the senators, and -the nobles then tender their submission. There is a terzetto, between -_Adriano_, _Colonna_, and _Orsino_, in which the nobles express their -contempt for the young patrician. The finale which then begins is -highly spectacular. There is a march for the ambassadors, and a grand -ballet, historical in character, and supposed to be symbolical of the -triumphs of ancient Rome. In the midst of this occurs the assault upon -_Rienzi_. _Rienzi's_ pardon of the nobles is conveyed in a broadly -beautiful melody, and this is succeeded by the animated passage heard -in the overture. With it are mingled the chants of the monks, the -shouts of the people who are opposed to the cardinal and nobles, and -the tolling of bells. - -The third act opens tumultuously. The people have been aroused by -fresh outrages on the part of the nobles. _Rienzi's_ emissaries -disperse, after a furious chorus, to rouse the populace to vengeance. -After they have left, _Adriano_ has his great air, a number which can -never fail of effect when sung with all the expression of which it is -capable. The rest of the act is a grand accumulation of martial music -or noise, whichever one chooses to call it, and includes the -stupendous battle hymn, which is accompanied by the clashing of sword -and shields, the ringing of bells, and all the tumult incidental to a -riot. After _Adriano_ has pleaded in vain with _Rienzi_ for the -nobles, and the various bands of armed citizens have dispersed, there -is a duet between _Adriano_ and _Irene_, in which _Adriano_ takes -farewell of her. The victorious populace appears and the act closes -with their triumphant shouts. The fourth act is brief, and beyond the -description given in the synopsis of the plot, requires no further -comment. - -The fifth act opens with the beautiful prayer of _Rienzi_, already -familiar from the overture. There is a tender duet between _Rienzi_ -and _Irene_, an impassioned aria for _Rienzi_, a duet for _Irene_ and -_Adriano_, and then the finale, which is chiefly choral. - - -DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER - -THE FLYING DUTCHMAN - - Opera in three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner. - Produced, Royal Opera, Dresden, January 2, 1843. London, - July 23, 1870, as "L'Olandese Dannato"; October 3, 1876, by - Carl Rosa, in English. New York, Academy of Music, January - 26, 1877, in English, with Clara Louise Kellogg; March 12, - 1877, in German; in the spring of 1883, in Italian, with - Albani, Galassi, and Ravelli. - - CHARACTERS - - DALAND, a Norwegian sea captain _Bass_ - SENTA, his daughter _Soprano_ - ERIC, a huntsman _Tenor_ - MARY, SENTA'S nurse _Contralto_ - DALAND'S Steersman _Tenor_ - THE DUTCHMAN _Baritone_ - - Sailors, Maidens, Hunters, etc. - - _Time_--Eighteenth Century. - - _Place_--A Norwegian Fishing Village. - -From "Rienzi" Wagner took a great stride to "The Flying Dutchman." -This is the first milestone on the road from opera to music-drama. Of -his "Rienzi" the composer was in after years ashamed, writing to -Liszt: "I, as an artist and man, have not the heart for the -reconstruction of that, to my taste, superannuated work, which in -consequence of its immoderate dimensions, I have had to remodel more -than once. I have no longer the heart for it, and desire from all my -soul to do something new instead." He spoke of it as a youthful error, -but in "The Flying Dutchman" there is little, if anything, which could -have troubled his artistic conscience. - -One can hardly imagine the legend more effective dramatically and -musically than it is in Wagner's libretto and score. It is a work of -wild and sombre beauty, relieved only occasionally by touches of light -and grace, and has all the interest attaching to a work in which for -the first time a genius feels himself conscious of his greatness. If -it is not as impressive as "Tannhäuser" or "Lohengrin," nor as -stupendous as the music-dramas, that is because the subject of the -work is lighter. As his genius developed, his choice of subjects and -his treatment of them passed through as complete an evolution as his -musical theory, so that when he finally abandoned the operatic form -and adopted his system of leading motives, he conceived, for the -dramatic bases of his scores, dramas which it would be difficult to -fancy set to any other music than that which is so characteristic in -his music-dramas. - -Wagner's present libretto is based upon the weirdly picturesque legend -of "The Flying Dutchman"--the Wandering Jew of the ocean. A Dutch sea -captain, who, we are told, tried to double the Cape of Good Hope in -the teeth of a furious gale, swore that he would accomplish his -purpose even if he kept on sailing forever. The devil, hearing the -oath, condemned the captain to sail the sea until Judgment Day, -without hope of release, unless he should find a woman who would love -him faithfully unto death. Once in every seven years he is allowed to -go ashore in search of a woman who will redeem him through her -faithful love. - -The opera opens just as a term of seven years has elapsed. The -_Dutchman's_ ship comes to anchor in a bay of the coast of Norway, in -which the ship of _Daland_, a Norwegian sea captain, has sought -shelter from the storm. _Daland's_ home is not far from the bay, and -the _Dutchman_, learning he has a daughter, asks permission to woo -her, offering him in return all his treasures. _Daland_ readily -consents. His daughter, _Senta_, is a romantic maiden upon whom the -legend of "The Flying Dutchman" has made a deep impression. As -_Daland_ ushers the _Dutchman_ into his home _Senta_ is gazing -dreamily upon a picture representing the unhappy hero of the legend. -The resemblance of the stranger to the face in this picture is so -striking that the emotional girl is at once attracted to him, and -pledges him her faith, deeming it her mission to save him. Later on, -_Eric_, a young huntsman, who is in love with her, pleads his cause -with her, and the _Dutchman_, overhearing them, and thinking himself -again forsaken, rushes off to his vessel. _Senta_ cries out that she -is faithful to him, but is held back by _Eric_, _Daland_, and her -friends. The _Dutchman_, who really loves _Senta_, then proclaims who -he is, thinking to terrify her, and at once puts to sea. But she, -undismayed by his words, and truly faithful unto death, breaks away -from those who are holding her, and rushing to the edge of a cliff -casts herself into the ocean, with her arms outstretched toward him. -The phantom ship sinks, the sea rises high and falls back into a -seething whirlpool. In the sunset glow the forms of _Senta_ and the -_Dutchman_ are seen rising in each other's embrace from the sea and -floating upward. - -In "The Flying Dutchman" Wagner employs several leading motives, not, -indeed, with the skill which he displays in his music-dramas, but with -considerably greater freedom of treatment than in "Rienzi." There we -had but one leading motive, which never varied in form. The overture, -which may be said to be an eloquent and beautiful musical narrative of -the whole opera, contains all these leading motives. It opens with a -stormy passage, out of which there bursts the strong but sombre Motive -of the Flying Dutchman himself, the dark hero of the legend. The -orchestra fairly seethes and rages like the sea roaring under the lash -of a terrific storm. And through all this furious orchestration there -is heard again and again the motive of the _Dutchman_, as if his -figure could be seen amid all the gloom and fury of the elements. -There he stands, hoping for death, yet indestructible. As the excited -music gradually dies away, there is heard a calm, somewhat undulating -phrase which occurs in the opera when the _Dutchman's_ vessel puts -into the quiet Norwegian harbour. Then, also, there occurs again the -motive of the _Dutchman_, but this time played softly, as if the -storm-driven wretch had at last found a moment's peace. - -We at once recognize to whom it is due that he has found this moment -of repose, for we hear like prophetic measures the strains of the -beautiful ballad which is sung by _Senta_ in the second act of the -opera, in which she relates the legend of "The Flying Dutchman" and -tells of his unhappy fate. She is the one whom he is to meet when he -goes ashore. The entire ballad is not heard at this point, only the -opening of the second part, which may be taken as indicating in this -overture the simplicity and beauty of _Senta's_ character. In fact, it -would not be too much to call this opening phrase the Senta Motive. It -is followed by the phrase which indicates the coming to anchor of the -_Dutchman's_ vessel; then we hear the Motive of the Dutchman himself, -dying away with the faintest possible effect. With sudden energy the -orchestra dashes into the surging ocean music, introducing this time -the wild, pathetic plaint sung by the _Dutchman_ in the first act of -the opera. Again we hear his motive, and again the music seems to -represent the surging, swirling ocean when aroused by a furious -tempest. Even when we hear the measures of the sailors' chorus the -orchestra continues its furious pace, making it appear as if the -sailors were shouting above the storm. - -Characteristic in this overture, and also throughout the opera, -especially in _Senta's_ ballad, is what may be called the Ocean -Motive, which most graphically depicts the wild and terrible aspect of -the ocean during a storm. It is varied from time to time, but never -loses its characteristic force and weirdness. The overture ends with -an impassioned burst of melody based upon a portion of the concluding -phrases of _Senta's_ ballad; phrases which we hear once more at the -end of the opera when she sacrifices herself in order to save her -lover. - -A wild and stormy scene is disclosed when the curtain rises upon the -first act. The sea occupies the greater part of the scene, and -stretches itself out far toward the horizon. A storm is raging. -_Daland's_ ship has sought shelter in a little cove formed by the -cliffs. Sailors are employed in furling sails and coiling ropes. -_Daland_ is standing on a rock, looking about him to discover in what -place they are. The orchestra, chiefly with the wild ocean music heard -in the overture, depicts the raging of the storm, and above it are -heard the shouts of the sailors at work: "Ho-jo-he! Hal-lo-jo!" - -_Daland_ discovers that they have missed their port by seven miles on -account of the storm, and deplores his bad luck that when so near his -home and his beloved child, he should have been driven out of his -course. As the storm seems to be abating the sailors descend into the -hold and _Daland_ goes down into the cabin to rest, leaving his -steersman in charge of the deck. The steersman walks the deck once or -twice and then sits down near the rudder, yawning, and then rousing -himself as if sleep were coming over him. As if to force himself to -remain awake he intones a sailor song, an exquisite little melody, -with a dash of the sea in its undulating measures. He intones the -second verse, but sleep overcomes him and the phrases become more and -more detached, until at last he falls asleep. - -The storm begins to rage again and it grows darker. Suddenly the ship -of the _Flying Dutchman_, with blood-red sails and black mast, looms -up in the distance. She glides over the waves as if she did not feel -the storm at all, and quickly enters the harbour over against the ship -of the Norwegian; then silently and without the least noise the -spectral crew furl the sails. The _Dutchman_ goes on shore. - -Here now occur the weird, dramatic recitative and aria: "The term is -passed, and once again are ended seven long years." As the _Dutchman_ -leans in brooding silence against a rock in the foreground, _Daland_ -comes out of the cabin and observes the ship. He rouses the steersman, -who begins singing again a phrase of his song, until _Daland_ points -out the strange vessel to him, when he springs up and hails her -through a speaking trumpet. _Daland_, however, perceives the -_Dutchman_ and going ashore questions him. It is then that the -_Dutchman_, after relating a mariner's story of ill luck and disaster, -asks _Daland_ to take him to his home and allow him to woo his -daughter, offering him his treasures. At this point we have a graceful -and pretty duet, _Daland_ readily consenting that the _Dutchman_ -accompany him. The storm having subsided and the wind being fair, the -crews of the vessels hoist sail to leave port, _Daland's_ vessel -disappearing just as the _Dutchman_ goes on board his ship. - -After an introduction in which we hear a portion of the steersman's -song, and also that phrase which denotes the appearance of the -_Dutchman's_ vessel in the harbour, the curtain rises upon a room in -_Daland's_ house. On the walls are pictures of vessels, charts, and on -the farther wall the portrait of a pale man with a dark beard. -_Senta_, leaning back in an armchair, is absorbed in dreamy -contemplation of the portrait. Her old nurse, _Mary_, and her young -friends are sitting in various parts of the room, spinning. Here we -have that charming musical number famous all the musical world over, -perhaps largely through Liszt's admirable piano arrangement of it, the -"Spinning Chorus." For graceful and engaging beauty it cannot be -surpassed, and may be cited as a striking instance of Wagner's gift of -melody, should anybody at this late day be foolish enough to require -proof of his genius in that respect. The girls tease _Senta_ for -gazing so dreamily at the portrait of the _Flying Dutchman_, and -finally ask her if she will not sing his ballad. - -This ballad is a masterpiece of composition, vocally and -instrumentally, being melodious as well as descriptive. It begins with -the storm music familiar from the overture, and with the weird -measures of the Flying Dutchman's Motive, which sound like a voice -calling in distress across the sea. - -[Music] - -_Senta_ repeats the measures of this motive, and then we have the -simple phrases beginning: "A ship the restless ocean sweeps." -Throughout this portion of the ballad the orchestra depicts the -surging and heaving of the ocean, _Senta's_ voice ringing out -dramatically above the accompaniment. She then tells how he can be -delivered from his curse, this portion being set to the measures which -were heard in the overture, _Senta_ finally proclaiming, in the -broadly delivered, yet rapturous phrases with which the overture ends, - -[Music] - -that she is the woman who will save him by being faithful to him unto -death. The girls about her spring up in terror and _Eric_, who has -just entered the door and heard her outcry, hastens to her side. He -brings news of the arrival of _Daland's_ vessel, and _Mary_ and the -girls hasten forth to meet the sailors. _Senta_ wishes to follow, but -_Eric_ restrains her and pleads his love for her in melodious -measures. _Senta_, however, will not give him an answer at this time. -He then tells her of a dream he has had, in which he saw a weird -vessel from which two men, one her father, the other a ghastly-looking -stranger, made their way. Her he saw going to the stranger and -entreating him for his regard. - -_Senta_, worked up to the highest pitch of excitement by _Eric's_ -words, now exclaims: "He seeks for me and I for him," and _Eric_, full -of despair and horror, rushes away. _Senta_, after her outburst of -excitement, remains again sunk in contemplation of the picture, softly -repeating the measures of her romance. The door opens and the -_Dutchman_ and _Daland_ appear. The _Dutchman_ is the first to enter. -_Senta_ turns from the picture to him, and, uttering a loud cry of -wonder, remains standing as if transfixed without removing her eyes -from the _Dutchman_. _Daland_, seeing that she does not greet him, -comes up to her. She seizes his hand and after a hasty greeting asks -him who the stranger is. _Daland_ tells her of the stranger's request, -and leaves them alone. Then follows a duet for _Senta_ and the -_Dutchman_, with its broad, smoothly-flowing melody and its many -phrases of dramatic power, in which _Senta_ gives herself up -unreservedly to the hero of her romantic attachment, _Daland_ finally -entering and adding his congratulations to their betrothal. This scene -closes the act. - -The music of it re-echoes through the introduction of the next act and -goes over into a vigorous sailors' chorus and dance. The scene shows a -bay with a rocky shore. _Daland's_ house is in the foreground on one -side, the background is occupied by his and the _Dutchman's_ ships, -which lie near one another. The Norwegian ship is lighted up, and all -the sailors are making merry on the deck. In strange contrast is the -_Flying Dutchman's_ vessel. An unnatural darkness hangs over it and -the stillness of death reigns aboard. The sailors and the girls in -their merry-making call loudly toward the Dutch ship to join them, but -no reply is heard from the weird vessel. Finally the sailors call -louder and louder and taunt the crew of the other ship. Then suddenly -the sea, which has been quite calm, begins to rise. The storm wind -whistles through the cordage of the strange vessel, and as dark bluish -flames flare up in the rigging, the weird crew show themselves, and -sing a wild chorus, which strikes terror into all the merrymakers. The -girls have fled, and the Norwegian sailors quit their deck, making the -sign of the cross. The crew of the Flying Dutchman observing this, -disappear with shrill laughter. Over their ship comes the stillness of -death. Thick darkness is spread over it and the air and the sea become -calm as before. - -_Senta_ now comes with trembling steps out of the house. She is -followed by _Eric_. He pleads with her and entreats her to remember -his love for her, and speaks also of the encouragement which she once -gave him. The _Dutchman_ has entered unperceived and has been -listening. _Eric_ seeing him, at once recognizes the man of ghastly -mien whom he saw in his vision. When the _Flying Dutchman_ bids her -farewell, because he deems himself abandoned, and _Senta_ endeavours -to follow him, _Eric_ holds her and summons others to his aid. But, in -spite of all resistance, _Senta_ seeks to tear herself loose. Then it -is that the _Flying Dutchman_ proclaims who he is and puts to sea. -_Senta_, however, freeing herself, rushes to a cliff overhanging the -sea, and calling out, - - "Praise thou thine angel for what he saith; - Here stand I faithful, yea, to death," - -casts herself into the sea. Then occurs the concluding tableau, the -work ending with the portion of the ballad which brought the overture -and spinning scene to a close. - - -TANNHÄUSER - -UND DER SÄNGERKRIEG AUF DEM WARTBURG - -(AND THE SONG CONTEST AT THE WARTBURG) - - Opera in three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner. - Produced, Royal Opera, Dresden, October 19, 1845. Paris, - Grand Opéra, March 13, 1861. London, Covent Garden, May 6, - 1876, in Italian; Her Majesty's Theatre, February 14, 1882, - in English; Drury Lane, May 23, 1882, in German, under Hans - Richter. New York, Stadt Theatre, April 4, 1859, and July, - 1861, conducted by Carl Bergmann; under Adolff Neuendorff's - direction, 1870, and, Academy of Music, 1877; Metropolitan - Opera House, opening night of German Opera, under Dr. - Leopold Damrosch, November 17, 1884, with Seidl-Kraus as - _Elizabeth_, Anna Slach as _Venus_, Schott as _Tannhäuser_, - Adolf Robinson as _Wolfram_, Josef Kögel as the _Landgrave_. - - CHARACTERS - - HERMANN, Landgrave of Thuringia _Bass_ - TANNHÄUSER } _Tenor_ - WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH } _Baritone_ - WALTER VON DER VOGELWEIDE } Knights and _Tenor_ - BITEROLF } Minnesinger _Bass_ - HEINRICH DER SCHREIBER } _Tenor_ - REINMAR VON ZWETER } _Bass_ - ELIZABETH, niece of the Landgrave _Soprano_ - VENUS _Soprano_ - A YOUNG SHEPHERD _Soprano_ - FOUR NOBLE PAGES _Soprano and Alto_ - - Nobles, Knights, Ladies, elder and younger Pilgrims, Sirens, - Naiads, Nymphs, Bacchantes. - - _Time_--Early Thirteenth Century. - - _Place_--Near Eisenach. - -The story of "Tannhäuser" is laid in and near the Wartburg, where, -during the thirteenth century, the Landgraves of the Thuringian Valley -held sway. They were lovers of art, especially of poetry and music, -and at the Wartburg many peaceful contests between the famous -minnesingers took place. Near this castle rises the Venusberg. -According to tradition the interior of this mountain was inhabited by -Holda, the Goddess of Spring, who, however, in time became identified -with the Goddess of Love. Her court was filled with nymphs and sirens, -and it was her greatest joy to entice into the mountain the knights of -the Wartburg and hold them captive to her beauty. - -Among those whom she has thus lured into the rosy recesses of the -Venusberg is _Tannhäuser_. - -In spite of her beauty, however, he is weary of her charms and longs -for a glimpse of the world. He seems to have heard the tolling of -bells and other earthly sounds, and these stimulate his yearning to be -set free from the magic charms of the goddess. - -In vain she prophesies evil to him should he return to the world. With -the cry that his hope rests in the Virgin, he tears himself away from -her. In one of the swiftest and most effective of scenic changes the -court of _Venus_ disappears and in a moment we see _Tannhäuser_ -prostrate before a cross in a valley upon which the Wartburg -peacefully looks down. _Pilgrims_ on their way to Rome pass him by and -_Tannhäuser_ thinks of joining them in order that at Rome he may -obtain forgiveness for his crime in allowing himself to be enticed -into the Venusberg. But at that moment the _Landgrave_ and a number of -minnesingers on their return from the chase come upon him and, -recognizing him, endeavour to persuade him to return to the Wartburg -with them. Their pleas, however, are vain, until one of them, _Wolfram -von Eschenbach_, tells him that since he has left the Wartburg a great -sadness has come over the niece of the _Landgrave_, _Elizabeth_. It is -evident that _Tannhäuser_ has been in love with her, and that it is -because of her beauty and virtue that he regrets so deeply having been -lured into the Venusberg. For _Wolfram's_ words stir him profoundly. -To the great joy of all, he agrees to return to the Wartburg, the -scene of his many triumphs as a minnesinger in the contests of song. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Farrar as Elizabeth in "Tannhäuser"] - -[Illustration: Photo by Hall - -"Tannhäuser," Finale, Act II - -Tannhäuser (Maclennan), Elizabeth (Fornia), Wolfram (Dean) - -The Landgrave (Cranston)] - -The _Landgrave_, feeling sure that _Tannhäuser_ will win the prize at -the contest of song soon to be held, offers the hand of his niece to -the winner. The minnesingers sing tamely of the beauty of virtuous -love, but _Tannhäuser_, suddenly remembering the seductive and magical -beauties of the Venusberg, cannot control himself, and bursts out -into a reckless hymn in praise of _Venus_. Horrified at his words, the -knights draw their swords and would slay him, but _Elizabeth_ throws -herself between him and them. Crushed and penitent, _Tannhäuser_ -stands behind her, and the _Landgrave_, moved by her willingness to -sacrifice herself for her sinful lover, announces that he will be -allowed to join a second band of pilgrims who are going to Rome and to -plead with the Pope for forgiveness. - -_Elizabeth_ prayerfully awaits his return; but, as she is kneeling by -the crucifix in front of the Wartburg, the _Pilgrims_ pass her by and -in the band she does not see her lover. Slowly and sadly she returns -to the castle to die. When the _Pilgrims'_ voices have died away, and -_Elizabeth_ has returned to the castle, leaving only _Wolfram_, who is -also deeply enamoured of her, upon the scene, _Tannhäuser_ appears, -weary and dejected. He has sought to obtain forgiveness in vain. The -Pope has cast him out forever, proclaiming that no more than that his -staff can put forth leaves can he expect forgiveness. He has come back -to re-enter the Venusberg. _Wolfram_ seeks to restrain him, but it is -not until he invokes the name of _Elizabeth_ that _Tannhäuser_ is -saved. A cortège approaches, and, as _Tannhäuser_ recognizes the form -of _Elizabeth_ on the bier, he sinks down on her coffin and dies. Just -then the second band of pilgrims arrive, bearing _Tannhäuser's_ staff, -which has put forth blossoms, thus showing that his sins have been -forgiven. - -From "The Flying Dutchman" to "Tannhäuser," dramatically and -musically, is, if anything, a greater stride than from "Rienzi" to -"The Flying Dutchman." In each of his successive works Wagner -demonstrates greater and deeper powers as a dramatic poet and -composer. True it is that in nearly every one of them woman appears as -the redeeming angel of sinful man, but the circumstances differ so -that this beautiful tribute always interests us anew. - -The overture of the opera has long been a favorite piece on concert -programs. Like that of "The Flying Dutchman" it is the story of the -whole opera told in music. It certainly is one of the most brilliant -and effective pieces of orchestral music and its popularity is easily -understood. It opens with the melody of the _Pilgrims'_ chorus, -beginning softly as if coming from a distance and gradually increasing -in power until it is heard in all its grandeur. At this point it is -joined by a violently agitated accompaniment on the violins. This -passage evoked great criticism when it was first produced and for many -years thereafter. It was thought to mar the beauty of the pilgrims' -chorus. But without doing so at all it conveys additional dramatic -meaning, for these agitated phrases depict the restlessness of the -world as compared with the grateful tranquillity of religious faith as -set forth in the melody of the _Pilgrims'_ chorus. - -[Music] - -Having reached a climax, this chorus gradually dies away, and -suddenly, and with intense dramatic contrast, we have all the -seductive spells of the Venusberg displayed before us--that is, -musically displayed; but then the music is so wonderfully vivid, it -depicts with such marvellous clearness the many-coloured alluring -scene at the court of the unholy goddess, it gives vent so freely to -the sinful excitement which pervades the Venusberg, that we actually -seem to see what we hear. This passes over in turn to the impassioned -burst of song in which _Tannhäuser_ hymns Venus's praise, and -immediately after we have the boisterous and vigorous music which -accompanies the threatening action of the _Landgrave_ and -minnesingers when they draw their swords upon _Tannhäuser_ in order to -take vengeance upon him for his crimes. Upon these three episodes of -the drama, which so characteristically give insight into its plot and -action, the overture is based, and it very naturally concludes with -the _Pilgrims'_ chorus which seems to voice the final forgiveness of -_Tannhäuser_. - -The curtain rises, disclosing all the seductive spells of the -Venusberg. _Tannhäuser_ lies in the arms of _Venus_, who reclines upon -a flowery couch. Nymphs, sirens, and satyrs are dancing about them and -in the distance are grottoes alive with amorous figures. Various -mythological amours, such as that of Leda and the swan, are supposed -to be in progress, but fortunately at a mitigating distance. - -[Music] - -Much of the music familiar from the overture is heard during this -scene, but it gains in effect from the distant voices of the sirens -and, of course, from artistic scenery and grouping and well-executed -dances of the denizens of _Venus's_ court. Very dramatic, too, is the -scene between _Venus_ and _Tannhäuser_, when the latter sings his hymn -in her praise, but at the same time proclaims that he desires to -return to the world. In alluring strains she endeavours to tempt him -to remain with her, but when she discovers that he is bound upon -going, she vehemently warns him of the misfortunes which await him -upon earth and prophesies that he will some day return to her and -penitently ask to be taken back into her realm. - -Dramatic and effective as this scene is in the original score, it has -gained immensely in power by the additions which Wagner made for the -production of the work in Paris, in 1861. The overture does not, in -this version, come to a formal close, but after the manner of Wagner's -later works, the transition is made directly from it to the scene of -the Venusberg. The dances have been elaborated and laid out upon a -more careful allegorical basis and the music of _Venus_ has been -greatly strengthened from a dramatic point of view, so that now the -scene in which she pleads with him to remain and afterwards warns him -against the sorrows to which he will be exposed, are among the finest -of Wagner's compositions, rivalling in dramatic power the ripest work -in his music-dramas. - -Wagner's knowledge of the stage is shown in the wonderfully dramatic -effect in the change of scene from the Venusberg to the landscape in -the valley of the Wartburg. One moment we have the variegated allures -of the court of the Goddess of Love, with its dancing nymphs, sirens, -and satyrs, its beautiful grottoes and groups; the next all this has -disappeared and from the heated atmosphere of _Venus's_ unholy rites -we are suddenly transported to a peaceful scene whose influence upon -us is deepened by the crucifix in the foreground, before which -_Tannhäuser_ kneels in penitence. The peacefulness of the scene is -further enhanced by the appearance upon a rocky eminence to the left -of a young _Shepherd_ who pipes a pastoral strain, while in the -background are heard the tinkling of bells, as though his sheep were -there grazing upon some upland meadow. Before he has finished piping -his lay the voices of the _Pilgrims_ are heard in the distance, their -solemn measures being interrupted by little phrases piped by the -_Shepherd_. As the _Pilgrims_ approach, the chorus becomes louder, -and as they pass over the stage and bow before the crucifix, their -praise swells into an eloquent psalm of devotion. - -_Tannhäuser_ is deeply affected and gives way to his feelings in a -lament, against which are heard the voices of the _Pilgrims_ as they -recede in the distance. This whole scene is one of marvellous beauty, -the contrast between it and the preceding episode being enhanced by -the religiously tranquil nature of what transpires and of the -accompanying music. Upon this peaceful scene the notes of -hunting-horns now break in, and gradually the _Landgrave_ and his -hunters gather about _Tannhäuser_. _Wolfram_ recognizes him and tells -the others who he is. They greet him in an expressive septette, and -_Wolfram_, finding he is bent upon following the _Pilgrims_ to Rome, -asks permission of the _Landgrave_ to inform him of the impression -which he seems to have made upon _Elizabeth_. This he does in a -melodious solo, and _Tannhäuser_, overcome by his love for -_Elizabeth_, consents to return to the halls which have missed him so -long. Exclamations of joy greet his decision, and the act closes with -an enthusiastic _ensemble_, which is a glorious piece of concerted -music, and never fails of brilliant effect when it is well executed, -especially if the representative of _Tannhäuser_ has a voice that can -soar above the others, which, unfortunately, is not always the case. -The accompanying scenic grouping should also be in keeping with the -composer's instructions. The _Landgrave's_ suite should gradually -arrive, bearing the game which has been slain, and horses and -hunting-hounds should be led on the stage. Finally, the _Landgrave_ -and minnesingers mount their steeds and ride away toward the castle. - -The scene of the second act is laid in the singers' hall of the -Wartburg. The introduction depicts _Elizabeth's_ joy at _Tannhäuser's_ -return, and when the curtain rises she at once enters and joyfully -greets the scenes of _Tannhäuser's_ former triumphs in broadly -dramatic melodious phrases. _Wolfram_ then appears, conducting -_Tannhäuser_ to her. _Elizabeth_ seems overjoyed to see him, but then -checks herself, and her maidenly modesty, which veils her transport at -meeting him, again finds expression in a number of hesitating but -exceedingly beautiful phrases. She asks _Tannhäuser_ where he has -been, but he, of course, gives misleading answers. Finally, however, -he tells her she is the one who has attracted him back to the castle. -Their love finds expression in a swift and rapidly flowing dramatic -duet, which unfortunately is rarely given in its entirety, although as -a glorious outburst of emotional music it certainly deserves to be -heard in the exact form and length in which the composer wrote it. - -There is then a scene of much tender feeling between the _Landgrave_ -and _Elizabeth_, in which the former tells her that he will offer her -hand as prize to the singer whom she shall crown as winner. The first -strains of the grand march are then heard. This is one of Wagner's -most brilliant and effective orchestral and vocal pieces. Though in -perfect march rhythm, it is not intended that the guests who assembled -at the Wartburg shall enter like a company of soldiers. On the -contrary, they arrive in irregular detachments, stride across the -floor, and make their obeisance in a perfectly natural manner. After -an address by the _Landgrave_, which can hardly be called remarkably -interesting, the singers draw lots to decide who among them shall -begin. This prize singing is, unfortunately, not so great in musical -value as the rest of the score, and, unless a person understands the -words, it is decidedly long drawn out. What, however, redeems it is a -gradually growing dramatic excitement as _Tannhäuser_ voices his -contempt for what seem to him the tame tributes paid to love by the -minnesingers, an excitement which reaches its climax when, no longer -able to restrain himself, he bursts forth into his hymn in praise of -the unholy charms of _Venus_. - -[Music] - -The women cry out in horror and rush from the hall as if the very -atmosphere were tainted by his presence, and the men, drawing their -swords, rush upon him. This brings us to the great dramatic moment, -when, with a shriek, _Elizabeth_, in spite of his betrayal of her -love, throws herself protectingly before him, and thus appears a -second time as his saving angel. In short and excited phrases the men -pour forth their wrath at _Tannhäuser's_ crime in having sojourned -with _Venus_, and he, realizing its enormity, seems crushed with a -consciousness of his guilt. Of wondrous beauty is the septette, "An -angel has from heaven descended," which rises to a magnificent climax -and is one of the finest pieces of dramatic writing in Wagner's -scores, although often execrably sung and rarely receiving complete -justice. The voices of young _Pilgrims_ are heard in the valley. The -_Landgrave_ then announces the conditions upon which _Tannhäuser_ can -again obtain forgiveness, and _Tannhäuser_ joins the pilgrims on their -way to Rome. - -The third act displays once more the valley of the Wartburg, the same -scene as that to which the Venusberg changed in the first act. -_Elizabeth_, arrayed in white, is kneeling, in deep prayer, before the -crucifix. At one side, and watching her tenderly, stands _Wolfram_. -After a sad recitative from _Wolfram_, the chorus of returning -_Pilgrims_ is heard in the distance. They sing the melody heard in the -overture and in the first act; and the same effect of gradual approach -is produced by a superb crescendo as they reach and cross the scene. -With almost piteous anxiety and grief _Elizabeth_ scans them closely -as they go by, to see if _Tannhäuser_ be among them, and when the -last one has passed and she realizes that he has not returned, she -sinks again upon her knees before the crucifix and sings the prayer, -"Almighty Virgin, hear my sorrow," music in which there is most -beautifully combined the expression of poignant grief with trust in -the will of the Almighty. As she rises and turns toward the castle, -_Wolfram_, by his gesture, seems to ask her if he cannot accompany -her, but she declines his offer and slowly goes her way up the -mountain. - -Meanwhile night has fallen upon the scene and the evening star glows -softly above the castle. It is then that _Wolfram_, accompanying -himself on his lyre, intones the wondrously tender and beautiful "Song -to the Evening Star," confessing therein his love for the saintly -_Elizabeth_. - -[Music] - -Then _Tannhäuser_, dejected, footsore, and weary, appears, and in -broken accents asks _Wolfram_ to show him the way back to the -Venusberg. _Wolfram_ bids him stay his steps and persuades him to tell -him the story of his pilgrimage. In fierce, dramatic accents, -_Tannhäuser_ relates all that he has suffered on his way to Rome and -the terrible judgment pronounced upon him by the Pope. This is a -highly impressive episode, clearly foreshadowing Wagner's dramatic use -of musical recitative in his later music-dramas. Only a singer of the -highest rank can do justice to it. - -_Tannhäuser_ proclaims that, having lost all chance of salvation, he -will once more give himself up to the delights of the Venusberg. A -roseate light illumines the recesses of the mountain and the unholy -company of the Venusberg again is seen, _Venus_ stretching out her -arms for _Tannhäuser_, to welcome him. But at last, when _Tannhäuser_ -seems unable to resist _Venus'_ enticing voice any longer, _Wolfram_ -conjures him by the memory of the sainted _Elizabeth_. Then _Venus_ -knows that all is lost. The light dies away and the magic charms of -the Venusberg disappear. Amid tolling of bells and mournful voices a -funeral procession comes down the mountain. Recognizing the features -of _Elizabeth_, the dying _Tannhäuser_ falls upon her corpse. The -younger pilgrims arrive with the staff, which has again put forth -leaves, and amid the hallelujahs of the pilgrims the opera closes. - -Besides the character of _Elizabeth_ that of _Wolfram_ stands out for -its tender, manly beauty. In love with _Elizabeth_, he is yet the -means of bringing back her lover to her, and in the end saves that -lover from perdition, so that they may be united in death. - - -LOHENGRIN - - Opera in three acts, by Richard Wagner. Produced, Weimar, - Germany, August 28, 1850, under the direction of Franz - Liszt; London, Covent Garden, May 8, 1875; New York, Stadt - Theater, in German, April 3, 1871; Academy of Music, in - Italian, March 23, 1874, with Nilsson, Cary, Campanini, and - Del Puente; Metropolitan Opera House, in German, November - 23, 1885, with Seidl-Kraus, Brandt, Stritt, Robinson, and - Fischer, American début of Anton Seidl as conductor. - - CHARACTERS - - HENRY THE FOWLER, King of Germany _Bass_ - LOHENGRIN _Tenor_ - ELSA OF BRABANT _Soprano_ - DUKE GODFREY, her brother _Mute_ - FREDERICK OF TELRAMUND, Count of Brabant _Baritone_ - ORTRUD, his wife _Mezzo-Soprano_ - THE KING'S HERALD _Bass_ - - Saxon, Thuringian, and Brabantian Counts and Nobles, Ladies - of Honour, Pages, Attendants. - - _Time_--First half of the Tenth Century. - - _Scene_--Antwerp. - -The circumstances attending the creation and first production of -"Lohengrin" are most interesting. - -Prior to and for more than a decade after he wrote and composed the -work Wagner suffered many vicissitudes. In Paris, where he lived from -hand to mouth before "Rienzi" was accepted by the Royal Opera House at -Dresden, he was absolutely poverty-stricken and often at a loss how to -procure the next meal. - -"Rienzi" was produced at the Dresden Opera in 1842. It was brilliantly -successful. "The Flying Dutchman," which followed, was less so, and -"Tannhäuser" seemed even less attractive to its early audiences. -Therefore it is no wonder that, although Wagner was royal conductor in -Dresden, he could not succeed in having "Lohengrin" accepted there for -performance. Today "Rienzi" hardly can be said to hold its own in the -repertoire outside of its composer's native country. The sombre beauty -of "The Flying Dutchman," though recognized by musicians and serious -music lovers, has prevented its becoming popular. But "Tannhäuser," -looked at so askance at first, and "Lohengrin," absolutely rejected, -are standard operas and, when well given, among the most popular works -of the lyric stage. Especially is this true of "Lohengrin." - -This opera, at the time of its composition so novel and so strange, -yet filled with beauties of orchestration and harmony that are now -quoted as leading examples in books on these subjects, was composed in -less than a year. The acts were finished almost, if not quite, in -reversed order. For Wagner wrote the third act first, beginning it in -September, 1846, and completing it March 5, 1847. The first act -occupied him from May 12th to June 8th, less than a month; the second -act from June 18th to August 2d. Fresh and beautiful as "Lohengrin" -still sounds today, it is, in fact, a classic. - -Wagner's music, however, was so little understood at the time, that -even before "Lohengrin" was produced and not a note of it had been -heard, people made fun of it. A lithographer named Meser had issued -Wagner's previous three scores, but the enterprise had not been a -success. People said that before publishing "Rienzi," Meser had lived -on the first floor. "Rienzi" had driven him to the second; "The Flying -Dutchman" and "Tannhäuser" to the third; and now "Lohengrin" would -drive him to the garret--a prophecy that didn't come true, because he -refused to publish it. - -In 1849, "Lohengrin" still not having been accepted by the Dresden -Opera, Wagner, as already has been stated, took part in the May -revolution, which, apparently successful for a very short time, was -quickly suppressed by the military. The composer of "Lohengrin" and -the future composer of the "Ring of the Nibelung," "Tristan und -Isolde," "Meistersinger," and "Parsifal," is said to have made his -escape from Dresden in the disguise of a coachman. Occasionally there -turns up in sales as a great rarity a copy of the warrant for Wagner's -arrest issued by the Dresden police. As it gives a description of him -at the time when he had but recently composed "Lohengrin," I will -quote it: - - "Wagner is thirty-seven to thirty-eight years of age, of - medium stature, has brown hair, an open forehead; eyebrows, - brown; eyes, greyish blue; nose and mouth, proportioned; - chin, round, and wears spectacles. Special characteristics: - rapid in movements and speech. Dress: coat of dark green - buckskin, trousers of black cloth, velvet vest, silk - neckerchief, ordinary felt hat and boots." - -Much fun has been made of the expression "chin, round, and wears -spectacles." Wagner got out of Dresden on the pass of a Dr. Widmann, -whom he resembled. It has been suggested that he made the resemblance -still closer by discontinuing the habit of wearing spectacles on his -chin. - -I saw Wagner several times in Bayreuth in the summer of 1882, when I -attended the first performance of "Parsifal," as correspondent by -cable and letter for one of the large New York dailies. Except that -his hair was grey (and that he no longer wore his spectacles on his -chin) the description in the warrant still held good, especially as -regards his rapidity of movement and speech, to which I may add a -marked vivacity of gesture. There, too, I saw the friend, who had -helped him over so many rough places in his early career, Franz Liszt, -his hair white with age, but framing a face as strong and keen as an -eagle's. I saw them seated at a banquet, and with them Cosima, Liszt's -daughter, who was Wagner's second wife, and their son, Siegfried -Wagner; Cosima the image of her father, and Siegfried a miniature -replica of the composer to whom we owe "Lohengrin" and the -music-dramas that followed it. The following summer one of the four -was missing. I have the "Parsifal" program with mourning border -signifying that the performances of the work were in memory of its -creator. - -In April, 1850, Wagner, then an exile in Zurich, wrote to Liszt: -"Bring out my 'Lohengrin!' You are the only one to whom I would put -this request; to no one but you would I entrust the production of this -opera; but to you I surrender it with the fullest, most joyous -confidence." - -Wagner himself describes the appeal and the result, by saying that at -a time when he was ill, unhappy, and in despair, his eye fell on the -score of "Lohengrin" which he had almost forgotten. "A pitiful feeling -overcame me that these tones would never resound from the deathly-pale -paper; two words I wrote to Liszt, the answer to which was nothing -else than the information that, as far as the resources of the Weimar -Opera permitted, the most elaborate preparations were being made for -the production of 'Lohengrin.'" - -Liszt's reply to which Wagner refers, and which gives some details -regarding "the elaborate preparations," while testifying to his full -comprehension of Wagner's genius and the importance of his new score -as a work of art, may well cause us to smile today at the small scale -on which things were done in 1850. - -"Your 'Lohengrin,'" he wrote, "will be given under conditions that are -most unusual and most favourable for its success. The direction will -spend on this occasion almost 2000 thalers [about $1500]--a sum -unprecedented at Weimar within memory of man ... the bass clarinet has -been bought," etc. Ten times fifteen hundred dollars might well be -required today for a properly elaborate production of "Lohengrin," and -the opera orchestra that had to send out and buy a bass clarinet would -be a curiosity. But Weimar had what no other opera house could boast -of--Franz Liszt as conductor. - -Under his brilliant direction "Lohengrin" had at Weimar its first -performance on any stage, August 28, 1850. This was the anniversary of -Goethe's birth, the date of the dedication of the Weimar monument to -the poet, Herder, and, by a coincidence that does not appear to have -struck either Wagner or Liszt, the third anniversary of the completion -of "Lohengrin." The work was performed without cuts and before an -audience which included some of the leading musical and literary men -of Germany. The performance made a deep impression. The circumstance -that Liszt added the charm of his personality to it and that the -weight of his influence had been thrown in its favour alone gave vast -importance to the event. Indeed, through Liszt's production of -Wagner's early operas Weimar became, as Henry T. Finck has said in -_Wagner and His Works_, a sort of preliminary Bayreuth. Occasionally -special opera trains were put on for the accommodation of visitors to -the Wagner performances. In January, 1853, Liszt writes to Wagner that -"the public interest in 'Lohengrin' is rapidly increasing. You are -already very popular at the various Weimar hotels, where it is not -easy to get a room on the days when your operas are given." The Liszt -production of "Lohengrin" was a turning point in his career, the -determining influence that led him to throw himself heart and soul -into the composition of the "Ring of the Nibelung." - -On May 15, 1861, when, through the intervention of Princess -Metternich, he had been permitted to return to Germany, fourteen years -after he had finished "Lohengrin" and eleven years after its -production at Weimar, he himself heard it for the first time at -Vienna. A tragedy of fourteen years--to create a masterpiece of the -lyric stage, and be forced to wait that long to hear it! - -Before proceeding to a complete descriptive account of the "Lohengrin" -story and music I will give a brief summary of the plot and a similar -characterization of the score. - -Wagner appears to have become so saturated with the subject of his -dramas that he transported himself in mind and temperament to the very -time in which his scenes are laid. So vividly does he portray the -mythological occurrences told in "Lohengrin" that one can almost -imagine he had been an eye-witness of them. This capacity of artistic -reproduction of a remote period would alone entitle him to rank as a -great dramatist. But he has done much more; he has taken unpromising -material, which in the original is strung out over a period of years, -and, by condensing the action to two days, has converted it into a -swiftly moving drama. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Sembach as Lohengrin] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Schumann-Heink as Ortrud in "Lohengrin"] - -The story of "Lohengrin" is briefly as follows: The Hungarians have -invaded Germany, and _King Henry I._ visits Antwerp for the purpose -of raising a force to combat them. He finds the country in a condition -of anarchy. The dukedom is claimed by _Frederick_, who has married -_Ortrud_, a daughter of the Prince of Friesland. The legitimate heir, -_Godfrey_, has mysteriously disappeared, and his sister, _Elsa_, is -charged by _Frederick_ and _Ortrud_ with having done away with him in -order that she might obtain the sovereignty. The _King_ summons her -before him so that the cause may be tried by the ordeal of single -combat between _Frederick_ and a champion who may be willing to appear -for _Elsa_. None of the knights will defend her cause. She then -describes a champion whose form has appeared to her in a vision, and -she proclaims that he shall be her champion. Her pretence is derided -by _Frederick_ and his followers, who think that she is out of her -mind; but after a triple summons by the _Herald_, there is seen in the -distance on the river, a boat drawn by a swan, and in it a knight clad -in silver armour. He comes to champion _Elsa's_ cause, and before the -combat betroths himself to her, but makes a strict condition that she -shall never question him as to his name or birthplace, for should she, -he would be obliged to depart. She assents to the conditions, and the -combat which ensues results in _Frederick's_ ignominious defeat. -Judgment of exile is pronounced on him. - -Instead, however, of leaving the country he lingers in the -neighbourhood of Brabant, plotting with _Ortrud_ how they may compass -the ruin of _Lohengrin_ and _Elsa_. _Ortrud_ by her entreaties moves -_Elsa_ to pity, and persuades her to seek a reprieve for _Frederick_, -at the same time, however, using every opportunity to instil doubts in -_Elsa's_ mind regarding her champion, and rousing her to such a pitch -of nervous curiosity that she is on the point of asking him the -forbidden question. After the bridal ceremonies, and in the bridal -chamber, the distrust which _Ortrud_ and _Frederick_ have engendered -in _Elsa's_ mind so overcomes her faith that she vehemently puts the -forbidden question to her champion. Almost at the same moment -_Frederick_ and four of his followers force their way into the -apartment, intending to take the knight's life. A single blow of his -sword, however, stretches _Frederick_ lifeless, and his followers bear -his corpse away. Placing _Elsa_ in the charge of her ladies-in-waiting, -and ordering them to take her to the presence of the _King_, he -repairs thither himself. - -The Brabantian hosts are gathering, and he is expected to lead them to -battle, but owing to _Elsa's_ question he is now obliged to disclose -who he is and to take his departure. He proclaims that he is -_Lohengrin_, son of Parsifal, Knight of the Holy Grail, and that he -can linger no longer in Brabant, but must return to the place of his -coming. The swan has once more appeared, drawing the boat down the -river, and bidding _Elsa_ farewell he steps into the little shell-like -craft. Then _Ortrud_, with malicious glee, declares that the swan is -none other than _Elsa's_ brother, whom she (_Ortrud_) bewitched into -this form, and that he would have been changed back again to his human -shape had it not been for _Elsa's_ rashness. But _Lohengrin_, through -his supernatural powers, is able to undo _Ortrud's_ work, and at a -word from him the swan disappears and _Godfrey_ stands in its place. A -dove now descends, and, hovering in front of the boat, draws it away -with _Lohengrin_, while _Elsa_ expires in her brother's arms. - -Owing to the lyric character of the story upon which "Lohengrin" is -based, the opera, while not at all lacking in strong dramatic -situations is characterized by a subtler and more subdued -melodiousness than "Tannhäuser," is more exquisitely lyrical in fact -than any Wagnerian work except "Parsifal." - -There are typical themes in the score, but they are hardly handled -with the varied effect that entitles them to be called leading -motives. On the other hand there are fascinating details of -orchestration. These are important because the composer has given -significant clang-tints to the music that is heard in connection with -the different characters in the story. He uses the brass chiefly to -accompany the _King_, and, of course, the martial choruses; the -plaintive, yet spiritual high wood-wind for _Elsa_; the English horn -and sombre bass clarinet--the instrument that had to be bought--for -_Ortrud_; the violins, especially in high harmonic positions, to -indicate the Grail and its representative, for _Lohengrin_ is a Knight -of the Holy Grail. Even the keys employed are distinctive. The -_Herald's_ trumpeters blow in C and greet the _King's_ arrival in that -bright key. F-sharp minor is the dark, threatful key that indicates -_Ortrud's_ appearance. The key of A, which is the purest for strings -and the most ethereal in effect, on account of the greater ease of -using "harmonics," announces the approach of _Lohengrin_ and the -subtle influence of the Grail. - -Moreover Wagner was the first composer to discover that celestial -effects of tone colour are produced by the prolonged notes of the -combined violins and wood-wind in the highest positions more truly -than by the harp. It is the association of ideas with the Scriptures, -wherein the harp frequently is mentioned, because it was the most -perfected instrument of the period, that has led other composers to -employ it for celestial tone-painting. But while no one appreciated -the beauty of the harp more than Wagner, or has employed it with finer -effect than he, his celestial tone-pictures with high-violins and -wood-wind are distinctly more ecstatic than those of other composers. - -The music clothes the drama most admirably. The Vorspiel or Prelude -immediately places the listener in the proper mood for the story which -is to unfold itself, and for the score, vocal and instrumental, whose -strains are to fall upon his ear. - -The Prelude is based entirely upon one theme, a beautiful one and -expressive of the sanctity of the Grail, of which _Lohengrin_ is one -of the knights. Violins and flutes with long-drawn-out, ethereal -chords open the Prelude. Then is heard on the violins, so divided as -to heighten the delicacy of the effect, the Motive of the Grail, the -cup in which the Saviour's blood is supposed to have been caught as it -flowed from the wound in His side, while he was on the Cross. No -modern book on orchestration is considered complete unless it quotes -this passage from the score, which is at once the earliest and, after -seventy years, still the most perfect example of the effect of -celestial harmony produced on the high notes of the divided violin -choir. This interesting passage in the score is as follows: - -[Music] - -Although this is the only motive that occurs in the Prelude, the ear -never wearies of it. Its effectiveness is due to the wonderful skill -with which Wagner handles the theme, working it up through a superb -crescendo to a magnificent climax, with all the splendours of -Wagnerian orchestration, after which it dies away again to the -ethereal harmonies with which it first greeted the listener. - -Act I. The curtain, on rising, discloses a scene of unwonted life on -the plain near the River Scheldt, where the stream winds toward -Antwerp. On an elevated seat under a huge oak sits _King Henry I._ On -either side are his Saxon and Thuringian nobles. Facing him with the -knights of Brabant are _Count Frederick of Telramund_ and his wife, -_Ortrud_, daughter of the Prince of Friesland, of dark, almost -forbidding beauty, and with a treacherous mingling of haughtiness and -humility in her carriage. - -It is a strange tale the _King_ has just heard fall from _Frederick of -Telramund's_ lips. _Henry_ has assembled the Brabantians on the plain -by the Scheldt in order to summon them to join his army and aid in -checking the threatened invasion of Germany by the Hungarians. But he -has found the Brabantians themselves torn by factional strife, some -supporting, others opposing _Frederick_ in his claim to the ducal -succession of Brabant. - -"Sire," says _Frederick_, when called upon by the _King_ to explain -the cause of the discord that has come upon the land, "the late Duke -of Brabant upon his death-bed confided to me, his kinsman, the care of -his two children, _Elsa_ and her young brother _Godfrey_, with the -right to claim the maid as my wife. But one day _Elsa_ led the boy -into the forest and returned alone. From her pale face and faltering -lips I judged only too well of what had happened, and I now publicly -accuse _Elsa_ of having made away with her brother that she might be -sole heir to Brabant and reject my right to her hand. Her hand! -Horrified, I shrank from her and took a wife whom I could truly love. -Now as nearest kinsman of the duke I claim this land as my own, my -wife, too, being of the race that once gave a line of princes to -Brabant." - -So saying, he leads _Ortrud_ forward, and she, lowering her dark -visage, makes a deep obeisance to the _King_. To the latter but one -course is open. A terrible accusation has been uttered, and an appeal -must be made to the immediate judgment of God in trial by combat -between _Frederick_ and whoever may appear as champion for _Elsa_. -Solemnly the _King_ hangs his shield on the oak, the Saxons and -Thuringians thrust the points of their swords into the ground, while -the Brabantians lay theirs before them. The royal _Herald_ steps -forward. "Elsa, without delay appear!" he calls in a loud voice. - -A sudden hush falls upon the scene, as a slender figure robed in -white slowly advances toward the _King_. It is _Elsa_. With her fair -brow, gentle mien, and timid footsteps it seems impossible that she -can be the object of _Frederick's_ dire charge. But there are dark -forces conspiring against her, of which none knows save her accuser -and the wife he has chosen from the remoter North. In Friesland the -weird rites of Odin and the ancient gods still had many secret -adherents, _Ortrud_ among them, and it is the hope of this heathenish -woman, through the undoing of _Elsa_, and the accession of _Frederick_ -whom she has completely under her influence, to check the spread of -the Christian faith toward the North and restore the rites of Odin in -Brabant. To this end she is ready to bring all the black magic of -which she secretly is mistress into play. What wonder that _Elsa_, as -she encounters her malevolent gaze, lowers her eyes with a shudder! - -Up to the moment of _Elsa's_ entrance, the music is harsh and -vigorous, reflecting _Frederick's_ excitement as, incited by _Ortrud_, -he brings forward his charge against _Elsa_. With her appearance a -change immediately comes over the music. It is soft, gentle, and -plaintive; not, however, entirely hopeless, as if the maiden, being -conscious of her innocence, does not despair of her fate. - -"Elsa," gently asks the _King_, "whom name you as your champion?" She -answers as if in a trance; and it is at this point that the music of -"Elsa's Dream" is heard. In the course of this, violins whisper the -Grail Motive and in dreamy rapture _Elsa_ sings, "I see, in splendour -shining, a knight of glorious mien. His eyes rest upon me with -tranquil gaze. He stands amid clouds beside a house of gold, and -resting on his sword. Heaven has sent him to save me. He shall my -champion be!" - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Emma Eames as Elsa in "Lohengrin"] - -The men regard each other in wonder. But a sneer curls around -_Ortrud's_ lips, and _Frederick_ again proclaims his readiness to -prove his accusation in trial by combat for life and death. - -"_Elsa_," the _King_ asks once more, "whom have you chosen as your -champion?" - -"Him whom Heaven shall send me; and to him, whatever he shall ask of -me, I freely will give, e'en though it be myself as bride!" Again -there is heard the lovely, broad and flowing melody of which I have -already spoken and which may be designated as the ELSA MOTIVE. - -[Music] - -The _Herald_ now stations his trumpeters at the corners of the plain -and bids them blow a blast toward the four points of the compass. When -the last echo has died away he calls aloud: - -"He who in right of Heaven comes here to fight for _Elsa_ of Brabant, -let him step forth!" - -The deep silence that follows is broken by _Frederick's_ voice. "No -one appears to repel my charge. 'Tis proven." - -"My King," implores _Elsa_, whose growing agitation is watched by -_Ortrud_ with a malevolent smile, "my champion bides afar. He has not -yet heard the summons. I pray you let it go forth once more." - -Again the trumpeters blow toward the four points of the compass, again -the _Herald_ cries his call, again there is the fateful silence. "The -Heavens are silent. She is doomed," murmured the men. Then _Elsa_ -throws herself upon her knees and raises her eyes in prayer. Suddenly -there is a commotion among the men nearest the river bank. - -"A wonder!" they cry. "A swan! A swan--drawing a boat by a golden -chain! In the boat stands a knight! See, it approaches! His armour is -so bright it blinds our eyes! A wonder! A wonder!" - -There is a rush toward the bank and a great shout of acclaim, as the -swan with a graceful sweep rounds a bend in the river and brings the -shell-like boat, in which stands a knight in dazzling armour and of -noble mien, up to the shore. Not daring to trust her senses and turn -to behold the wondrous spectacle, _Elsa_ gazes in rapture heavenward, -while _Ortrud_ and _Telramund_, their fell intrigue suddenly halted by -a marvel that surpasses their comprehension, regard each other with -mingled amazement and alarm. - -A strange feeling of awe overcomes the assembly, and the tumult with -which the advent of the knight has been hailed dies away to breathless -silence, as he extends his hand and in tender accents bids farewell to -the swan, which gently inclines its head and then glides away with the -boat, vanishing as it had come. There is a chorus, in which, in -half-hushed voices, the crowd gives expression to the mystery of the -scene. Then the men fall back and the Knight of the Swan, for a silver -swan surmounts his helmet and is blazoned upon his shield, having made -due obeisance to the _King_, advances to where _Elsa_ stands and, -resting his eyes upon her pure and radiant beauty, questions her. - -"Elsa, if I become your champion and right the foul wrong that is -sought to be put upon you, will you confide your future to me; will -you become my bride?" - -"My guardian, my defender!" she exclaims ecstatically. "All that I -have, all that I am, is yours!" - -"Elsa," he says slowly, as if wishing her to weigh every word, "if I -champion your cause and take you to wife, there is one promise I must -exact: Never must you ask me whence I come or what my name." - -"I promise," she answers, serenely meeting his warning look. He -repeats the warning and again she promises to observe it. - -"Elsa, I love you!" he exclaims, as he clasps her in his arms. Then -addressing the _King_ he proclaims his readiness to defend her -innocence in trial by combat. - -In this scene occurs one of the significant themes of the opera, the -MOTIVE OF WARNING--for it is Elsa's disregard of it and the breaking -of her promise that brings her happiness to an end. - -[Music] - -Three Saxons for the Knight and three Brabantians for _Frederick_ -solemnly pace off the circle within which the combatants are to fight. -The _King_, drawing his sword, strikes three resounding blows with it -upon his shield. At the first stroke the Knight and _Frederick_ take -their positions. At the second they draw their swords. At the third -they advance to the encounter. _Frederick_ is no coward. His -willingness to meet the Knight whose coming had been so strange proves -that. But his blows are skilfully warded off until the Swan Knight, -finding an opening, fells him with a powerful stroke. _Frederick's_ -life is forfeited, but his conqueror, perchance knowing that he has -been naught but a tool in the hands of a woman leagued with the powers -of evil, spares it and bids his fallen foe rise. The _King_ leads -_Elsa_ to the victor, while all hail him as her deliverer and -betrothed. - -The scenes here described are most stirring. Before the combat begins, -the _King_ intones a prayer, in which first the principals and then -the chorus join with noble effect, while the music of rejoicing over -the Knight's victory has an irresistible onsweep. - -Act II. That night in the fortress of Antwerp, the palace where abide -the knights is brilliantly illuminated and sounds of revelry issue -from it, and lights shine from the kemenate, where _Elsa's_ -maids-in-waiting are preparing her for the bridal on the morrow. But -in the shadow of the walls sit two figures, a man and a woman; the -man, his head bowed in despair, the woman looking vindictively toward -the palace. They are _Frederick_ and _Ortrud_, who have been condemned -to banishment, he utterly dejected, she still trusting in the power of -her heathenish gods. To her the Swan Knight's chivalrous forbearance -in sparing _Frederick's_ life has seemed weak instead of noble, and -_Elsa_ she regards as an insipid dreamer and easy victim. Not knowing -that _Ortrud_ still darkly schemes to ruin _Elsa_ and restore him to -power, _Frederick_ denounces her in an outburst of rage and despair. - -As another burst of revelry, another flash of light, causes -_Frederick_ to bow his head in deeper gloom, _Ortrud_ begins to unfold -her plot to him. How long will a woman like _Elsa_--as sweet as she is -beautiful, but also as weak--be able to restrain herself from asking -the forbidden question? Once her suspicion aroused that the Knight is -concealing from her something in his past life, growing jealousy will -impel her first to seek to coax from him, then to demand of him his -name and lineage. Let _Frederick_ conceal himself within the minster, -and when the bridal procession reaches the steps, come forth and, -accusing the Knight of treachery and deceit, demand that he be -compelled to disclose his name and origin. He will refuse, and thus, -even before _Elsa_ enters the minster, she will begin to be beset by -doubts. She herself meanwhile will seek to enter the kemenate and play -upon her credulousness. "She is for me; her champion is for you. Soon -the daughter of Odin will teach you all the joys of vengeance!" is -_Ortrud's_ sinister exclamation as she finishes. - -Indeed it seems as if Fate were playing into her hand. For at that -very moment _Elsa_, all clad in white, comes out upon the balcony of -the kemenate and, sighing with happiness, breathes out upon the night -air her rapture at the thought of what bliss the coming day has in -store for her. As she lets her gaze rest on the calm night she hears a -piteous voice calling her name, and looking down sees _Ortrud_, her -hands raised in supplication to her. Moved by the spectacle of one but -a short time before so proud and now apparently in such utter -dejection, the guileless maid descends and, herself opening the door -of the kemenate, hastens to _Ortrud_, raises her to her feet, and -gently leads her in, while, hidden in the shadows, _Frederick of -Telramund_ bides his time for action. Thus within and without, -mischief is plotting for the unsuspecting _Elsa_. - -These episodes, following the appearance of _Elsa_ upon the balcony, -are known as the "Balcony Scene." It opens with the exquisite melody -which _Elsa_ breathes upon the zephyrs of the night in gratitude to -heaven for the champion sent to her defence. Then, when in pity she -has hastened down to _Ortrud_, the latter pours doubts regarding her -champion into _Elsa's_ mind. Who is he? Whence came he? May he not as -unexpectedly depart? The whole closes with a beautiful duet, which is -repeated by the orchestra, as _Ortrud_ is conducted by _Elsa_ into the -apartment. - -It is early morn. People begin to gather in the open place before the -minster and, by the time the sun is high, the space is crowded with -folk eager to view the bridal procession. They sing a fine and -spirited chorus. - -At the appointed hour four pages come out upon the balcony of the -kemenate and cry out: - -"Make way, our Lady Elsa comes!" Descending, they clear a path through -the crowd to the steps of the minster. A long train of richly clad -women emerges upon the balcony, slowly comes down the steps and, -proceeding past the palace, winds toward the minster. At that moment a -great shout, "Hail! Elsa of Brabant!" goes up, as the bride herself -appears followed by her ladies-in-waiting. For the moment _Ortrud's_ -presence in the train is unnoticed, but as _Elsa_ approaches the -minster, _Frederick's_ wife suddenly throws herself in her path. - -"Back, Elsa!" she cries. "I am not a menial, born to follow you! -Although your Knight has overthrown my husband, you cannot boast of -who he is--his very name, the place whence he came, are unknown. -Strong must be his motives to forbid you to question him. To what foul -disgrace would he be brought were he compelled to answer!" - -Fortunately the _King_, the bridegroom, and the nobles approaching -from the palace, _Elsa_ shrinks from _Ortrud_ to her champion's side -and hides her face against his breast. At that moment _Frederick of -Telramund_, taking his cue from _Ortrud_, comes out upon the minster -steps and repeats his wife's accusation. Then, profiting by the -confusion, he slips away in the crowd. The insidious poison, however, -has already begun to take effect. For even as the _King_ taking the -Knight on his right and _Elsa_ on his left conducts them up the -minster steps, the trembling bride catches sight of _Ortrud_ whose -hand is raised in threat and warning; and it is clinging to her -champion, in love indeed but love mingled with doubt and fear, that -she passes through the portal, and into the edifice. - -These are crucial scenes. The procession to the minster, often known -as the bridal procession, must not be confused with the "Bridal -Chorus." It is familiar music, however, because at weddings it often -is played softly as a musical background to the ceremony. - -Act III. The wedding festivities are described in the brilliant -"Introduction to Act III." This is followed in the opera by the -"Bridal Chorus," which, wherever heard--on stage or in church--falls -with renewed freshness and significance upon the ear. In this scene -the Knight and _Elsa_ are conducted to the bridal chamber in the -castle. From the right enter _Elsa's_ ladies-in-waiting leading the -bride; from the left the _King_ and nobles leading the Knight. -Preceding both trains are pages bearing lights; and voices chant the -bridal chorus. The _King_ ceremoniously embraces the couple and then -the procession makes its way out, until, as the last strains of the -chorus die away, _Elsa_ and her champion are for the first time alone. - -It should be a moment of supreme happiness for both, and indeed, -_Elsa_ exclaims as her bridegroom takes her to his arms, that words -cannot give expression to all its hidden sweetness. Yet, when he -tenderly breathes her name, it serves only to remind her that she -cannot respond by uttering his. "How sweetly sounds my name when -spoken by you, while I, alas, cannot reply with yours. Surely, some -day, you will tell me, all in secret, and I shall be able to whisper -it when none but you is near!" - -In her words the Knight perceives but too clearly the seeds of the -fatal mistrust sown by _Ortrud_ and _Frederick_. Gently he leaves her -side and throwing open the casement, points to the moonlit landscape -where the river winds its course along the plain. The same subtle -magic that can conjure up this scene from the night has brought him to -her, made him love her, and give unshrinking credence to her vow never -to question his name or origin. Will she now wantonly destroy the -wondrous spell of moonlight and love? - -But still _Elsa_ urges him. "Let me be flattered by your trust and -confidence. Your secret will be safe in my heart. No threats, not even -of death, shall tear it from my lips. Tell me who you are and whence -you come!" - -"Elsa!" he cries, "come to my heart. Let me feel that happiness is -mine at last. Let your love and confidence compensate me for what I -have left behind me. Cast dark suspicion aside. For know, I came not -hither from night and grieving but from the abode of light and noble -pleasures." - -But his words have the very opposite effect of what he had hoped for. -"Heaven help me!" exclaims _Elsa_. "What must I hear! Already you are -beginning to look back with longing to the joys you have given up for -me. Some day you will leave me to sorrow and regret. I have no magic -spells wherewith to hold you. Ah!"--and now she cries out like one -distracted and with eyes straining at distance--"See!--the -swan!--I see him floating on the waters yonder! You summon him, -embark!--Love--madness--whatever it may be--your name declare, your -lineage and your home!" - -Hardly have these mad words been spoken by her when, as she stands -before her husband of a few hours, she sees something that with a -sudden shock brings her to her senses. Rushing to the divan where the -pages laid the Knight's sword, she seizes it and thrusts it into his -hand, and he, turning to discover what peril threatens, sees -_Frederick_, followed by four Brabantian nobles, burst into the room. -With one stroke he lays the leader lifeless, and the others, seeing -him fall, go down on their knees in token of submission. At a sign -from the Knight they arise and, lifting _Frederick's_ body, bear it -away. Then the Knight summons _Elsa's_ ladies-in-waiting and bids them -prepare her in her richest garments to meet him before the _King_. -"There I will make fitting answer to her questions, tell her my name, -my rank, and whence I come." - -Sadly he watches her being led away, while she, no longer the happy -bride, but the picture of utter dejection, turns and raises her hands -to him in supplication as though she would still implore him to undo -the ruin her lack of faith in him has wrought. - -Some of the most beautiful as well as some of the most dramatic music -of the score occurs in these scenes. - -The love duet is exquisite--one of the sweetest and tenderest passages -of which the lyric stage can boast. A very beautiful musical episode -is that in which the Knight, pointing through the open casement to the -flowery close below, softly illumined by the moon, sings to an -accompaniment of what might be called musical moonbeams, "Say, dost -thou breathe the incense sweet of flowers?" But when, in spite of the -tender warning which he conveys to her, she begins questioning him, he -turns toward her and in a passionate musical phrase begs her to trust -him and abide with him in loving faith. Her dread that the memory of -the delightful place from which he has come will wean him from her; -the wild vision in which she imagines she sees the swan approaching to -bear him away from her, and when she puts to him the forbidden -questions, are details expressed with wonderful vividness in the -music. - -After the attack by _Frederick_ and his death, there is a dramatic -silence during which _Elsa_ sinks on her husband's breast and faints. -When I say silence I do not mean that there is a total cessation of -sound, for silence can be more impressively expressed in music than by -actual silence itself. It is done by Wagner in this case by long -drawn-out chords followed by faint taps on the tympani. When the -Knight bends down to _Elsa_, raises her, and gently places her on a -couch, echoes of the love duet add to the mournfulness of the music. -The scene closes with the Motive of Warning, which resounds with dread -meaning. - -A quick change of scene should be made at this point in the -performance of the opera, but as a rule the change takes so long that -the third act is virtually given in two acts. - -It is on the banks of the Scheldt, the very spot where he had -disembarked, that the Knight elects to make reply to _Elsa's_ -questions. There the _King_, the nobles, and the Brabantians, whom he -was to lead, are awaiting him to take command, and as their leader -they hail him when he appears. This scene, "Promise of Victory," is in -the form of a brilliant march and chorus, during which the Counts of -Brabant, followed by their vassals, enter on horseback from various -directions. In the average performance of the opera, however, much of -it is sacrificed in order to shorten the representation. - -The Knight answers their hail by telling them that he has come to bid -them farewell, that _Elsa_ has been lured to break her vow and ask the -forbidden questions which he now is there to answer. From distant -lands he came, from Montsalvat, where stands the temple of the Holy -Grail, his father, Percival, its King, and he, _Lohengrin_, its -Knight. And now, his name and lineage known, he must return, for the -Grail gives strength to its knights to right wrong and protect the -innocent only so long as the secret of their power remains unrevealed. - -Even while he speaks the swan is seen floating down the river. Sadly -_Lohengrin_ bids _Elsa_ farewell. Sadly all, save one, look on. For -_Ortrud_, who now pushes her way through the spectators, it is a -moment of triumph. - -"Depart in all your glory," she calls out. "The swan that draws you -away is none other than Elsa's brother Godfrey, changed by my magic -into his present form. Had she kept her vow, had you been allowed to -tarry, you would have freed him from my spell. The ancient gods, whom -faithfully I serve, thus punish human faithlessness!" - -By the river bank _Lohengrin_ falls upon his knees and prays in -silence. Suddenly a white dove descends over the boat. Rising, -_Lohengrin_ loosens the golden chain by which the swan is attached to -the boat; the swan vanishes; in its place _Godfrey_ stands upon the -bank, and _Lohengrin_, entering the boat, is drawn away by the dove. -At sight of the young Duke, _Ortrud_ falls with a shriek, while the -Brabantian nobles kneel before him as he advances and makes obeisance -to the _King_. _Elsa_ gazes on him in rapture until, mindful of her -own sorrow, as the boat in which _Lohengrin_ stands vanishes around -the upper bend of the river, she cries out, "My husband! My husband!" -and falls back in death in her brother's arms. - -_Lohengrin's_ narrative of his origin is beautifully set to music -familiar from the Prelude; but when he proclaims his name we hear the -same measures which _Elsa_ sang in the second part of her dream in the -first act. Very beautiful and tender is the music which he sings when -he hands _Elsa_ his horn, his sword, and his ring to give to her -brother, should he return, and also his greeting to the swan when it -comes to bear him back. The work is brought to a close with a -repetition of the music of the second portion of _Elsa's_ dream, -followed by a superb climax with the Motive of the Grail. - - -DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN - -THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG - - A stage-festival play for three days and a preliminary - evening (Ein Bühnenfestspiel für drei Tage und einen - Vorabend), words and music by Richard Wagner. - - The first performance of the entire cycle of four - music-dramas took place at Bayreuth, August 13, 14, 16, and - 17, 1876. "Das Rheingold" had been given September 22, 1869, - and "Die Walküre," June 26, 1870, at Munich. - - January 30, 1888, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, - "Die Walküre" was given as the first performance of the - "Ring" in America, with the omission, however, of "Das - Rheingold," the cycle therefore being incomplete, consisting - only of the three music-dramas--"Die Walküre," "Siegfried," - and "Götterdämmerung"; in other words the trilogy without - the Vorabend, or preliminary evening. - - Beginning Monday, March 4, 1889, with "Das Rheingold," the - complete cycle, "Der Ring des Nibelungen," was given for the - first time in America; "Die Walküre" following Tuesday, - March 5; "Siegfried," Friday, March 8; "Götterdämmerung," - Monday, March 11. The cycle was immediately repeated. Anton - Seidl was the conductor. Among the principals were Lilli - Lehmann, Max Alvary, and Emil Fischer. - - Seidl conducted the production of the "Ring" in London, - under the direction of Angelo Neumann, at Her Majesty's - Theatre, May 5-9, 1882. - - The "Ring" really is a tetralogy. Wagner, however, called it - a trilogy, regarding "Das Rheingold" only as a Vorabend to - the three longer music-dramas. - - In the repetitions of the "Ring" in this country many - distinguished artists have appeared: Lehmann, Moran-Olden, - Nordica, Ternina, Fremstad, Gadski, Kurt, as _Brünnhilde_; - Lehmann, Nordica, Eames, Fremstad, as _Sieglinde_; Alvary - and Jean de Reszke as _Siegfried_, both in "Siegfried" and - "Götterdämmerung"; Niemann and Van Dyck, as _Siegmund_; - Fischer and Van Rooy as _Wotan_; Schumann-Heink and Homer as - _Waltraute_ and _Erda_. - -[Illustration: Copyright A. Dupont, N.Y. - -Louise Homer as Fricka in "The Ring of the Nibelung"] - - -INTRODUCTION - -The "Ring of the Nibelung" consists of four music-dramas--"Das -Rheingold" (The Rhinegold), "Die Walküre" (The Valkyr), "Siegfried," -and "Götterdämmerung" (Dusk of the Gods). The "books" of these were -written in inverse order. Wagner made a dramatic sketch of the -Nibelung myth as early as the autumn of 1848, and between then and the -autumn of 1850 he wrote the "Death of Siegfried." This subsequently -became the "Dusk of the Gods." Meanwhile Wagner's ideas as to the -proper treatment of the myth seem to have undergone a change. -"Siegfried's Death" ended with Brünnhilde leading Siegfried to -Valhalla,--dramatic, but without the deeper ethical significance of -the later version, when Wagner evidently conceived the purpose of -connecting the final catastrophe of his trilogy with the "Dusk of the -Gods," or end of all things, in Northern mythology, and of embodying a -profound truth in the action of the music-dramas. This metaphysical -significance of the work is believed to be sufficiently explained in -the brief synopsis of the plot of the trilogy and in the descriptive -musical and dramatic analyses below. - -In the autumn of 1850 when Wagner was on the point of sketching out -the music of "Siegfried's Death," he recognized that he must lead up -to it with another drama, and "Young Siegfried," afterwards -"Siegfried," was the result. This in turn he found incomplete, and -finally decided to supplement it with the "Valkyr" and "Rhinegold." - -"Das Rheingold" was produced in Munich, at the Court Theatre, -September 22, 1869; "Die Walküre," on the same stage, June 20, 1870. -"Siegfried" and "Dusk of the Gods" were not performed until 1876, when -they were produced at Bayreuth. - -Of the principal characters in the "Ring of the Nibelung," _Alberich_, -the Nibelung, and _Wotan_, the chief of the gods, are symbolic of -greed for wealth and power. This lust leads _Alberich_ to renounce -love--the most sacred of emotions--in order that he may rob the -_Rhinedaughters_ of the Rhinegold and forge from it the ring which is -to make him all-powerful. _Wotan_ by strategy obtains the ring, but -instead of returning it to the _Rhinedaughters_, he gives it to the -giants, _Fafner_ and _Fasolt_, as ransom for _Freia_, the goddess of -youth and beauty, whom he had promised to the giants as a reward for -building Walhalla. _Alberich_ has cursed the ring and all into whose -possession it may come. The giants no sooner obtain it than they fall -to quarrelling over it. _Fafner_ slays _Fasolt_ and then retires to a -cave in the heart of a forest where, in the form of a dragon, he -guards the ring and the rest of the treasure which _Wotan_ wrested -from _Alberich_ and also gave to the giants as ransom for _Freia_. -This treasure includes the Tarnhelmet, a helmet made of Rhinegold, the -wearer of which can assume any guise. - -_Wotan_ having witnessed the slaying of _Fasolt_, is filled with dread -lest the curse of _Alberich_ be visited upon the gods. To defend -_Walhalla_ against the assaults of _Alberich_ and the host of -Nibelungs, he begets in union with _Erda_, the goddess of wisdom, the -Valkyrs (chief among them _Brünnhilde_), wild maidens who course -through the air on superb chargers and bear the bodies of departed -heroes to Walhalla, where they revive and aid the gods in warding off -the attacks of the Nibelungs. But it is also necessary that the -curse-laden ring should be wrested from _Fafner_ and restored through -purely unselfish motives to the _Rhinedaughters_, and the curse thus -lifted from the race of the gods. None of the gods can do this because -their motive in doing so would not be unselfish. Hence _Wotan_, for a -time, casts off his divinity, and in human disguise as Wälse, begets -in union with a human woman the Wälsung twins, _Siegmund_ and -_Sieglinde_. _Siegmund_ he hopes will be the hero who will slay -_Fafner_ and restore the ring to the _Rhinedaughters_. To nerve him -for this task, _Wotan_ surrounds the Wälsungs with numerous hardships. -_Sieglinde_ is forced to become the wife of her robber, _Hunding_. -_Siegmund_, storm-driven, seeks shelter in _Hunding's_ hut, where he -and his sister, recognizing one another, flee together. _Hunding_ -overtakes them and _Wotan_, as _Siegmund_ has been guilty of a crime -against the marriage vow, is obliged, at the request of his spouse -_Fricka_, the Juno of Northern mythology, to give victory to -_Hunding_. _Brünnhilde_, contrary to _Wotan's_ command, takes pity on -_Siegmund_, and seeks to shield him against _Hunding_. For this, -_Wotan_ causes her to fall into a profound slumber. The hero who will -penetrate the barrier of fire with which _Wotan_ has surrounded the -rock upon which she slumbers can claim her as his bride. - -After _Siegmund's_ death _Sieglinde_ gives birth to _Siegfried_, a son -of their illicit union, who is reared by one of the Nibelungs, _Mime_, -in the forest where _Fafner_ guards the Nibelung treasure. _Mime_ is -seeking to weld the pieces of _Siegmund's_ sword (Nothung or Needful) -in order that _Siegfried_ may slay _Fafner_, _Mime_ hoping then to -kill the youth and to possess himself of the treasure. But he cannot -weld the sword. At last _Siegfried_, learning that it was his father's -weapon, welds the pieces and slays _Fafner_. His lips having come in -contact with his bloody fingers, he is, through the magic power of the -dragon's blood, enabled to understand the language of the birds, and a -little feathery songster warns him of _Mime's_ treachery. _Siegfried_ -slays the Nibelung and is then guided to the fiery barrier around the -Valkyr rock. Penetrating this, he comes upon _Brünnhilde_, and -enraptured with her beauty, awakens her and claims her as his bride. -She, the virgin pride of the goddess, yielding to the love of the -woman, gives herself up to him. He plights his troth with the -curse-laden ring which he has wrested from _Fafner_. - -_Siegfried_ goes forth in quest of adventure. On the Rhine lives the -Gibichung _Gunther_, his sister _Gutrune_ and their half-brother -_Hagen_, none other than the son of the Nibelung _Alberich_. _Hagen_, -knowing of _Siegfried's_ coming, plans his destruction in order to -regain the ring for the Nibelungs. Therefore, craftily concealing -_Brünnhilde's_ and _Siegfried's_ relations from _Gunther_, he incites -a longing in the latter to possess _Brünnhilde_ as his bride. Carrying -out a plot evolved by _Hagen_, _Gutrune_ on _Siegfried's_ arrival -presents to him a drinking-horn filled with a love-potion. _Siegfried_ -drinks, is led through the effect of the potion to forget that -_Brünnhilde_ is his bride, and, becoming enamoured of _Gutrune_, asks -her in marriage of _Gunther_. The latter consents, provided -_Siegfried_ will disguise himself in the Tarnhelmet as _Gunther_ and -lead _Brünnhilde_ to him as bride. _Siegfried_ readily agrees, and in -the guise of _Gunther_ overcomes _Brünnhilde_ and delivers her to the -Gibichung. But _Brünnhilde_, recognizing on _Siegfried_ the ring, -which her conquerer had drawn from her finger, accuses him of -treachery in delivering her, his own bride, to _Gunther_. The latter, -unmasked and also suspicious of _Siegfried_, conspires with _Hagen_ -and _Brünnhilde_, who, knowing naught of the love-potion, is roused to -a frenzy of hate and jealousy by _Siegfried's_ seeming treachery, to -compass the young hero's death. _Hagen_ slays _Siegfried_ during a -hunt, and then in a quarrel with _Gunther_ over the ring also kills -the Gibichung. - -Meanwhile _Brünnhilde_ has learned through the _Rhinedaughters_ of the -treachery of which she and _Siegfried_ have been the victims. All her -jealous hatred of _Siegfried_ yields to her old love for him and a -passionate yearning to join him in death. She draws the ring from his -finger and places it on her own, then hurls a torch upon the pyre. -Mounting her steed, she plunges into the flames. One of the -_Rhinedaughters_, swimming in on the rising waters, seizes the -curse-laden ring. _Hagen_ rushes into the flooding Rhine hoping to -regain it, but the other _Rhinedaughters_ grasp him and draw him down -into the flood. Not only the flames of the pyre, but a glow which -pervades the whole horizon illumine the scene. It is Walhalla being -consumed by fire. Through love--the very emotion _Alberich_ renounced -in order to gain wealth and power--_Brünnhilde_ has caused the old -order of things to pass away and a human era to dawn in place of the -old mythological one of the gods. - -The sum of all that has been written concerning the book of "The Ring -of the Nibelung" is probably larger than the sum of all that has been -written concerning the librettos used by all other composers. What can -be said of the ordinary opera libretto beyond Voltaire's remark that -"what is too stupid to be spoken is sung"? But "The Ring of the -Nibelung" produced vehement discussion. It was attacked and defended, -praised and ridiculed, extolled and condemned. And it survived all the -discussion it called forth. It is the outstanding fact in Wagner's -career that he always triumphed. He threw his lance into the midst of -his enemies and fought his way up to it. No matter how much opposition -his music-dramas excited, they gradually found their way into the -repertoire. - -It was contended on many sides that a book like "The Ring of the -Nibelung" could not be set to music. Certainly it could not be after -the fashion of an ordinary opera. Perhaps people were so accustomed to -the books of nonsense which figured as opera librettos that they -thought "The Ring of the Nibelung" was so great a work that its action -and climaxes were beyond the scope of musical expression. For such, -Wagner has placed music on a higher level. He has shown that music -makes a great drama greater. - -One of the most remarkable features of Wagner's works is the author's -complete absorption of the times of which he wrote. He seems to have -gone back to the very period in which the scenes of his music-dramas -are laid and to have himself lived through the events in his plots. -Hans Sachs could not have left a more faithful portrayal of life in -the Nuremberg of his day than Wagner has given us in "Die -Meistersinger." In "The Ring of the Nibelung" he has done more--he has -absorbed an imaginary epoch; lived over the days of gods and demigods; -infused life into mythological figures. "The Rhinegold," which is full -of varied interest from its first note to its last, deals entirely -with beings of mythology. They are presented true to life--if that -expression may be used in connection with beings that never -lived--that is to say, they are so vividly drawn that we forget such -beings never lived, and take as much interest in their doings and -saying as if they were lifelike reproductions of historical -characters. Was there ever a love scene more thrilling than that -between _Siegmund_ and _Sieglinde_? It represents the gradations of -the love of two souls from its first awakening to its rapturous -greeting in full self-consciousness. No one stops to think during that -impassioned scene that the close relationship between _Siegmund_ and -_Sieglinde_ would in these days have been a bar to their legal union. -For all we know, in those moments when the impassioned music of that -scene whirls us away in its resistless current, not a drop of related -blood courses through their veins. It has been said that we could not -be interested in mythological beings--that "The Ring of the Nibelung" -lacked human interest. In reply, I say that wonderful as is the first -act of "The Valkyr," there is nothing in it to compare in wild and -lofty beauty with the last act of that music-drama--especially the -scene between _Brünnhilde_ and _Wotan_. - -That there are faults of dramatic construction in "The Ring of the -Nibelung" I admit. In what follows I have not hesitated to point them -out. But there are faults of construction in Shakespeare. What would -be the critical verdict if "Hamlet" were now to have its first -performance in the exact form in which Shakespeare left it? With all -its faults of dramatic construction "The Ring of the Nibelung" is a -remarkable drama, full of life and action and logically developed, the -events leading up to superb climaxes. Wagner was doubly inspired. He -was both a great dramatist and a great musician. - -The chief faults of dramatic construction of which Wagner was guilty -in "The Ring of the Nibelung" are certain unduly prolonged scenes -which are merely episodical--that is, unnecessary to the development -of the plot so that they delay the action and weary the audience to a -point which endangers the success of the really sublime portions of -the score. In several of these scenes, there is a great amount of -narrative, the story of events with which we have become familiar -being retold in detail although some incidents which connect the plot -of the particular music-drama with that of the preceding one are also -related. But, as narrative on the stage makes little impression, and, -when it is sung perhaps none at all, because it cannot be well -understood, it would seem as if prefaces to the dramas could have -taken the place of these narratives. Certain it is that these long -drawn-out scenes did more to retard the popular recognition of -Wagner's genius than the activity of hostile critics and musicians. -Still, it should be remembered that these music-dramas were composed -for performance under the circumstances which prevail at Bayreuth, -where the performances begin in the afternoon and there are long waits -between the acts, during which you can refresh yourself by a stroll or -by the more mundane pleasures of the table. Then, after an hour's -relaxation of the mind and of the sense of hearing, you are ready to -hear another act. Under these agreeable conditions one remains -sufficiently fresh to enjoy the music even of the dramatically faulty -scenes. - -One of the characters in "The Ring of the Nibelung," _Brünnhilde_, is -Wagner's noblest creation. She takes upon herself the sins of the gods -and by her expiation frees the world from the curse of lust for wealth -and power. She is a perfect dramatic incarnation of the profound and -beautiful metaphysical motive upon which the plot of "The Ring of the -Nibelung" is based. - -There now follow descriptive accounts of the stories and music of the -four component parts of this work by Wagner--perhaps his greatest. - - -DAS RHEINGOLD - -THE RHINEGOLD - - Prologue in four scenes to the trilogy of music-dramas, "The - Ring of the Nibelung," by Richard Wagner. "Des Rheingold" - was produced, Munich, September 22, 1869. "The Ring of the - Nibelung" was given complete for the first time in the - Wagner Theatre, Bayreuth, in August, 1876. In the first - American performance of "Das Rheingold," Metropolitan Opera - House, New York, January 4, 1889, Fischer was _Wotan_, - Alvary _Loge_, Moran-Oldern _Fricka_, and Katti Bettaque - _Freia_. - - CHARACTERS - - WOTAN } _Baritone-Bass_ - DONNER } Gods _Baritone-Bass_ - FROH } _Tenor_ - LOGE } _Tenor_ - - FASOLT } Giants _Baritone-Bass_ - FAFNER } _Bass_ - - ALBERICH } Nibelungs _Baritone-Bass_ - MIME } _Tenor_ - - FRICKA } _Soprano_ - FREIA } Goddesses _Soprano_ - ERDA } _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - WOGLINDE } _Soprano_ - WELLGUNDE } Rhinedaughters _Soprano_ - FLOSSHILDE } _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - _Time_--Legendary. - - _Place_--The bed of the Rhine; a mountainous district near - the Rhine; the subterranean caverns of Nibelheim. - -In "The Rhinegold" we meet with supernatural beings of German -mythology--the Rhinedaughters _Woglinde_, _Wellgunde_, and -_Flosshilde_, whose duty it is to guard the precious Rhinegold; -_Wotan_, the chief of the gods; his spouse _Fricka_; _Loge_, the God -of Fire (the diplomat of Walhalla); _Freia_, the Goddess of Youth and -Beauty; her brothers _Donner_ and _Froh_; _Erda_, the all-wise woman; -the giants _Fafner_ and _Fasolt_; _Alberich_ and _Mime_ of the race -of Nibelungs, cunning, treacherous gnomes who dwell in the bowels of -the earth. - -The first scene of "Rhinegold" is laid in the Rhine, at the bottom of -the river, where the _Rhinedaughters_ guard the Rhinegold. - -The work opens with a wonderfully descriptive Prelude, which depicts -with marvellous art (marvellous because so simple) the transition from -the quietude of the water-depths to the wavy life of the -_Rhinedaughters_. The double basses intone E-flat. Only this note is -heard during four bars. Then three contra bassoons add a B-flat. The -chord, thus formed, sounds until the 136th bar. With the sixteenth bar -there flows over this seemingly immovable triad, as the current of a -river flows over its immovable bed, the =Motive of the Rhine=. - -[Music] - -A horn intones this motive. Then one horn after another takes it up -until its wave-like tones are heard on the eight horns. On the flowing -accompaniment of the 'cellos the motive is carried to the wood-wind. -It rises higher and higher, the other strings successively joining in -the accompaniment, which now flows on in gentle undulations until the -motive is heard on the high notes of the wood-wind, while the violins -have joined in the accompaniment. When the theme thus seems to have -stirred the waters from their depth to their surface the curtain -rises. - -The scene shows the bed and flowing waters of the Rhine, the light of -day reaching the depths only as a greenish twilight. The current flows -on over rugged rocks and through dark chasms. - -_Woglinde_ is circling gracefully around the central ridge of rock. To -an accompaniment as wavy as the waters through which she swims, she -sings: - - Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle, - Walle zur Wiege! Wagala weia! - Wallala, Weiala weia! - -They are sung to the =Motive of the Rhinedaughters=. - -[Music: Weia Waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagala weia! -wallala, weiala weia!] - -In wavy sport the _Rhinedaughters_ dart from cliff to cliff. Meanwhile -_Alberich_ has clambered from the depths up to one of the cliffs, and -watches, while standing in its shadow, the gambols of the -_Rhinedaughters_. As he speaks to them there is a momentary harshness -in the music, whose flowing rhythm is broken. In futile endeavours to -clamber up to them, he inveighs against the "slippery slime" which -causes him to lose his foothold. - -_Woglinde_, _Wellgunde_, and _Flosshilde_ in turn gambol almost within -his reach, only to dart away again. He curses his own weakness in the -=Motive of the Nibelungs' Servitude=. - -[Music] - -Swimming high above him the _Rhinedaughters_ incite him with gleeful -cries to chase them. _Alberich_ tries to ascend, but always slips and -falls down. Then his gaze is attracted and held by a glow which -suddenly pervades the waves above him and increases until from the -highest point of the central cliff a bright, golden ray shoots through -the water. Amid the shimmering accompaniment of the violins is heard -on the horn the =Rhinegold Motive=. - -[Music] - -With shouts of triumph the _Rhinedaughters_ swim around the rock. -Their cry "Rhinegold," is a characteristic motive. The =Rhinedaughters' -Shout of Triumph= and the accompaniment to it are as follows: - -[Music: Rheingold!] - -As the river glitters with golden light the Rhinegold Motive rings out -brilliantly on the trumpet. The Nibelung is fascinated by the sheen. -The _Rhinedaughters_ gossip with one another, and _Alberich_ thus -learns that the light is that of the Rhinegold, and that whoever shall -shape a ring from this gold will become invested with great power. We -hear =The Ring Motive=. - -[Music] - -_Flosshilde_ bids her sisters cease their prattle, lest some sinister -foe should overhear them. _Wellgunde_ and _Woglinde_ ridicule their -sister's anxiety, saying that no one would care to filch the gold, -because it would give power only to him who abjures or renounces love. -At this point is heard the darkly prophetic =Motive of the Renunciation -of Love=. - -[Music] - -_Alberich_ reflects on the words of the _Rhinedaughters_. The Ring -Motive occurs both in voice and orchestra in mysterious pianissimo -(like an echo of _Alberich's_ sinister thoughts), and is followed by -the Motive of Renunciation. Then is heard the sharp, decisive rhythm -of the Nibelung Motive. _Alberich_ fiercely springs over to the -central rock. The _Rhinedaughters_ scream and dart away in different -directions. _Alberich_ has reached the summit of the highest cliff. - -"Hark, ye floods! Love I renounce forever!" he cries, and amid the -crash of the Rhinegold Motive he seizes the gold and disappears in the -depths. With screams of terror the _Rhinedaughters_ dive after the -robber through the darkened water, guided by _Alberich's_ shrill, -mocking laugh. - -There is a transformation. Waters and rocks sink. As they disappear, -the billowy accompaniment sinks lower and lower in the orchestra. -Above it rises once more the Motive of Renunciation. The Ring Motive -is heard, and then, as the waves change into nebulous clouds, the -billowy accompaniment rises pianissimo until, with a repetition of the -Ring Motive, the action passes to the second scene. One crime has -already been committed--the theft of the Rhinegold by _Alberich_. How -that crime and the ring which he shapes from the gold inspire other -crimes is told in the course of the following scenes of "Rhinegold." -Hence the significance of the Ring Motive as a connecting link between -the first and second scenes. - -Scene II. Dawn illumines a castle with glittering turrets on a rocky -height at the back. Through a deep valley between this and the -foreground flows the Rhine. - -The =Walhalla Motive= now heard is a motive of superb beauty. It greets -us again and again in "Rhinegold" and frequently in the later -music-dramas of the cycle. Walhalla is the abode of gods and heroes. -Its motive is divinely, heroically beautiful. Though essentially broad -and stately, it often assumes a tender mood, like the chivalric -gentleness which every hero feels toward woman. Thus it is here. In -crescendo and decrescendo it rises and falls, as rises and falls with -each breath the bosom of the beautiful _Fricka_, who slumbers at -_Wotan's_ side. - -[Music] - -As _Fricka_ awakens, her eyes fall on the castle. In her surprise she -calls to her spouse. _Wotan_ dreams on, the Ring Motive, and later the -Walhalla Motive, being heard in the orchestra, for with the ring -_Wotan_ is planning to compensate the giants for building Walhalla, -instead of rewarding them by presenting _Freia_ to them as he has -promised. As he opens his eyes and sees the castle you hear the Spear -Motive, which is a characteristic variation of the Motive of Compact. -For _Wotan_ should enforce, if needful, the compacts of the gods with -his spear. - -_Wotan_ sings of the glory of Walhalla. _Fricka_ reminds him of his -compact with the giants to deliver over to them for their work in -building Walhalla, _Freia_, the Goddess of Youth and Beauty. This -introduces on the 'cellos and double basses the =Motive of Compact=, a -theme expressive of the binding force of law and with the inherent -dignity and power of the sense of justice. - -[Music] - -In a domestic spat between _Wotan_ and _Fricka_, _Wotan_ charges that -she was as anxious as he to have Walhalla built. _Fricka_ answers that -she desired to have it erected in order to persuade him to lead a more -domestic life. At _Fricka's_ words, - - "Halls, bright and gleaming," - -the =Fricka Motive= is heard, a caressing motive of much grace and -beauty. - -[Music] - -It is also prominent in _Wotan's_ reply immediately following. _Wotan_ -tells _Fricka_ that he never intended to really give up _Freia_ to the -giants. Chromatics, like little tongues of flame, appear in the -accompaniment. They are suggestive of the Loge Motive, for with the -aid of _Loge_ the God of Fire, _Wotan_ hopes to trick the giants and -save _Freia_. - -"Then save her at once!" calls Fricka, as _Freia_ enters in hasty -flight. The =Motive of Flight= is as follows: - -[Music] - -The following is the =Freia Motive=: - -[Music] - -With _Freia's_ exclamations that the giants are pursuing her, the -first suggestion of the Giant Motive appears and as these "great, -hulking fellows" enter, the heavy, clumsy =Giant Motive= is heard in its -entirety: - -[Music] - -For the giants, _Fasolt_, and _Fafner_, have come to demand that -_Wotan_ deliver up to them _Freia_, according to his promise when they -agreed to build Walhalla for him. In the ensuing scene, in which -_Wotan_ parleys with the _Giants_, the Giant Motive, the Walhalla -Motive, the Motive of the Compact, and the first bar of the Freia -Motive figure until _Fasolt's_ threatening words, - - "Peace wane when you break your compact," - -when there is heard a version of the Motive of Compact characteristic -enough to be distinguished as the =Motive of Compact with the Giants=: - -[Music] - -The Walhalla, Giant, and Freia motives again are heard until _Fafner_ -speaks of the golden apples which grow in _Freia's_ garden. These -golden apples are the fruit of which the gods partake in order to -enjoy eternal youth. The Motive of Eternal Youth, which now appears, -is one of the loveliest in the cycle. It seems as though age could not -wither it, nor custom stale its infinite variety. Its first bar is -reminiscent of the Ring Motive, for there is subtle relationship -between the Golden Apples of Freia and the Rhinegold. Here is the -=Motive of Eternal Youth=: - -[Music] - -It is finely combined with the Giant Motive at _Fafner's_ words: - - "Let her forthwith be torn from them all." - -_Froh_ and _Donner_, _Freia's_ brothers, enter hastily to save their -sister. _Froh_ clasps her in his arms, while _Donner_ confronts the -giants, the Motive of Eternal Youth rings out triumphantly on the -horns and wood-wind. But _Freia's_ hope is short-lived. For though -_Wotan_ desires to keep _Freia_ in Walhalla, he dare not offend the -giants. At this critical moment, however, he sees his cunning -adviser, _Loge_, approaching. These are _Loge's_ characteristic -motives: - -[Music] - -_Wotan_ upbraids _Loge_ for not having discovered something which the -giants would be willing to accept as a substitute for _Freia_. _Loge_ -says he has travelled the world over without finding aught that would -compensate man for the renunciation of a lovely woman. This leads to -_Loge's_ narrative of his wanderings. With great cunning he tells -_Wotan_ of the theft of the Rhinegold and of the wondrous worth of a -ring shaped from the gold. Thus he incites the listening giants to ask -for it as a compensation for giving up _Freia_. Hence Wagner, as -_Loge_ begins his narrative, has blended, with a marvellous sense of -musical beauty and dramatic fitness, two phrases: the Freia Motive and -the accompaniment to the _Rhinedaughters'_ Shout of Triumph in the -first scene. This music continues until _Loge_ says that he discovered -but one person (_Alberich_) who was willing to renounce love. Then the -Rhinegold Motive is sounded tristly in a minor key and immediately -afterward is heard the Motive of Renunciation. - -_Loge_ next tells how _Alberich_ stole the gold. He has already -excited the curiosity of the giants, and when _Fafner_ asks him what -power _Alberich_ will gain through the possession of the gold, he -dwells upon the magical attributes of the ring shaped from Rhinegold. - -_Loge's_ diplomacy is beginning to bear results. _Fafner_ tells -_Fasolt_ that he deems the possession of the gold more important than -_Freia_. Notice here how the Freia motive, so prominent when the -giants insisted on her as their compensation, is relegated to the bass -and how the Rhinegold Motive breaks in upon the Motive of Eternal -Youth, as _Fafner_ and _Fasolt_ again advance toward _Wotan_, and bid -him wrest the gold from _Alberich_ and give it to them as ransom for -_Freia_. _Wotan_ refuses, for he himself now lusts for the ring made -of Rhinegold. The giants having proclaimed that they will give _Wotan_ -until evening to determine upon his course, seize _Freia_ and drag her -away. Pallor now settles upon the faces of the gods; they seem to have -grown older. They are affected by the absence of _Freia_, the Goddess -of Youth, whose motives are but palely reflected by the orchestra. At -last _Wotan_ proclaims that he will go with _Loge_ to Nibelung and -wrest the entire treasure of Rhinegold from _Alberich_ as ransom for -_Freia_. - -_Loge_ disappears down a crevice in the side of the rock. From it a -sulphurous vapour at once issues. When _Wotan_ has followed _Loge_ -into the cleft the vapour fills the stage and conceals the remaining -characters. The vapours thicken to a black cloud, continually rising -upward until rocky chasms are seen. These have an upward motion, so -that the stage appears to be sinking deeper and deeper. With a _molto -vivace_ the orchestra dashes into the Motive of Flight. From various -distant points ruddy gleams of light illumine the chasms, and when the -Flight Motive has died away, only the increasing clangour of the -smithies is heard from all directions. This is the typical =Nibelung -Motive=, characteristic of Alberich's Nibelungs toiling at the anvil -for him. Gradually the sounds grow fainter. - -[Music] - -Then as the Ring Motive resounds like a shout of malicious triumph -(expressive of _Alberich's_ malignant joy at his possession of power), -there is seen a subterranean cavern, apparently of illimitable depth, -from which narrow shafts lead in all directions. - -Scene III. _Alberich_ enters from a side cleft dragging after him the -shrieking _Mime_. The latter lets fall a helmet which _Alberich_ at -once seizes. It is the Tarnhelmet, made of Rhinegold, the wearing of -which enables the wearer to become invisible or assume any shape. As -_Alberich_ closely examines the helmet the =Motive of the Tarnhelmet= is -heard. - -[Music] - -It is mysterious, uncanny. To test its power _Alberich_ puts it on and -changes into a column of vapour. He asks _Mime_ if he is visible, and -when _Mime_ answers in the negative _Alberich_ cries out shrilly, -"Then feel me instead," at the same time making poor _Mime_ writhe -under the blows of a visible scourge. _Alberich_ then departs--still -in the form of a vaporous column--to announce to the _Nibelungs_ that -they are henceforth his slavish subjects. _Mime_ cowers down with fear -and pain. - -_Wotan_ and _Loge_ enter from one of the upper shafts. _Mime_ tells -them how _Alberich_ has become all-powerful through the ring and the -Tarnhelmet made of the Rhinegold. Then _Alberich_, who has taken off -the Tarnhelmet and hung it from his girdle, is seen in the distance, -driving a crowd of _Nibelungs_ before him from the caves below. They -are laden with gold and silver, which he forces them to pile up in one -place and so form a hoard. He suddenly perceives _Wotan_ and _Loge_. -After abusing _Mime_ for permitting strangers to enter Nibelheim, he -commands the _Nibelungs_ to descend again into the cavern in search of -new treasure for him. They hesitate. You hear the Ring Motive. -_Alberich_ draws the ring from his finger, stretches it threateningly -toward the _Nibelungs_, and commands them to obey their master. - -They disperse in headlong flight, with _Mime_, into the cavernous -recesses. _Alberich_ looks with mistrust upon _Wotan_ and _Loge_. -_Wotan_ tells him they have heard report of his wealth and power and -have come to ascertain if it is true. The Nibelung points to the -hoard. He boasts that the whole world will come under his sway (Ring -Motive), that the gods who now laugh and love in the enjoyment of -youth and beauty will become subject to him (Freia Motive); for he has -abjured love (Motive of Renunciation). Hence, even the gods in -Walhalla shall dread him (Walhalla Motive) and he bids them beware of -the time when the night-begotten host of the Nibelungs shall rise from -Nibelheim into the realm of daylight. (Rhinegold Motive followed by -Walhalla Motive, for it is through the power gained by the Rhinegold -that _Alberich_ hopes to possess himself of Walhalla.) _Loge_ -cunningly flatters _Alberich_, and when the latter tells him of the -Tarnhelmet, feigns disbelief of _Alberich's_ statements. _Alberich_, -to prove their truth, puts on the helmet and transforms himself into a -huge serpent. The Serpent Motive expresses the windings and writhings -of the monster. The serpent vanishes and _Alberich_ reappears. When -_Loge_ doubts if _Alberich_ can transform himself into something very -small, the Nibelung changes into a toad. Now is _Loge's_ chance. He -calls _Wotan_ to set his foot on the toad. As _Wotan_ does so, _Loge_ -puts his hand to its head and seizes the Tarnhelmet. _Alberich_ is -seen writhing under _Wotan's_ foot. _Loge_ binds _Alberich_; both -seize him, drag him to the shaft from which they descended and -disappear ascending. - -The scene changes in the reverse direction to that in which it changed -when _Wotan_ and _Loge_ were descending to Nibelheim. The orchestra -accompanies the change of scene. The Ring Motive dies away from -crashing fortissimo to piano, to be succeeded by the dark Motive of -Renunciation. Then is heard the clangour of the Nibelung smithies. The -Giant, Walhalla, Loge, and Servitude Motives follow the last with -crushing force as _Wotan_ and _Loge_ emerge from the cleft, dragging -the pinioned _Alberich_ with them. His lease of power was brief. He is -again in a condition of servitude. - -Scene IV. A pale mist still veils the prospect as at the end of the -second scene. _Loge_ and _Wotan_ place _Alberich_ on the ground and -_Loge_ dances around the pinioned Nibelung, mockingly snapping his -fingers at the prisoner. _Wotan_ joins _Loge_ in his mockery of -_Alberich_. The Nibelung asks what he must give for his freedom. "Your -hoard and your glittering gold," is _Wotan's_ answer. _Alberich_ -assents to the ransom and _Loge_ frees the gnome's right hand. -_Alberich_ raises the ring to his lips and murmurs a secret behest. -The _Nibelungs_ emerge from the cleft and heap up the hoard. Then, as -_Alberich_ stretches out the ring toward them, they rush in terror -toward the cleft, into which they disappear. _Alberich_ now asks for -his freedom, but _Loge_ throws the Tarnhelmet on to the heap. _Wotan_ -demands that _Alberich_ also give up the ring. At these words dismay -and terror are depicted on the Nibelung's face. He had hoped to save -the ring, but in vain. _Wotan_ tears it from the gnome's finger. Then -_Alberich_, impelled by hate and rage, curses the ring. The =Motive of -the Curse=: - -[Music] - -To it should be added the syncopated measures expressive of the -ever-threatening and ever-active =Nibelung's Hate=: - -[Music] - -Amid heavy thuds of the Motive of Servitude _Alberich_ vanishes in the -cleft. - -The mist begins to rise. It grows lighter. The Giant Motive and the -Motive of Eternal Youth are heard, for the giants are approaching with -_Freia_. _Donner_, _Froh_, and _Fricka_ hasten to greet _Wotan_. -_Fasolt_ and _Fafner_ enter with _Freia_. It has grown clear except -that the mist still hides the distant castle. _Freia's_ presence seems -to have restored youth to the gods. _Fasolt_ asks for the ransom for -_Freia_. _Wotan_ points to the hoard. With staves the giants measure -off a space of the height and width of _Freia_. That space must be -filled out with treasure. - -_Loge_ and _Froh_ pile up the hoard, but the giants are not satisfied -even when the Tarnhelmet has been added. They wish also the ring to -fill out a crevice. _Wotan_ turns in anger away from them. A bluish -light glimmers in the rocky cleft to the right, and through it _Erda_ -rises. She warns _Wotan_ against retaining possession of the ring. The -Erda Motive bears a strong resemblance to the Rhine Motive. - -The syncopated notes of the Nibelung's Malevolence, so threateningly -indicative of the harm which _Alberich_ is plotting, are also heard in -_Erda's_ warning. - -_Wotan_, heeding her words, throws the ring upon the hoard. The giants -release _Freia_, who rushes joyfully towards the gods. Here the Freia -Motive combined with the Flight Motive, now no longer agitated but -joyful, rings out gleefully. Soon, however, these motives are -interrupted by the Giant and Nibelung motives, and later the -Nibelung's Hate and Ring Motive. For _Alberich's_ curse already is -beginning its dread work. The giants dispute over the spoils, their -dispute waxes to strife, and at last _Fafner_ slays _Fasolt_ and -snatches the ring from the dying giant, while, as the gods gaze -horror-stricken upon the scene, the Curse Motive resounds with -crushing force. - -_Loge_ congratulates _Wotan_ on having given up the curse-laden ring. -But even _Fricka's_ caresses, as she asks _Wotan_ to lead her into -Walhalla, cannot divert the god's mind from dark thoughts, and the -Curse Motive accompanies his gloomy reflections--for the ring has -passed through his hands. It was he who wrested it from -_Alberich_--and its curse rests on all who have touched it. - -_Donner_ ascends to the top of a lofty rock. He gathers the mists -around him until he is enveloped by a black cloud. He swings his -hammer. There is a flash of lightning, a crash of thunder, and lo! the -cloud vanishes. A rainbow bridge spans the valley to Walhalla, which -is illumined by the setting sun. - -_Wotan_ eloquently greets Walhalla, and then, taking _Fricka_ by the -hand, leads the procession of the gods into the castle. - -The music of this scene is of wondrous eloquence and beauty. Six harps -are added to the ordinary orchestral instruments, and as the -variegated bridge is seen their arpeggios shimmer like the colours of -the rainbow around the broad, majestic =Rainbow Motive=: - -[Music] - -Then the stately Walhalla Motive resounds as the gods gaze, lost in -admiration, at the Walhalla. It gives way to the Ring Motive as -_Wotan_ speaks of the day's ills; and then as he is inspired by the -idea of begetting a race of demigods to conquer the Nibelungs, there -is heard for the first time the =Sword Motive=: - -[Music] - -The cries of the _Rhinedaughters_ greet _Wotan_. They beg him to -restore the ring to them. But _Wotan_ must remain deaf to their -entreaties. He gave the ring, which he should have restored to the -_Rhinedaughters_, to the giants, as ransom for _Freia_. - -The Walhalla Motive swells to a majestic climax and the gods enter the -castle. Amid shimmering arpeggios the Rainbow Motive resounds. The -gods have attained the height of their glory--but the Nibelung's curse -is still potent, and it will bring woe upon all who have possessed or -will possess the ring until it is restored to the _Rhinedaughters_. -_Fasolt_ was only the first victim of _Alberich's_ curse. - - -DIE WALKÜRE - -THE VALKYR - - Music-drama in three acts, words and music by Richard - Wagner. Produced, Munich, June 25, 1870. New York, Academy - of Music, April 2, 1877, an incomplete and inadequate - performance with Pappenheim as _Brünnhilde_, Pauline Canissa - _Sieglinde_, A. Bischoff _Siegmund_, Felix Preusser _Wotan_, - A. Blum _Hunding_, Mme. Listner _Fricka_, Frida de Gebel, - _Gerhilde_, Adolf Neuendorff, conductor. The real first - performance in America was conducted by Dr. Leopold Damrosch - at the Metropolitan Opera House, January 30, 1885, with - Materna, the original Bayreuth _Brünnhilde_ in that rôle, - Schott as _Siegmund_, Seidl-Kraus as _Sieglinde_, Marianne - Brandt as _Fricka_, Staudigl as _Wotan_, and Kögel as - _Hunding_. - - CHARACTERS - - SIEGMUND _Tenor_ - HUNDING _Bass_ - WOTAN _Baritone-Bass_ - SIEGLINDE _Soprano_ - BRÜNNHILDE _Soprano_ - FRICKA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Valkyrs (Sopranos and Mezzo-Sopranos): Gerhilde, Ortlinde, - Waltraute, Schwertleite, Helmwige, Siegrune, Grimgerde, - Rossweisse. - - _Time_--Legendary. - - _Place_--Interior of Hunding's hut; a rocky height; the peak - of a rocky mountain (the Brünnhilde-rock). - -_Wotan's_ enjoyment of Walhalla was destined to be short-lived. Filled -with dismay by the death of _Fasolt_ in the combat of the giants for -the accursed ring, and impelled by a dread presentiment that the force -of the curse would be visited upon the gods, he descended from -Walhalla to the abode of the all-wise woman, _Erda_, who bore him nine -daughters. These were the Valkyrs, headed by _Brünnhilde_--the wild -horsewomen of the air, who on winged steeds bore the dead heroes to -Walhalla, the warriors' heaven. With the aid of the Valkyrs and the -heroes they gathered to Walhalla, _Wotan_ hoped to repel any assault -upon his castle by the enemies of the gods. - -But though the host of heroes grew to a goodly number, the terror of -_Alberich's_ curse still haunted the chief of gods. He might have -freed himself from it had he returned the ring and helmet made of -Rhinegold to the _Rhinedaughters_, from whom _Alberich_ filched it; -but in his desire to persuade the giants to relinquish _Freia_, whom -he had promised to them as a reward for building Walhalla, he, having -wrested the ring from _Alberich_, gave it to the giants instead of -returning it to the _Rhinedaughters_. He saw the giants contending for -the possession of the ring and saw _Fasolt_ slain--the first victim of -_Alberich's_ curse. He knows that the giant _Fafner_, having assumed -the shape of a huge serpent, now guards the Nibelung treasure, which -includes the ring and the Tarnhelmet, in a cave in the heart of a -dense forest. How shall the Rhinegold be restored to the -_Rhinedaughters_? - -_Wotan_ hopes that this may be consummated by a human hero who, free -from the lust for power which obtains among the gods, shall, with a -sword of _Wotan's_ own forging, slay _Fafner_, gain possession of the -Rhinegold and restore it to its rightful owners, thus righting -_Wotan's_ guilty act and freeing the gods from the curse. To -accomplish this _Wotan_, in human guise as _Wälse_, begets, in wedlock -with a human, the twins _Siegmund_ and _Sieglinde_. How the curse of -_Alberich_ is visited upon these is related in "The Valkyr." - -The dramatis personæ in "The Valkyr" are _Brünnhilde_, the valkyr, and -her eight sister valkyrs; _Fricka_, _Sieglinde_, _Siegmund_, _Hunding_ -(the husband of _Sieglinde_), and _Wotan_. The action begins after the -forced marriage of _Sieglinde_ to _Hunding_. The Wälsungs are in -ignorance of the divinity of their father. They know him only as -_Wälse_. - -Act I. In the introduction to "The Rhinegold," we saw the Rhine -flowing peacefully toward the sea and the innocent gambols of the -_Rhinedaughters_. But "The Valkyr" opens in storm and stress. The -peace and happiness of the first scene of the cycle seem to have -vanished from the earth with _Alberich's_ abjuration of love, his -theft of the gold, and _Wotan's_ equally treacherous acts. - -This "Valkyr" Vorspiel is a masterly representation in tone of a storm -gathering for its last infuriated onslaught. The elements are -unleashed. The wind sweeps through the forest. Lightning flashes in -jagged streaks across the black heavens. There is a crash of thunder -and the storm has spent its force. - -Two leading motives are employed in this introduction. They are the -=Storm Motive= and the =Donner Motive=. The =Storm Motive= is as follows: - -[Music] - -These themes are elemental. From them Wagner has composed storm music -of convincing power. - -In the early portion of this vorspiel only the string instruments are -used. Gradually the instrumentation grows more powerful. With the -climax we have a tremendous _ff_ on the contra tuba and two tympani, -followed by the crash of the Donner Motive on the wind instruments. - -The storm then gradually dies away. Before it has quite passed over, -the curtain rises, revealing the large hall of _Hunding's_ dwelling. -This hall is built around a huge ash-tree, whose trunk and branches -pierce the roof, over which the foliage is supposed to spread. There -are walls of rough-hewn boards, here and there hung with large plaited -and woven hangings. In the right foreground is a large open hearth; -back of it in a recess is the larder, separated from the hall by a -woven hanging, half drawn. In the background is a large door. A few -steps in the left foreground lead up to the door of an inner room. The -furniture of the hall is primitive and rude. It consists chiefly of a -table, bench, and stools in front of the ash-tree. Only the light of -the fire on the hearth illumines the room; though occasionally its -fitful gleam is slightly intensified by a distant flash of lightning -from the departing storm. - -The door in the background is opened from without. _Siegmund_, -supporting himself with his hand on the bolt, stands in the entrance. -He seems exhausted. His appearance is that of a fugitive who has -reached the limit of his powers of endurance. Seeing no one in the -hall, he staggers toward the hearth and sinks upon a bearskin rug -before it, with the exclamation: - - Whose hearth this may be, - Here I must rest me. - -[Illustration: Lilli Lehmann as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre"] - -[Illustration: Photo by Hall - -"The Valkyr." Act I - -Hunding (Parker), Sieglinde (Rennyson), and Siegmund (Maclennan)] - -Wagner's treatment of this scene is masterly. As _Siegmund_ stands in -the entrance we hear the =Siegmund Motive=. This is a sad, weary strain -on 'cellos and basses. It seems the wearier for the burden of an -accompanying figure on the horns, beneath which it seems to stagger as -_Siegmund_ staggers toward the hearth. Thus the music not only -reflects _Siegmund's_ weary mien, but accompanies most graphically his -weary gait. Perhaps Wagner's intention was more metaphysical. Maybe -the burden beneath which the Siegmund Motive staggers is the curse of -_Alberich_. It is through that curse that _Siegmund's_ life has been -one of storm and stress. - -[Music] - -When the storm-beaten Wälsung has sunk upon the rug the Siegmund -Motive is followed by the Storm Motive, _pp_--and the storm has died -away. The door of the room to the left opens and a young -woman--_Sieglinde_--appears. She has heard someone enter, and, -thinking her husband returned, has come forth to meet him--not -impelled to this by love, but by fear. For _Hunding_ had, while her -father and kinsmen were away on the hunt, laid waste their dwelling -and abducted her and forcibly married her. Ill-fated herself, she is -moved to compassion at sight of the storm-driven fugitive before the -hearth, and bends over him. - -Her compassionate action is accompanied by a new motive, which by -Wagner's commentators has been entitled the Motive of Compassion. But -it seems to me to have a further meaning as expressing the sympathy -between two souls, a tie so subtle that it is at first invisible even -to those whom it unites. _Siegmund_ and _Sieglinde_, it will be -remembered, belong to the same race; and though they are at this point -of the action unknown to one another, yet, as _Sieglinde_ bends over -the hunted, storm-beaten _Siegmund_, that subtle sympathy causes her -to regard him with more solicitude than would be awakened by any other -unfortunate stranger. Hence I have called this motive the =Motive of -Sympathy=--taking sympathy in its double meaning of compassion and -affinity of feeling: - -[Music] - -The beauty of this brief phrase is enhanced by its unpretentiousness. -It wells up from the orchestra as spontaneously as pity mingled with -sympathetic sorrow wells up from the heart of a gentle woman. As it is -_Siegmund_ who has awakened these feelings in _Sieglinde_, the Motive -of Sympathy is heard simultaneously with the Siegmund Motive. - -_Siegmund_, suddenly raising his head, ejaculates, "Water, water!" -_Sieglinde_ hastily snatches up a drinking-horn and, having quickly -filled it at a spring near the house, swiftly returns and hands it to -_Siegmund_. As though new hope were engendered in _Siegmund's_ breast -by _Sieglinde's_ gentle ministration, the Siegmund Motive rises higher -and higher, gathering passion in its upward sweep and then, combined -again with the Motive of Sympathy, sinks to an expression of heartfelt -gratitude. This passage is scored entirely for strings. Yet no -composer, except Wagner, has evoked from a full orchestra sounds -richer or more sensuously beautiful. - -Having quaffed from the proffered cup the stranger lifts a searching -gaze to her features, as if they awakened within him memories the -significance of which he himself cannot fathom. She, too, is strangely -affected by his gaze. How has fate interwoven their lives that these -two people, a man and a woman, looking upon each other apparently for -the first time, are so thrilled by a mysterious sense of affinity? - -Here occurs the =Love Motive= played throughout as a violoncello solo, -with accompaniment of eight violoncellos and two double basses; -exquisite in tone colour and one of the most tenderly expressive -phrases ever penned. - -[Music] - -The Love Motive is the mainspring of this act. For this act tells the -story of love from its inception to its consummation. Similarly in the -course of this act the Love Motive rises by degrees of intensity from -an expression of the first tender presentiment of affection to the -very ecstasy of love. - -_Siegmund_ asks with whom he has found shelter. _Sieglinde_ replies -that the house is _Hunding's_, and she his wife, and requests -_Siegmund_ to await her husband's return. - - Weaponless am I: - The wounded guest, - He will surely give shelter, - -is _Siegmund's_ reply. With anxious celerity, _Sieglinde_ asks him to -show her his wounds. But, refreshed by the draught of cool spring -water and with hope revived by her sympathetic presence, he gathers -force and, raising himself to a sitting posture, exclaims that his -wounds are but slight; his frame is still firm, and had sword and -shield held half so well, he would not have fled from his foes. His -strength was spent in flight through the storm, but the night that -sank on his vision has yielded again to the sunshine of _Sieglinde's_ -presence. At these words the Motive of Sympathy rises like a sweet -hope. _Sieglinde_ fills the drinking-horn with mead and offers it to -_Siegmund_. He asks her to take the first sip. She does so and then -hands it to him. His eyes rest upon her while he drinks. As he returns -the drinking-horn to her there are traces of deep emotion in his -mien. He sighs and gloomily bows his head. The action at this point is -most expressively accompanied by the orchestra. Specially noteworthy -is an impassioned upward sweep of the Motive of Sympathy as _Siegmund_ -regards _Sieglinde_ with traces of deep emotion in his mien. - -In a voice that trembles with emotion, he says: "You have harboured -one whom misfortune follows wherever he wends his footsteps. Lest -through me misfortune enter this house, I will depart." With firm, -determined strides he already has reached the door, when she, -forgetting all in the vague memories that his presence have stirred -within her, calls after him: - -"Tarry! You cannot bring sorrow to the house where sorrow already -reigns!" - -Her words are followed by a phrase freighted as if with sorrow, the -Motive of the Wälsung Race, or =Wälsung Motive=: - -[Music] - -_Siegmund_ returns to the hearth, while she, as if shamed by her -outburst of feeling, allows her eyes to sink toward the ground. -Leaning against the hearth, he rests his calm, steady gaze upon her, -until she again raises her eyes to his, and they regard each other in -long silence and with deep emotion. The woman is the first to start. -She hears _Hunding_ leading his horse to the stall, and soon afterward -he stands upon the threshold looking darkly upon his wife and the -stranger. _Hunding_ is a man of great strength and stature, his eyes -heavy-browed, his sinister features framed in thick black hair and -beard, a sombre, threatful personality boding little good to whomever -crosses his path. - -With the approach of _Hunding_ there is a sudden change in the -character of the music. Like a premonition of _Hunding's_ entrance we -hear the =Hunding Motive=, _pp_. Then as _Hunding_, armed with spear -and shield, stands upon the threshold, this Hunding Motive--as dark, -forbidding, and portentous of woe to the two Wälsungs as _Hunding's_ -sombre visage--resounds with dread power on the tubas: - -[Music] - -Although weaponless, and _Hunding_ armed with spear and shield, the -fugitive meets his scrutiny without flinching, while the woman, -anticipating her husband's inquiry, explains that she had discovered -him lying exhausted at the hearth and given him shelter. With an -assumed graciousness that makes him, if anything, more forbidding, -_Hunding_ orders her prepare the meal. While she does so he glances -repeatedly from her to the stranger whom she has harboured, as if -comparing their features and finding in them something to arouse his -suspicions. "How like unto her," he mutters. - -"Your name and story?" he asks, after they have seated themselves at -the table in front of the ash-tree, and when the stranger hesitates, -_Hunding_ points to the woman's eager, inquiring look. - -"Guest," she urges, little knowing the suspicions her husband -harbours, "gladly would I know whence you come." - -Slowly, as if oppressed by heavy memories, he begins his story, -carefully, however, continuing to conceal his name, since for all he -knows, _Hunding_ may be one of the enemies of his race. Amid -incredible hardships, surrounded by enemies against whom he and his -kin constantly were obliged to defend themselves, he grew up in the -forest. He and his father returned from one of their hunts to find the -hut in ashes, his mother a corpse, and no trace of his twin sister. In -one of the combats with their foes he became separated from his -father. - -At this point you hear the Walhalla Motive, for _Siegmund's_ father -was none other than _Wotan_, known to his human descendants, however, -only as Wälse. In _Wotan's_ narrative in the next act it will be -discovered that _Wotan_ purposely created these misfortunes for -_Siegmund_, in order to strengthen him for his task. - -Continuing his narrative _Siegmund_ says that, since losing track of -his father, he has wandered from place to place, ever with misfortune -in his wake. That very day he has defended a maid whom her brothers -wished to force into marriage. But when, in the combat that ensued, he -had slain her brothers, she turned upon him and denounced him as a -murderer, while the kinsmen of the slain, summoned to vengeance, -attacked him from all quarters. He fought until shield and sword were -shattered, then fled to find chance shelter in _Hunding's_ dwelling. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Fremstad as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Fremstad as Sieglinde in "Die Walküre"] - -The story of _Siegmund_ is told in melodious recitative. It is not a -melody in the old-fashioned meaning of the term, but it fairly teems -with melodiousness. It will have been observed that incidents very -different in kind are related by _Siegmund_. It would be impossible to -treat this narrative with sufficient variety of expression in a -melody. But in Wagner's melodious recitative the musical phrases -reflect every incident narrated by _Siegmund_. For instance, when -_Siegmund_ tells how he went hunting with his father there is joyous -freshness and abandon in the music, which, however, suddenly sinks to -sadness as he narrates how they returned and found the Wälsung -dwelling devastated by enemies. We hear also the Hunding Motive at -this point, which thus indicates that whose who brought this -misfortune upon the Wälsungs were none other than _Hunding_ and his -kinsmen. As _Siegmund_ tells how, when he was separated from his -father, he sought to mingle with men and women, you hear the Love -Motive, while his description of his latest combat is accompanied by -the rhythm of the Hunding Motive. Those whom _Siegmund_ slew were -_Hunding's_ kinsmen. Thus _Siegmund's_ dark fate has driven him to -seek shelter in the house of the very man who is the arch-enemy of his -race and is bound by the laws of kinship to avenge on _Siegmund_ the -death of kinsmen. - -As _Siegmund_ concludes his narrative the Wälsung Motive is heard. -Gazing with ardent longing toward _Sieglinde_, he says: - - Now know'st thou, questioning wife, - Why "Peaceful" is not my name. - -These words are sung to a lovely phrase. Then, as _Siegmund_ rises and -strides over to the hearth, while _Sieglinde_, pale and deeply -affected by his tale, bows her head, there is heard on the horns, -bassoons, violas, and 'cellos a motive expressive of the heroic -fortitude of the Wälsungs in struggling against their fate. It is the -=Motive of the Wälsungs' Heroism=, a motive steeped in the tragedy of -futile struggle against destiny. - -[Music] - -The sombre visage at the head of the table has grown even darker and -more threatening. _Hunding_ arises. "I know a ruthless race to whom -nothing is sacred, and hated of all," he says. "Mine were the kinsmen -you slew. I, too, was summoned from my home to take blood vengeance -upon the slayer. Returning, I find him here. You have been offered -shelter for the night, and for the night you are safe. But tomorrow be -prepared to defend yourself." - -Alone, unarmed, and in the house of his enemy! And yet the same roof -harbours a friend--the woman. What strange affinity has brought them -together under the eye of the pitiless savage with whom she has been -forced into marriage? The embers on the hearth collapse. The glow -that for a moment pervades the room seems to his excited senses a -reflection from the eyes of the woman to whom he has been so -unaccountably yet so strongly drawn. Even the spot on the old -ash-tree, where he saw her glance linger before she left the room, -seems to have caught its sheen. Then the embers die out. All grows -dark. - -The scene is eloquently set to music. _Siegmund's_ gloomy thoughts are -accompanied by the threatening rhythm of the Hunding Motive and the -Sword Motive in a minor key, for _Siegmund_ is still weaponless. - - A sword my father did promise.... - Wälse! Wälse! Where is thy sword! - -The Sword Motive rings out like a shout of triumph. As the embers of -the fire collapse, there is seen in the glare, that for a moment falls -upon the ash-tree, the hilt of a sword whose blade is buried in the -trunk of the tree at the point upon which _Sieglinde's_ look last -rested. While the Motive of the Sword gently rises and falls, like the -coming and going of a lovely memory, _Siegmund_ apostrophizes the -sheen as the reflection of _Sieglinde's_ glance. And although the -embers die out, and night falls upon the scene, in _Siegmund's_ -thoughts the memory of that pitying, loving look glimmers on. - -Is it his excited fancy that makes him hear the door of the inner -chamber softly open and light footsteps coming in his direction? No; -for he becomes conscious of a form, her form, dimly limned upon the -darkness. He springs to his feet. _Sieglinde_ is by his side. She has -given _Hunding_ a sleeping-potion. She will point out a weapon to -_Siegmund_--a sword. If he can wield it she will call him the greatest -hero, for only the mightiest can wield it. The music quickens with -the subdued excitement in the breasts of the two Wälsungs. You hear -the Sword Motive and above it, on horns, clarinet, and oboe, a new -motive--that of the =Wälsungs' Call to Victory=: - -[Music] - -for _Sieglinde_ hopes that with the sword the stranger, who has -awakened so quickly love in her breast, will overcome _Hunding_. This -motive has a resistless, onward sweep. _Sieglinde_, amid the strains -of the stately Walhalla Motive, followed by the Sword Motive, narrates -the story of the sword. While _Hunding_ and his kinsmen were feasting -in honour of her forced marriage with him, an aged stranger entered -the hall. The men knew him not and shrank from his fiery glance. But -upon her his look rested with tender compassion. With a mighty thrust -he buried a sword up to its hilt in the trunk of the ash-tree. Whoever -drew it from its sheath to him it should belong. The stranger went his -way. One after another the strong men tugged at the hilt--but in vain. -Then she knew who the aged stranger was and for whom the sword was -destined. - -The Sword Motive rings out like a joyous shout, and _Sieglinde's_ -voice mingles with the triumphant notes of the Wälsungs' Call to -Victory as she turns to _Siegmund_: - - O, found I in thee - The friend in need! - -The Motive of the Wälsungs' heroism, now no longer full of tragic -import, but forceful and defiant--and _Siegmund_ holds _Sieglinde_ in -his embrace. - -There is a rush of wind. The woven hangings flap and fall. As the -lovers turn, a glorious sight greets their eyes. The landscape is -illumined by the moon. Its silver sheen flows down the hills and -quivers along the meadows whose grasses tremble in the breeze. All -nature seems to be throbbing in unison with the hearts of the lovers, -and, turning to the woman, _Siegmund_ greets her with the =Love Song=: - -[Music] - -The Love Motive, impassioned, irresistible, sweeps through the -harmonies--and Love and Spring are united. The Love Motive also -pulsates through _Sieglinde's_ ecstatic reply after she has given -herself fully up to _Siegmund_ in the Flight Motive--for before his -coming her woes have fled as winter flies before the coming of spring. -With _Siegmund's_ exclamation: - - Oh, wondrous vision! - Rapturous woman! - -there rises from the orchestra like a vision of loveliness the Motive -of Freia, the Venus of German mythology. In its embrace it folds this -pulsating theme: - -[Music] - -It throbs on like a love-kiss until it seemingly yields to the -blandishments of this caressing phrase: - -[Music] - -This throbbing, pulsating, caressing music is succeeded by a moment of -repose. The woman again gazes searchingly into the man's features. She -has seen his face before. When? Now she remembers. It is when she has -seen her own reflection in a brook! And his voice? It seems to her -like an echo of her own. And his glance; has it never before rested on -her? She is sure it has, and she will tell him when. - -She repeats how, while _Hunding_ and his kinsmen were feasting at her -marriage, an aged man entered the hall and, drawing a sword, thrust it -to the hilt in the ash-tree. The first to draw it out, to him it -should belong. One after another the men strove to loosen the sword, -but in vain. Once the aged man's glance rested on her and shone with -the same light as now shines in his who has come to her through night -and storm. He who thrust the sword into the tree was of her own race, -the Wälsungs. Who is he? - -"I, too, have seen that light, but in your eyes!" exclaimed the -fugitive. "I, too, am of your race. I, too, am a Wälsung, my father -none other than Wälse himself." - -"Was Wälse your father?" she cries ecstatically. "For you, then, this -sword was thrust in the tree! Let me name you, as I recall you from -far back in my childhood, _Siegmund_--_Siegmund_--_Siegmund_!" - -"Yes, I am _Siegmund_; and you, too, I now know well. You are -_Sieglinde_. Fate has willed that we two of our unhappy race, shall -meet again and save each other or perish together." - -Then, leaping upon the table, he grasps the sword-hilt which protrudes -from the trunk of the ash-tree where he has seen that strange glow in -the light of the dying embers. A mighty tug, and he draws it from the -tree as a blade from its scabbard. Brandishing it in triumph, he leaps -to the floor and, clasping _Sieglinde_, rushes forth with her into the -night. - -And the music? It fairly seethes with excitement. As _Siegmund_ leaps -upon the table, the Motive of the Wälsungs' Heroism rings out as if in -defiance of the enemies of the race. The Sword Motive--and he has -grasped the hilt; the Motive of Compact, ominous of the fatality which -hangs over the Wälsungs; the Motive of Renunciation, with its -threatening import; then the Sword Motive--brilliant like the glitter -of refulgent steel--and _Siegmund_ has unsheathed the sword. The -Wälsungs' Call to Victory, like a song of triumph; a superb upward -sweep of the Sword Motive; the Love Motive, now rushing onward in the -very ecstasy of passion, and _Siegmund_ holds in his embrace -_Sieglinde_, his bride--of the same doomed race as himself! - -Act II. In the _Vorspiel_ the orchestra, with an upward rush of the -Sword Motive, resolved into 9-8 time, the orchestra dashes into the -Motive of Flight. The Sword Motive in this 9-8 rhythm closely -resembles the Motive of the Valkyr's Ride, and the Flight Motive in -the version in which it appears is much like the Valkyr's Shout. The -Ride and the Shout are heard in the course of the _Vorspiel_, the -former with tremendous force on trumpets and trombones as the curtain -rises on a wild, rocky mountain pass, at the back of which, through a -natural rock-formed arch, a gorge slopes downward. - -In the foreground stands _Wotan_, armed with spear, shield, and -helmet. Before him is _Brünnhilde_ in the superb costume of the -Valkyr. The stormy spirit of the _Vorspiel_ pervades the music of -_Wotan's_ command to _Brünnhilde_ that she bridle her steed for battle -and spur it to the fray to do combat for _Siegmund_ against _Hunding_. -_Brünnhilde_ greets _Wotan's_ command with the weirdly joyous =Shout of -the Valkyrs= - -[Music: Hojotoho! Heiaha-ha.] - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Weil as Wotan in "Die Walküre"] - -[Illustration: Photo by Hall - -"Die Walküre." Act III - -Brünnhilde (Margaret Crawford)] - -It is the cry of the wild horsewomen of the air, coursing through -storm-clouds, their shields flashing back the lightning, their voices -mingling with the shrieks of the tempest. Weirder, wilder joy has -never found expression in music. One seems to see the steeds of the -air and streaks of lightning playing around their riders, and to hear -the whistling of the wind. - -The accompanying figure is based on the Motive of the =Ride of the -Valkyrs=: - -[Music] - -_Brünnhilde_, having leapt from rock to rock to the highest peak of -the mountain, again faces _Wotan_, and with delightful banter calls to -him that _Fricka_ is approaching in her ram-drawn chariot. _Fricka_ -has appeared, descended from her chariot, and advances toward _Wotan_, -_Brünnhilde_ having meanwhile disappeared behind the mountain height. - -_Fricka_ is the protector of the marriage vow, and as such she has -come in anger to demand from _Wotan_ vengeance in behalf of _Hunding_. -As she advances hastily toward _Wotan_, her angry, passionate -demeanour is reflected by the orchestra, and this effective musical -expression of _Fricka's_ ire is often heard in the course of the -scene. When near _Wotan_ she moderates her pace, and her angry -demeanour gives way to sullen dignity. - -_Wotan_, though knowing well what has brought _Fricka_ upon the scene, -feigns ignorance of the cause of her agitation and asks what it is -that harasses her. Her reply is preceded by the stern Hunding motive. -She tells _Wotan_ that she, as the protectress of the sanctity of the -marriage vow, has heard _Hunding's_ voice calling for vengeance upon -the Wälsung twins. Her words, "His voice for vengeance is raised," -are set to a phrase strongly suggestive of _Alberich's_ curse. It -seems as though the avenging Nibelung were pursuing _Wotan's_ children -and thus striking a blow at _Wotan_ himself through _Fricka_. The Love -Motive breathes through _Wotan's_ protest that _Siegmund_ and -_Sieglinde_ only yielded to the music of the spring night. _Wotan_ -argues that _Siegmund_ and _Sieglinde_ are true lovers, and _Fricka_ -should smile instead of venting her wrath on them. The motive of the -Love Song, the Love Motive, and the caressing phrase heard in the love -scene are beautifully blended with _Wotan's_ words. In strong contrast -to these motives is the music in _Fricka's_ outburst of wrath, -introduced by the phrase reflecting her ire, which is repeated several -times in the course of this episode. _Wotan_ explains to her why he -begat the Wälsung race and the hopes he has founded upon it. But -_Fricka_ mistrusts him. What can mortals accomplish that the gods, who -are far mightier than mortals, cannot accomplish? _Hunding_ must be -avenged on _Siegmund_ and _Sieglinde_. _Wotan_ must withdraw his -protection from _Siegmund_. Now appears a phrase which expresses -_Wotan's_ impotent wrath--impotent because _Fricka_ brings forward the -unanswerable argument that if the Wälsungs go unpunished by her, as -guardian of the marriage vow, she, the Queen of the Gods, will be held -up to the scorn of mankind. - -_Wotan_ would fain save the Wälsungs. But _Fricka's_ argument is -conclusive. He cannot protect _Siegmund_ and _Sieglinde_, because -their escape from punishment would bring degradation upon the -queen-goddess and the whole race of the gods, and result in their -immediate fall. _Wotan's_ wrath rises at the thought of sacrificing -his beloved children to the vengeance of _Hunding_, but he is -impotent. His far-reaching plans are brought to nought. He sees the -hope of having the Ring restored to the _Rhinedaughters_ by the -voluntary act of a hero of the Wälsung race vanish. The curse of -_Alberich_ hangs over him like a dark, threatening cloud. The =Motive -of Wotan's Wrath= is as follows: - -[Music] - -_Brünnhilde's_ joyous shouts are heard from the height. _Wotan_ -exclaims that he had summoned the Valkyr to do battle for _Siegmund_. -In broad, stately measures, _Fricka_ proclaims that her honour shall -be guarded by _Brünnhilde's_ shield and demands of _Wotan_ an oath -that in the coming combat the Wälsung shall fall. _Wotan_ takes the -oath and throws himself dejectedly down upon a rocky seat. _Fricka_ -strides toward the back. She pauses a moment with a gesture of queenly -command before _Brünnhilde_, who has led her horse down the height and -into a cave to the right, then departs. - -In this scene we have witnessed the spectacle of a mighty god vainly -struggling to avert ruin from his race. That it is due to irresistible -fate and not merely to _Fricka_ that _Wotan's_ plans succumb, is made -clear by the darkly ominous notes of Alberich's Curse, which resound -as _Wotan_, wrapt in gloomy brooding, leans back against the rocky -seat, and also when, in a paroxysm of despair, he gives vent to his -feelings, a passage which, for overpowering intensity of expression, -stands out even from among Wagner's writings. The final words of this -outburst of grief: - - The saddest I among all men, - -are set to this variant of the Motive of Renunciation; the meaning of -this phrase having been expanded from the renunciation of love by -_Alberich_ to cover the renunciation of happiness which is forced upon -_Wotan_ by avenging fate: - -[Music] - -_Brünnhilde_ casts away shield, spear, and helmet, and sinking down at -_Wotan's_ feet looks up to him with affectionate anxiety. Here we see -in the Valkyr the touch of tenderness, without which a truly heroic -character is never complete. - -Musically it is beautifully expressed by the Love Motive, which, when -_Wotan_, as if awakening from a reverie, fondly strokes her hair, goes -over into the Siegmund Motive. It is over the fate of his beloved -Wälsungs _Wotan_ has been brooding. Immediately following -_Brünnhilde's_ words, - - What an I were I not thy will, - -is a wonderfully soft yet rich melody on four horns. It is one of -those beautiful details in which Wagner's works abound. - -In _Wotan's_ narrative, which now follows, the chief of the gods tells -_Brünnhilde_ of the events which have brought this sorrow upon him, of -his failure to restore the stolen gold to the _Rhinedaughters_; of his -dread of _Alberich's_ curse; how she and her sister Valkyrs were born -to him by _Erda_; of the necessity that a hero should without aid of -the gods gain the Ring and Tarnhelmet from _Fafner_ and restore the -Rhinegold to the _Rhinedaughters_; how he begot the Wälsungs and -inured them to hardships in the hope that one of the race would free -the gods from _Alberich's_ curse. - -The motives heard in _Wotan's_ narrative will be recognized, except -one, which is new. This is expressive of the stress to which the gods -are subjected through _Wotan's_ crime. It is first heard when _Wotan_ -tells of the hero who alone can regain the ring. It is the =Motive of -the Gods' Stress=. - -[Music] - -Excited by remorse and despair _Wotan_ bids farewell to the glory of -the gods. Then he in terrible mockery blesses the Nibelung's heir--for -_Alberich_ has wedded and to him has been born a son, upon whom the -Nibelung depends to continue his death struggle with the gods. -Terrified by this outburst of wrath, _Brünnhilde_ asks what her duty -shall be in the approaching combat. _Wotan_ commands her to do -_Fricka's_ bidding and withdraw protection from _Siegmund_. In vain -_Brünnhilde_ pleads for the Wälsung whom she knows _Wotan_ loves, and -wished a victor until _Fricka_ exacted a promise from him to avenge -_Hunding_. But her pleading is in vain. _Wotan_ is no longer the -all-powerful chief of the gods--through his breach of faith he has -become the slave of fate. Hence we hear, as _Wotan_ rushes away, -driven by chagrin, rage, and despair, chords heavy with the crushing -force of fate. - -Slowly and sadly _Brünnhilde_ bends down for her weapons, her actions -being accompanied by the Valkyr Motive. Bereft of its stormy -impetuosity it is as trist as her thoughts. Lost in sad reflections, -which find beautiful expression in the orchestra, she turns toward the -background. - -Suddenly the sadly expressive phrases are interrupted by the Motive of -Flight. Looking down into the valley the Valkyr perceives _Siegmund_ -and _Sieglinde_ approaching in hasty flight. She then disappears in -the cave. With a superb crescendo the Motive of Flight reaches its -climax and the two Wälsungs are seen approaching through the natural -arch. For hours they have toiled forward; often _Sieglinde's_ limbs -have threatened to fail her, yet never have the fugitives been able to -shake off the dread sound of _Hunding_ winding his horn as he called -upon his kinsmen to redouble their efforts to overtake the two -Wälsungs. Even now, as they come up the gorge and pass under a rocky -arch to the height of the divide, the pursuit can be heard. They are -human quarry of the hunt. Terror has begun to unsettle _Sieglinde's_ -reason. When _Siegmund_ bids her rest she stares wildly before her, -then gazes with growing rapture into his eyes and throws her arms -around his neck, only to shriek suddenly: "Away, away!" as she hears -the distant horn-calls, then to grow rigid and stare vacantly before -her as _Siegmund_ announces to her that here he proposes to end their -flight, here await _Hunding_, and test the temper of _Wälse's_ sword. -Then she tries to thrust him away. Let him leave her to her fate and -save himself. But a moment later, although she still clings to him, -she apparently is gazing into vacancy and crying out that he has -deserted her. At last, utterly overcome by the strain of flight with -the avenger on the trail, she faints, her hold on _Siegmund_ relaxes, -and she would have fallen had he not caught her form in his arms. -Slowly he lets himself down on a rocky seat, drawing her with him, so -that when he is seated her head rests on his lap. Tenderly he looks -down upon the companion of his flight, and, while, like a mournful -memory, the orchestra intones the Love Motive, he presses a kiss upon -her brow--she of his own race, like him doomed to misfortune, -dedicated to death, should the sword which he has unsheathed from -_Hunding's_ ash-tree prove traitor. As he looks up from _Sieglinde_ he -is startled. For there stands on the rock above them a shining -apparition in flowing robes, breastplate, and helmet, and leaning upon -a spear. It is _Brünnhilde_, the Valkyr, daughter of _Wotan_. - -=The Motive of Fate=--so full of solemn import--is heard. - -[Music] - -While her earnest look rests upon him, there is heard the =Motive of -the Death-Song=, a tristly prophetic strain. - -[Music] - -_Brünnhilde_ advances and then, pausing again, leans with one hand on -her charger's neck, and, grasping shield and spear with the other, -gazes upon _Siegmund_. Then there rises from the orchestra, in strains -of rich, soft, alluring beauty, an inversion of the Walhalla Motive. -The Fate, Death-Song and Walhalla motives recur, and _Siegmund_, -raising his eyes and meeting _Brünnhilde's_ look, questions her and -receives her answers. The episode is so fraught with solemnity that -the shadow of death seems to have fallen upon the scene. The solemn -beauty of the music impresses itself the more upon the listener, -because of the agitated, agonized scene which preceded it. To the -Wälsung, who meets her gaze so calmly, _Brünnhilde_ speaks in solemn -tones: - -"Siegmund, look on me. I am she whom soon you must prepare to follow." -Then she paints for him in glowing colours the joys of Walhalla, where -_Wälse_, his father, is awaiting him and where he will have heroes for -his companions, himself the hero of many valiant deeds. _Siegmund_ -listens unmoved. In reply he frames but one question: "When I enter -Walhalla, will _Sieglinde_ be there to greet me?" - -When _Brünnhilde_ answers that in Walhalla he will be attended by -valkyrs and wishmaidens, but that _Sieglinde_ will not be there to -meet him, he scorns the delights she has held out. Let her greet -_Wotan_ from him, and _Wälse_, his father, too, as well as the -wishmaidens. He will remain with _Sieglinde_. - -Then the radiant Valkyr, moved by _Siegmund's_ calm determination to -sacrifice even a place among the heroes of Walhalla for the woman he -loves, makes known to him the fate to which he has been doomed. -_Wotan_ desired to give him victory over _Hunding_, and she had been -summoned by the chief of the gods and commanded to hover above the -combatants, and by shielding _Siegmund_ from _Hunding's_ thrusts, -render the Wälsung's victory certain. But _Wotan's_ spouse, _Fricka_, -who, as the first among the goddesses, is guardian of the marriage -vows, has heard _Hunding's_ voice calling for vengeance, and has -demanded that vengeance be his. Let _Siegmund_ therefore prepare for -Walhalla, but let him leave _Sieglinde_ in her care. She will protect -her. - -"No other living being but I shall touch her," exclaims the Wälsung, -as he draws his sword. "If the Wälsung sword is to be shattered on -Hunding's spear, to which I am to fall a victim, it first shall bury -itself in her breast and save her from a worse fate!" He poises the -sword ready for the thrust above the unconscious _Sieglinde_. - -"Hold!" cries _Brünnhilde_, thrilled by his heroic love. "Whatever the -consequences which Wotan, in his wrath, shall visit upon me, today, -for the first time I disobey him. Sieglinde shall live, and with her -Siegmund! Yours the victory over Hunding. Now Wälsung, prepare for -battle!" - -_Hunding's_ horn-calls sound nearer and nearer. _Siegmund_ judges that -he has ascended the other side of the gorge, intending to cross the -rocky arch. Already _Brünnhilde_ has gone to take her place where she -knows the combatants must meet. With a last look and a last kiss for -_Sieglinde_, _Siegmund_ gently lays her down and begins to ascend -toward the peak. Mist gathers; storm-clouds roll over the mountain; -soon he is lost to sight. Slowly _Sieglinde_ regains her senses. She -looks for _Siegmund_. Instead of seeing him bending over her she hears -_Hunding's_ voice as if from among the clouds, calling him to combat; -then _Siegmund's_ accepting the challenge. She staggers toward the -peak. Suddenly a bright light pierces the clouds. Above her she sees -the men fighting, _Brünnhilde_ protecting _Siegmund_ who is aiming a -deadly stroke at _Hunding_. - -At that moment, however, the light is diffused with a reddish glow. In -it _Wotan_ appears. As _Siegmund's_ sword cuts the air on its errand -of death, the god interposes his spear, the sword breaks in two and -_Hunding_ thrusts his spear into the defenceless Wälsung's breast. The -second victim of _Alberich's_ curse has met his fate. - -With a wild shriek, _Sieglinde_ falls to the ground, to be caught up -by _Brünnhilde_ and swung upon the Valkyr's charger, which, urged on -by its mistress, now herself a fugitive from _Wotan's_ anger, dashes -down the defile in headlong flight for the Valkyr rock. - -Act III. The third act opens with the famous "Ride of the Valkyrs," a -number so familiar that detailed reference to it is scarcely -necessary. The wild maidens of Walhalla coursing upon winged steeds -through storm-clouds, their weapons flashing in the gleam of -lightning, their weird laughter mingling with the crash of thunder, -have come to hold tryst upon the Valkyr rock. - -When eight of the Valkyrs have gathered upon the rocky summit of the -mountain, they espy _Brünnhilde_ approaching. It is with savage shouts -of "Hojotoho! Heiha!" those who already have reached their savage -eyrie, watch for the coming of their wild sisters. Fitful flashes of -lightning herald their approach as they storm fearlessly through the -wind and cloud, their weird shouts mingling with the clash of thunder. -"Hojotoho! Heihe!--Hojotoho! Heiha!" - -But, strange burden! Instead of a slain hero across her pommel, -_Brünnhilde_ bears a woman, and instead of urging her horse to the -highest crag, she alights below. The Valkyrs hasten down the rock, and -there the wild sisters of the air stand, curiously awaiting the -approach of _Brünnhilde_. - -In frantic haste the Valkyr tells her sisters what has transpired, and -how _Wotan_ is pursuing her to punish her for her disobedience. One -of the Valkyrs ascends the rock and, looking in the direction from -which _Brünnhilde_ has come, calls out that even now she can descry -the red glow behind the storm-clouds that denotes _Wotan's_ approach. -Quickly _Brünnhilde_ bids _Sieglinde_ seek refuge in the forest beyond -the Valkyr rock. The latter, who has been lost in gloomy brooding, -starts at her rescuer's supplication and in strains replete with -mournful beauty begs that she may be left to her fate and follow -_Siegmund_ in death. The glorious prophecy in which _Brünnhilde_ now -foretells to _Sieglinde_ that she is to become the mother of -_Siegfried_, is based upon the =Siegfried Motive=: - -[Music] - -_Sieglinde_, in joyous frenzy, blesses _Brünnhilde_ and hastens to -find safety in a dense forest to the eastward, the same forest in -which _Fafner_, in the form of a serpent, guards the Rhinegold -treasures. - -_Wotan_, in hot pursuit of _Brünnhilde_, reaches the mountain summit. -In vain her sisters entreat him to spare her. He harshly threatens -them unless they cease their entreaties, and with wild cries of fear -they hastily depart. - -In the ensuing scene between _Wotan_ and _Brünnhilde_, in which the -latter seeks to justify her action, is heard one of the most beautiful -themes of the cycle. - -It is the =Motive of Brünnhilde's Pleading=, which finds its loveliest -expression when she addresses _Wotan_ in the passage beginning: - -[Music: Thou, who this love within my breast inspired.] - -_Brünnhilde_ is _Wotan's_ favourite daughter, but instead of the -loving pride with which he always has been wont to regard her, his -features are dark with anger at her disobedience of his command. He -had decreed _Siegmund's_ death. She has striven to give victory to the -Wälsung. Throwing herself at her father's feet, she pleads that he -himself had intended to save _Siegmund_ and had been turned from his -purpose only by _Fricka's_ interference, and that he had yielded only -most grudgingly to _Fricka's_ insistent behest. Therefore, when she, -his daughter, profoundly moved by _Siegmund's_ love for _Sieglinde_, -and her sympathies aroused by the sad plight of the fugitives, -disregarded his command, she nevertheless acted in accordance with his -real inclinations. But _Wotan_ is obdurate. She has revelled in the -very feelings which he was obliged, at _Fricka's_ behest, to -forego--admiration for _Siegmund's_ heroism and sympathy for him in -his misfortune. Therefore she must be punished. He will cause her to -fall into a deep sleep upon the Valkyr rock, which shall become the -Brünnhilde-rock, and to the first man who finds her and awakens her, -she, no longer a Valkyr, but a mere woman, shall fall prey. - -This great scene between _Wotan_ and _Brünnhilde_ is introduced by an -orchestral passage. The Valkyr lies in penitence at her father's feet. -In the expressive orchestral measures the Motive of Wotan's Wrath -mingles with that of Brünnhilde's Pleading. The motives thus form a -prelude to the scene in which the Valkyr seeks to appease her father's -anger, not through a specious plea, but by laying bare the promptings -of a noble heart, which forced her, against the chief god's command, -to intervene for _Siegmund_. The Motive of Brünnhilde's Pleading is -heard in its simplest form at _Brünnhilde's_ words: - - Was it so shameful what I have done, - -and it may be noticed that as she proceeds the Motive of Wotan's -Wrath, heard in the accompaniment, grows less stern, until with her -plea, - - Soften thy wrath, - -it assumes a tone of regretful sorrow. - -_Wotan's_ feelings toward _Brünnhilde_ have softened for the time from -anger to grief that he must mete out punishment for her disobedience. -In his reply excitement subsides to gloom. It would be difficult to -point to other music more touchingly expressive of deep contrition -than the phrase in which _Brünnhilde_ pleads that _Wotan_ himself -taught her to love _Siegmund_. It is here that the Motive of -Brünnhilde's Pleading assumes the form in the notation given above. -Then we hear from _Wotan_ that he had abandoned _Siegmund_ to his -fate, because he had lost hope in the cause of the gods and wished to -end his woe in the wreck of the world. The weird terror of the Curse -Motive hangs over this outburst of despair. In broad and beautiful -strains _Wotan_ then depicts _Brünnhilde_ yielding to her emotions -when she intervened for _Siegmund_. - -_Brünnhilde_ makes her last appeal. She tells her father that -_Sieglinde_ has found refuge in the forest, and that there she will -give birth to a son, _Siegfried_,--the hero for whom the gods have -been waiting to overthrow their enemies. If she must suffer for her -disobedience, let _Wotan_ surround her sleeping form with a fiery -circle which only such a hero will dare penetrate. The Motive of -Brünnhilde's Pleading and the Siegfried Motive vie with each other in -giving expression to the beauty, tenderness, and majesty of this -scene. - -Gently the god raises her and tenderly kisses her brow; and thus bids -farewell to the best beloved of his daughters. Slowly she sinks upon -the rock. He closes her helmet and covers her with her shield. Then, -with his spear, he invokes the god of fire. Tongues of flame leap from -the crevices of the rock. Wildly fluttering fire breaks out on all -sides. The forest beyond glows like a furnace, with brighter streaks -shooting and throbbing through the mass, as _Wotan_, with a last look -at the sleeping form of _Brünnhilde_, vanishes beyond the fiery -circle. - -A majestic orchestral passage opens _Wotan's_ farewell to -_Brünnhilde_. In all music for bass voice this scene has no peer. Such -tender, mournful beauty has never found expression in music--and this, -whether we regard the vocal part or the orchestral accompaniment in -which the lovely =Slumber Motive=: - -[Music] - -As _Wotan_ leads _Brünnhilde_ to the rock, upon which she sinks, -closes her helmet, and covers her with her shield, then invokes -_Loge_, and, after gazing fondly upon the slumbering Valkyr, vanishes -amid the magic flames, the Slumber Motive, the Magic Fire Motive, and -the Siegfried Motive combine to place the music of the scene with the -most brilliant and beautiful portion of our heritage from the great -master-musician. But here, too, lurks Destiny. Towards the close of -this glorious finale we hear again the ominous muttering of the Motive -of Fate. _Brünnhilde_ may be saved from ignominy, _Siegfried_ may be -born to _Sieglinde_--but the crushing weight of _Alberich's_ curse -still rests upon the race of the gods. - - -SIEGFRIED - - Music-drama in three acts, by Richard Wagner. Produced, - Bayreuth, August 16, 1876. London, by the Carl Rosa Company, - 1898, in English. New York, Metropolitan Opera House, - November 9, 1887, with Lehmann (_Brünnhilde_), Fischer - (_Wotan_), Alvary (_Siegfried_), and Seidl-Kraus (_Forest - bird_). - - CHARACTERS - - SIEGFRIED _Tenor_ - MIME _Tenor_ - WOTAN (disguised as the WANDERER) _Baritone-Bass_ - ALBERICH _Baritone-Bass_ - FAFNER _Bass_ - ERDA _Contralto_ - FOREST BIRD _Soprano_ - BRÜNNHILDE _Soprano_ - - _Time_--Legendary. - - _Place_--A rocky cave in the forest; deep in the forest; - wild region at foot of a rocky mount; the Brünnhilde-rock. - -The Nibelungs were not present in the dramatic action of "The Valkyr," -though the sinister influence of _Alberich_ shaped the tragedy of -_Siegmund's_ death. In "Siegfried" several characters of "The -Rhinegold," who do not take part in "The Valkyr," reappear. These are -the Nibelungs _Alberich_ and _Mime_; the giant _Fafner_, who in the -guise of a serpent guards the Ring, the Tarnhelmet, and the Nibelung -hoard in a cavern, and _Erda_. - -_Siegfried_ has been born of _Sieglinde_, who died in giving birth to -him. This scion of the Wälsung race has been reared by _Mime_, who -found him in the forest by his dead mother's side. _Mime_ is plotting -to obtain possession of the ring and of _Fafner's_ other treasures, -and hopes to be aided in his designs by the lusty youth. _Wotan_, -disguised as a wanderer, is watching the course of events, again -hopeful that a hero of the Wälsung race will free the gods from -_Alberich's_ curse. Surrounded by magic fire, _Brünnhilde_ still lies -in deep slumber on the Brünnhilde Rock. - -The _Vorspiel_ of "Siegfried" is expressive of _Mime's_ planning and -plotting. It begins with music of a mysterious brooding character. -Mingling with this is the Motive of the Hoard, familiar from "The -Rhinegold." Then is heard the Nibelung Motive. After reaching a -forceful climax it passes over to the Motive of the Ring, which rises -from pianissimo to a crashing climax. The ring is to be the prize of -all _Mime's_ plotting. He hopes to weld the pieces of _Siegmund's_ -sword together, and that with this sword _Siegfried_ will slay -_Fafner_. Then _Mime_ will slay _Siegfried_ and possess himself of the -ring. Thus it is to serve his own ends only, that _Mime_ is craftily -rearing _Siegfried_. - -The opening scene shows _Mime_ forging a sword at a natural forge -formed in a rocky cave. In a soliloquy he discloses the purpose of his -labours and laments that _Siegfried_ shivers every sword which has -been forged for him. Could he (_Mime_) but unite the pieces of -_Siegmund's_ sword! At this thought the Sword Motive rings out -brilliantly, and is jubilantly repeated, accompanied by a variant of -the Walhalla Motive. For if the pieces of the sword were welded -together, and _Siegfried_ were with it to slay _Fafner_, _Mime_ could -surreptitiously obtain possession of the ring, slay _Siegfried_, rule -over the gods in Walhalla, and circumvent _Alberich's_ plans for -regaining the hoard. - -_Mime_ is still at work when _Siegfried_ enters, clad in a wild forest -garb. Over it a silver horn is slung by a chain. The sturdy youth has -captured a bear. He leads it by a bast rope, with which he gives it -full play so that it can make a dash at _Mime_. As the latter flees -terrified behind the forge, _Siegfried_ gives vent to his high spirits -in shouts of laughter. Musically his buoyant nature is expressed by a -theme inspired by the fresh, joyful spirit of a wild, woodland life. -It may be called, to distinguish it from the Siegfried Motive, the -=Motive of Siegfried the Fearless=. - -[Music] - -It pervades with its joyous impetuosity the ensuing scene, in which -_Siegfried_ has his sport with _Mime_, until tiring of it, he loosens -the rope from the bear's neck and drives the animal back into the -forest. In a pretty, graceful phrase _Siegfried_ tells how he blew his -horn, hoping it would be answered by a pleasanter companion than -_Mime_. Then he examines the sword which _Mime_ has been forging. The -Siegfried Motive resounds as he inveighs against the weapon's -weakness, then shivers it on the anvil. The orchestra, with a rush, -takes up the =Motive of Siegfried the Impetuous=. - -[Music] - -This is a theme full of youthful snap and dash. _Mime_ tells -_Siegfried_ how he tenderly reared him from infancy. The music here is -as simple and pretty as a folk-song, for _Mime's_ reminiscences of -_Siegfried's_ infancy are set to a charming melody, as though _Mime_ -were recalling to _Siegfried's_ memory a cradle song of those days. -But _Siegfried_ grows impatient. If _Mime_ really tended him so kindly -out of pure affection, why should _Mime_ be so repulsive to him; and -yet why should he, in spite of _Mime's_ repulsiveness, always return -to the cave? The dwarf explains that he is to _Siegfried_ what the -father is to the fledgling. This leads to a beautiful lyric episode. -_Siegfried_ says that he saw the birds mating, the deer pairing, the -she-wolf nursing her cubs. Whom shall he call Mother? Who is _Mime's_ -wife? This episode is pervaded by the lovely =Motive of Love-Life=. - -[Music] - -_Mime_ endeavours to persuade _Siegfried_ that he is his father and -mother in one. But _Siegfried_ has noticed that the young of birds and -deer and wolves look like the parents. He has seen his features -reflected in the brook, and knows he does not resemble the hideous -_Mime_. The notes of the Love-Life Motive pervade this episode. When -_Siegfried_ speaks of seeing his own likeness, we also hear the -Siegfried Motive. _Mime_, forced by _Siegfried_ to speak the truth, -tells of _Sieglinde's_ death while giving birth to _Siegfried_. -Throughout this scene we find reminiscences of the first act of "The -Valkyr," the Wälsung Motive, the Motive of Sympathy, and the Love -Motive. Finally, when _Mime_ produces as evidence of the truth of his -words the two pieces of _Siegmund's_ sword, the Sword Motive rings out -brilliantly. _Siegfried_ exclaims that _Mime_ must weld the pieces -into a trusty weapon. Then follows _Siegfried's_ "Wander Song," so -full of joyous abandon. Once the sword welded, he will leave the hated -_Mime_ for ever. As the fish darts through the water, as the bird -flies so free, he will flee from the repulsive dwarf. With joyous -exclamations he runs from the cave into the forest. - - * * * * * - -The frank, boisterous nature of _Siegfried_ is charmingly portrayed. -His buoyant vivacity finds capital expression in the Motives of -Siegfried the Fearless, Siegfried the Impetuous, and his "Wander -Song," while the vein of tenderness in his character seems to run -through the Love-Life Motive. His harsh treatment of _Mime_ is not -brutal; for _Siegfried_ frankly avows his loathing for the dwarf, and -we feel, knowing _Mime's_ plotting against the young Wälsung, that -_Siegfried's_ hatred is the spontaneous aversion of a frank nature for -an insidious one. - -_Mime_ has a gloomy soliloquy. It is interrupted by the entrance of -_Wotan_, disguised as a wanderer. At the moment _Mime_ is in despair -because he cannot weld the pieces of _Siegmund's_ sword. When the -_Wanderer_ departs, he has prophesied that only he who does not know -what fear is--only a fearless hero--can weld the fragments, and that -through this fearless hero _Mime_ shall lose his life. This prophecy -is reached through a somewhat curious process which must be -unintelligible to anyone who has not made a study of the libretto. The -_Wanderer_, seating himself, wagers his head that he can correctly -answer any three questions which _Mime_ may put to him. _Mime_ then -asks: "What is the race born in the earth's deep bowels?" The -_Wanderer_ answers: "The Nibelungs." _Mime's_ second question is: -"What race dwells on the earth's back?" The _Wanderer_ replies: "The -race of giants." _Mime_ finally asks: "What race dwells on cloudy -heights?" The _Wanderer_ answers: "The race of the gods." The -_Wanderer_, having thus answered correctly _Mime's_ three questions, -now put three questions to _Mime_: "What is that noble race which -_Wotan_ ruthlessly dealt with, and yet which he deemeth most dear?" -_Mime_ answers correctly: "The Wälsungs." Then the _Wanderer_ asks: -"What sword must _Siegfried_ then strike with, dealing to _Fafner_ -death?" _Mime_ answers correctly: "With _Siegmund's_ sword." "Who," -asks the _Wanderer_, "can weld its fragments?" _Mime_ is terrified, -for he cannot answer. Then _Wotan_ utters the prophecy of the fearless -hero. - -The scene is musically most eloquent. It is introduced by two motives, -representing _Wotan_ as the Wanderer. The mysterious chords of the -former seem characteristic of _Wotan's_ disguise. - -The latter, with its plodding, heavily-tramping movement, is the -motive of _Wotan's_ wandering. - -The third new motive found in this scene is characteristically -expressive of the _Cringing Mime_. - -Several motives familiar from "The Rhinegold" and "The Valkyr" are -heard here. The Motive of Compact so powerfully expressive of the -binding force of law, the Nibelung and Walhalla motives from "The -Rhinegold," and the Wälsungs' Heroism motives from the first act of -"The Valkyr," are among these. - -When the _Wanderer_ has vanished in the forest _Mime_ sinks back on -his stool in despair. Staring after _Wotan_ into the sunlit forest, -the shimmering rays flitting over the soft green mosses with every -movement of the branches and each tremor of the leaves seem to him -like flickering flames and treacherous will-o'-the-wisps. We hear the -Loge Motive (_Loge_ being the god of fire) familiar from "The -Rhinegold" and the finale of "The Valkyr." At last _Mime_ rises to his -feet in terror. He seems to see _Fafner_ in his serpent's guise -approaching to devour him, and in a paroxysm of fear he falls with a -shriek behind the anvil. Just then _Siegfried_ bursts out of the -thicket, and with the fresh, buoyant "Wander Song" and the Motive of -Siegfried the Fearless, the weird mystery which hung over the former -scene is dispelled. _Siegfried_ looks about him for _Mime_ until he -sees the dwarf lying behind the anvil. - -Laughingly the young Wälsung asks the dwarf if he has thus been -welding the sword. "The sword? The sword?" repeats _Mime_ confusedly, -as he advances, and his mind wanders back to _Wotan's_ prophecy of the -fearless hero. Regaining his senses he tells _Siegfried_ there is one -thing he has yet to learn, namely, to be afraid; that his mother -charged him (_Mime_) to teach fear to him (_Siegfried_). _Mime_ asks -_Siegfried_ if he has never felt his heart beating when in the -gloaming he heard strange sounds and saw weirdly glimmering lights in -the forest. _Siegfried_ replies that he never has. He knows not what -fear is. If it is necessary before he goes forth in quest of adventure -to learn what fear is he would like to be taught. But how can _Mime_ -teach him? - -The Magic Fire Motive and Brünnhilde's Slumber Motive familiar from -Wotan's Farewell, and the Magic Fire scene in the third act of "The -Valkyr" are heard here, the former depicting the weirdly glimmering -lights with which _Mime_ has sought to infuse dread into _Siegfried's_ -breast, the latter prophesying that, penetrating fearlessly the fiery -circle, _Siegfried_ will reach _Brünnhilde_. Then _Mime_ tells -_Siegfried_ of _Fafner_, thinking thus to strike terror into the young -Wälsung's breast. But far from it! _Siegfried_ is incited by _Mime's_ -words to meet _Fafner_ in combat. Has _Mime_ welded the fragments of -_Siegmund's_ sword, asks _Siegfried_. The dwarf confesses his -impotency. _Siegfried_ seizes the fragments. He will forge his own -sword. Here begins the great scene of the forging of the sword. Like a -shout of victory the Motive of Siegfried the Fearless rings out and -the orchestra fairly glows as _Siegfried_ heaps a great mass of coal -on the forge-hearth, and, fanning the heat, begins to file away at the -fragments of the sword. - -The roar of the fire, the sudden intensity of the fierce white heat to -which the young Wälsung fans the glow--these we would respectively -hear and see were the music given without scenery or action, so -graphic is Wagner's score. The Sword Motive leaps like a brilliant -tongue of flame over the heavy thuds of a forceful variant of the -Motive of Compact, till brightly gleaming runs add to the brilliancy -of the score, which reflects all the quickening, quivering effulgence -of the scene. How the music flows like a fiery flood and how it hisses -as _Siegfried_ pours the molten contents of the crucible into a mould -and then plunges the latter into water! The glowing steel lies on the -anvil and _Siegfried_ swings the hammer. With every stroke his joyous -excitement is intensified. At last the work is done. He brandishes the -sword and with one stroke splits the anvil from top to bottom. With -the crash of the Sword Motive, united with the Motive of Siegfried the -Fearless, the orchestra dashes into a furious prestissimo, and -_Siegfried_, shouting with glee, holds aloft the sword! - -Act II. The second act opens with a darkly portentous _Vorspiel_. On -the very threshold of it we meet _Fafner_ in his motive, which is so -clearly based on the Giant Motive that there is no necessity for -quoting it. Through themes which are familiar from earlier portions of -the work, the _Vorspiel_ rises to a crashing fortissimo. - -The curtain lifts on a thick forest. At the back is the entrance to -_Fafner's_ cave, the lower part of which is hidden by rising ground in -the middle of the stage, which slopes down toward the back. In the -darkness the outlines of a figure are dimly discerned. It is the -Nibelung _Alberich_, haunting the domain which hides the treasures of -which he was despoiled. From the forest comes a gust of wind. A bluish -light gleams from the same direction. _Wotan_, still in the guise of a -Wanderer, enters. - -The ensuing scene between _Alberich_ and the _Wanderer_ is, from a -dramatic point of view, episodical. Suffice it to say that the fine -self-poise of _Wotan_ and the maliciously restless character of -_Alberich_ are superbly contrasted. When _Wotan_ has departed the -Nibelung slips into a rocky crevice, where he remains hidden when -_Siegfried_ and _Mime_ enter. _Mime_ endeavours to awaken dread in -_Siegfried's_ heart by describing _Fafner's_ terrible form and powers. -But _Siegfried's_ courage is not weakened. On the contrary, with -heroic impetuosity, he asks to be at once confronted with _Fafner_. -_Mime_, well knowing that _Fafner_ will soon awaken and issue from his -cave to meet _Siegfried_ in mortal combat, lingers on in the hope that -both may fall, until the young Wälsung drives him away. - -Now begins a beautiful lyric episode. _Siegfried_ reclines under a -linden-tree, and looks up through the branches. The rustling of the -trees is heard. Over the tremulous whispers of the orchestra--known -from concert programs as the "Waldweben" (forest-weaving)--rises a -lovely variant of the Wälsung Motive. _Siegfried_ is asking himself -how his mother may have looked, and this variant of the theme which -was first heard in "The Valkyr," when _Sieglinde_ told _Siegmund_ that -her home was the home of woe, rises like a memory of her image. -Serenely the sweet strains of the Love-Life Motive soothe his sad -thoughts. _Siegfried_, once more entranced by forest sounds, listens -intently. Birds' voices greet him. A little feathery songster, whose -notes mingle with the rustling leaves of the linden-tree, especially -charms him. - -The forest voices--the humming of insects, the piping of the birds, -the amorous quiver of the branches--quicken his half-defined -aspirations. Can the little singer explain his longing? He listens, -but cannot catch the meaning of the song. Perhaps, if he can imitate -it he may understand it. Springing to a stream hard by, he cuts a reed -with his sword and quickly fashions a pipe from it. He blows on it, -but it sounds shrill. He listens again to the birds. He may not be -able to imitate his song on the reed, but on his silver horn he can -wind a woodland tune. Putting the horn to his lips he makes the forest -ring with its notes: - -[Music] - -The notes of the horn have awakened _Fafner_ who now, in the guise of -a huge serpent or dragon, crawls toward _Siegfried_. Perhaps the less -said about the combat between _Siegfried_ and _Fafner_ the better. -This scene, which seems very spirited in the libretto, is ridiculous -on the stage. To make it effective it should be carried out very far -back--best of all out of sight--so that the magnificent music will -not be marred by the sight of an impossible monster. The music is -highly dramatic. The exultant force of the Motive of Siegfried the -Fearless, which rings out as _Siegfried_ rushes upon _Fafner_, the -crashing chord as the serpent roars when _Siegfried_ buries the sword -in its heart, the rearing, plunging music as the monster rears and -plunges with agony--these are some of the most graphic features of the -score. - -_Siegfried_ raises his fingers to his lips and licks the blood from -them. Immediately after the blood has touched his lips he seems to -understand the bird, which has again begun its song, while the forest -voices once more weave their tremulous melody. The bird tells -_Siegfried_ of the ring and helmet and of the other treasures in -_Fafner's_ cave, and _Siegfried_ enters it in quest of them. With his -disappearance the forest-weaving suddenly changes to the harsh, -scolding notes heard in the beginning of the Nibelheim scene in "The -Rhinegold." _Mime_ slinks in and timidly looks about him to make sure -of Fafner's death. At the same time _Alberich_ issues forth from the -crevice in which he was concealed. This scene, in which the two -Nibelungs berate each other, is capitally treated, and its humour -affords a striking contrast to the preceding scenes. - -As _Siegfried_ comes out of the cave and brings the ring and helmet -from darkness to the light of day, there are heard the Ring Motive, -the Motive of the Rhinedaughters' Shout of Triumph, and the Rhinegold -Motive. The forest-weaving again begins, and the birds bid the young -Wälsung beware of _Mime_. The dwarf now approaches _Siegfried_ with -repulsive sycophancy. But under a smiling face lurks a plotting heart. -_Siegfried_ is enabled through the supernatural gifts with which he -has become endowed to fathom the purpose of the dwarf, who -unconsciously discloses his scheme to poison _Siegfried_. The young -Wälsung slays _Mime_, who, as he dies, hears _Alberich's_ mocking -laugh. Though the Motive of Siegfried the Fearless predominates at -this point, we also hear the Nibelung Motive and the Motive of the -Curse--indicating _Alberich's_ evil intent toward _Siegfried_. - -_Siegfried_ again reclines under the linden. His soul is tremulous -with an undefined longing. As he gazes in almost painful emotion up to -the branches and asks if the bird can tell him where he can find a -friend, his being seems stirred by awakening passion. - -The music quickens with an impetuous phrase, which seems to define the -first joyous thrill of passion in the youthful hero. It is the Motive -of =Love's Joy=: - -[Music] - -It is interrupted by a beautiful variant of the Motive of Love-Life, -which continues until above the forest-weaving the bird again thrills -him with its tale of a glorious maid who has so long slumbered upon -the fire-guarded rock. With the Motive of Love's joy coursing through -the orchestra, _Siegfried_ bids the feathery songster continue, and, -finally, to guide him to _Brünnhilde_. In answer, the bird flutters -from the linden branch, hovers over _Siegfried_, and hesitatingly -flies before him until it takes a definite course toward the -background. _Siegfried_ follows the little singer, the Motive of -Love's joy, succeeded by that of Siegfried the Fearless, bringing the -act to a close. - -Act III. The third act opens with a stormy introduction in which the -Motive of the Ride of the Valkyrs accompanies the Motive of the Gods' -Stress, the Compact, and the Erda motives. The introduction reaches -its climax with the =Motive of the Dusk of the Gods=: - -[Music] - -Then to the sombre, questioning phrase of the Motive of Fate, the -action begins to disclose the significance of this _Vorspiel_. A wild -region at the foot of a rocky mountain is seen. It is night. A fierce -storm rages. In dire distress and fearful that through _Siegfried_ and -_Brünnhilde_ the rulership of the world may pass from the gods to the -human race, _Wotan_ summons _Erda_ from her subterranean dwelling. But -_Erda_ has no counsel for the storm-driven, conscience-stricken god. - -The scene reaches its climax in _Wotan's_ noble renunciation of the -empire of the world. Weary of strife, weary of struggling against the -decree of fate, he renounces his sway. Let the era of human love -supplant this dynasty, sweeping away the gods and the Nibelungs in its -mighty current. It is the last defiance of all-conquering fate by the -ruler of a mighty race. After a powerful struggle against irresistible -forces, _Wotan_ comprehends that the twilight of the gods will be the -dawn of a more glorious epoch. A phrase of great dignity gives force -to _Wotan's_ utterances. It is the =Motive of the World's Heritage=: - -[Music] - -_Siegfried_ enters, guided to the spot by the bird; _Wotan_ checks his -progress with the same spear which shivered _Siegmund's_ sword. -_Siegfried_ must fight his way to _Brünnhilde_. With a mighty blow the -young Wälsung shatters the spear and _Wotan_ disappears 'mid the crash -of the Motive of Compact--for the spear with which it was the chief -god's duty to enforce compacts is shattered. Meanwhile the gleam of -fire has become noticeable. Fiery clouds float down from the mountain. -_Siegfried_ stands at the rim of the magic circle. Winding his horn he -plunges into the seething flames. Around the Motive of Siegfried the -Fearless and the Siegfried Motive flash the Magic Fire and Loge -motives. - -The flames, having flashed forth with dazzling brilliancy, gradually -pale before the red glow of dawn till a rosy mist envelops the scene. -When it rises, the rock and _Brünnhilde_ in deep slumber under the -fir-tree, as in the finale of "The Valkyr," are seen. _Siegfried_ -appears on the height in the background. As he gazes upon the scene -there are heard the Fate and Slumber motives and then the orchestra -weaves a lovely variant of the Freia Motive. This is followed by the -softly caressing strains of the Fricka Motive. _Fricka_ sought to make -_Wotan_ faithful to her by bonds of love, and hence the Fricka Motive -in this scene does not reflect her personality, but rather the -awakening of the love which is to thrill _Siegfried_ when he has -beheld _Brünnhilde's_ features. As he sees _Brünnhilde's_ charger -slumbering in the grove we hear the Motive of the Valkyr's Ride, and -when his gaze is attracted by the sheen of _Brünnhilde's_ armour, the -theme of Wotan's Farewell. Approaching the armed slumberer under the -fir-tree, _Siegfried_ raises the shield and discloses the figure of -the sleeper, the face being almost hidden by the helmet. - -Carefully he loosens the helmet. As he takes it off _Brünnhilde's_ -face is disclosed and her long curls flow down over her bosom. -_Siegfried_ gazes upon her enraptured. Drawing his sword he cuts the -rings of mail on both sides, gently lifts off the corselet and -greaves, and _Brünnhilde_, in soft female drapery, lies before him. He -starts back in wonder. Notes of impassioned import--the Motive of -Love's Joy--express the feelings that well up from his heart as for -the first time he beholds a woman. The fearless hero is infused with -fear by a slumbering woman. The Wälsung Motive, afterwards beautifully -varied with the Motive of Love's Joy, accompanies his utterances, the -climax of his emotional excitement being expressed in a majestic -crescendo of the Freia Motive. A sudden feeling of awe gives him at -least the outward appearance of calmness. With the Motive of Fate he -faces his destiny; and then, while the Freia Motive rises like a -vision of loveliness, he sinks over _Brünnhilde_, and with closed eyes -presses his lips to hers. - -_Brünnhilde_ awakens. _Siegfried_ starts up. She rises, and with a -noble gesture greets in majestic accents her return to the sight of -earth. Strains of loftier eloquence than those of her greeting have -never been composed. _Brünnhilde_ rises from her magic slumbers in the -majesty of womanhood: - -[Music] - -With the Motive of Fate she asks who is the hero who has awakened her. -The superb Siegfried Motive gives back the proud answer. In rapturous -phrases they greet one another. It is the =Motive of Love's Greeting=, - -[Music] - -which unites their voices in impassioned accents until, as if this -motive no longer sufficed to express their ecstasy, it is followed by -the =Motive of Love's Passion=, - -[Music] - -which, with the Siegfried Motive, rises and falls with the heaving of -_Brünnhilde's_ bosom. - -These motives course impetuously through this scene. Here and there we -have others recalling former portions of the cycle--the Wälsung -Motive, when _Brünnhilde_ refers to _Siegfried's_ mother, _Sieglinde_; -the Motive of Brünnhilde's Pleading, when she tells him of her -defiance of _Wotan's_ behest; a variant of the Walhalla Motive when -she speaks of herself in Walhalla; and the Motive of the World's -Heritage, with which _Siegfried_ claims her, this last leading over to -a forceful climax of the Motive of Brünnhilde's Pleading, which is -followed by a lovely, tranquil episode introduced by the =Motive of -Love's Peace=, - -[Music] - -succeeded by a motive, ardent yet tender--the =Motive of Siegfried the -Protector=: - -[Music] - -These motives accompany the action most expressively. _Brünnhilde_ -still hesitates to cast off for ever the supernatural characteristics -of the Valkyr and give herself up entirely to _Siegfried_. The young -hero's growing ecstasy finds expression in the Motive of Love's Joy. -At last it awakens a responsive note of purely human passion in -_Brünnhilde_ and, answering the proud Siegfried Motive with the -jubilant Shout of the Valkyrs and the ecstatic measures of Love's -Passion, she proclaims herself his. - -With a love duet--nothing puny and purring, but rapturous and -proud--the music-drama comes to a close. _Siegfried_, a scion of the -Wälsung race, has won _Brünnhilde_ for his bride, and upon her finger -has placed the ring fashioned of Rhinegold by _Alberich_ in the -caverns of Nibelheim, the abode of the Nibelungs. Clasping her in his -arms and drawing her to his breast, he has felt her splendid physical -being thrill with a passion wholly responsive to his. Will the gods be -saved through them, or does the curse of _Alberich_ still rest on the -ring worn by _Brünnhilde_ as a pledge of love? - - -GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG - -DUSK OF THE GODS - - Music-drama in a prologue and three acts, words and music by - Richard Wagner. Produced, Bayreuth, August 17, 1876. - - New York, Metropolitan Opera House, January 25, 1888, with - Lehmann (_Brünnhilde_), Seidl-Kraus (_Gutrune_), Niemann - (_Siegfried_), Robinson (_Gunther_), and Fischer (_Hagen_). - Other performances at the Metropolitan Opera House have had, - among others, Alvary and Jean de Reszke as _Siegfried_ and - Édouard de Reszke as _Hagen_. - - CHARACTERS - - SIEGFRIED _Tenor_ - GUNTHER _Baritone_ - ALBERICH _Baritone_ - HAGEN _Bass_ - BRÜNNHILDE _Soprano_ - GUTRUNE _Soprano_ - WALTRAUTE _Mezzo-Soprano_ - FIRST, SECOND, AND - THIRD NORN _Contralto, Mezzo-Soprano, and Soprano_ - WOGLINDE, WELLGUNDE, AND - FLOSSHILDE _Sopranos and Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Vassals and Women. - - _Time_--Legendary. - - _Place_--On the Brünnhilde-Rock; Gunther's castle on the - Rhine; wooded district by the Rhine. - -THE PROLOGUE - -The first scene of the prologue is a weird conference of the three -grey sisters of fate--the _Norns_ who wind the skein of life. They -have met on the Valkyrs' rock and their words forebode the end of the -gods. At last the skein they have been winding breaks--the final -catastrophe is impending. - -An orchestral interlude depicts the transition from the unearthly -gloom of the Norn scene to break of day, the climax being reached in a -majestic burst of music as _Siegfried_ and _Brünnhilde_, he in full -armour, she leading her steed by the bridle, issue forth from the -rocky cavern in the background. This climax owes its eloquence to -three motives--that of the Ride of the Valkyrs and two new motives, -the one as lovely as the other is heroic, the =Brünnhilde Motive=, - -[Music] - -and the =Motive of Siegfried the Hero=: - -[Music] - -The Brünnhilde Motive expresses the strain of pure, tender womanhood -in the nature of the former Valkyr, and proclaims her womanly ecstasy -over wholly requited love. The motive of Siegfried the Hero is clearly -developed from the motive of Siegfried the Fearless. Fearless youth -has developed into heroic man. In this scene _Brünnhilde_ and -_Siegfried_ plight their troth, and _Siegfried_ having given to -_Brünnhilde_ the fatal ring and having received from her the steed -Grane, which once bore her in her wild course through the -storm-clouds, bids her farewell and sets forth in quest of further -adventure. In this scene, one of Wagner's most beautiful creations, -occur the two new motives already quoted, and a third--the =Motive of -Brünnhilde's Love=. - -[Music] - -A strong, deep woman's nature has given herself up to love. Her -passion is as strong and deep as her nature. It is not a surface-heat -passion. It is love rising from the depths of a heroic woman's soul. -The grandeur of her ideal of _Siegfried_, her thoughts of him as a -hero winning fame, her pride in his prowess, her love for one whom she -deems the bravest among men, culminate in the Motive of Brünnhilde's -Love. - -_Siegfried_ disappears with the steed behind the rocks and -_Brünnhilde_ stands upon the cliff looking down the valley after him; -his horn is heard from below and _Brünnhilde_ with rapturous gesture -waves him farewell. The orchestra accompanies the action with the -Brünnhilde Motive, the Motive of Siegfried the Fearless, and finally -with the theme of the love duet with which "Siegfried" closed. - -The curtain then falls, and between the prologue and the first act an -orchestral interlude describes _Siegfried's_ voyage down the Rhine to -the castle of the Gibichungs where dwell _Gunther_, his sister -_Gutrune_, and their half-brother _Hagen_, the son of _Alberich_. -Through _Hagen_ the curse hurled by _Alberich_ in "The Rhinegold" at -all into whose possession the ring shall come, is to be worked out to -the end of its fell purpose--_Siegfried_ betrayed and destroyed and -the rule of the gods brought to an end by _Brünnhilde's_ expiation. - -In the interlude between the prologue and the first act we first hear -the brilliant Motive of Siegfried the Fearless and then the gracefully -flowing Motives of the Rhine, and of the Rhinedaughters' Shout of -Triumph with the Motives of the Rhinegold and Ring. _Hagen's_ -malevolent plotting, of which we are soon to learn in the first act, -is foreshadowed by the sombre harmonies which suddenly pervade the -music. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Édouard de Reszke as Hagen in "Götterdämmerung"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Jean de Reszke as Siegfried in "Götterdämmerung"] - -Act I. On the river lies the hall of the Gibichungs, where house -_Gunther_, his sister _Gutrune_, and _Hagen_, their half-brother. -_Gutrune_ is a maiden of fair mien, _Gunther_ a man of average -strength and courage, _Hagen_ a sinister plotter, large of stature and -sombre of visage. Long he has planned to possess himself of the -ring fashioned of Rhinegold. He is aware that it was guarded by the -dragon, has been taken from the hoard by _Siegfried_, and by him given -to _Brünnhilde_. And now observe the subtle craft with which he -prepares to compass his plans. - -A descendant, through his father, _Alberich_, the Nibelung, of a race -which practised the black art, he plots to make _Siegfried_ forget -_Brünnhilde_ through a love-potion to be administered to him by -_Gutrune_. Then, when under the fiery influence of the potion and all -forgetful of _Brünnhilde_, _Siegfried_ demands _Gutrune_ to wife, the -price demanded will be that he win _Brünnhilde_ as bride for -_Gunther_. Before _Siegfried_ comes in sight, before _Gunther_ and -_Gutrune_ so much as even know that he is nearing the hall of the -Gibichungs, _Hagen_ begins to lay the foundation for this seemingly -impossible plot. For it is at this opportune moment _Gunther_ chances -to address him: - -"Hark, Hagen, and let your answer be true. Do I head the race of the -Gibichungs with honour?" - -"Aye," replies _Hagen_, "and yet, Gunther, you remain unwived while -Gutrune still lacks a husband." Then he tells _Gunther_ of -_Brünnhilde_--"a circle of flame surrounds the rock on which she -dwells, but he who can brave that fire may win her for wife. If -Siegfried does this in your stead, and brings her to you as bride, -will she not be yours?" _Hagen_ craftily conceals from his -half-brother and from _Gutrune_ the fact that _Siegfried_ already has -won _Brünnhilde_ for himself; but having aroused in _Gunther_ the -desire to possess her, he forthwith unfolds his plan and reminds -_Gutrune_ of the magic love-potion which it is in her power to -administer to _Siegfried_. - -At the very beginning of this act the Hagen Motive is heard. -Particularly noticeable in it are the first two sharp, decisive -chords. They recur with dramatic force in the third act when _Hagen_ -slays _Siegfried_. The =Hagen Motive= is as follows: - -[Music] - -This is followed by the =Gibichung Motive=, the two motives being -frequently heard in the opening scene. - -[Music] - -Added to these is the =Motive of the Love-Potion= which is to cause -_Siegfried_ to forget _Brünnhilde_, and conceive a violent passion for -_Gutrune_. - -[Music] - -Whatever hesitation may have been in _Gutrune's_ mind, because of the -trick which is involved in the plot, vanishes when soon afterwards -_Siegfried's_ horn-call announces his approach from the river, and, as -he brings his boat up to the bank, she sees this hero among men in all -his youthful strength and beauty. She hastily withdraws, to carry out -her part in the plot that is to bind him to her. - -The three men remain to parley. _Hagen_ skilfully questions -_Siegfried_ regarding his combat with the dragon. Has he taken nothing -from the hoard? - -"Only a ring, which I have left in a woman's keep," answers -_Siegfried_; "and this." He points to a steel network that hangs from -his girdle. - -"Ha," exclaims _Hagen_, "the Tarnhelmet! I recognize it as the artful -work of the Nibelungs. Place it on your head and it enables you to -assume any guise." He then flings open a door and on the platform of a -short flight of steps that leads up to it, stands _Gutrune_, in her -hand a drinking-horn which she extends toward _Siegfried_. - -"Welcome, guest, to the house of the Gibichungs. A daughter of the -race extends to you this greeting." And so, while _Hagen_ looks grimly -on, the fair _Gutrune_ offers _Siegfried_ the draught that is to -transform his whole nature. Courteously, but without regarding her -with more than friendly interest, _Siegfried_ takes the horn from her -hands and drains it. As if a new element coursed through his veins, -there is a sudden change in his manner. Handing the horn back to her -he regards her with fiery glances, she blushingly lowering her eyes -and withdrawing to the inner apartment. New in this scene is the -=Gutrune Motive=: - -[Music] - -"Gunther, your sister's name? Have you a wife?" _Siegfried_ asks -excitedly. - -"I have set my heart on a woman," replies _Gunther_, "but may not win -her. A far-off rock, fire-encircled, is her home." - -"A far-off rock, fire-encircled," repeats _Siegfried_, as if striving -to remember something long forgotten; and when _Gunther_ utters -_Brünnhilde's_ name, _Siegfried_ shows by his mien and gesture that it -no longer signifies aught to him. The love-potion has caused him to -forget her. - -"I will press through the circle of flame," he exclaims. "I will seize -her and bring her to you--if you will give me Gutrune for wife." - -And so the unhallowed bargain is struck and sealed with the oath of -blood-brotherhood, and _Siegfried_ departs with _Gunther_ to capture -_Brünnhilde_ as bride for the Gibichung. The compact of -blood-brotherhood is a most sacred one. _Siegfried_ and _Gunther_ each -with his sword draws blood from his arm, which he allows to mingle -with wine in a drinking-horn held by _Hagen_; each lays two fingers -upon the horn, and then, having pledged blood-brotherhood, drinks the -blood and wine. This ceremony is significantly introduced by the -Motive of the Curse followed by the Motive of Compact. Phrases of -_Siegfried's_ and _Gunther's_ pledge are set to a new motive whose -forceful simplicity effectively expresses the idea of truth. It is the -=Motive of the Vow=. - -[Music] - -Abruptly following _Siegfried's_ pledge: - - Thus I drink thee troth, - -are those two chords of the Hagen Motive which are heard again in the -third act when the Nibelung has slain _Siegfried_. It should perhaps -be repeated here that _Gunther_ is not aware of the union which -existed between _Brünnhilde_ and _Siegfried_, _Hagen_ having concealed -this from his half-brother, who believes that he will receive the -Valkyr in all her goddess-like virginity. - -When _Siegfried_ and _Gunther_ have departed and _Gutrune_, having -sighed her farewell after her lover, has retired, _Hagen_ broods with -wicked glee over the successful inauguration of his plot. During a -brief orchestral interlude a drop-curtain conceals the scene which, -when the curtain again rises, has changed to the Valkyr's rock, where -sits _Brünnhilde_, lost in contemplation of the Ring, while the Motive -of Siegfried the Protector is heard on the orchestra like a blissful -memory of the love scene in "Siegfried." - -Her rapturous reminiscences are interrupted by the sounds of an -approaching storm and from the dark cloud there issues one of the -Valkyrs, _Waltraute_, who comes to ask of _Brünnhilde_ that she cast -back the ring _Siegfried_ has given her--the ring cursed by -_Alberich_--into the Rhine, and thus lift the curse from the race of -gods. But _Brünnhilde_ refuses: - - More than Walhalla's welfare, - More than the good of the gods, - The ring I guard. - -It is dusk. The magic fire rising from the valley throws a glow over -the landscape. The notes of _Siegfried's_ horn are heard. _Brünnhilde_ -joyously prepares to meet him. Suddenly she sees a stranger leap -through the flames. It is _Siegfried_, but through the Tarnhelmet (the -motive of which, followed by the Gunther Motive dominates the first -part of the scene) he has assumed the guise of the Gibichung. In vain -_Brünnhilde_ seeks to defend herself with the might which the ring -imparts. She is powerless against the intruder. As he tears the ring -from her finger, the Motive of the Curse resounds with tragic import, -followed by trist echoes of the Motive of Siegfried the Protector and -of the Brünnhilde Motive, the last being succeeded by the Tarnhelmet -Motive expressive of the evil magic which has wrought this change in -_Siegfried_. _Brünnhilde_, in abject recognition of her impotence, -enters the cavern. Before _Siegfried_ follows her he draws his sword -Nothung (Needful) and exclaims: - - Now, Nothung, witness thou, that chaste my wooing is; - To keep my faith with my brother, separate me from his bride. - -Phrases of the pledge of Brotherhood followed by the Brünnhilde, -Gutrune, and Sword motives accompany his words. The thuds of the -typical Nibelung rhythm resound, and lead to the last crashing chord -of this eventful act. - -Act II. The ominous Motive of the Nibelung's Malevolence introduces -the second act. The curtain rises upon the exterior of the hall of the -Gibichungs. To the right is the open entrance to the hall, to the left -the bank of the Rhine, from which rises a rocky ascent toward the -background. It is night. _Hagen_, spear in hand and shield at side, -leans in sleep against a pillar of the hall. Through the weird -moonlight _Alberich_ appears. He urges _Hagen_ to murder _Siegfried_ -and to seize the ring from his finger. After hearing _Hagen's_ oath -that he will be faithful to the hate he has inherited, _Alberich_ -disappears. The weirdness of the surroundings, the monotony of -_Hagen's_ answers, uttered seemingly in sleep, as if, even when the -Nibelung slumbered, his mind remained active, imbue this scene with -mystery. - -A charming orchestral interlude depicts the break of day. Its serene -beauty is, however, broken in upon by the =Motive of Hagen's Wicked -Glee=, which I quote, as it frequently occurs in the course of -succeeding events. - -[Music] - -All night _Hagen_ has watched by the bank of the river for the return -of the men from the quest. It is daylight when _Siegfried_ returns, -tells him of his success, and bids him prepare to receive _Gunther_ -and _Brünnhilde_. On his finger he wears the ring--the ring made of -Rhinegold, and cursed by _Alberich_--the same with which he pledged -his troth to _Brünnhilde_, but which in the struggle of the night, and -disguised by the Tarnhelmet as _Gunther_, he has torn from her -finger--the very ring the possession of which _Hagen_ craves, and for -which he is plotting. _Gutrune_ has joined them. _Siegfried_ leads her -into the hall. - -_Hagen_, placing an ox-horn to his lips, blows a loud call toward the -four points of the compass, summoning the Gibichung vassals to the -festivities attending the double wedding--_Siegfried_ and _Gutrune_, -_Gunther_ and _Brünnhilde_; and when the Gibichung brings his boat up -to the bank, the shore is crowded with men who greet him boisterously, -while _Brünnhilde_ stands there pale and with downcast eyes. But as -_Siegfried_ leads _Gutrune_ forward to meet _Gunther_ and his bride, -and _Gunther_ calls _Siegfried_ by name, _Brünnhilde_ starts, raises -her eyes, stares at _Siegfried_ in amazement, drops _Gunther's_ hand, -advances, as if by sudden impulse, a step toward the man who awakened -her from her magic slumber on the rock, then recoils in horror, her -eyes fixed upon him, while all look on in wonder. The Motive of -Siegfried the Hero, the Sword Motive, and the Chords of the Hagen -Motive emphasize with a tumultuous crash the dramatic significance of -the situation. There is a sudden hush--_Brünnhilde_ astounded and -dumb, _Siegfried_ unconscious of guilt quietly self-possessed, -_Gunther_, _Gutrune_, and the vassals silent with amazement--it is -during this moment of tension that we hear the motive which expresses -the thought uppermost in _Brünnhilde_, the thought which would find -expression in a burst of frenzy were not her wrath held in check by -her inability to quite grasp the meaning of the situation or to -fathom the depth of the treachery of which she has been the victim. -This is the =Motive of Vengeance=: - -[Music] - -"What troubles Brünnhilde?" composedly asks _Siegfried_, from whom all -memory of his first meeting with the rock maiden and his love for her -have been effaced by the potion. Then, observing that she sways and is -about to fall, he supports her with his arm. - -"Siegfried knows me not!" she whispers faintly, as she looks up into -his face. - -"There stands your husband," is _Siegfried's_ reply, as he points to -_Gunther_. The gesture discloses to _Brünnhilde's_ sight the ring upon -his finger, the ring he gave her, and which to her horror _Gunther_, -as she supposed, had wrested from her. In the flash of its precious -metal she sees the whole significance of the wretched situation in -which she finds herself, and discovers the intrigue, the trick, of -which she has been the victim. She knows nothing, however, of the -treachery _Hagen_ is plotting, or of the love-potion that has aroused -in _Siegfried_ an uncontrollable passion to possess _Gutrune_, has -caused him to forget her, and led him to win her for _Gunther_. There -at _Gutrune's_ side, and about to wed her, stands the man she loves. -To _Brünnhilde_, infuriated with jealousy, her pride wounded to the -quick, _Siegfried_ appears simply to have betrayed her to _Gunther_ -through infatuation for another woman. - -"The ring," she cries out, "was taken from me by that man," pointing -to _Gunther_. "How came it on your finger? Or, if it is not the -ring"--again she addresses _Gunther_--"where is the one you tore from -my hand?" - -_Gunther_, knowing nothing about the ring, plainly is perplexed. "Ha," -cries out _Brünnhilde_ in uncontrollable rage, "then it was Siegfried -disguised as you and not you yourself who won it from me! Know then, -Gunther, that you, too, have been betrayed by him. For this man who -would wed your sister, and as part of the price bring me to you as -bride, was wedded to me!" - -In all but _Hagen_ and _Siegfried_, _Brünnhilde's_ words arouse -consternation. _Hagen_, noting their effect on _Gunther_, from whom he -craftily has concealed _Siegfried's_ true relation to _Brünnhilde_, -sees in the episode an added opportunity to mould the Gibichung to his -plan to do away with _Siegfried_. The latter, through the effect of -the potion, is rendered wholly unconscious of the truth of what -_Brünnhilde_ has said. He even has forgotten that he ever has parted -with the ring, and, when the men, jealous of _Gunther's_ honour, crowd -about him, and _Gunther_ and _Gutrune_ in intense excitement wait on -his reply, he calmly proclaims that he found it among the dragon's -treasure and never has parted with it. To the truth of this assertion, -to a denial of all _Brünnhilde_ has accused him of, he announces -himself ready to swear at the point of any spear which is offered for -the oath, the strongest manner in which the asseveration can be made -and, in the belief of the time, rendering his death certain at the -point of that very spear should he swear falsely. - -How eloquent the music of these exciting scenes!--Crashing chords of -the Ring Motive followed by that of the Curse, as _Brünnhilde_ -recognizes the ring on _Siegfried's_ finger, the Motive of Vengeance, -the Walhalla Motive, as she invokes the gods to witness her -humiliation, the touchingly pathetic Motive of Brünnhilde's Pleading, -as she vainly strives to awaken fond memories in _Siegfried_; then -again the Motive of Vengeance, as the oath is about to be taken, the -Murder Motive and the Hagen Motive at the taking of the oath, for the -spear is _Hagen's_; and in _Brünnhilde's_ asseveration, the Valkyr -music coursing through the orchestra. - -It is _Hagen_ who offers his weapon for the oath. "Guardian of honour, -hallowed weapon," swears _Siegfried_, "where steel can pierce me, -there pierce me; where death can be dealt me, there deal it me, if -ever I was wed to Brünnhilde, if ever I have wronged Gutrune's -brother." - -At his words, _Brünnhilde_, livid with rage, strides into the circle -of men, and thrusting _Siegfried's_ fingers away from the spearhead, -lays her own upon it. - -"Guardian of honour, hallowed weapon," she cries, "I dedicate your -steel to his destruction. I bless your point that it may blight him. -For broken are all his oaths, and perjured now he proves himself." - -_Siegfried_ shrugs his shoulders. To him _Brünnhilde's_ imprecations -are but the ravings of an overwrought brain. "Gunther, look to your -lady. Give the tameless mountain maid time to rest and recover," he -calls out to Gutrune's brother. "And now, men, follow us to table, and -make merry at our wedding feast!" Then with a laugh and in highest -spirits, he throws his arm about _Gutrune_ and draws her after him -into the hall, the vassals and women following them. - -But _Brünnhilde_, _Hagen_, and _Gunther_ remain behind; _Brünnhilde_ -half stunned at sight of the man with whom she has exchanged troth, -gaily leading another to marriage, as though his vows had been mere -chaff; _Gunther_, suspicious that his honour wittingly has been -betrayed by _Siegfried_, and that _Brünnhilde's_ words are true; -_Hagen_, in whose hands _Gunther_ is like clay, waiting the -opportunity to prompt both _Brünnhilde_ and his half-brother to -vengeance. - -"Coward," cries _Brünnhilde_ to _Gunther_, "to hide behind another in -order to undo me! Has the race of the Gibichungs fallen so low in -prowess?" - -"Deceiver, and yet deceived! Betrayer, and yet myself betrayed," wails -_Gunther_. "Hagen, wise one, have you no counsel?" - -"No counsel," grimly answers _Hagen_, "save Siegfried's death." - -"His death!" - -"Aye, all these things demand his death." - -"But, Gutrune, to whom I gave him, how would we stand with her if we -so avenged ourselves?" For even in his injured pride _Gunther_ feels -that he has had a share in what _Siegfried_ has done. - -But _Hagen_ is prepared with a plan that will free _Gunther_ and -himself of all accusation. "Tomorrow," he suggests, "we will go on a -great hunt. As Siegfried boldly rushes ahead we will fell him from the -rear, and give out that he was killed by a wild boar." - -"So be it," exclaims _Brünnhilde_; "let his death atone for the shame -he has wrought me. He has violated his oath; he shall die!" - -At that moment as they turn toward the hall, he whose death they have -decreed, a wreath of oak on his brow and leading _Gutrune_, whose hair -is bedecked with flowers, steps out on the threshold as though -wondering at their delay and urges them to enter. _Gunther_, taking -_Brünnhilde_ by the hand, follows him in. _Hagen_ alone remains -behind, and with a look of grim triumph watches them as they disappear -within. And so, although the valley of the Rhine re-echoes with glad -sounds, it is the Murder Motive that brings the act to a close. - -Act III. How picturesque the _mise-en-scène_ of this act--a clearing -in the forest primeval near a spot where the bank of the Rhine slopes -toward the river. On the shore, above the stream, stands _Siegfried_. -Baffled in the pursuit of game, he is looking for _Gunther_, _Hagen_, -and his other comrades of the hunt, in order to join them. - -One of the loveliest scenes of the trilogy now ensues. The -_Rhinedaughters_ swim up to the bank and, circling gracefully in the -current of the river, endeavour to coax from him the ring of -Rhinegold. It is an episode full of whimsical badinage and, if -anything, more charming even than the opening of "Rhinegold." - -_Siegfried_ refuses to give up the ring. The _Rhinedaughters_ swim off -leaving him to his fate. - -Here is the principal theme of their song in this scene: - -[Music] - -Distant hunting-horns are heard. _Gunther_, _Hagen_, and their -attendants gradually assemble and encamp themselves. _Hagen_ fills a -drinking-horn and hands it to _Siegfried_ whom he persuades to relate -the story of his life. This _Siegfried_ does in a wonderfully -picturesque, musical, and dramatic story in which motives, often heard -before, charm us anew. - -In the course of his narrative he refreshes himself by a draught from -the drinking-horn into which meanwhile _Hagen_ has pressed the juice -of an herb. Through this the effect of the love-potion is so far -counteracted that tender memories of _Brünnhilde_ well up within him -and he tells with artless enthusiasm how he penetrated the circle of -flame about the Valkyr, found _Brünnhilde_ slumbering there, awoke her -with his kiss, and won her. _Gunther_ springs up aghast at this -revelation. Now he knows that _Brünnhilde's_ accusation is true. - -Two ravens fly overhead. As _Siegfried_ turns to look after them the -Motive of the Curse resounds and _Hagen_ plunges his spear into the -young hero's back. _Gunther_ and the vassals throw themselves upon -_Hagen_. The Siegfried Motive, cut short with a crashing chord, the -two murderous chords of the Hagen Motive forming the bass--and -_Siegfried_, who with a last effort has heaved his shield aloft to -hurl it at _Hagen_, lets it fall, and, collapsing, drops upon it. So -overpowered are the witnesses--even _Gunther_--by the suddenness and -enormity of the crime that, after a few disjointed exclamations, they -gather, bowed with grief, around _Siegfried_. _Hagen_, with stony -indifference turns away and disappears over the height. - -With the fall of the last scion of the Wälsung race we hear a new -motive, simple yet indescribably fraught with sorrow, the =Death -Motive=. - -[Music] - -_Siegfried_, supported by two men, rises to a sitting posture, and -with a strange rapture gleaming in his glance, intones his death-song. -It is an ecstatic greeting to _Brünnhilde_. "Brünnhilde!" he exclaims, -"thy wakener comes to wake thee with his kiss." The ethereal harmonies -of the Motive of Brünnhilde's Awakening, the Motive of Fate, the -Siegfried Motive swelling into the Motive of Love's Greeting and dying -away through the Motive of Love's Passion to Siegfried's last -whispered accents--"Brünnhilde beckons to me"--in the Motive of -Fate--and _Siegfried_ sinks back in death. - -Full of pathos though this episode be, it but brings us to the -threshold of a scene of such overwhelming power that it may without -exaggeration be singled out as the supreme musico-dramatic climax of -all that Wagner wrought, indeed of all music. _Siegfried's_ last -ecstatic greeting to his Valkyr bride has made us realize the -blackness of the treachery which tore the young hero and _Brünnhilde_ -asunder and led to his death; and now as we are bowed down with a -grief too deep for utterance--like the grief with which a nation -gathers at the grave of its noblest hero--Wagner voices for us, in -music of overwhelmingly tragic power, feelings which are beyond -expression in human speech. This is not a "funeral march," as it is -often absurdly called--it is the awful mystery of death itself -expressed in music. - -Motionless with grief the men gather around _Siegfried's_ corpse. -Night falls. The moon casts a pale, sad light over the scene. At the -silent bidding of _Gunther_ the vassals raise the body and bear it in -solemn procession over the rocky height. Meanwhile with majestic -solemnity the orchestra voices the funeral oration of the "world's -greatest hero." One by one, but tragically interrupted by the Motive -of Death, we hear the motives which tell the story of the Wälsungs' -futile struggle with destiny--the Wälsung Motive, the Motive of the -Wälsungs' Heroism, the Motive of Sympathy, and the Love Motive, the -Sword Motive, the Siegfried Motive, and the Motive of Siegfried the -Hero, around which the Death Motive swirls and crashes like a black, -death-dealing, all-wrecking flood, forming an overwhelmingly powerful -climax that dies away into the Brünnhilde Motive with which, as with a -heart-broken sigh, the heroic dirge is brought to a close. - -Meanwhile the scene has changed to the Hall of the Gibichungs as in -the first act. _Gutrune_ is listening through the night for some -sound which may announce the return of the hunt. - -Men and women bearing torches precede in great agitation the funeral -train. _Hagen_ grimly announces to _Gutrune_ that _Siegfried_ is dead. -Wild with grief she overwhelms _Gunther_ with violent accusations. He -points to _Hagen_ whose sole reply is to demand the ring as spoil. -_Gunther_ refuses. _Hagen_ draws his sword and after a brief combat -slays _Gunther_. He is about to snatch the ring from _Siegfried's_ -finger, when the corpse's hand suddenly raises itself threateningly, -and all--even _Hagen_--fall back in consternation. - -_Brünnhilde_ advances solemnly from the back. While watching on the -bank of the Rhine she has learned from the _Rhinedaughters_ the -treachery of which she and _Siegfried_ have been the victims. Her mien -is ennobled by a look of tragic exaltation. To her the grief of -_Gutrune_ is but the whining of a child. When the latter realizes that -it was _Brünnhilde_ whom she caused _Siegfried_ to forget through the -love-potion, she falls fainting over _Gunther's_ body. _Hagen_ leaning -on his spear is lost in gloomy brooding. - -_Brünnhilde_ turns solemnly to the men and women and bids them erect a -funeral pyre. The orchestral harmonies shimmer with the Magic Fire -Motive through which courses the Motive of the Ride of the Valkyrs. -Then, her countenance transfigured by love, she gazes upon her dead -hero and apostrophizes his memory in the Motive of Love's Greeting. -From him she looks upward and in the Walhalla Motive and the Motive of -Brünnhilde's Pleading passionately inveighs against the injustice of -the gods. The Curse Motive is followed by a wonderfully beautiful -combination of the Walhalla Motive and the Motive of the Gods' Stress -at _Brünnhilde's_ words: - - Rest thee! Rest thee! O, God! - -For with the fading away of Walhalla, and the inauguration of the -reign of human love in place of that of lust and greed--a change to be -wrought by the approaching expiation of _Brünnhilde_ for the crimes -which began with the wresting of the Rhinegold from the -_Rhinedaughters_--_Wotan's_ stress will be at an end. _Brünnhilde_, -having told in the graceful, rippling Rhine music how she learned of -_Hagen's_ treachery through the _Rhinedaughters_, places upon her -finger the ring. Then turning toward the pyre upon which _Siegfried's_ -body rests, she snatches a huge firebrand from one of the men, and -flings it upon the pyre, which kindles brightly. As the moment of her -immolation approaches the Motive of Expiation begins to dominate the -scene. - -_Brünnhilde_ mounts her Valkyr charger, Grane, who oft bore her -through the clouds, while lightning flashed and thunder reverberated. -With one leap the steed bears her into the blazing pyre. - -The Rhine overflows. Borne on the flood, the _Rhinedaughters_ swim to -the pyre and draw, from _Brünnhilde's_ finger, the ring. _Hagen_, -seeing the object of all his plotting in their possession, plunges -after them. Two of them encircle him with their arms and draw him down -with them into the flood. The third holds up the ring in triumph. - -In the heavens is perceived a deep glow. It is Götterdämmerung--the -dusk of the gods. An epoch has come to a close. Walhalla is in flames. -Once more its stately motive resounds, only to crumble, like a ruin, -before the onsweeping power of the motive of expiation. The Siegfried -Motive with a crash in the orchestra; once more then the Motive of -Expiation. The sordid empire of the gods has passed away. A new era, -that of human love, has dawned through the expiation of _Brünnhilde_. -As in "The Flying Dutchman" and "Tannhäuser," it is through woman that -comes redemption. - - -TRISTAN UND ISOLDE - -TRISTAN AND ISOLDE - - Music-drama in three acts, words and music by Richard - Wagner, who calls the work, "eine Handlung" (an action). - Produced, under the direction of Hans von Bülow, Munich, - June 10, 1865. First London production, June 20, 1882. - Produced, December 1, 1886, with Anton Seidl as conductor, - at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, with Niemann - (_Tristan_), Fischer (_King Marke_), Lehmann (_Isolde_), - Robinson (_Kurwenal_), von Milde (_Melot_), Brandt - (_Brangäne_), Kemlitz (a _Shepherd_), Alvary (a _Sailor_), - Sänger (a _Helmsman_). Jean de Reszke is accounted the - greatest _Tristan_ heard at the Metropolitan. Nordica, - Ternina, Fremstad, and Gadski are other _Isoldes_, who have - been heard at that house. Édouard de Reszke sang _King - Marke_, and Bispham _Kurwenal_. - - CHARACTERS - - TRISTAN, a Cornish knight, nephew to KING MARKE _Tenor_ - KING MARKE, of Cornwall _Bass_ - ISOLDE, an Irish princess _Soprano_ - KURWENAL, one of TRISTAN'S retainers _Baritone_ - MELOT, a courtier _Baritone_ - BRANGÄNE, ISOLDE'S attendant _Mezzo-Soprano_ - A SHEPHERD _Tenor_ - A SAILOR _Tenor_ - A HELMSMAN _Baritone_ - - Sailors, Knights, Esquires, and Men-at-Arms. - - _Time_--Legendary. - - _Place_--A ship at sea; outside _King Marke's_ palace, - Cornwall; the platform at Kareol, _Tristan's_ castle. - -Wagner was obliged to remodel the "Tristan" legend thoroughly before -it became available for a modern drama. He has shorn it of all -unnecessary incidents and worked over the main episodes into a -concise, vigorous, swiftly moving drama, admirably adapted for the -stage. He shows keen dramatic insight in the manner in which he adapts -the love-potion of the legends to his purpose. In the legends the love -of Tristan and Isolde is merely "chemical"--entirely the result of the -love-philtre. Wagner, however, presents them from the outset as -enamoured of one another, so that the potion simply quickens a passion -already active. - -To the courtesy of G. Schirmer, Inc., publishers of my _Wagner's -Music-Dramas Analysed_, I am indebted, as I have already stated -elsewhere, for permission to use material from that book. I have there -placed a brief summary of the story of "Tristan and Isolde" before the -descriptive account of the "book" and music, and, accordingly do so -here. - -In the Wagnerian version the plot is briefly as follows: _Tristan_, -having lost his parents in infancy, has been reared at the court of -his uncle, _Marke_, King of Cornwall. He has slain in combat Morold, -an Irish knight, who had come to Cornwall, to collect the tribute that -country had been paying to Ireland. Morold was affianced to his cousin -_Isolde_, daughter of the Irish king. _Tristan_, having been -dangerously wounded in the combat, places himself, without disclosing -his identity, under the care of Morold's affianced, _Isolde_, who -comes of a race skilled in magic arts. She discerns who he is; but, -although she is aware that she is harbouring the slayer of her -affianced, she spares him and carefully tends him, for she has -conceived a deep passion for him. _Tristan_ also becomes enamoured of -her, but both deem their love unrequited. Soon after _Tristan's_ -return to Cornwall, he is dispatched to Ireland by _Marke_, that he -may win _Isolde_ as Queen for the Cornish king. - -The music-drama opens on board the vessel in which _Tristan_ bears -_Isolde_ to Cornwall. Deeming her love for _Tristan_ unrequited she -determines to end her sorrow by quaffing a death-potion; and -_Tristan_, feeling that the woman he loves is about to be wedded to -another, readily consents to share it with her. But _Brangäne_, -_Isolde's_ companion, substitutes a love-potion for the death-draught. -This rouses their love to resistless passion. Not long after they -reach Cornwall, they are surprised in the castle garden by the King -and his suite, and _Tristan_ is severely wounded by _Melot_, one of -_Marke's_ knights. _Kurwenal_, _Tristan's_ faithful retainer, bears -him to his native place, Kareol. Hither _Isolde_ follows him, arriving -in time to fold him in her arms as he expires. She breathes her last -over his corpse. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Nordica as Isolde] - -THE VORSPIEL - -All who have made a study of opera, and do not regard it merely as a -form of amusement, are agreed that the score of "Tristan and Isolde" -is the greatest setting of a love story for the lyric stage. In fact -to call it a love story seems a slight. It is a tale of tragic -passion, culminating in death, unfolded in the surge and palpitation -of immortal music. - -This passion smouldered in the heart of the man and woman of this epic -of love. It could not burst into clear flame because over it lay the -pall of duty--a knight's to his king, a wife's to her husband. They -elected to die; drank, as they thought, a death potion. Instead it was -a magic love-philtre, craftily substituted by the woman's confidante. -Then love, no longer vague and hesitating, but roused by sorcerous -means to the highest rapture, found expression in the complete -abandonment of the lovers to their ecstasy--and their fate. - -What precedes the draught of the potion in the drama, is narrative, -explanatory and prefatorial. Once _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ have shared -the goblet, passion is unleashed. The goal is death. - -The magic love-philtre is the excitant in this story of rapture and -gloom. The _Vorspiel_ therefore opens most fittingly with a motive -which expresses the incipient effect of the potion upon _Tristan_ and -_Isolde_. It clearly can be divided into two parts, one descending, -the other ascending chromatically. The potion overcomes the -restraining influence of duty in two beings and leaves them at the -mercy of their passions. The first part, with its descending -chromatics, is pervaded by a certain trist mood, as if _Tristan_ were -still vaguely forewarned by his conscience of the impending tragedy. -The second soars ecstatically upward. It is the woman yielding -unquestioningly to the rapture of requited love. Therefore, while the -phrase may be called the Motive of the Love-Potion, or, as Wolzogen -calls it, of Yearning, it seems best to divide it into the =Tristan and -Isolde Motives= (A and B). - -[Music] - -The two motives having been twice repeated, there is a fermate. Then -the Isolde Motive alone is heard, so that the attention of the hearer -is fixed upon it. For in this tragedy, as in that of Eden, it is the -woman who takes the first decisive step. After another fermate, the -last two notes of the Isolde Motive are twice repeated, dying away to -_pp_. Then a variation of the Isolde Motive - -[Music] - -leads with an impassioned upward sweep into another version, full of -sensuous yearning, and distinct enough to form a new Motive, the -=Motive of the Love Glance=. - -[Music] - -This occurs again and again in the course of the _Vorspiel_. Though -readily recognized, it is sufficiently varied with each repetition -never to allow the emotional excitement to subside. In fact, the -_Vorspiel_ gathers impetus as it proceeds, until, with an inversion of -the Love Glance Motive, borne to a higher and higher level of -exaltation by upward rushing runs, it reaches its climax in a paroxysm -of love, to die away with repetitions of the Tristan, the Isolde, and -the Love Glance motives. - -[Music] - -In the themes it employs this prelude tells, in music, the story of -the love of _Tristan_ and _Isolde_. We have the motives of the hero -and heroine of the drama, and the Motive of the Love Glance. When as -is the case in concerts, the finale of the work, "Isolde's -Love-Death," is linked to the _Vorspiel_, we are entrusted with the -beginning and the end of the music-drama, forming an eloquent epitome -of the tragic story. - -Act I. Wagner wisely refrains from actually placing before us on the -stage, the events that transpired in Ireland before _Tristan_ was -despatched thither to bring _Isolde_ as a bride to _King Marke_. The -events, which led to the two meetings between _Tristan_ and _Isolde_, -are told in _Isolde's_ narrative, which forms an important part of the -first act. This act opens aboard the vessel in which _Tristan_ is -conveying _Isolde_ to Cornwall. - -The opening scene shows _Isolde_ reclining on a couch, her face hid in -soft pillows, in a tent-like apartment on the forward deck of a -vessel. It is hung with rich tapestries, which hide the rest of the -ship from view. _Brangäne_ has partially drawn aside one of the -hangings and is gazing out upon the sea. From above, as though from -the rigging, is heard the voice of a young _Sailor_ singing a farewell -song to his "Irish maid." It has a wild charm and is a capital example -of Wagner's skill in giving local colouring to his music. The words, -"Frisch weht der Wind der Heimath zu" (The wind blows freshly toward -our home) are sung to a phrase which occurs frequently in the course -of this scene. It represents most graphically the heaving of the sea -and may be appropriately termed the Ocean Motive. It undulates -gracefully through _Brangäne's_ reply to _Isolde's_ question as to the -vessel's course, surges wildly around _Isolde's_ outburst of impotent -anger when she learns that Cornwall's shore is not far distant, and -breaks itself in savage fury against her despairing wrath as she -invokes the elements to destroy the ship and all upon it. =Ocean -Motive.= - -[Music] - -It is her hopeless passion for _Tristan_ which has prostrated -_Isolde_, for the Motive of the Love Glance accompanies her first -exclamation as she starts up excitedly. - -_Isolde_ calls upon _Brangäne_ to throw aside the hangings, that she -may have air. _Brangäne_ obeys. The deck of the ship, and, beyond it, -the ocean, are disclosed. Around the mainmast sailors are busy -splicing ropes. Beyond them, on the after deck, are knights and -esquires. A little aside from them stands _Tristan_, gazing out upon -the sea. At his feet reclines _Kurwenal_, his esquire. The young -sailor's voice is again heard. - -_Isolde_ beholds _Tristan_. Her wrath at the thought that he whom she -loves is bearing her as bride to another vents itself in a vengeful -phrase. She invokes death upon him. This phrase is the =Motive of -Death=. - -[Music] - -The Motive of the Love Glance is heard--and gives away _Isolde's_ -secret--as she asks _Brangäne_ in what estimation she holds _Tristan_. -It develops into a triumphant strain as _Brangäne_ sings his praises. -_Isolde_ then bids her command _Tristan_ to come into her presence. -This command is given with the Motive of Death, for it is their mutual -death _Isolde_ wishes to compass. As _Brangäne_ goes to do her -mistress's bidding, a graceful variation of the Ocean Motive is heard, -the bass marking the rhythmic motions of the sailors at the ropes. -_Tristan_ refuses to leave the helm and when _Brangäne_ repeats -_Isolde's_ command, _Kurwenal_ answers in deft measures in praise of -_Tristan_. Knights, esquires, and sailors repeat the refrain. The -boisterous measures--"Hail to our brave Tristan!"--form the =Tristan -Call=. - -[Music: Heil unser Held Tristan,] - -_Isolde's_ wrath at _Kurwenal's_ taunts find vent in a narrative in -which she tells _Brangäne_ that once a wounded knight calling himself -Tantris landed on Ireland's shore to seek her healing art. Into a -niche in his sword she fitted a sword splinter she had found imbedded -in the head of Morold, which had been sent to her in mockery after he -had been slain in a combat with the Cornish foe. She brandished the -sword over the knight, whom thus by his weapon she knew to be -_Tristan_, her betrothed's slayer. But _Tristan's_ glance fell upon -her. Under its spell she was powerless. She nursed him back to health, -and he vowed eternal gratitude as he left her. The chief theme of this -narrative is derived from the Tristan Motive. - -[Music] - - What of the boat, so bare, so frail, - That drifted to our shore? - What of the sorely stricken man feebly extended there? - Isolde's art he humbly sought; - With balsam, herbs, and healing salves, - From wounds that laid him low, - She nursed him back to strength. - -Exquisite is the transition of the phrase "His eyes in mine were -gazing," to the Isolde and Love Glance motives. The passage beginning: -"Who silently his life had spared," is followed by the Tristan Call, -_Isolde_ seeming to compare sarcastically what she considers his -betrayal of her with his fame as a hero. Her outburst of wrath as she -inveighs against his treachery in now bearing her as bride to _King -Marke_, carries the narrative to a superb climax. _Brangäne_ seeks to -comfort _Isolde_, but the latter, looking fixedly before her, -confides, almost involuntarily, her love for _Tristan_. - -It is clear, even from this brief description, with what constantly -varying expression the narrative of Isolde is treated. Wrath, desire -for vengeance, rapturous memories that cannot be dissembled, finally a -confession of love to _Brangäne_--such are the emotions that surge to -the surface. - -They lead _Brangäne_ to exclaim: "Where lives the man who would not -love you?" Then she weirdly whispers of the love-potion and takes a -phial from a golden salver. The motives of the Love Glance and of the -Love-Potion accompany her words and action. But _Isolde_ seizes -another phial, which she holds up triumphantly. It is the -death-potion. Here is heard an ominous phrase of three notes--the -=Motive of Fate=. - -[Music] - -A forceful orchestral climax, in which the demons of despairing wrath -seem unleashed, is followed by the cries of the sailors greeting the -sight of the land, where she is to be married to _King Marke_. -_Isolde_ hears them with growing terror. _Kurwenal_ brusquely calls to -her and _Brangäne_ to prepare soon to go ashore. _Isolde_ orders -_Kurwenal_ that he command _Tristan_ to come into her presence; then -bids _Brangäne_ prepare the death-potion. The Death Motive accompanies -her final commands to _Kurwenal_ and _Brangäne_, and the Fate Motive -also drones threatfully through the weird measures. But _Brangäne_ -artfully substitutes the love-potion for the death-draught. - -_Kurwenal_ announces _Tristan's_ approach. _Isolde_, seeking to -control her agitation, strides to the couch, and, supporting herself -by it, gazes fixedly at the entrance where _Tristan_ remains -standing. The motive which announces his appearance is full of tragic -defiance, as if _Tristan_ felt that he stood upon the threshold of -death, yet was ready to meet his fate unflinchingly. It alternates -effectively with the Fate Motive, and is used most dramatically -throughout the succeeding scene between _Tristan_ and _Isolde_. -Sombrely impressive is the passage when he bids _Isolde_ slay him with -the sword she once held over him. - - If so thou didst love thy lord, - Lift once again this sword, - Thrust with it, nor refrain, - Lest the weapon fall again. - -Shouts of the sailors announce the proximity of land. In a variant of -her narrative theme _Isolde_ mockingly anticipates _Tristan's_ praise -of her as he leads her into _King Marke's_ presence. At the same time -she hands him the goblet which contains, as she thinks, the -death-potion and invites him to quaff it. Again the shouts of the -sailors are heard, and _Tristan_, seizing the goblet, raises it to his -lips with the ecstasy of one from whose soul a great sorrow is about -to be lifted. When he has half emptied it, _Isolde_ wrests it from him -and drains it. - -The tremor that passes over _Isolde_ loosens her grasp upon the -goblet. It falls from her hand. She faces _Tristan_. - -Is the weird light in their eyes the last upflare of passion before -the final darkness? What does the music answer as it enfolds them in -its wondrous harmonies? The Isolde Motive;--then what? Not the glassy -stare of death; the Love Glance, like a swift shaft of light -penetrating the gloom. The spell is broken. _Isolde_ sinks into -_Tristan's_ embrace. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Lilli Lehmann as Isolde] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Jean de Reszke as Tristan] - -Voices! They hear them not. Sailors are shouting with joy that the -voyage is over. Upon the lovers all sounds are lost, save their own -short, quick interchange of phrases, in which the rapture of their -passion, at last uncovered, finds speech. Music surges about them. But -for _Brangäne_ they would be lost. It is she who parts them, as the -hangings are thrust aside. - -Knights, esquires, sailors crowd the deck. From a rocky height _King -Marke's_ castle looks down upon the ship, now riding at anchor in the -harbour. Peace and joy everywhere save in the lovers' breasts! -_Isolde_ faints in _Tristan's_ arms. Yet it is a triumphant climax of -the Isolde Motive that is heard above the jubilation of the ship-folk, -as the act comes to a close. - -Act II. This act also has an introduction, which together with the -first scene between _Isolde_ and _Brangäne_, constitutes a wonderful -mood picture in music. Even Wagner's bitterest critic, Edward -Hanslick, of Vienna, was forced to compare it with the loveliest -creations of Schubert, in which that composer steeps the senses in -dreams of night and love. - -And so, this introduction of the second act opens with a motive of -peculiar significance. During the love scene in the previous act, -_Tristan_ and _Isolde_ have inveighed against the day which jealously -keeps them apart. They may meet only under the veil of darkness. Even -then their joy is embittered by the thought that the blissful night -will soon be succeeded by day. With them, therefore, the day stands -for all that is inimical, night for all that is friendly. This simile -is elaborated with considerable metaphysical subtlety, the lovers even -reproaching the day with _Tristan's_ willingness to lead _Isolde_ to -_King Marke_, _Tristan_ charging that in the broad light of the -jealous day his duty to win _Isolde_ for his king stood forth so -clearly as to overpower the passion for her which he had nurtured -during the silent watches of the night. The phrase, therefore, which -begins the act as with an agonized cry is the =Day Motive=. - -[Music] - -The Day Motive is followed by a phrase whose eager, restless measures -graphically reflect the impatience with which _Isolde_ awaits the -coming of _Tristan_--the =Motive of Impatience=. - -[Music] - -Over this there hovers a dulcet, seductive strain, the =Motive of the -Love Call=, which is developed into the rapturous measures of the -=Motive of Ecstasy=. - -[Music] - -When the curtain rises, the scene it discloses is the palace garden, -into which _Isolde's_ apartments open. It is a summer night, balmy -and with a moon. The _King_ and his suite have departed on a hunt. -With them is _Melot_, a knight who professes devotion to _Tristan_, -but whom _Brangäne_ suspects. - -_Brangäne_ stands upon the steps leading to _Isolde's_ apartment. She -is looking down a bosky _allée_ in the direction taken by the hunt. -This silently gliding, uncanny creature, the servitor of sin in -others, is uneasy. She fears the hunt is but a trap; and that its -quarry is not the wild deer, but her mistress and the knight, who -conveyed her for bride to _King Marke_. - -Meanwhile against the open door of _Isolde's_ apartment is a burning -torch. Its flare through the night is to be the signal to _Tristan_ -that all is well, and that _Isolde_ waits. - -The first episode of the act is one of those exquisite tone paintings -in the creation of which Wagner is supreme. The notes of the -hunting-horns become more distant. _Isolde_ enters from her apartment -into the garden. She asks _Brangäne_ if she cannot now signal for -_Tristan_. _Brangäne_ answers that the hunt is still within hearing. -_Isolde_ chides her--is it not some lovely, prattling rill she hears? -The music is deliciously idyllic--conjuring up a dream-picture of a -sylvan spring night bathed in liquescent moonlight. _Brangäne_ warns -_Isolde_ against _Melot_; but _Isolde_ laughs at her fears. In vain -_Brangäne_ entreats her mistress not to signal for _Tristan_. The -seductive measures of the Love Call and of the Motive of Ecstasy tell -throughout this scene of the yearning in _Isolde's_ breast. When -_Brangäne_ informs _Isolde_ that she substituted the love-potion for -the death-draught, _Isolde_ scorns the suggestion that her guilty love -for _Tristan_ is the result of her quaffing the potion. This simply -intensified the passion already in her breast. She proclaims this in -the rapturous phrases of the Isolde Motive; and then, when she -declares her fate to be in the hands of the goddess of love, there -are heard the tender accents of the =Love Motive=. - -[Music] - -In vain _Brangäne_ warns once more against possible treachery from -_Melot_. The Love Motive rises with ever increasing passion until -_Isolde's_ emotional exaltation finds expression in the Motive of -Ecstasy as she bids _Brangäne_ hie to the lookout, and proclaims that -she will give _Tristan_ the signal by extinguishing the torch, though -in doing so she were to extinguish the light of her life. The Motive -of the Love Call ringing out triumphantly accompanies her action, and -dies away into the Motive of Impatience as she gazes down a bosky -avenue through which she seems to expect _Tristan_ to come to her. -Then the Motive of Ecstasy and _Isolde's_ rapturous gesture tell that -she has discerned her lover; and, as this Motive reaches a fiercely -impassioned climax, _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ rush into each other's -arms. - -The music fairly seethes with passion as the lovers greet one another, -the Love Motive and the Motive of Ecstasy vying in the excitement of -this rapturous meeting. Then begins the exchange of phrases in which -the lovers pour forth their love for one another. This is the scene -dominated by the Motive of the Day, which, however, as the day sinks -into the soft night, is softened into the =Night Motive=, which soothes -the senses with its ravishing caress. - -[Music] - -This motive throbs through the rapturous harmonies of the duet: "Oh, -sink upon us, Night of Love," and there is nothing in the realms of -music or poetry to compare in suggestiveness with these caressing, -pulsating phrases. - -The duet is broken in upon by _Brangäne's_ voice warning the lovers -that night will soon be over. The _arpeggios_ accompanying her warning -are like the first grey streaks of dawn. But the lovers heed her not. -In a smooth, soft melody--the =Motive of Love's Peace=--whose sensuous -grace is simply entrancing, they whisper their love. - -[Music] - -It is at such a moment, enveloped by night and love, that death should -have come to them; and, indeed, it is for such a love-death they -yearn. Hence we have here, over a quivering accompaniment, the =Motive -of the Love-Death=, - -[Music] - -Once more _Brangäne_ calls. Once more _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ heed her -not. - - Night will shield us for aye! - -Thus exclaims _Isolde_ in defiance of the approach of dawn, while the -Motive of Ecstasy, introduced by a rapturous mordent, soars ever -higher. - -[Music] - -A cry from _Brangäne_, _Kurwenal_ rushing upon the scene calling to -_Tristan_ to save himself--and the lovers' ravishing dream is ended. -Surrounded by the _King_ and his suite, with the treacherous _Melot_, -they gradually awaken to the terror of the situation. Almost -automatically _Isolde_ hides her head among the flowers, and _Tristan_ -spreads out his cloak to conceal her from view while phrases -reminiscent of the love scene rise like mournful memories. - -Now follows a soliloquy for the _King_, whose sword instead should -have leapt from its scabbard and buried itself in _Tristan's_ breast. -For it seems inexplicable that the monarch, who should have slain the -betrayer of his honour, indulges instead in a philosophical discourse, -ending: - - The unexplained, - Unpenetrated - Cause of all these woes, - Who will to us disclose? - -_Tristan_ turns to _Isolde_. Will she follow him to the bleak land of -his birth? Her reply is that his home shall be hers. Then _Melot_ -draws his sword. _Tristan_ rushes upon him, but as _Melot_ thrusts, -allows his guard to fall and receives the blade. _Isolde_ throws -herself on her wounded lover's breast. - -Act III. The introduction to this act opens with a variation of the -Isolde Motive, sadly prophetic of the desolation which broods over the -scene to be disclosed when the curtain rises. On its third repetition -it is continued in a long-drawn-out ascending phrase, which seems to -represent musically the broad waste of ocean upon which _Tristan's_ -castle looks down from its craggy height. - -The whole passage appears to represent _Tristan_ hopelessly yearning -for _Isolde_, letting his fancy travel back over the watery waste to -the last night of love, and then giving himself up wholly to his -grief. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Gadski as Isolde] - -[Illustration: N.Y. Photographic Co. - -Ternina as Isolde] - -The curtain rises upon the desolate grounds of Kareol, between the -outer walls of _Tristan's_ castle and the main structure, which stands -upon a rocky eminence overlooking the sea. _Tristan_ is stretched, -apparently lifeless, under a huge linden-tree. Over him, in deep -sorrow, bends the faithful _Kurwenal_. A _Shepherd_ is heard piping a -strain, whose plaintive notes harmonize most beautifully with the -despairing desolation and sadness of the scene. It is the =Lay of -Sorrow=, and by it, the _Shepherd_, who scans the sea, conveys to -_Kurwenal_ information that the ship he has dispatched to Cornwall to -bear _Isolde_ to Kareol has not yet hove in sight. - -The Lay of Sorrow is a strain of mournful beauty, with the simplicity -and indescribable charm of a folk-song. Its plaintive notes cling like -ivy to the grey and crumbling ruins of love and joy. - -[Music] - -The _Shepherd_ peers over the wall and asks if _Tristan_ has shown any -signs of life. _Kurwenal_ gloomily replies in the negative. The -_Shepherd_ departs to continue his lookout, piping the sad refrain. -_Tristan_ slowly opens his eyes. "The old refrain; why wakes it me? -Where am I?" he murmurs. _Kurwenal_ is beside himself with joy at -these signs of returning life. His replies to _Tristan's_ feeble and -wandering questions are mostly couched in a motive which beautifully -expresses the sterling nature of this faithful retainer, one of the -noblest characters Wagner has drawn. - -[Music] - -When _Tristan_ loses himself in sad memories of _Isolde_, _Kurwenal_ -seeks to comfort him with the news that he has sent a trusty man to -Cornwall to bear _Isolde_ to him that she may heal the wound inflicted -by _Melot_ as she once healed that dealt _Tristan_ by Morold. In -_Tristan's_ jubilant reply, during which he draws _Kurwenal_ to his -breast, the Isolde Motive assumes a form in which it becomes a theme -of joy. - -But it is soon succeeded by the =Motive of Anguish=, - -[Music] - -when _Tristan_ raves of his yearning for _Isolde_. "The ship! the -ship!" he exclaims. "Kurwenal, can you not see it?" The Lay of Sorrow, -piped by the _Shepherd_, gives the sad answer. It pervades his sad -reverie until, when his mind wanders back to _Isolde's_ tender nursing -of his wound in Ireland, the theme of Isolde's Narrative is heard -again. Finally his excitement grows upon him, and in a paroxysm of -anguish bordering on insanity he even curses love. - -_Tristan_ sinks back apparently lifeless. But no--as _Kurwenal_ bends -over him and the Isolde Motive is breathed by the orchestra, he again -whispers of _Isolde_. In ravishing beauty the Motive of Love's Peace -caressingly follows his vision as he seems to see _Isolde_ gliding -toward him o'er the waves. With ever-growing excitement he orders -_Kurwenal_ to the lookout to watch the ship's coming. What he sees so -clearly cannot _Kurwenal_ also see? Suddenly the music changes in -character. The ship is in sight, for the _Shepherd_ is heard piping a -joyous lay. - -[Music] - -It pervades the music of _Tristan's_ excited questions and -_Kurwenal's_ answers as to the vessel's movements. The faithful -retainer rushes down toward the shore to meet _Isolde_ and lead her to -_Tristan_. The latter, his strength sapped by his wound, his mind -inflamed to insanity by his passionate yearning, struggles to rise. He -raises himself a little. The Motive of Love's Peace, no longer -tranquil, but with frenzied rapidity, accompanies his actions as, in -his delirium, he tears the bandage from his wounds and rises from his -couch. - -_Isolde's_ voice! Into her arms, outstretched to receive him, staggers -_Tristan_. Gently she lets him down upon his couch, where he has lain -in the anguish of expectancy. - -"Tristan!" - -"Isolde!" he answers in broken accents. This last look resting -rapturously upon her, while in mournful beauty the Love Glance Motive -rises from the orchestra, he expires. - -In all music there is no scene more deeply shaken with sorrow. - -Tumultuous sounds are heard. A second ship has arrived. _Marke_ and -his suite have landed. _Tristan's_ men, thinking the _King_ has come -in pursuit of _Isolde_, attack the new-comers, _Kurwenal_ and his men -are overpowered, and _Kurwenal_, having avenged _Tristan_ by slaying -_Melot_, sinks, himself mortally wounded, dying by _Tristan's_ side. -He reaches out for his dead master's hand, and his last words are: -"Tristan, chide me not that faithfully I follow you." - -When _Brangäne_ rushes in and hurriedly announces that she has -informed the _King_ of the love-potion, and that he comes bringing -forgiveness, _Isolde_ heeds her not. As the Love-Death Motive rises -softly over the orchestra and slowly swells into the impassioned -Motive of Ecstasy, to reach its climax with a stupendous crash of -instrumental forces, she gazes with growing transport upon her dead -lover, until, with rapture in her last glance, she sinks upon his -corpse and expires. - -In the Wagnerian version of the legend this love-death, for which -_Tristan_ and _Isolde_ prayed and in which they are united, is more -than a mere farewell together to life. It is tinged with Oriental -philosophy, and symbolizes the taking up into and the absorption of by -nature of all that is spiritual, and hence immortal, in lives rendered -beautiful by love. - - -DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG - -THE MASTERSINGERS OF NUREMBURG - - Opera in three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner. - Produced, Munich, June 21, 1868, under direction of Hans von - Bülow. London, Drury Lane, May 30, 1882, under Hans Richter; - Covent Garden, July 13, 1889, in Italian; Manchester, in - English, by the Carl Rosa Company, April 16, 1896. New York, - Metropolitan Opera House, January 4, 1886, with Fischer - (_Hans Sachs_), Seidl-Kraus (_Eva_), Marianne Brandt - (_Magdalena_), Stritt (_Walther_), Kemlitz (_Beckmesser_); - Conductor, Seidl. _Sachs_ has also been sung by Édouard de - Reszke, Van Rooy, and Whitehill; _Walther_ by Jean de - Reszke; _Eva_ by Eames, Gadski, and Hempel; _Beckmesser_ by - Goritz; _Magdalena_ by Schumann-Heink and Homer. - - CHARACTERS - - HANS SACHS, Cobbler } _Bass_ - VEIT POGNER, Goldsmith } _Bass_ - KUNZ VOGELGESANG, Furrier } _Tenor_ - CONRAD NACHTIGALL, Buckle-Maker } _Bass_ - SIXTUS BECKMESSER, Town Clerk } _Bass_ - FRITZ KOTHNER, Baker } Mastersingers _Bass_ - BALTHAZAR ZORN, Pewterer } _Tenor_ - ULRICH EISLINGER, Grocer } _Tenor_ - AUGUST MOSER, Tailor } _Tenor_ - HERMANN ORTEL, Soap-boiler } _Bass_ - HANS SCHWARZ, Stocking-Weaver } _Bass_ - HANS FOLZ, Coppersmith } _Bass_ - WALTHER VON STOLZING, a young Franconian knight _Tenor_ - DAVID, apprentice to HANS SACHS _Tenor_ - A NIGHT WATCHMAN _Bass_ - EVA, daughter of POGNER _Soprano_ - MAGDALENA, EVA'S nurse _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Burghers of the Guilds, Journeymen, 'Prentices, Girls, and - Populace. - - _Time_--Middle of the Sixteenth Century. - - _Place_--Nuremburg. - -Wagner's music-dramas are all unmistakably Wagner, yet they are -wonderfully varied. The style of the music in each adapts itself -plastically to the character of the story. Can one, for instance, -imagine the music of "Tristan" wedded to the story of "The -Mastersingers," or _vice versa_? A tragic passion, inflamed by the -arts of sorcery inspired the former. The latter is a thoroughly human -tale set to thoroughly human music. Indeed, while "Tristan" and "The -Ring of the Nibelung" are tragic, and "Parsifal" is deeply religious, -"The Mastersingers" is a comic work, even bordering in one scene on -farce. Like Shakespeare, Wagner was equally at home in tragedy and -comedy. - -_Walther von Stolzing_ is in love with _Eva_. Her father having -promised her to the singer to whom at the coming midsummer festival -the _Mastersingers_ shall adjudge the prize, it becomes necessary for -_Walther_ to seek admission to their art union. He is, however, -rejected, his song violating the rules to which the Mastersingers -slavishly adhere. _Beckmesser_ is also instrumental in securing -_Walther's_ rejection. The town clerk is the "marker" of the union. -His duty is to mark all violations of the rules against a candidate. -_Beckmesser_, being a suitor for _Eva's_ hand, naturally makes the -most of every chance to put down a mark against _Walther_. - -_Sachs_ alone among the _Mastersingers_ has recognized the beauty of -_Walther's_ song. Its very freedom from rule and rote charms him, and -he discovers in the young knight's untrammelled genius the power -which, if properly directed, will lead art from the beaten path of -tradition toward a new and loftier ideal. - -After _Walther's_ failure before the Mastersingers the impetuous young -knight persuades _Eva_ to elope with him. But at night as they are -preparing to escape, _Beckmesser_ comes upon the scene to serenade -_Eva_. _Sachs_, whose house is opposite _Pogner's_, has meanwhile -brought his work bench out into the street and insists on "marking" -what he considers _Beckmesser's_ mistakes by bringing his hammer down -upon his last with a resounding whack. The louder _Beckmesser_ sings -the louder _Sachs_ whacks. Finally the neighbours are aroused. -_David_, who is in love with _Magdalena_ and thinks _Beckmesser_ is -serenading her, falls upon him with a cudgel. The whole neighbourhood -turns out and a general _mêlée_ ensues, during which _Sachs_ separates -_Eva_ and _Walther_ and draws the latter into his home. - -The following morning _Walther_ sings to _Sachs_ a song which has come -to him in a dream, _Sachs_ transcribing the words and passing friendly -criticism upon them and the music. The midsummer festival is to take -place that afternoon, and through a ruse _Sachs_ manages to get -_Walther's_ poem into _Beckmesser's_ possession, who, thinking the -words are by the popular cobbler-poet, feels sure he will be the -chosen master. _Eva_, coming into the workshop to have her shoes -fitted, finds _Walther_, and the lovers depart with _Sachs_, _David_, -and _Magdalena_ for the festival. Here _Beckmesser_, as _Sachs_ had -anticipated, makes a wretched failure, as he has utterly missed the -spirit of the poem, and _Walther_, being called upon by _Sachs_ to -reveal its beauty in music, sings his prize song, winning at once the -approbation of the _Mastersingers_ and the populace. He is received -into their art union and at the same time wins _Eva_ as his bride. - -[Illustration: Photo by Falk - -Emil Fischer as Hans Sachs in "Die Meistersinger"] - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Weil and Goritz as Hans Sachs and Beckmesser in "Die Meistersinger"] - -The Mastersingers were of burgher extraction. They flourished in -Germany, chiefly in the imperial cities, during the fourteenth, -fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. They did much to generate and -preserve a love of art among the middle classes. Their musical -competitions were judged according to a code of rules which -distinguished by particular names thirty-two faults to be avoided. -Scriptural or devotional subjects were usually selected and the judges -or Merker (Markers) were, in Nuremburg, four in number, the first -comparing the words with the Biblical text, the second criticizing the -prosody, the third the rhymes, and the fourth the tune. He who had the -fewest marks against him received the prize. - -Hans Sachs, the most famous of the Mastersingers, born November 5, -1494, died January, 1576, in Nuremburg, is said to have been the -author of some six thousand poems. He was a cobbler by trade-- - - Hans Sachs was a shoe- - Maker and poet too. - -A monument was erected to him in the city of his birth in 1874. - -"The Mastersingers" is a simple, human love story, simply told, with -many touches of humour to enliven it, and its interest enhanced by -highly picturesque, historical surroundings. As a drama it conveys -also a perfect picture of the life and customs of Nuremburg of the -time in which the story plays. Wagner must have made careful -historical researches, but his book lore is not thrust upon us. The -work is so spontaneous that the method and manner of its art are lost -sight of in admiration of the result. Hans Sachs himself could not -have left a more faithful portrait of life in Nuremburg in the middle -of the sixteenth century. - -"The Mastersingers" has a peculiarly Wagnerian interest. It is -Wagner's protest against the narrow-minded critics and the prejudiced -public who so long refused him recognition. Edward Hanslick, the -bitterest of Wagner's critics, regarded the libretto as a personal -insult to himself. Being present by invitation at a private reading of -the libretto, which Wagner gave in Vienna, Hanslick rose abruptly and -left after the first act. _Walther von Stolzing_ is the incarnation of -new aspirations in art; the champion of a new art ideal, and -continually chafing under the restraints imposed by traditional rules -and methods. _Hans Sachs_ is a conservative. But, while preserving -what is best in art traditions, he is able to recognize the beautiful -in what is new. He represents enlightened public opinion. _Beckmesser_ -and the other _Mastersingers_ are the embodiment of rank -prejudice--the critics. _Walther's_ triumph is also Wagner's. Few of -Wagner's dramatic creations equal in lifelike interest the character -of _Sachs_. It is drawn with a strong, firm hand, and filled in with -many delicate touches. - -The _Vorspiel_ gives a complete musical epitome of the story. It is -full of life and action--pompous, impassioned, and jocose in turn, and -without a suggestion of the overwrought or morbid. Its sentiment and -its fun are purely human. In its technical construction it has long -been recognized as a masterpiece. - -In the sense that it precedes the rise of the curtain, this orchestral -composition is a _Vorspiel_, or prelude. As a work, however, it is a -full-fledged overture, rich in thematic material. These themes are -Leading Motives heard many times, and in wonderful variety in the -three acts of "The Mastersingers." To a great extent an analysis of -this overture forecasts the work itself. Accordingly, again through -the courtesy of G. Schirmer Inc., I avail myself of my _Wagner's -Music-Dramas Analysed_, in the account of the _Vorspiel_ and of the -action and music that follow it. - -The pompous =Motive of the Mastersingers= opens the _Vorspiel_. This -theme gives capital musical expression to the characteristics of these -dignitaries; eminently worthy but self-sufficient citizens who are -slow to receive new impressions and do not take kindly to -innovations. Our term of old fogy describes them imperfectly, as it -does not allow for their many excellent qualities. They are slow to -act, but if they are once aroused their ponderous influence bears down -all opposition. At first an obstacle to genuine reform, they are in -the end the force which pushes it to success. Thus there is in the -Motive of the Mastersingers a certain ponderous dignity which well -emphasizes the idea of conservative power. - -[Music] - -In great contrast to this is the =Lyric Motive=, which seems to express -the striving after a poetic ideal untrammelled by old-fashioned -restrictions, such as the rules of the _Mastersingers_ impose. - -[Music] - -But, the sturdy conservative forces are still unwilling to be -persuaded of the worth of this new ideal. Hence the Lyric Motive is -suddenly checked by the sonorous measures of the =Mastersingers' March=. - -[Music] - -In this the majesty of law and order finds expression. It is followed -by a phrase of noble breadth and beauty, obviously developed from -portions of the Motive of the Mastersingers, and so typical of the -goodwill which should exist among the members of a fraternity that it -may be called the =Motive of the Art Brotherhood=. - -[Music] - -It reaches an eloquent climax in the =Motive of the Ideal=. - -[Music] - -Opposed, however, to this guild of conservative masters is the -restless spirit of progress. Hence, though stately the strains of the -Mastersingers' March and of the Guild Motive, soon yield to a theme -full of emotional energy and much like the Lyric Motive. _Walther_ is -the champion of this new ideal--not, however, from a purely artistic -impulse, but rather through his love for _Eva_. Being ignorant of the -rules and rote of the _Mastersingers_ he sings, when he presents -himself for admission to the fraternity, measures which soar -untrammelled into realms of beauty beyond the imagination of the -masters. But it was his love for _Eva_ which impelled him to seek -admission to the brotherhood, and love inspired his song. He is -therefore a reformer only by accident; it is not his love of art, but -his passion for _Eva_, which really brings about through his prize -song a great musical reform. This is one of Wagner's finest dramatic -touches--the love story is the mainspring of the action, the moral is -pointed only incidentally. Hence all the motives in which the restless -striving after a new ideal, or the struggles of a new art form to -break through the barriers of conservative prejudice, find expression, -are so many love motives, _Eva_ being the incarnation of _Walther's_ -ideal. Therefore the motive which breaks in upon the Mastersingers' -March and Guild Motive with such emotional energy expresses -_Walther's_ desire to possess _Eva_, more than his yearning for a new -ideal in art. So I call it the =Motive of Longing=. - -[Music] - -A portion of "Walther's Prize Song," like a swiftly whispered -declaration of love, leads to a variation of one of the most beautiful -themes of the work--the =Motive of Spring=. - -[Music] - -[Music] - -And now Wagner has a fling at the old fogyism which was so long an -obstacle to his success. He holds the masters up to ridicule in a -delightfully humorous passage which parodies the Mastersingers' and -Art Brotherhood motives, while the Spring Motive vainly strives to -assert itself. In the bass, the following quotation is the =Motive of -Ridicule=, the treble being a variant of the Art Brotherhood Motive. - -[Music] - -When it is considered that the opposition Wagner encountered from -prejudiced critics, not to mention a prejudiced public, was the bane -of his career, it seems wonderful that he should have been content to -protest against it with this pleasant raillery instead of with bitter -invective. The passage is followed by the Motive of the Mastersingers, -which in turn leads to an imposing combination of phrases. We hear the -portion of the Prize Song already quoted--the Motive of the -Mastersingers as bass--and in the middle voices portions of the -Mastersingers' March; a little later the Motive of the Art Brotherhood -and the Motive of Ridicule are added, this grand massing of orchestral -forces reaching a powerful climax, with the Motive of the Ideal, while -the Motive of the Mastersingers brings the _Vorspiel_ to a fitting -close. In this noble passage, in which the "Prize Song" soars above -the various themes typical of the masters, the new ideal seems to be -borne to its triumph upon the shoulders of the conservative forces -which, won over at last, have espoused its cause with all their sturdy -energy. - -This concluding passage in the _Vorspiel_ thus brings out with great -eloquence the inner significance of "Die Meistersinger." In whatever -the great author and composer of this work wrote for the stage, there -always was an ethical meaning back of the words and music. Thus we -draw our conclusion of the meaning of "Die Meistersinger" story from -the wonderful combination of leading motives in the peroration of its -_Vorspiel_. - -In his fine book, _The Orchestra and Orchestral Music_, W.J. Henderson -relates this anecdote: - -"A professional musician was engaged in a discussion of Wagner in the -corridor of the Metropolitan Opera House, while inside the orchestra -was playing the 'Meistersinger' overture. - -"'It is a pity,' said this wise man, in a condescending manner, 'but -Wagner knows absolutely nothing about counterpoint.' - -"At that instant the orchestra was singing five different melodies at -once; and, as Anton Seidl was the conductor, they were all audible." - -In a rare book by J.C. Wagenseil, printed in Nuremburg in 1697, are -given four "Prize Master Tones." Two of these Wagner has reproduced in -modern garb, the former in the Mastersingers' March, the latter in the -Motive of the Art Brotherhood. - -[Music] [Music] - -Act I. The scene of this act is laid in the Church of St. Catherine, -Nuremburg. The congregation is singing the final chorale of the -service. Among the worshippers are _Eva_ and her maid, _Magdalena_. -_Walther_ stands aside, and, by means of nods and gestures, -communicates with _Eva_. This mimic conversation is expressively -accompanied by interludes between the verses of the chorale, -interludes expressively based on the Lyric, Spring, and Prize Song -motives, and contrasting charmingly with the strains of the chorale. - -The service over, the Motive of Spring, with an impetuous upward rush, -seems to express the lovers' joy that the restraint is removed, and -the Lyric Motive resounds exultingly as the congregation departs, -leaving _Eva_, _Magdalena_, and _Walther_ behind. - -_Eva_, in order to gain a few words with _Walther_, sends _Magdalena_ -back to the pew to look for a kerchief and hymn-book, she has -purposely left there. _Magdalena_ urges _Eva_ to return home, but just -then _David_ appears in the background and begins putting things to -rights for the meeting of the _Mastersingers_. _Magdalena_ is -therefore only too glad to linger. The Mastersinger and Guild -motives, which naturally accompany _David's_ activity, contrast -soberly with the ardent phrases of the lovers. _Magdalena_ explains to -_Walther_ that _Eva_ is already affianced, though she herself does not -know to whom. Her father wishes her to marry the singer to whom at the -coming contest the _Mastersingers_ shall award the prize; and, while -she shall be at liberty to decline him, she may marry none but a -master. _Eva_ exclaims: "I will choose no one but my knight!" Very -pretty and gay is the theme heard when _David_ joins the group--the -=Apprentice Motive=. - -[Music] - -How capitally this motive expresses the light-heartedness of gay young -people, in this case the youthful apprentices, among whom _David_ was -as gay and buoyant as any. Every melodious phrase--every -motive--employed by Wagner appears to express exactly the character, -circumstance, thing, or feeling, to which he applies it. The opening -episodes of "Die Meistersinger" have a charm all their own. - -The scene closes with a beautiful little terzet, after _Magdalena_ has -ordered _David_, under penalty of her displeasure, to instruct the -knight in the art rules of the _Mastersingers_. - -When the 'prentices enter, they proceed to erect the marker's -platform, but stop at times to annoy the somewhat self-sufficient -_David_, while he is endeavouring to instruct _Walther_ in the rules -of the _Mastersingers_. The merry Apprentice Motive runs through the -scene and brings it to a close as the 'prentices sing and dance around -the marker's box, suddenly, however, breaking off, for the -_Mastersingers_ appear. - -There is a roll-call and then the fine passage for bass voice, in -which _Pogner_ offers _Eva's_ hand in marriage to the winner of the -coming song contest--with the proviso that _Eva_ adds her consent. The -passage is known on concert programmes as "Pogner's Address." - -_Walther_ is introduced by _Pogner_. The =Knight Motive=: - -[Music] - -_Beckmesser_, jealous, and determined that _Walther_ shall fail, -enters the marker's box. - -_Kothner_ now begins reading off the rules of singing established by -the masters, which is a capital take-off on old-fashioned forms of -composition and never fails to raise a hearty laugh if delivered with -considerable pomposity and unction. Unwillingly enough _Walther_ takes -his seat in the candidate's chair. _Beckmesser_ shouts from the -marker's box: "Now begin!" After a brilliant chord, followed by a -superb ascending run on the violins, _Walther_, in ringing tones, -enforced by a broad and noble chord, repeats _Beckmesser's_ words. But -such a change has come over the music that it seems as if that upward -rushing run had swept away all restraint of ancient rule and rote, -just as the spring wind whirling through the forest tears up the -spread of dry, dead leaves, thus giving air and sun to the yearning -mosses and flowers. In _Walther's_ song the Spring Motive forms an -ever-surging, swelling accompaniment, finally joining in the vocal -melody and bearing it higher and higher to an impassioned climax. In -his song, however, _Walther_ is interrupted by the scratching made by -_Beckmesser_ as he chalks the singer's violations of the rules on the -slate, and _Walther_, who is singing of love and spring, changes his -theme to winter, which, lingering behind a thorny hedge, is plotting -how it can mar the joy of the vernal season. The knight then rises -from the chair and sings a second stanza with defiant enthusiasm. As -he concludes it _Beckmesser_ tears open the curtains which concealed -him in the marker's box, and exhibits his board completely covered -with chalk marks. _Walther_ protests, but the masters, with the -exception of _Sachs_ and _Pogner_, refuse to listen further, and -deride his singing. We have here the =Motive of Derision=. - -[Music] - -_Sachs_ protests that, while he found the knight's art method new, he -did not find it formless. The =Sachs Motive= is here introduced. - -[Music] - -The Sachs Motive betokens the genial nature of this sturdy, yet gentle -man--the master spirit of the drama. He combines the force of a -conservative character with the tolerance of a progressive one, and -is thus the incarnation of the idea which Wagner is working out in -this drama, in which the union of a proper degree of conservative -caution with progressive energy produces a new ideal in art. To -_Sachs's_ innuendo that _Beckmessers'_ marking hardly could be -considered just, as he is a candidate for _Eva's_ hand, _Beckmesser_, -by way of reply, chides _Sachs_ for having delayed so long in -finishing a pair of shoes for him, and as _Sachs_ makes a humorously -apologetic answer, the Cobbler Motive is heard. - -The sturdy burgher calls to _Walther_ to finish his song in spite of -the masters. And now a finale of masterful construction begins. In -short, excited phrases the masters chaff and deride _Walther_. His -song, however, soars above all the hubbub. The 'prentices see their -opportunity in the confusion, and joining hands they dance around the -marker's box, singing as they do so. We now have combined with -astounding skill _Walther's_ song, the 'prentices' chorus, and the -exclamations of the masters. The latter finally shout their verdict: -"Rejected and outsung!" The knight, with a proud gesture of contempt, -leaves the church. The 'prentices put the seats and benches back in -their proper places, and in doing so greatly obstruct the masters as -they crowd toward the doors. _Sachs_, who has lingered behind, gazes -thoughtfully at the singer's empty chair, then, with a humorous -gesture of discouragement, turns away. - -Act II. The scene of this act represents a street in Nuremburg -crossing the stage and intersected in the middle by a narrow, winding -alley. There are thus two corner houses--on the right corner of the -alley _Pogner's_, on the left _Sachs's_. Before the former is a -linden-tree, before the latter an elder. It is a lovely summer -evening. - -The opening scene is a merry one. _David_ and the 'prentices are -closing shop. After a brisk introduction based on the Midsummer -Festival Motive the 'prentices quiz _David_ on his love affair with -_Magdalena_. The latter appears with a basket of dainties for her -lover, but on learning that the knight has been rejected, she snatches -the basket away from _David_ and hurries back to the house. The -'prentices now mockingly congratulate _David_ on his successful -wooing. _David_ loses his temper and shows fight, but _Sachs_, coming -upon the scene, sends the 'prentices on their way and then enters his -workshop with _David_. The music of this episode, especially the -'prentices' chorus, is bright and graceful. - -_Pogner_ and _Eva_, returning from an evening stroll, now come down -the alley. Before retiring into the house the father questions the -daughter as to her feelings concerning the duty she is to perform at -the Mastersinging on the morrow. Her replies are discreetly evasive. -The music beautifully reflects the affectionate relations between -_Pogner_ and _Eva_. When _Pogner_, his daughter seated beside him -under the linden-tree, speaks of the morrow's festival and _Eva's_ -part in it in awarding the prize to the master of her choice before -the assembled burghers of Nuremburg, the stately =Nuremburg Motive= is -ushered in. - -[Music] - -_Magdalena_ appears at the door and signals to _Eva_. The latter -persuades her father that it is too cool to remain outdoors and, as -they enter the house, _Eva_ learns from _Magdalena_ of _Walther's_ -failure before the masters. Magdalena advises her to seek counsel with -_Sachs_ after supper. - -The Cobbler Motive shows us _Sachs_ and _David_ in the former's -workshop. When the master has dismissed his 'prentice till morning, he -yields to his poetic love of the balmy midsummer night and, laying -down his work, leans over the half-door of his shop as if lost in -reverie. The Cobbler Motive dies away to _pp_, and then there is -wafted from over the orchestra like the sweet scent of the blooming -elder the Spring Motive, while tender notes on the horn blossom -beneath a nebulous veil of tremolo violins into memories of -_Walther's_ song. Its measures run through _Sachs's_ head until, -angered at the stupid conservatism of his associates, he resumes his -work to the brusque measures of the Cobbler's Motive. As his ill -humour yields again to the beauties of the night, this motive yields -once more to that of spring, which, with reminiscences of _Walther's_ -first song before the masters, imbues this masterful monologue with -poetic beauty of the highest order. The last words in praise of -_Walther_ ("The bird who sang today," etc.) are sung to a broad and -expressive melody. - -_Eva_ now comes out into the street and, shyly approaching the shop, -stands at the door unnoticed by _Sachs_ until she speaks to him. The -theme which pervades this scene seems to breathe forth the very spirit -of lovely maidenhood which springs from the union of romantic -aspirations, feminine reserve, and rare physical graces. It is the =Eva -Motive=, which, with the delicate touch of a master, Wagner so varies -that it follows the many subtle dramatic suggestions of the scene. The -Eva Motive, in its original form, is as follows: - -[Music] - -When at _Eva's_ first words _Sachs_ looks up, there is this elegant -variation of the Eva Motive: - -[Music] - -Then the scene being now fully ushered in, we have the Eva Motive -itself. _Eva_ leads the talk up to the morrow's festival, and when -_Sachs_ mentions _Beckmesser_ as her chief wooer, roguishly hints, -with evident reference to _Sachs_ himself, that she might prefer a -hearty widower to a bachelor of such disagreeable characteristics as -the marker. There are sufficient indications that the sturdy master is -not indifferent to _Eva's_ charms, but, whole-souled, genuine friend -that he is, his one idea is to further the love affair between his -fair neighbour and _Walther_. The music of this passage is very -suggestive. The melodic leading of the upper voice in the -accompaniment, when _Eva_ asks: "Could not a widower hope to win me?" -is identical with a variation of the Isolde Motive in "Tristan and -Isolde," while the Eva Motive, shyly _pp_, seems to indicate the -artfulness of _Eva's_ question. The reminiscence from "Tristan" can -hardly be regarded as accidental, for _Sachs_ afterwards boasts that -he does not care to share the fate of poor King Marke. _Eva_ now -endeavours to glean particulars of _Walther's_ experience in the -morning, and we have the Motive of Envy, the Knight Motive, and the -Motive of Ridicule. _Eva_ does not appreciate the fine satire in -_Sachs's_ severe strictures on _Walther's_ singing--he re-echoes not -his own views, but those of the other masters, for whom, not for the -knight, his strictures are really intended--and she leaves him in -anger. This shows _Sachs_ which way the wind blows, and he forthwith -resolves to do all in his power to bring _Eva's_ and _Walther's_ love -affair to a successful conclusion. While _Eva_ is engaged with -_Magdalena_, who has come out to call her, he busies himself in -closing the upper half of his shop door so far that only a gleam of -light is visible, he himself being completely hidden. _Eva_ learns -from _Magdalena_ of _Beckmesser's_ intended serenade, and it is agreed -that the maid shall personate _Eva_ at the window. - -Steps are heard coming down the alley. _Eva_ recognizes _Walther_ and -flies to his arms, _Magdalena_ discreetly hurrying into the house. The -ensuing ardent scene between _Eva_ and _Walther_ brings familiar -motives. The knight's excitement is comically broken in upon by the -_Night Watchman's_ cow-horn, and, as _Eva_ lays her hand soothingly -upon his arm and counsels that they retreat within the shadow of the -linden-tree, there steals over the orchestra, like the fragrance of -the summer night, a delicate variant of the Eva Motive--=The Summer -Night Motive=. - -[Music] - -_Eva_ vanishes into the house to prepare to elope with _Walther_. The -_Night Watchman_ now goes up the stage intoning a mediæval chant. -Coming in the midst of the beautiful modern music of "The -Mastersingers," its effect is most quaint. - -As _Eva_ reappears and she and the knight are about to make their -escape, _Sachs_, to prevent this precipitate and foolish step, throws -open his shutters and allows his lamp to shed a streak of brilliant -light across the street. - -The lovers hesitate; and now _Beckmesser_ sneaks in after the _Night -Watchman_ and, leaning against _Sachs's_ house, begins to tune his -lute, the peculiar twang of which, contrasted with the rich -orchestration, sounds irresistibly ridiculous. - -Meanwhile, _Eva_ and _Walther_ have once more retreated into the shade -of the linden-tree, and _Sachs_, who has placed his work bench in -front of his door, begins hammering at the last and intones a song -which is one of the rough diamonds of musical invention, for it is -purposely brusque and rough, just such a song as a hearty, happy -artisan might sing over his work. It is aptly introduced by the -Cobbler Motive. _Beckmesser_, greatly disturbed lest his serenade be -ruined, entreats _Sachs_ to cease singing. The latter agrees, but with -the proviso that he shall "mark" each of _Beckmesser's_ mistakes with -a hammer stroke. As if to bring out as sharply as possible the -ridiculous character of the serenade, the orchestra breathes forth -once more the summer night's music before _Beckmesser_ begins his -song, and this is set to a parody of the Lyric Motive. Wagner, with -keen satire, seems to want to show how a beautiful melody may become -absurd through old-fogy methods. _Beckmesser_ has hardly begun before -_Sachs's_ hammer comes down on the last with a resounding whack, which -makes the town clerk fairly jump with anger. He resumes, but soon is -rudely interrupted again by a blow of _Sachs's_ hammer. The whacks -come faster and faster. _Beckmesser_, in order to make himself heard -above them, sings louder and louder. Some of the neighbours are -awakened by the noise and coming to their windows bid _Beckmesser_ -hold his peace. _David_, stung by jealousy as he sees _Magdalena_ -listening to the serenade, leaps from his room and falls upon the town -clerk with a cudgel. The neighbours, male and female, run out into the -street and a general _mêlée_ ensues, the masters, who hurry upon the -scene, seeking to restore quiet, while the 'prentices vent their high -spirits by doing all in their power to add to the hubbub. All is now -noise and disorder, pandemonium seeming to have been let loose upon -the dignified old town. - -Musically this tumult finds expression in a fugue whose chief theme is -the =Cudgel Motive=. - -[Music] - -From beneath the hubbub of voices--those of the 'prentices and -journeymen, delighted to take part in the shindy, of the women who are -terrified at it, and of the masters who strive to stop it, is heard -the theme of _Beckmesser's_ song, the real cause of the row. This is -another of those many instances in which Wagner vividly expresses in -his music the significance of what transpires on the stage. - -_Sachs_ finally succeeds in shoving the 'prentices and journeymen out -of the way. The street is cleared, but not before the cobbler-poet has -pushed _Eva_, who was about to elope with _Walther_, into her father's -arms and drawn _Walther_ after him into his shop. - -The street is quiet. And now, the rumpus subsided and all concerned in -it gone, the _Night Watchman_ appears, rubs his eyes and chants his -mediæval call. The street is flooded with moonlight. The _Watchman_ -with his clumsy halberd lunges at his own shadow, then goes up the -alley. - -We have had hubbub, we have had humour, and now we have a musical -ending elvish, roguish, and yet exquisite in sentiment. The effect is -produced by the Cudgel Motive played with the utmost delicacy on the -flute, while the theme of _Beckmesser's_ serenade merrily runs after -itself on clarinet and bassoon, and the muted violins softly breathe -the Midsummer Festival Motive. - -Act III. During this act the tender strain in _Sachs's_ sturdy -character is brought out in bold relief. Hence the prelude develops -what may be called three Sachs themes, two of them expressive of his -twofold nature as poet and cobbler, the third standing for the love -which his fellow-burghers bear him. - -The prelude opens with the Wahn Motive or Motive of Poetic Illusion. -This reflects the deep thought and poetic aspirations of _Sachs_ the -poet. It is followed by the theme of the beautiful chorus, sung later -in the act, in praise of _Sachs_: "Awake! draws nigh the break of -day." This theme, among the three heard in the prelude, points to -_Sachs's_ popularity. The third consists of portions of the cobbler's -song in the second act. This prelude has long been considered one of -Wagner's masterpieces. The themes are treated with the utmost -delicacy, so that we recognize through them both the tender, poetic -side of _Sachs's_ nature and his good-humoured brusqueness. =The Motive -of Poetic illusion= is deeply reflective, and it might be preferable to -name it the Motive of Poetic Thought, were it not that it is better to -preserve the significance of the term Wahn Motive, which there is -ample reason to believe originated with Wagner himself. The prelude -is, in fact, a subtle analysis of character expressed in music. - -[Music] - -How peaceful the scene on which the curtain rises. _Sachs_ is sitting -in an armchair in his sunny workshop, reading in a large folio. The -Illusion Motive has not yet died away in the prelude, so that it seems -to reflect the thoughts awakened in _Sachs_ by what he is reading. -_David_, dressed for the festival, enters just as the prelude ends. -There is a scene full of charming _bonhomie_ between _Sachs_ and his -'prentice, which is followed, when the latter has withdrawn, by -_Sachs's_ monologue: "Wahn! Wahn! Ueberall Wahn!" (Illusion, -everywhere illusion.) - -While the Illusion Motive seems to weave a poetic atmosphere about -him, _Sachs_, buried in thought, rests his head upon his arm over the -folio. The Illusion Motive is followed by the Spring Motive, which in -turn yields to the Nuremburg Motive as _Sachs_ sings the praises of -the stately old town. At his reference to the tumult of the night -before there are in the score corresponding allusions to the music of -that episode. "A glowworm could not find its mate," he sings, -referring to _Walther_ and _Eva_. The Midsummer Festival, Lyric, and -Nuremburg motives in union foreshadow the triumph of true art through -love on Nuremburg soil, and thus bring the monologue to a stately -conclusion. - -_Walther_ now enters from the chamber, which opens upon a gallery, -and, descending into the workshop, is heartily greeted by _Sachs_ with -the Sachs Motive, which dominates the immediately ensuing scene. Very -beautiful is the theme in which _Sachs_ protests against _Walther's_ -derision of the masters; for they are, in spite of their many -old-fogyish notions, the conservators of much that is true and -beautiful in art. - -_Walther_ tells _Sachs_ of a song which came to him in a dream during -the night, and sings two stanzas of this "Prize Song," _Sachs_ making -friendly critical comments as he writes down the words. The Nuremburg -Motive in sonorous and festive instrumentation closes this melodious -episode. - -When _Sachs_ and _Walther_ have retired _Beckmesser_ is seen peeping -into the shop. Observing that it is empty he enters hastily. He is -ridiculously overdressed for the approaching festival, limps, and -occasionally rubs his muscles as if he were still stiff and sore from -his drubbing. By chance his glance falls on the manuscript of the -"Prize Song" in _Sachs's_ handwriting on the table, when he breaks -forth in wrathful exclamations, thinking now that he has in the -popular master a rival for _Eva's_ hand. Hearing the chamber door -opening he hastily grabs the manuscript and thrusts it into his -pocket. _Sachs_ enters. Observing that the manuscript is no longer on -the table, he realizes that _Beckmesser_ has stolen it, and conceives -the idea of allowing him to keep it, knowing that the marker will fail -most wretchedly in attempting to give musical expression to -_Walther's_ inspiration. - -The scene places _Sachs_ in a new light. A fascinating trait of his -character is the dash of scapegrace with which it is seasoned. Hence, -when he thinks of allowing _Beckmesser_ to use the poem the Sachs -Motive takes on a somewhat facetious, roguish grace. There now ensues -a charming dialogue between _Sachs_ and _Eva_, who enters when -_Beckmesser_ has departed. This is accompanied by a transformation of -the Eva Motive, which now reflects her shyness and hesitancy in taking -_Sachs_ into her confidence. - -With it is joined the Cobbler Motive when _Eva_ places her foot upon -the stool while _Sachs_ tries on the shoes she is to wear at the -festival. When, with a cry of joy, she recognizes her lover as he -appears upon the gallery, and remains motionless, gazing upon him as -if spellbound, the lovely Summer Night Motive enhances the beauty of -the tableau. While _Sachs_ cobbles and chats away, pretending not to -observe the lovers, the Motive of Maidenly Reserve passes through many -modulations until there is heard a phrase from "Tristan and Isolde" -(the Isolde Motive), an allusion which is explained below. The Lyric -Motive introduces the third stanza of _Walther's_ "Prize Song," with -which he now greets _Eva_, while she, overcome with joy at seeing her -lover, sinks upon _Sachs's_ breast. The Illusion Motive rhapsodizes -the praises of the generous cobbler-poet, who seeks relief from his -emotions in bantering remarks, until _Eva_ glorifies him in a noble -burst of love and gratitude in a melody derived from the Isolde -Motive. - -It is after this that _Sachs_, alluding to his own love of _Eva_, -exclaims that he will have none of King Marke's triste experience; and -the use of the King Marke Motive at this point shows that the previous -echoes of the Isolde Motive were premeditated rather than accidental. - -_Magdalena_ and _David_ now enter, and _Sachs_ gives to _Walther's_ -"Prize Song" its musical baptism, utilizing chiefly the first and -second lines of the chorale which opens the first act. _David_ then -kneels down and, according to the custom of the day, receives from -_Sachs_ a box on the ear in token that he is advanced from 'prentice -to journeyman. Then follows the beautiful quintet, in which the "Prize -Song," as a thematic germ, puts forth its loveliest blossoms. This is -but one of many instances in which Wagner proved that when the -dramatic situation called for it he could conceive and develop a -melody of most exquisite fibre. - -After the quintet the orchestra resumes the Nuremburg Motive and all -depart for the festival. The stage is now shut off by a curtain behind -which the scene is changed from _Sachs's_ workshop to the meadow on -the banks of the Pegnitz, near Nuremburg. After a tumultuous -orchestral interlude, which portrays by means of motives already -familiar, with the addition of the fanfare of the town musicians, the -noise and bustle incidental to preparations for a great festival, the -curtain rises upon a lively scene. Boats decked out in flags and -bunting and full of festively clad members of the various guilds and -their wives and children are constantly arriving. To the right is a -platform decorated with the flags of the guilds which have already -gathered. People are making merry under tents and awnings where -refreshments are served. The 'prentices are having a jolly time of it -heralding and marshalling the guilds who disperse and mingle with the -merrymakers after the standard bearers have planted their banners near -the platform. - -Soon after the curtain rises the cobblers arrive, and as they march -down the meadow, conducted by the 'prentices, they sing in honour of -St. Crispin, their patron saint, a chorus, based on the Cobbler -Motive, to which a melody in popular style is added. The town -watchmen, with trumpets and drums, the town pipers, lute makers, etc., -and then the journeymen, with comical sounding toy instruments, march -past, and are succeeded by the tailors, who sing a humorous chorus, -telling how Nuremburg was saved from its ancient enemies by a tailor, -who sewed a goatskin around him and pranced around on the town walls, -to the terror of the hostile army, which took him for the devil. The -bleating of a goat is capitally imitated in this chorus. - -With the last chord of the tailors' chorus the bakers strike up their -song and are greeted in turn by cobblers and tailors with their -respective refrains. A boatful of young peasant girls in gay costumes -now arrives, and the 'prentices make a rush for the bank. A charming -dance in waltz time is struck up. The 'prentices with the girls dance -down toward the journeymen, but as soon as these try to get hold of -the girls, the 'prentices veer off with them in another direction. -This veering should be timed to fall at the beginning of those periods -of the dance to which Wagner has given, instead of eight measures, -seven and nine, in order by this irregularity to emphasize the ruse of -the 'prentices. - -The dance is interrupted by the arrival of the masters, the 'prentices -falling in to receive, the others making room for the procession. The -_Mastersingers_ advance to the stately strains of the Mastersinger -Motive, which, when _Kothner_ appears bearing their standard with the -figure of King David playing on his harp, goes over into the sturdy -measures of the Mastersingers' March. _Sachs_ rises and advances. At -sight of him the populace intone the noblest of all choruses: "Awake! -draws nigh the break of day," the words of which are a poem by the -real Hans Sachs. - -At its conclusion the populace break into shouts in praise of _Sachs_, -who modestly yet most feelingly gives them thanks. When _Beckmesser_ -is led to the little mound of turf upon which the singer is obliged to -stand, we have the humorous variation of the Mastersinger Motive from -the Prelude. _Beckmesser's_ attempt to sing _Walther's_ poem ends, as -_Sachs_ had anticipated, in utter failure. The town clerk's effort is -received with jeers. Before he rushes away, infuriated but utterly -discomfited, he proclaims that _Sachs_ is the author of the song they -have derided. The cobbler-poet declares to the people that it is not -by him; that it is a beautiful poem if sung to the proper melody and -that he will show them the author of the poem, who will in song -disclose its beauties. He then introduces _Walther_. The knight easily -succeeds in winning over people and masters, who repeat the closing -melody of his "Prize Song" in token of their joyous appreciation of -his new and wondrous art. _Pogner_ advances to decorate _Walther_ with -the insignia of the Mastersingers' Guild. - -[Music] - -In more ways than one the "Prize Song" is a mainstay of "Die -Meistersinger." It has been heard in the previous scene of the third -act, not only when _Walther_ rehearses it for _Sachs_, but also in -the quintet. Moreover, versions of it occur in the overture and -indeed, throughout the work, adding greatly to the romantic sentiment -of the score. For "Die Meistersinger" is a comedy of romance. - -In measures easily recognized from the Prelude, to which the Nuremburg -Motive is added, _Sachs_ now praises the masters and explains their -noble purpose as conservators of art. _Eva_ takes the wreath with -which _Walther_ has been crowned, and with it crowns _Sachs_, who has -meanwhile decorated the knight with the insignia. _Pogner_ kneels, as -if in homage, before _Sachs_, the masters point to the cobbler as to -their chief, and _Walther_ and _Eva_ remain on either side of him, -leaning gratefully upon his shoulders. The chorus repeats _Sachs's_ -final admonition to the closing measures of the Prelude. - - -PARSIFAL - - Stage Dedication Festival Play (Bühnenweihfestspiel) in - three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner. Produced - Bayreuth, July 26, 1882. Save in concert form, the work was - not given elsewhere until December 24, 1903, when it was - produced at the Metropolitan Opera House at that time under - the direction of Heinrich Conried. - - At the Bayreuth performances there were alternating casts. - Winckelmann was the _Parsifal_ of the _première_, Gudehus of - the second performance, Jäger of the third. The alternating - _Kundrys_ were Materna, Marianne Brandt, and Malten; - _Gurnemanz_ Scaria and Siehr; _Amfortas_ Reichmann; - _Klingsor_, Hill and Fuchs. Hermann Levi conducted. - - In the New York cast Ternina was _Kundry_, Burgstaller - _Parsifal_, Van Rooy _Amfortas_, Blass _Gurnemanz_, Goritz - _Klingsor_, Journet _Titurel_, Miss Moran and Miss Braendle - the first and second, Harden and Bayer the third and fourth - _Esquires_, Bayer and Mühlmann two _Knights_ of the Grail, - Homer a _Voice_. - - CHARACTERS - - AMFORTAS, son of TITUREL, ruler of the - Kingdom of the Grail _Baritone-Bass_ - TITUREL, former ruler _Bass_ - GURNEMANZ, a veteran Knight of the Grail _Bass_ - KLINGSOR, a magician _Bass_ - PARSIFAL _Tenor_ - KUNDRY _Soprano_ - FIRST AND SECOND KNIGHTS _Tenor and Bass_ - FOUR ESQUIRES _Sopranos and Tenors_ - SIX OF KLINGSOR'S FLOWER MAIDENS _Sopranos_ - - Brotherhood of the Knights of the Grail; Youths and Boys; - Flower Maidens (two choruses of sopranos and altos). - - _Time_--The Middle Ages. - - _Place_--Spain, near and in the Castle of the Holy Grail; in - Klingsor's enchanted castle and in the garden of his castle. - -[Illustration: Photographs of the First Performance of "Parsifal," -Bayreuth, 1882 - -The Grail-Bearer] - -[Illustration: Photographs of the First Performance of "Parsifal," -Bayreuth, 1882 - -Winckelmann and Materna as Parsifal and Kundry - -Scaria as Gurnemanz] - -"Parsifal" is a familiar name to those who have heard "Lohengrin." -Lohengrin, it will be remembered, tells Elsa that he is Parsifal's son -and one of the knights of the Holy Grail. The name is written Percival -in "Lohengrin," as well as in Tennyson's "Idyls of the King." Now, -however, Wagner returns to the quainter and more "Teutonic" form of -spelling. "Parsifal" deals with an earlier period in the history of -the Grail knighthood than "Lohengrin." But there is a resemblance -between the Grail music in "Parsifal" and the "Lohengrin" music--a -resemblance not in melody, nor even in outline, but merely in the -purity and spirituality that breathes through both. - -Three legends supplied Wagner with the principal characters in this -music-drama. They were "Percival le Galois; or Contes de Grail," by -Chrétien de Troyes (1190); "Parsifal," by Wolfram von Eschenbach, and -a manuscript of the fourteenth century called by scholars the -"Mabinogion." As usual, Wagner has not held himself strictly to any -one of these, but has combined them all, and revivified them through -the alchemy of his own genius. - -Into the keeping of _Titurel_ and his band of Christian knights has -been given the Holy Grail, the vessel from which the Saviour drank -when He instituted the Last Supper. Into their hands, too, has been -placed, as a weapon of defence against the ungodly, the Sacred Spear, -the arm with which the Roman soldier wounded the Saviour's side. The -better to guard these sanctified relics _Titurel_, as King of the -Grail knighthood, has reared a castle, Montsalvat, which, from its -forest-clad height, facing Arabian Spain, forms a bulwark of -Christendom against the pagan world and especially against _Klingsor_, -a sorcerer and an enemy of the good. Yet time and again this -_Klingsor_, whose stronghold is nearby, has succeeded in enticing -champions of the Grail into his magic garden, with its lure of -flower-maidens and its arch-enchantress _Kundry_, a rarely beautiful -woman, and in making them his servitors against their one-time -brothers-in-arms. - -Even _Amfortas_, _Titurel's_ son, to whom _Titurel_, grown old in -service and honour, has confided his reign and wardship, has not -escaped the thrall of _Klingsor's_ sorcery. Eager to begin his reign -by destroying _Klingsor's_ power at one stroke, he penetrated into the -garden to attack and slay him. But he failed to reckon with human -frailty. Yielding to the snare so skilfully laid by the sorcerer and -forgetting, at the feet of the enchantress, _Kundry_, the mission upon -which he had sallied forth, he allowed the Sacred Spear to drop from -his hand. It was seized by the evil-doer he had come to destroy, and -he himself was grievously wounded with it before the knights who -rushed to his rescue could bear him off. - -This wound no skill has sufficed to heal. It is sapping _Amfortas's_ -strength. Indecision, gloom, have come over the once valiant -brotherhood. Only the touch of the Sacred Spear that made the wound -will avail to close it, but there is only one who can regain it from -_Klingsor_. For to _Amfortas_, prostrate in supplication for a sign, a -mystic voice from the sanctuary of the Grail replied: - - By pity guided, - The guileless fool; - Wait for him, - My chosen tool. - -This prophecy the knights construe to signify that their king's -salvation can be wrought only by youth so "guileless," so wholly -ignorant of sin, that, instead of succumbing to the temptations of -_Klingsor's_ magic garden, he will become, through resisting them, -cognizant of _Amfortas's_ guilt, and, stirred by pity for him, make -his redemption the mission of his life, regain the Spear and heal him -with it. And so the Grail warders are waiting, waiting for the coming -of the "guileless fool." - -The working out of this prophecy forms the absorbing subject of the -story of "Parsifal." The plot is allegorical. _Parsifal_ is the -personification of Christianity, _Klingsor_ of Paganism, and the -triumph of _Parsifal_ over _Klingsor_ is the triumph of Christianity -over Paganism. - -The character of _Kundry_ is one of Wagner's most striking creations. -She is a sort of female Ahasuerus--a wandering Jewess. In the -Mabinogion manuscript she is no other than Herodias, condemned to -wander for ever because she laughed at the head of John the Baptist. -Here Wagner makes another change. According to him she is condemned -for laughing in the face of the Saviour as he was bearing the cross. -She seeks forgiveness by serving the Grail knights as messenger on her -swift horse, but ever and anon she is driven by the curse hanging over -her back to _Klingsor_, who changes her to a beautiful woman and -places her in his garden to lure the Knights of the Grail. She can be -freed only by one who resists her temptations. Finally she is freed by -_Parsifal_ and is baptized. In her character of Grail messenger she -has much in common with the wild messengers of Walhalla, the Valkyrs. -Indeed, in the Edda Saga, her name appears in the first part of the -compound Gundryggja, which denotes the office of the Valkyrs. - -THE VORSPIEL - -The _Vorspiel_ to "Parsifal" is based on three of the most deeply -religious motives in the entire work. It opens with the =Motive of the -Sacrament=, over which, when it is repeated, _arpeggios_ hover, as in -the religious paintings of old masters angel forms float above the -figure of virgin or saint. - -[Music] - -Through this motive we gain insight into the office of the Knights of -the Grail, who from time to time strengthen themselves for their -spiritual duties by partaking of the communion, on which occasions the -Grail itself is uncovered. This motive leads to the =Grail Motive=, -effectively swelling to forte and then dying away in ethereal -harmonies, like the soft light with which the Grail illumines the hall -in which the knights gather to worship. - -[Music] - -The trumpets then announce the =Motive of Faith=, severe but -sturdy--portraying superbly the immutability of faith. - -[Music] - -The Grail Motive is heard again and then the Motive of Faith is -repeated, its severity exquisitely softened, so that it conveys a -sense of peace which "passeth all understanding." - -[Music] - -The rest of the _Vorspiel_ is agitated. That portion of the Motive of -the Sacrament which appears later as the Spear Motive here assumes -through a slight change a deeply sad character, and becomes typical -throughout the work of the sorrow wrought by _Amfortas's_ crime. I -call it the =Elegiac Motive=. - -[Music] - -Thus the _Vorspiel_ depicts both the religious duties which play so -prominent a part in the drama, and unhappiness which _Amfortas's_ -sinful forgetfulness of these duties has brought upon himself and his -knights. - -Act I. One of the sturdiest of the knights, the aged _Gurnemanz_, grey -of head and beard, watches near the outskirts of the forest. One dawn -finds him seated under a majestic tree. Two young _Esquires_ lie in -slumber at his feet. Far off, from the direction of the castle, sounds -a solemn reveille. - -"Hey! Ho!" _Gurnemanz_ calls with brusque humour to the _Esquires_. -"Not forest, but sleep warders I deem you!" The youths leap to their -feet; then, hearing the solemn reveille, kneel in prayer. The Motive -of Peace echoes their devotional thoughts. A wondrous peace seems to -rest upon the scene. But the transgression of the _King_ ever breaks -the tranquil spell. For soon two _Knights_ come in the van of the -train that thus early bears the _King_ from a bed of suffering to the -forest lake nearby, in whose waters he would bathe his wound. They -pause to parley with _Gurnemanz_, but are interrupted by outcries from -the youths and sounds of rushing through air. - -"Mark the wild horsewoman!"--"The mane of the devil's mare flies -madly!"--"Aye, 'tis Kundry!"--"She has swung herself off," cry the -_Esquires_ as they watch the approach of the strange creature that -now rushes in--a woman clad in coarse, wild garb girdled high with a -snake-skin, her thick black hair tumbling about her shoulders, her -features swarthy, her dark eyes now flashing, now fixed and glassy. -Precipitately she thrusts a small crystal flask into _Gurnemanz's_ -hand. - -"Balsam--for the king!" There is a savagery in her manner that seems -designed to ward off thanks, when _Gurnemanz_ asks her whence she has -brought the flask, and she replies: "From farther away than your -thought can travel. If it fail, Arabia bears naught else that can ease -his pain. Ask no further. I am weary." - -Throwing herself upon the ground and resting her face on her hands, -she watches the _King_ borne in, replies to his thanks for the balsam -with a wild, mocking laugh, and follows him with her eyes as they bear -him on his litter toward the lake, while _Gurnemanz_ and four -_Esquires_ remain behind. - -_Kundry's_ rapid approach on her wild horse is accompanied by a -furious gallop in the orchestra. - -[Music] - -Then, as she rushes upon the stage, the =Kundry Motive=--a headlong -descent of the string instruments through four octaves--is heard. - -[Music] - -_Kundry's_ action in seeking balsam for the _King's_ wound gives us -insight into the two contradictory natures represented by her -character. For here is the woman who has brought all his suffering -upon _Amfortas_ striving to ease it when she is free from the evil -sway of _Klingsor_. She is at times the faithful messenger of the -Grail; at times the evil genius of its defenders. - -When _Amfortas_ is borne in upon a litter there is heard the =Motive of -Amfortas's Suffering=, expressive of his physical and mental agony. It -has a peculiar heavy, dragging rhythm, as if his wound slowly were -sapping his life. - -[Music] - -A beautiful idyl is played by the orchestra when the knights bear -_Amfortas_ to the forest lake. - -[Music] - -One of the youths, who has remained with _Gurnemanz_, noting that -_Kundry_ still lies where she had flung herself upon the ground, calls -out scornfully, "Why do you lie there like a savage beast?" - -"Are not even the beasts here sacred?" she retorts, but harshly, and -not as if pleading for sufferance. The other _Esquires_ would have -joined in harassing her had not _Gurnemanz_ stayed them. - -"Never has she done you harm. She serves the Grail, and only when she -remains long away, none knows in what distant lands, does harm come to -us." Then, turning to where she lies, he asks: "Where were you -wandering when our leader lost the Sacred Spear? Why were you not here -to help us then?" - -"I never help!" is her sullen retort, although a tremor, as if caused -by a pang of bitter reproach, passes over her frame. - -"If she wants to serve the Grail, why not send her to recover the -Sacred Spear!" exclaims one of the _Esquires_ sarcastically; and the -youths doubtless would have resumed their nagging of _Kundry_, had not -mention of the holy weapon caused _Gurnemanz_ to give voice to -memories of the events that have led to its capture by _Klingsor_. -Then, yielding to the pressing of the youths who gather at his feet -beneath the tree, he tells them of _Klingsor_--how the sorcerer has -sued for admission to the Grail brotherhood, which was denied him by -_Titurel_, how in revenge he has sought its destruction and now, -through possession of the Sacred Spear, hopes to compass it. - -Prominent with other motives already heard, is a new one, the =Klingsor -Motive=: - -[Music] - -During this recital _Kundry_ still lies upon the ground, a sullen, -forbidding looking creature. At the point when _Gurnemanz_ tells of -the sorcerer's magic garden and of the enchantress who has lured -_Amfortas_ to his downfall, she turns in quick, angry unrest, as if -she would away, but is held to the spot by some dark and compelling -power. There is indeed something strange and contradictory in this -wild creature, who serves the Grail by ranging distant lands in -search of balsam for the _King's_ wound, yet abruptly, vindictively -almost, repels proffered thanks, and is a sullen and unwilling -listener to _Gurnemanz's_ narrative. Furthermore, as _Gurnemanz_ -queried, where does she linger during those long absences, when harm -has come to the warders of the Grail and now to their _King_? The -Knights of the Grail do not know it, but it is none other than she -who, changed by _Klingsor_ into an enchantress, lures them into his -magic garden. - -_Gurnemanz_ concludes by telling the _Esquire_ that while _Amfortas_ -was praying for a sign as to who could heal him, phantom lips -pronounced these words: - - By pity lightened - The guileless fool; - Wait for him, - My chosen tool. - -This introduces an important motive, that of the =Prophecy=, a phrase of -simple beauty, as befits the significance of the words to which it is -sung. _Gurnemanz_ sings the entire motive and then the _Esquires_ take -it up. - -[Music] - -They have sung only the first two lines when suddenly their prayerful -voices are interrupted by shouts of dismay from the direction of the -lake. A moment later a wounded swan, one of the sacred birds of the -Grail brotherhood, flutters over the stage and falls dead near -_Gurnemanz_. The knights follow in consternation. Two of them bring -_Parsifal_, whom they have seized and accuse of murdering the sacred -bird. As he appears the magnificent =Parsifal Motive= rings out on the -horns: - -[Music] - -It is a buoyant and joyous motive, full of the wild spirit and freedom -of this child of nature, who knows nothing of the Grail and its -brotherhood or the sacredness of the swan, and freely boasts of his -skilful marksmanship. During this episode the Swan Motive from -"Lohengrin" is effectively introduced. Then follows _Gurnemanz's_ -noble reproof, sung to a broad and expressive melody. Even the animals -are sacred in the region of the Grail and are protected from harm. -_Parsifal's_ gradual awakening to a sense of wrong is one of the most -touching scenes of the music-drama. His childlike grief when he -becomes conscious of the pain he has caused is so simple and pathetic -that one cannot but be deeply affected. - -After _Gurnemanz_ has ascertained that _Parsifal_ knows nothing of the -wrong he committed in killing the swan he plies him with questions -concerning his parentage. _Parsifal_ is now gentle and tranquil. He -tells of growing up in the woods, of running away from his mother to -follow a cavalcade of knights who passed along the edge of the forest -and of never having seen her since. In vain he endeavours to recall -the many pet names she gave him. These memories of his early days -introduce the sad motive of his mother, =Herzeleid= (Heart's Sorrow) who -has died in grief. - -[Music] - -The old knight then proceeds to ply _Parsifal_ with questions -regarding his parentage, name, and native land. "I do not know," is -the youth's invariable answer. His ignorance, coupled, however, with -his naïve nobility of bearing and the fact that he has made his way to -the Grail domain, engender in _Gurnemanz_ the hope that here at last -is the "guileless fool" for whom prayerfully they have been waiting, -and the _King_, having been borne from the lake toward the castle -where the holy rite of unveiling the Grail is to be celebrated that -day, thither _Gurnemanz_ in kindly accents bids the youth follow him. - -Then occurs a dramatically effective change of scene. The scenery -becomes a panorama drawn off toward the right, and as _Parsifal_ and -_Gurnemanz_ face toward the left they appear to be walking in that -direction. The forest disappears; a cave opens in rocky cliffs and -conceals the two; they are then seen again in sloping passages which -they appear to ascend. Long sustained trombone notes softly swell; -approaching peals of bells are heard. At last they arrive at a mighty -hall which loses itself overhead in a high vaulted dome, down from -which alone the light streams in. - -The change of scene is ushered in by the solemn =Bell Motive=, which is -the basis of the powerful orchestral interlude accompanying the -panorama, and also of the scene in the hall of the Grail Castle. - -[Music] - -As the communion, which is soon to be celebrated, is broken in upon by -the violent grief and contrition of _Amfortas_, so the majestic sweep -of this symphony is interrupted by the agonized =Motive of Contrition=, -which graphically portrays the spiritual suffering of the _King_. - -This subtly suggests the Elegiac Motive and the Motive of Amfortas's -Suffering, but in greatly intensified degrees. For it is like an -outcry of torture that affects both body and soul. - -With the Motive of the Sacrament resounding solemnly upon the -trombones, followed by the Bell Motive, sonorous and powerful, -_Gurnemanz_ and _Parsifal_ enter the hall, the old knight giving the -youth a position from which he can observe the proceedings. From the -deep colonnades on either side in the rear the knights issue, march -with stately tread, and arrange themselves at the horseshoe-shaped -table, which incloses a raised couch. Then, while the orchestra plays -a solemn processional based on the Bell Motive, they intone the -chorus: "To the last love feast." After the first verse a line of -pages crosses the stage and ascend into the dome. The graceful -interlude here is based on the Bell Motive. - -[Music] - -The chorus of knights closes with a glorious outburst of the Grail -Motive as _Amfortas_ is borne in, preceded by pages who bear the -covered Grail. The _King_ is lifted upon the couch and the holy vessel -is placed upon the stone table in front of it. When the Grail Motive -has died away amid the pealing of the bells, the youths in the gallery -below the dome sing a chorus of penitence based upon the Motive of -Contrition. Then the Motive of Faith floats down from the dome as an -unaccompanied chorus for boys' voices--a passage of ethereal -beauty--the orchestra whispering a brief postludium like a faint echo. -This is, when sung as it was at Bayreuth, where I heard the first -performance of "Parsifal" in 1882, the most exquisite effect of the -whole score. For spirituality it is unsurpassed. It is an absolutely -perfect example of religious music--a beautiful melody without the -slightest worldly taint. - -_Titurel_ now summons _Amfortas_ to perform his sacred office--to -uncover the Grail. At first, tortured by contrition for his sin, of -which the agony from his wound is a constant reminder, he refuses to -obey his aged father's summons. In anguish he cries out that he is -unworthy of the sacred office. But again ethereal voices float down -from the dome. They now chant the prophecy of the "guileless fool" -and, as if comforted by the hope of ultimate redemption, _Amfortas_ -uncovers the Grail. Dusk seems to spread over the hall. Then a ray of -brilliant light darts down upon the sacred vessel, which shines with a -soft purple radiance that diffuses itself through the hall. All are on -their knees save the youth, who has stood motionless and obtuse to the -significance of all he has heard and seen save that during -_Amfortas's_ anguish he has clutched his heart as if he too felt the -pang. But when the rite is over--when the knights have partaken of -communion--and the glow has faded, and the _King_, followed by his -knights, has been borne out, the youth remains behind, vigorous, -handsome, but to all appearances a dolt. - -"Do you know what you have witnessed?" _Gurnemanz_ asks harshly, for -he is grievously disappointed. - -For answer the youth shakes his head. - -"Just a fool, after all," exclaims the old knight, as he opens a side -door to the hall. "Begone, but take my advice. In future leave our -swans alone, and seek yourself, gander, a goose!" And with these harsh -words he pushes the youth out and angrily slams the door behind him. - -This jarring break upon the religious feeling awakened by the scene -would be a rude ending for the act, but Wagner, with exquisite tact, -allows the voices in the dome to be heard once more, and so the -curtains close, amid the spiritual harmonies of the Prophecy of the -Guileless Fool and of the Grail Motive. - -Act II. This act plays in _Klingsor's_ magic castle and garden. The -_Vorspiel_ opens with the threatful Klingsor motive, which is followed -by the Magic and Contrition Motives, the wild Kundry Motive leading -over to the first scene. - -In the inner keep of his tower, stone steps leading up to the -battlemented parapet and down into a deep pit at the back, stands -_Klingsor_, looking into a metal mirror, whose surface, through his -necromancy, reflects all that transpires within the environs of the -fastness from which he ever threatens the warders of the Grail. Of all -that just has happened in the Grail's domain it has made him aware; -and he knows that of which _Gurnemanz_ is ignorant--that the youth, -whose approach the mirror divulges, once in his power, vain will be -the prophecy of the "guileless fool" and his own triumph assured. For -it is that same "guileless fool" the old knight impatiently has thrust -out. - -_Klingsor_ turns toward the pit and imperiously waves his hand. A -bluish vapour rises from the abyss and in it floats the form of a -beauteous woman--_Kundry_, not the _Kundry_ of a few hours before, -dishevelled and in coarse garb girdled with snake-skin; but a houri, -her dark hair smooth and lustrous, her robe soft, rich Oriental -draperies. Yet even as she floats she strives as though she would -descend to where she has come from, while the sorcerer's harsh laugh -greets her vain efforts. This then is the secret of her strange -actions and her long disappearances from the Grail domain, during -which so many of its warders have fallen into _Klingsor's_ power! She -is the snare he sets, she the arch-enchantress of his magic garden. -Striving as he hints while he mocks her impotence, to expiate some sin -committed by her during a previous existence in the dim past, by -serving the brotherhood of the Grail knights, the sorcerer's power -over her is such that at any moment he can summon her to aid him in -their destruction. - -Well she knows what the present summons means. Approaching the tower -at this very moment is the youth whom she has seen in the Grail -forest, and in whom she, like _Klingsor_, has recognized the only -possible redeemer of _Amfortas_ and of--herself. And now she must lure -him to his doom and with it lose her last hope of salvation, now, aye, -now--for even as he mocks her, _Klingsor_ once more waves his hand, -castle and keep vanish as if swallowed up by the earth, and in its -place a garden heavy with the scent of gorgeous flowers fills the -landscape. - -The orchestra, with the Parsifal Motive, gives a spirited description -of the brief combat between _Parsifal_ and _Klingsor's_ knights. It is -amid the dark harmonies of the Klingsor Motive that the keep sinks out -of sight and the magic garden, spreading out in all directions, with -_Parsifal_ standing on the wall and gazing with astonishment upon the -brilliant scene, is disclosed. - -The _Flower Maidens_ in great trepidation for the fate of their lover -knights rush in from all sides with cries of sorrow, their confused -exclamations and the orchestral accompaniment admirably enforcing -their tumultuous actions. - -The Parsifal Motive again introduces the next episode, as _Parsifal_, -attracted by the grace and beauty of the girls, leaps down into the -garden and seeks to mingle with them. It is repeated several times in -the course of the scene. The girls, seeing that he does not seek to -harm them, bedeck themselves with flowers and crowd about him with -alluring gestures, finally circling around him as they sing this -caressing melody: - -[Music] - -The effect is enchanting, the music of this episode being a marvel of -sensuous grace. _Parsifal_ regards them with childlike, innocent joy. -Then they seek to impress him more deeply with their charms, at the -same time quarrelling among themselves over him. When their rivalry -has reached its height, _Kundry's_ voice--"Parsifal, tarry!"--is -wafted from a flowery nook nearby. - -[Music] - -"Parsifal!" In all the years of his wandering none has called him by -his name; and now it floats toward him as if borne on the scent of -roses. A beautiful woman, her arms stretched out to him, welcomes him -from her couch of brilliant, redolent flowers. Irresistibly drawn -toward her, he approaches and kneels by her side; and she, whispering -to him in tender accents, leans over him and presses a long kiss upon -his lips. It is the lure that has sealed the fate of many a knight of -the Grail. But in the youth it inspires a sudden change. The perilous -subtlety of it, that is intended to destroy, transforms the "guileless -fool" into a conscious man, and that man conscious of a mission. The -scenes he has witnessed in the Grail castle, the stricken _King_ whose -wound ever bled afresh, the part he is to play, the peril of the -temptation that has been placed in his path--all these things become -revealed to him in the rapture of that unhallowed kiss. In vain the -enchantress seeks to draw him toward her. He thrusts her from him. -Maddened by the repulse, compelled through _Klingsor's_ arts to see in -the handsome youth before her lawful prey, she calls upon the sorcerer -to aid her. At her outcry _Klingsor_ appears on the castle wall, in -his hand the Spear taken from _Amfortas_, and, as _Parsifal_ faces -him, hurls it full at him. But lo, it rises in its flight and remains -suspended in the air over the head of him it was aimed to slay. - -Reaching out and seizing it, _Parsifal_ makes with it the sign of the -cross. Castle and garden wall crumble into ruins, the garden shrivels -away, leaving in its place a sere wilderness, through which -_Parsifal_, leaving _Kundry_ as one dead upon the ground, sets forth -in search of the castle of the Grail, there to fulfil the mission with -which now he knows himself charged. - -Act III. Not until after long wanderings through the wilderness, -however, is it that _Parsifal_ once more finds himself on the -outskirts of the Grail forest. Clad from head to foot in black armour, -his visor closed, the Holy Spear in his hand, he approaches the spot -where _Gurnemanz_, now grown very old, still holds watch, while -_Kundry_, again in coarse garb, but grown strangely pale and gentle, -humbly serves the brotherhood. It is Good Friday morn, and peace -rests upon the forest. - -_Kundry_ is the first to discern the approach of the black knight. -From the tender exaltation of her mien, as she draws _Gurnemanz's_ -look toward the silent figure, it is apparent that she divines who it -is and why he comes. To _Gurnemanz_, however, he is but an armed -intruder on sanctified ground and upon a holy day, and, as the black -knight seats himself on a little knoll near a spring and remains -silent, the old warder chides him for his offence. Tranquilly the -knight rises, thrusts the Spear he bears into the ground before him, -lays down his sword and shield before it, opens his helmet, and, -removing it from his head, places it with the other arms, and then -himself kneels in silent prayer before the Spear. Surprise, -recognition of man and weapon, and deep emotion succeed each other on -_Gurnemanz's_ face. Gently he raises _Parsifal_ from his kneeling -posture, once more seats him on the knoll by the spring, loosens his -greaves and corselet, and then places upon him the coat of mail and -mantle of the knights of the Grail, while _Kundry_, drawing a golden -flask from her bosom anoints his feet and dries them with her loosened -hair. Then _Gurnemanz_ takes from her the flask, and, pouring its -contents upon _Parsifal's_ head, anoints him king of the knights of -the Grail. The new king performs his first office by taking up water -from the spring in the hollow of his hand and baptizing _Kundry_, -whose eyes, suffused with tears, are raised to him in gentle rapture. - -Here is heard the stately =Motive of Baptism=: - -[Music] - -The "Good Friday Spell," one of Wagner's most beautiful mood paintings -in tone color, is the most prominent episode in these scenes. - -[Music] - -Once more _Gurnemanz_, _Kundry_ now following, leads the way toward -the castle of the Grail. _Amfortas's_ aged father, _Titurel_, -uncomforted by the vision of the Grail, which _Amfortas_, in his -passionate contrition, deems himself too sullied to unveil, has died, -and the knights having gathered in the great hall, _Titurel's_ bier is -borne in solemn procession and placed upon a catafalque before -_Amfortas's_ couch. - -"Uncover the shrine!" shout the knights, pressing upon _Amfortas_. For -answer, and in a paroxysm of despair, he springs up, tears his -garments asunder and shows his open wound. "Slay me!" he cries. "Take -up your weapons! Bury your sword-blades deep--deep in me, to the -hilts! Kill me, and so kill the pain that tortures me!" - -As _Amfortas_ stands there in an ecstasy of pain, _Parsifal_ enters, -and, quietly advancing, touches the wound with the point of the Spear. - -"One weapon only serves to staunch your wounded side--the one that -struck it." - -_Amfortas's_ torture changes to highest rapture. The shrine is opened -and _Parsifal_, taking the Grail, which again radiates with light, -waves it gently to and fro, as _Amfortas_ and all the knights kneel in -homage to him, while _Kundry_, gazing up to him in gratitude, sinks -gently into the sleep of death and forgiveness for which she has -longed. - -The music of this entire scene floats upon ethereal _arpeggios_. The -Motive of Faith especially is exquisitely accompanied, its spiritual -harmonies finally appearing in this form. - -[Music] - -There are also heard the Motives of Prophecy and of the Sacrament, as -the knights on the stage and the youths and boys in the dome chant. -The Grail Motive, which is prominent throughout the scene, rises as if -in a spirit of gentle religious triumph and brings, with the Sacrament -Motive, the work to a close. - - - - -Gioachino Antonio Rossini - -(1792-1868) - - -It would be difficult to persuade any one today that Rossini was a -reformer of opera. But his instrumentation, excessively simple as it -seems to us, was regarded, by his contemporaries, as distracting too -much attention from the voices. This was one of the reasons his -_Semiramide_ was coolly received at its production in Venice, 1823. - -But however simple, not to say primitive, the instrumentation of his -Italian operas now strikes us, he made one great innovation in opera -for which we readily can grant him recognition as a reformer. He -dispensed with _secco_ recitative, the so-called "dry" recitative, -which I have mentioned as a drawback to the operatic scores of Mozart. -For this Rossini substituted a more dramatic recital of the text -leading up to the vocal numbers, and accompanied it with such -instruments, or combinations of instruments even to full orchestra, as -he considered necessary. We accept a well accompanied recitative in -opera as a matter of course. But in its day it was a bold step -forward, and Rossini should receive full credit for it. Indeed it will -be found that nearly all composers, whose works survive in the -repertoire, instead of tamely accepting the routine of workmanship in -opera, as inherited from their predecessors, had ideas of their own, -which they put into effect, sometimes at the temporary sacrifice of -popularity. Gluck and Wagner, especially the latter, were extreme -types of the musical reformer. Compared with them Rossini was mild. -But his merits should be conceded, and gratefully. - -Rossini often is spoken of as the "Swan of Pesaro," where he was born. -His mother sang _buffa_ rôles in a travelling opera troupe, in the -orchestra of which his father was a horn player. After previous -musical instruction in Bologna, he was turned over to Angelo Tesei, -sang in church and afterwards travelled with his parents both as -singer and accompanist, thus gaining at first hand valuable experience -in matters operatic. In 1807 he entered the Liceo (conservatory) at -Bologna, studying 'cello under Cavedagni and composition with Padre -Mattei. By 1810 already he was able to bring out in Venice, and with -applause, a one act comedy opera, "La Cambiale di Matrimonio." During -1812 he received commissions for no less than five light operas, -scoring, in 1813, with his "Tancredi" his first success in the grand -manner. There was scarcely a year now that did not see a work from his -pen, sometimes two, until his "Guillaume Tell" was produced in Paris, -1829. This was an entire change of style from his earlier works, -possibly, however, foreshadowed by his "Comte Ory," a revision of a -previous score, and produced, as was his "Tell," at the Grand Opéra. - -"Guillaume Tell" not only is written to a French libretto; it is in -the French style of grand opera, in which the vocal melody is less -ornate and the instrumental portion of the score more carefully -considered than in the Italian. - -During the remaining thirty-nine years of his life not another opera -did Rossini compose. He appears deliberately to have formed this -resolution in 1836, after hearing "Les Huguenots" by Meyerbeer, as if -he considered it useless for him to attempt to rival that composer. He -resided in Bologna and Florence until 1855, then in Paris, or near -there, dying at Ruelle. - -He presents the strange spectacle of a successful composer of opera, -who lived to be seventy-six, abruptly closing his dramatic career at -thirty-seven. - - -IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA - -THE BARBER OF SEVILLE - - Opera in two acts, by Rossini; text by Cesare Sterbini, - founded on Beaumarchais. Produced, Argentina Theatre, Rome, - February 5, 1816; London, King's Theatre, March 10, 1818. - Paris, in Italian, 1819; in French, 1824. New York, in - English, at the Park Theatre, May 3, 1819, with Thomas - Phillipps and Miss Leesugg, as _Almaviva_ and _Rosina_; in - Italian, at the Park Theatre, November 29, 1825, with Manuel - Garcia, the elder, as _Almaviva_; Manuel Garcia, the - younger, _Figaro_; Signorina Garcia (afterwards the famous - Malibran), _Rosina_; Signor Rosick, _Dr. Bartolo_; Signor - Angrisani, _Don Basilio_; Signor Crivelli, the younger, - _Fiorello_, and Signora Garcia, _mère_, _Berta_. (See - concluding paragraphs of this article.) Adelina Patti, - Melba, Sembrich, Tetrazzini are among the prima donnas who - have been familiar to opera lovers in this country as - _Rosina_. Galli-Curci appeared in this rôle in Chicago, - January 1, 1917. - - CHARACTERS - - COUNT ALMAVIVA _Tenor_ - DOCTOR BARTOLO _Bass_ - BASILIO, a Singing Teacher _Bass_ - FIGARO, a Barber _Baritone_ - FIORELLO, servant to the Count _Bass_ - AMBROSIO, servant to the Doctor _Bass_ - ROSINA, the Doctor's ward _Soprano_ - BERTA (or MARCELLINA), Rosina's Governess _Soprano_ - - Notary, Constable, Musicians and Soldiers. - - _Time_--Seventeenth Century. - - _Place_--Seville, Spain. - -Upon episodes in Beaumarchais's trilogy of "Figaro" comedies two -composers, Mozart and Rossini, based operas that have long maintained -their hold upon the repertoire. The three Beaumarchais comedies are -"Le Barbier de Séville," "Le Mariage de Figaro," and "La Mère -Coupable." Mozart selected the second of these, Rossini the first; so -that although in point of composition Mozart's "Figaro" (May, 1786) -antedates Rossini's "Barbiere" (February, 1816) by nearly thirty -years, "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" precedes "Le Nozze di Figaro" in -point of action. In both operas _Figaro_ is a prominent character, -and, while the composers were of wholly different nationality and -race, their music is genuinely and equally sparkling and witty. To -attempt to decide between them by the flip of a coin would be "heads I -win, tails you lose." - -There is much to say about the first performance of "Il Barbiere di -Siviglia"; also about the overture, the origin of _Almaviva's_ -graceful solo, "Ecco ridente in cielo," and the music selected by -prima donnas to sing in the "lesson scene" in the second act. But -these details are better preceded by some information regarding the -story and the music. - - * * * * * - -Act I, Scene 1. A street by _Dr. Bartolo's_ house. _Count Almaviva_, a -Grandee of Spain, is desperately in love with _Rosina_, the ward of -_Doctor Bartolo_. Accompanied by his servant Fiorello and a band of -lutists, he serenades her with the smooth, flowing measures of "Ecco -ridente in cielo," (Lo, smiling in the Eastern sky). - -[Music: Ecco ridente in cielo,] - -Just then _Figaro_, the barber, the general factotum and busybody of -the town, dances in, singing the famous patter air, "Largo al factotum -della città" (Room for the city's factotum). - -[Music: Largo al factotum della città largo,] - -He is _Dr. Bartolo's_ barber, and, learning from the _Count_ of his -heart's desire, immediately plots with him to bring about his -introduction to _Rosina_. There are two clever duets between _Figaro_ -and the _Count_--one in which _Almaviva_ promises money to the -_Barber_; the other in praise of love and pleasure. - -_Rosina_ is strictly watched by her guardian, _Doctor Bartolo_, who -himself plans to marry his ward, since she has both beauty and money. -In this he is assisted by _Basilio_, a music-master. _Rosina_, -however, returns the affection of the _Count_, and, in spite of the -watchfulness of her guardian, she contrives to drop a letter from the -balcony to _Almaviva_, who is still with _Figaro_ below, declaring her -passion, and at the same time requesting to know her lover's name. - -Scene 2. Room in _Dr. Bartolo's_ house. _Rosina_ enters. She sings the -brilliant "Una voce poco fa" (A little voice I heard just now), - -[Music: Una voce poco fa qui nel cor mi risuonò] - -followed by "Io sono docile" (With mild and docile air). - -[Music: Io sono docile, son rispettosa,] - -_Figaro_, who has left _Almaviva_ and come in from the street, tells -her that the _Count_ is Signor Lindor, claims him as a cousin, and -adds that the young man is deeply in love with her. _Rosina_ is -delighted. She gives him a note to convey to the supposed Signor -Lindor. (Duet, _Rosina_ and _Figaro_: "Dunque io son, tu non -m'inganni?"--Am I his love, or dost thou mock me?) - -Meanwhile _Bartolo_ has made known to _Basilio_ his suspicions that -_Count Almaviva_ is in love with _Rosina_. _Basilio_ advises to start -a scandal about the _Count_ and, in an aria ("La calunnia") remarkable -for its descriptive crescendo, depicts how calumny may spread from the -first breath to a tempest of scandal. - -[Music: La calunnia è un venticello] - -To obtain an interview with _Rosina_, the _Count_ disguises himself as -a drunken soldier, and forces his way into _Bartolo's_ house. The -disguise of _Almaviva_ is penetrated by the guardian, and the -pretended soldier is placed under arrest, but is at once released upon -secretly showing the officer his order as a Grandee of Spain. Chorus, -preceded by the trio, for _Rosina_, _Almaviva_ and _Bartolo_--"Fredda -ed immobile" (Awestruck and immovable). - -Act II. The _Count_ again enters _Bartolo's_ house. He is now -disguised as a music teacher, and pretends that he has been sent by -_Basilio_ to give a lesson in music, on account of the illness of the -latter. He obtains the confidence of _Bartolo_ by producing _Rosina's_ -letter to himself, and offering to persuade _Rosina_ that the letter -has been given him by a mistress of the _Count_. In this manner he -obtains the desired opportunity, under the guise of a music -lesson--the "music lesson" scene, which is discussed below--to hold a -whispered conversation with _Rosina_. _Figaro_ also manages to obtain -the keys of the balcony, an escape is determined on at midnight, and a -private marriage arranged. Now, however, _Basilio_ makes his -appearance. The lovers are disconcerted, but manage, by persuading the -music-master that he really is ill--an illness accelerated by a full -purse slipped into his hand by _Almaviva_--to get rid of him. Duet for -_Rosina_ and _Almaviva_, "Buona sera, mio Signore" (Fare you well -then, good Signore). - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Sammarco as Figaro in "The Barber of Seville"] - -[Music: - -(Count) Buona sera, mio Signore - -(Rosina) Buona sera, buona sera;] - -When the _Count_ and _Figaro_ have gone, _Bartolo_, who possesses the -letter _Rosina_ wrote to _Almaviva_, succeeds, by producing it, and -telling her he secured it from another lady-love of the _Count_, in -exciting the jealousy of his ward. In her anger she discloses the plan -of escape and agrees to marry her guardian. At the appointed time, -however, _Figaro_ and the _Count_ make their appearance--the lovers -are reconciled, and a notary, procured by _Bartolo_ for his own -marriage to _Rosina_, celebrates the marriage of the loving pair. When -the guardian enters, with officers of justice, into whose hands he is -about to consign _Figaro_ and the _Count_, he is too late, but is -reconciled by a promise that he shall receive the equivalent of his -ward's dower. - - * * * * * - -Besides the music that has been mentioned, there should be reference -to "the big quintet" of the arrival and departure of _Basilio_. Just -before _Almaviva_ and _Figaro_ enter for the elopement there is a -storm. The delicate trio for _Almaviva_, _Rosina_ and _Figaro_, -"Zitti, zitti, piano" (Softly, softly and in silence), bears, probably -without intention, a resemblance to a passage in Haydn's "Seasons." - -[Music: Zitti, zitti, piano, piano,] - -The first performance of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," an opera that has -held its own for over a century, was a scandalous failure, which, -however, was not without its amusing incidents. Castil-Blaze, Giuseppe -Carpani in his "Rossiniane," and Stendhal in "Vie de Rossini" (a lot -of it "cribbed" from Carpani) have told the story. Moreover the -_Rosina_ of the evening, Mme. Giorgi-Righetti, who was both pretty and -popular, has communicated her reminiscences. - -December 26, 1815, Duke Cesarini, manager of the Argentine Theatre, -Rome, for whom Rossini had contracted to write two operas, brought out -the first of these, "Torvaldo e Dorliska," which was poorly received. -Thereupon Cesarini handed to the composer the libretto of "Il Barbiere -di Siviglia," which Paisiello, who was still living, had set to music -more than half a century before. A pleasant memory of the old master's -work still lingered with the Roman public. The honorarium was 400 -Roman crowns (about $400) and Rossini also was called upon to preside -over the orchestra at the pianoforte at the first three performances. -It is said that Rossini composed his score in a fortnight. Even if not -strictly true, from December 26th to the February 5th following is but -little more than a month. The young composer had too much sense not to -honour Paisiello; or, at least, to appear to. He hastened to write to -the old composer. The latter, although reported to have been intensely -jealous of the young maestro (Rossini was only twenty-five) since the -sensational success of the latter's "Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra" -(Elizabeth, Queen of England), Naples, 1815, replied that he had no -objection to another musician dealing with the subject of his opera. -In reality, it is said, he counted on Rossini's making a glaring -failure of the attempt. The libretto was rearranged by Sterbini, and -Rossini wrote a preface, modest in tone, yet not without a hint that -he considered the older score out of date. But he took the precaution -to show Paisiello's letter to all the music lovers of Rome, and -insisted on changing the title of the opera to "Almaviva, ossia -l'Inutile Precauzione" (Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution). - -Nevertheless, as soon as the rumour spread that Rossini was making -over Paisiello's work, the young composer's enemies hastened to talk -in the cafés about what they called his "underhand action." Paisiello -himself, it is believed, was not foreign to these intrigues. A letter -in his handwriting was shown to Rossini. In this he is said to have -written from Naples to one of his friends in Rome urging him to -neglect nothing that would make certain the failure of Rossini's -opera. - -Mme. Giorgi-Righetti reports that "hot-headed enemies" assembled at -their posts as soon as the theatre opened, while Rossini's friends, -disappointed by the recent ill luck of "Torvaldo e Dorliska" were -timid in their support of the new work. Furthermore, according to Mme. -Giorgi-Righetti, Rossini weakly yielded to a suggestion from Garcia, -and permitted that artist, the _Almaviva_ of the première, to -substitute for the air which is sung under _Rosina's_ balcony, a -Spanish melody with guitar accompaniment. The scene being laid in -Spain, this would aid in giving local colour to the work--such was the -idea. But it went wrong. By an unfortunate oversight no one had tuned -the guitar with which _Almaviva_ was to accompany himself, and Garcia -was obliged to do this on the stage. A string broke. The singer had to -replace it, to an accompaniment of laughter and whistling. This was -followed by _Figaro's_ entrance air. The audience had settled down for -this. But when they saw Zamboni, as _Figaro_, come on the stage with -another guitar, another fit of laughing and whistling seized them, and -the racket rendered the solo completely inaudible. _Rosina_ appeared -on the balcony. The public greatly admired Mme. Giorgi-Righetti and -was disposed to applaud her. But, as if to cap the climax of -absurdity, she sang: "Segui, o caro, deh segui così" (Continue my -dear, do always so). Naturally the audience immediately thought of the -two guitars, and went on laughing, whistling, and hissing during the -entire duet between _Almaviva_ and _Figaro_. The work seemed doomed. -Finally _Rosina_ came on the stage and sang the "Una voce poco fa" (A -little voice I heard just now) which had been awaited with impatience -(and which today is still considered an operatic _tour de force_ for -soprano). The youthful charm of Mme. Giorgi-Righetti, the beauty of -her voice, and the favour with which the public regarded her, "won her -a sort of ovation" in this number. A triple round of prolonged -applause raised hopes for the fate of the work. Rossini rose from his -seat at the pianoforte, and bowed. But realizing that the applause was -chiefly meant for the singer, he called to her in a whisper, "Oh, -natura!" (Oh, human nature!) - -"Give her thanks," replied the artiste, "since without her you would -not have had occasion to rise from your seat." - -What seemed a favourable turn of affairs did not, however, last long. -The whistling was resumed louder than ever at the duet between -_Figaro_ and _Rosina_. "All the whistlers of Italy," says -Castil-Blaze, "seemed to have given themselves a rendezvous for this -performance." Finally, a stentorian voice shouted: "This is the -funeral of Don Pollione," words which doubtless had much spice for -Roman ears, since the cries, the hisses, the stamping, continued with -increased vehemence. When the curtain fell on the first act Rossini -turned toward the audience, slightly shrugged his shoulders, and -clapped his hands. The audience, though greatly offended by this show -of contemptuous disregard for its opinion, reserved its revenge for -the second act, not a note of which it allowed to be heard. - -At the conclusion of the outrage, for such it was, Rossini left the -theatre with as much nonchalance as if the row had concerned the work -of another. After they had gotten into their street clothes the -singers hurried to his lodgings to condole with him. He was sound -asleep! - -[Illustration: Photo copyright, 1916, by Victor Georg - -Galli-Curci as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Sembrich as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville"] - -There have been three historic failures of opera. One was the -"Tannhäuser" fiasco, Paris, 1861; another, the failure of "Carmen," -Paris, 1875. The earliest I have just described. - -For the second performance of "Il Barbiere" Rossini replaced the -unlucky air introduced by Garcia with the "Ecco ridente in cielo," as -it now stands. This cavatina he borrowed from an earlier opera of his -own, "Aureliano in Palmira" (Aurelian in Palmyra). It also had figured -in a cantata (not an opera) by Rossini, "Ciro in Babilonia" (Cyrus in -Babylon)--so that measures first sung by a Persian king in the ancient -capital of Nebuchadnezzar, and then by a Roman emperor and his -followers in the city which flourished in an oasis in the Syrian -desert, were found suitable to be intoned by a lovesick Spanish count -of the seventeenth century as a serenade to his lady of Seville. It -surely is amusing to discover in tracing this air to its original -source, that "Ecco ridente in cielo" (Lo, smiles the morning in the -sky) figured in "Aureliano in Palmira" as an address to Isis--"Sposa -del grande Osiride" (Spouse of the great Osiris). - -Equally amusing is the relation of the overture to the opera. The -original is said to have been lost. The present one has nothing to do -with the ever-ready _Figaro_, the coquettish _Rosina_, or the -sentimental _Almaviva_, although there have been writers who have -dilated upon it as reflecting the spirit of the opera and its -characters. It came from the same source as "Lo, smiles the morning in -the sky"--from "Aureliano," and in between had figured as the overture -to "Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra." It is thus found to express in -"Elisabetta" the conflict of love and pride in one of the most haughty -souls of whom history records the memory, and in "Il Barbiere" the -frolics of _Figaro_. But the Italians, prior to Verdi's later period, -showed little concern over such unfitness of things, for it is -recorded that this overture, when played to "Il Barbiere," was much -applauded. - -"Ecco ridente in cielo," it is gravely pointed out by early writers on -Rossini, is the "first example of modulation into the minor key later -so frequently used by this master and his crowd of imitators." Also -that "this ingenious way of avoiding the beaten path was not really a -discovery of Rossini's, but belongs to Majo (an Italian who composed -thirteen operas) and was used by several musicians before Rossini." -What a delightful pother over a modulation that the veriest tyro would -now consider hackneyed! However, "Ecco ridente," adapted in such haste -to "Il Barbiere" after the failure of Garcia's Spanish ditty, was sung -by that artist the evening of the second performance, and loudly -applauded. Moreover, Rossini had eliminated from his score everything -that seemed to him to have been reasonably disapproved of. Then, -pretending to be indisposed, he went to bed in order to avoid -appearing at the pianoforte. The public, while not over-enthusiastic, -received the work well on this second evening; and before long Rossini -was accompanied to his rooms in triumph several evenings in -succession, by the light of a thousand torches in the hands of the -same Romans who had hissed his opera but a little while before. The -work was first given under the title Rossini had insisted on, but soon -changed back to that of the original libretto, "Il Barbiere di -Siviglia." - -It is a singular fact that the reception of "Il Barbiere" in Paris was -much the same as in Rome. The first performance in the Salle Louvois -was coldly received. Newspapers compared Rossini's "Barber" -unfavourably with that of Paisiello. Fortunately the opposition -demanded a revival of Paisiello's work. Paër, musical director at the -Théâtre Italien, not unwilling to spike Rossini's guns, pretended to -yield to a public demand, and brought out the earlier opera. But the -opposite of what had been expected happened. The work was found to be -superannuated. It was voted a bore. It scored a fiasco. Rossini -triumphed. The elder Garcia, the _Almaviva_ of the production in Rome, -played the same rôle in Paris, as he also did in London, and at the -first Italian performance of the work in New York. - -Rossini had the reputation of being indolent in the extreme--when he -had nothing to do. We have seen that when the overture to "Il Barbiere -di Siviglia" was lost (if he really ever composed one), he did not -take the trouble to compose another, but replaced it with an earlier -one. In the music lesson scene in the second act the original score is -said to have contained a trio, presumably for _Rosina_, _Almaviva_, -and _Bartolo_. This is said to have been lost with the overture. As -with the overture, Rossini did not attempt to recompose this number -either. He simply let his prima donna sing anything she wanted to. -"_Rosina_ sings an air, ad libitum, for the occasion," reads the -direction in the libretto. Perhaps it was Giorgi-Righetti who first -selected "La Biondina in gondoletta," which was frequently sung in the -lesson scene by Italian prima donnas. Later there was substituted the -air "Di tanti palpiti" from the opera "Tancredi," which is known as -the "aria dei rizzi," or "rice aria," because Rossini, who was a great -gourmet, composed it while cooking his rice. Pauline Viardot-Garcia -(Garcia's daughter), like her father in the unhappy première of the -opera, sang a Spanish song. This may have been "La Calesera," which -Adelina Patti also sang in Paris about 1867. Patti's other selections -at this time included the laughing song, the so-called "L'Éclat de -Rire" (Burst of Laughter) from Auber's "Manon Lescaut," as highly -esteemed in Paris in years gone by as Massenet's "Manon" now is. In -New York I have heard Patti sing, in this scene, the Arditi waltz, "Il -Bacio" (The Kiss); the bolero of Hélène, from "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" -(The Sicilian Vespers), by Verdi; the "Shadow Dance" from Meyerbeer's -"Dinorah"; and, in concluding the scene, "Home, Sweet Home," which -never failed to bring down the house, although the naïveté with which -she sang it was more affected than affecting. - -Among prima donnas much earlier than Patti there were at least two, -Grisi and Alboni (after whom boxes were named at the Academy of Music) -who adapted a brilliant violin piece, Rode's "Air and Variations," to -their powers of vocalization and sang it in the lesson scene. I -mention this because the habit of singing an air with variations -persisted until Mme. Sembrich's time. She sang those by Proch, a -teacher of many prima donnas, among them Tietjens and Peschka-Leutner, -who sang at the Peace Jubilee in Boston (1872) and was the first to -make famous her teacher's coloratura variations, with "flauto -concertante." Besides these variations, Mme. Sembrich sang Strauss's -"Voce di Primavera" waltz, "Ah! non giunge," from "La Sonnambula," the -bolero from "The Sicilian Vespers" and "O luce di quest'anima," from -"Linda di Chamounix." The scene was charmingly brought to an end by -her seating herself at the pianoforte and singing, to her own -accompaniment, Chopin's "Maiden's Wish." Mme. Melba sang Arditi's -waltz, "Se Saran Rose," Massenet's "Sevillana," and the mad scene from -"Lucia," ending, like Mme. Sembrich, with a song to which she played -her own accompaniment, her choice being Tosti's "Mattinata." Mme. -Galli-Curci is apt to begin with the brilliant vengeance air from "The -Magic Flute," her encores being "L'Éclat de Rire" by Auber and -"Charmante Oiseau" (Pretty Bird) from David's "La Perle du Brésil" -(The Pearl of Brazil). "Home, Sweet Home" and "The Last Rose of -Summer," both sung by her to her own accompaniment, conclude this -interesting "lesson," in which every _Rosina_, although supposedly a -pupil receiving a lesson, must be a most brilliant and accomplished -prima donna. - -The artifices of opera are remarkable. The most incongruous things -happen. Yet because they do not occur in a drawing-room in real life, -but on a stage separated from us by footlights, we lose all sense of -their incongruity. The lesson scene occurs, for example, in an opera -composed by Rossini in 1816. But the compositions now introduced into -that scene not only are not by Rossini but, for the most, are modern -waltz songs and compositions entirely different from the class that a -voice pupil, at the time the opera was composed, could possibly have -sung. But so convincing is the fiction of the stage, so delightfully -lawless its artifices, that these things do not trouble us at all. -Mme. Galli-Curci, however, by her choice of the "Magic Flute" aria -shows that it is entirely possible to select a work that already was a -classic at the time "Il Barbiere" was composed, yet satisfies the -demand of a modern audience for brilliant vocalization in this scene. - -There is evidence that in the early history of "Il Barbiere," -Rossini's "Di tanti palpiti" (Ah! these heartbeats) from his opera -"Tancredi" (Tancred), not only was invariably sung by prima donnas in -the lesson scene, but that it almost became a tradition to use it in -this scene. In September, 1821, but little more than five years after -the work had its première, it was brought out in France (Grand -Théâtre, Lyons) with French text by Castil-Blaze, who also -superintended the publication of the score. - -"I give this score," he says, "as Rossini wrote it. But as several -pieces have been transposed to favour certain Italian opera singers, I -do not consider it useless to point out these transpositions here.... -Air No. 10, written in G, is sung in A." Air No. 10, published by -Castil-Blaze as an integral part of the score of "Il Barbiere," occurs -in the lesson scene. It is "Di tanti palpiti" from "Tancredi." - -[Music: Di tanti palpiti e tante pene] - -Readers familiar with the history of opera, therefore aware that -Alboni was a contralto, will wonder at her having appeared as -_Rosina_, when that rôle is associated with prima donnas whose voices -are extremely high and flexible. But the rôle was written for low -voice. Giorgi-Righetti, the first _Rosina_, was a contralto. As it now -is sung by high sopranos, the music of the rôle is transposed from the -original to higher keys in order to give full scope for brilliant -vocalization on high notes. - -Many liberties have been taken by prima donnas in the way of vocal -flourishes and a general decking out of the score of "Il Barbiere" -with embellishments. The story goes that Patti once sang "Una voce -poco fa," with her own frills added, to Rossini, in Paris. - -"A very pretty song! Whose is it?" is said to have been the composer's -cutting comment. - -There is another anecdote about "Il Barbiere" which brings in -Donizetti, who was asked if he believed that Rossini really had -composed the opera in thirteen days. - -"Why not? He's so lazy," is the reported reply. - -If the story is true, Donizetti was a very forward young man. He was -only nineteen when "Il Barbiere" was produced, and had not yet brought -out his first opera. - -The first performance in America of "The Barber of Seville" was in -English at the Park Theatre, New York, May 3, 1819. (May 17th, cited -by some authorities, was the date of the third performance, and is so -announced in the advertisements.) Thomas Phillips was _Almaviva_ and -Miss Leesugg _Rosina_. "Report speaks in loud terms of the new opera -called 'The Barber of Seville' which is announced for this evening. -The music is said to be very splendid and is expected to be most -effective." This primitive bit of "publicity," remarkable for its day, -appeared in _The Evening Post_, New York, Monday, May 3, 1819. The -second performance took place May 7th. Much music was interpolated. -Phillips, as _Almaviva_, introduced "The Soldier's Bride," "Robin -Adair," "Pomposo, or a Receipt for an Italian Song," and "the -favourite duet with Miss Leesugg, of 'I love thee.'" (One wonders what -was left of Rossini's score.) In 1821 he appeared again with Miss -Holman as _Rosina_. - -That Phillips should have sung _Figaro_, a baritone rôle in "Le Nozze -di Figaro," and _Almaviva_, a tenor part, in "Il Barbiere," may seem -odd. But in the Mozart opera he appeared in Bishop's adaptation, in -which the _Figaro_ rôle is neither too high for a baritone, nor too -low for a tenor. In fact the liberties Bishop took with Mozart's score -are so great (and so outrageous) that Phillips need have hesitated at -nothing. - -On Tuesday, November 22, 1825, Manuel Garcia, the elder, issued the -preliminary announcement of his season of Italian opera at the Park -Theatre, New York. The printers appear to have had a struggle with the -Italian titles of operas and names of Italian composers. For _The -Evening Post_ announces that "The Opera of 'H. Barbiora di Seviglia,' -by Rosina, is now in rehearsal and will be given as soon as possible." -That "soon as possible" was the evening of November 29th, and is -regarded as the date of the first performance in this country of opera -in Italian. - - -SEMIRAMIDE - - Opera in two acts by Rossini, words by Gaetana Rossi, - founded on Voltaire's tragedy, "Sémiramis." Produced, - February 3, 1823, Fenice Theatre, Venice; London, King's - Theatre, July 15, 1824; Paris, July 9, 1860, as Sémiramis; - New York, April 25, 1826; 1855 (with Grisi and Vestivalli); - 1890 (with Patti and Scalchi). - - CHARACTERS - - SEMIRAMIDE, Queen of Babylon _Soprano_ - ARSACES, Commander of the Assyrian Army _Contralto_ - GHOST OF NINUS _Bass_ - OROE, Chief of the Magi _Bass_ - ASSUR, a Prince _Baritone_ - AZEMA, a Princess _Soprano_ - IDRENUS } { _Tenor_ - MITRANUS } of the royal house household { _Baritone_ - - Magi, Guards, Satraps, Slaves. - - _Time_--Antiquity. - - _Place_--Babylon. - -"Semiramide" seems to have had its day. Yet, were a soprano and a -contralto, capable of doing justice to the rôles of _Semiramide_ and -_Arsaces_, to appear in conjunction in the operatic firmament the -opera might be successfully revived, as it was for Patti and Scalchi. -The latter, in her prime when she first appeared here, was one of the -greatest of contraltos. I think that all, who, like myself, had the -good fortune to hear that revival of "Semiramide," still consider the -singing by Patti and Scalchi of the duet, "Giorno d'orrore" (Day of -horror) the finest example of _bel canto_ it has been their privilege -to listen to. For beauty and purity of tone, smoothness of phrasing, -elegance, and synchronization of embellishment it has not been -equalled here since. - -In the first act of the opera is a brilliant aria for _Semiramide_, -"Bel raggio lusinghier" (Bright ray of hope),--the one piece that has -kept the opera in the phonograph repertoire. - -[Music: Bel raggio lusinghier] - -A priests' march and chorus, which leads up to the finale of the first -act, is accompanied not only by orchestra, but also by full military -band on the stage, the first instance of the employment of the latter -in Italian opera. The duet, "Giorno d'orrore," is in the second act. - -[Music] - -For many years the overture to "Semiramide" was a favourite at popular -concerts. It was admired for the broad, hymnlike air in the -introduction, which in the opera becomes an effective chorus, - -[Music] - -and for the graceful, lively melody, which is first announced on the -clarinet. I call it "graceful" and "lively," and so it would be -considered today. But in the opera it accompanies - -[Music] - -the cautious entrance of priests into a darkened temple where a deep -mystery is impending, and, at the time the opera was produced, this -music, which now we would describe as above, was supposed to be -"shivery" and gruesome. In fact the scene was objected to by audiences -of that now seemingly remote period, on the ground that the orchestra -was too prominent and that, in the treatment of the instrumental score -to his operas, Rossini was leaning too heavily toward German models! -But this, remember, was in 1824. - -The story of "Semiramide" can be briefly told. _Semiramide_, Queen of -Babylon, has murdered her husband, _Ninus_, the King. In this deed she -was assisted by _Prince Assur_, who expects to win her hand and the -succession to the throne. - -_Semiramide_, however, is enamoured of a comely youth, _Arsaces_, -victorious commander of her army, and supposedly a Scythian, but in -reality her own son, of which relationship only _Oroe_, the chief -priest of the temple, is aware. _Arsaces_ himself is in love with the -royal Princess _Azema_. - -At a gathering in the temple, the gates of the tomb of _Ninus_ are -opened as if by invisible hands. The shade of _Ninus_ announces that -_Arsaces_ shall be his successor; and summons him to come to the tomb -at midnight there to learn the secret of his assassination. - -Enraged at the prophecy of the succession of _Arsaces_ and knowing of -his coming visit to the tomb of _Ninus_, _Assur_ contrives to enter -it; while _Semiramide_, who now knows that the young warrior is her -son, comes to the tomb to warn him against _Assur_. The three -principal personages in the drama are thus brought together at its -climax. _Assur_ makes what would be a fatal thrust at _Arsaces_. -_Semiramide_ interposes herself between the two men and receives the -death wound. _Arsaces_ then fights and kills _Assur_, ascends the -throne and weds _Azema_. - -According to legend, Semiramis, when a babe, was fed by doves; and, -after reigning for forty-two years, disappeared or was changed into a -dove and flew away. For the first New York performance Garcia -announced the work as "La Figlia dell'Aria, or Semiramide" (The -Daughter of the Air, etc.). - - -GUILLAUME TELL - -WILLIAM TELL - - Opera by Rossini, originally in five acts, cut down to three - by omitting the third act and condensing the fourth and - fifth into one, then rearranged in four; words by "Jouy" - (V.J. Étienne), rearranged by Hippolyte and Armand Marast. - Produced, Grand Opéra, Paris, August 3, 1829, Nourrit being - the original _Arnold_; revived with Duprez, 1837. Italy, - "Guglielmo Tell," at Lucca, September 17, 1831. London, - Drury Lane, 1830, in English; Her Majesty's Theatre, 1839, - in Italian. In New York the title rôle has been sung by Karl - Formes, who made his first American tour in 1857. The - interpreters of _Arnold_ have included the Polish tenor - Mierzwinski at the Academy of Music, and Tamagno. - - CHARACTERS - - WILLIAM TELL _Baritone_ - HEDWIGA, Tell's wife _Soprano_ - JEMMY, Tell's son _Soprano_ - ARNOLD, suitor of Matilda _Tenor_ - MELCTHAL, Arnold's father _Bass_ - GESSLER, governor of Schwitz and Uri _Bass_ - MATILDA, Gessler's daughter _Soprano_ - RUDOLPH, captain in Gessler's guard _Tenor_ - WALTER FURST _Bass_ - LEUTHOLD, a shepherd _Bass_ - RUEDI, a fisherman _Tenor_ - - Peasants, Knights, Pages, Ladies, Hunters, Soldiers, Guards, - and three Bridal Couples. - - _Time_--Thirteenth Century. - - _Place_--Switzerland. - -_Arnold_, a Swiss patriot and son of the venerable Swiss leader, -_Melcthal_, has saved from drowning _Matilda_, daughter of the -Austrian tyrant _Gessler_, whom the Swiss abhor. _Arnold_ and -_Matilda_ have fallen in love with each other. - -Act I. A beautiful May morning has dawned over the Lake of Lucerne, on -which _Tell's_ house is situated. It is the day of the Shepherd -Festival. According to ancient custom the grey-haired _Melcthal_ -blesses the loving couples among them. But his own son, _Arnold_, does -not ask a blessing of the old man. Yet, although he loves _Matilda_, -his heart also belongs to his native land. The festival is interrupted -by the sound of horns. It is the train of _Gessler_, the hated tyrant. -_Leuthold_ rushes in, breathless. In order to protect his daughter -from dishonour, he has been obliged to kill one of _Gessler's_ -soldiers. He is pursued. To cross the lake is his only means of -escape. But who will take him in the face of the storm that is coming -up? _Tell_ wastes no time in thinking. He acts. It is the last -possible moment. _Gessler's_ guards already are seen, _Rudolph_ at -their head. With _Tell's_ aid the fugitive escapes them, but they turn -to the country folk, and seize and carry off old _Melcthal_. - -Act II. In a valley by a lake _Arnold_ and _Matilda_ meet and again -pledge their love. _Arnold_ learns from _Tell_ and _Walter_ that his -father has been slain by _Gessler's_ order. His thoughts turn to -vengeance. The three men bind themselves by oath to free Switzerland. -The cantons gather and swear to throw off the Austrian yoke. - -Act III. The market-place in Altdorf. It is the hundredth anniversary -of Austrian rule in Switzerland. Fittingly to celebrate the day -_Gessler_ has ordered his hat to be placed on top of a pole. The Swiss -are commanded to make obeisance to the hat. _Tell_ comes along holding -his son _Jemmy_ by the hand. He refuses to pay homage to the hat. As -in him is also recognized the man who saved _Leuthold_, he must be -punished. _Gessler_ cynically orders him to shoot an apple from -_Jemmy's_ head. The shot succeeds. Fearless, as before, _Tell_ informs -_Gessler_ that the second arrow was intended for him, had the first -missed its mark. _Tell's_ arrest is ordered, but the armed Swiss, who -have risen against Austria, approach. _Gessler_ falls by _Tell's_ -shot; the fight ends with the complete victory for the Swiss. -_Matilda_ who still loves _Arnold_ finds refuge in his arms. - -"Guillaume Tell" is the only opera by an Italian of which it can be -said that the overture has gained world-wide fame, and justly so, -while the opera itself is so rarely heard that it may almost be said -to have passed out of the repertoire. Occasionally it is revived for -the benefit of a high tenor like Tamagno. In point of fact, however, -it is too good a work to be made the vehicle of a single operatic -star. It is a question if, with a fine ensemble, "Guillaume Tell" -could not be restored to the list of operas regularly given. Or, is it -one of those works more famous than effective; and is that why, at -this point I am reminded of a passage in Whistler's "Ten O'clock"? The -painter is writing of art and of how little its spirit is affected by -the personality of the artist, or even by the character of a whole -people. - -"A whimsical goddess," he writes, "and a capricious, her strong sense -of joy tolerates no dullness, and, live we never so spotlessly, still -may she turn her back upon us. - -"As, from time immemorial, has she done upon the Swiss in their -mountains. - -"What more worthy people! Whose every Alpine gap yawns with tradition, -and is stocked with noble story; yet, the perverse and scornful one -will none of it, and the sons of patriots are left with the clock that -turns the mill, and the sudden cuckoo, with difficulty restrained in -its box!" - -Because we associate Switzerland with tourists, personally conducted -and otherwise, with hotels, guides, and a personnel trained to -welcome, entertain, and speed the departing guest, is it difficult for -us to grasp the heroic strain in "Guillaume Tell"? Surely it is a -picturesque opera; and Switzerland has a heroic past. Probably the -real reasons for the lack of public interest in the opera are the -clumsy libretto and the fact that Rossini, an Italian, was not wholly -in his element in composing a grand opera in the French style, which -"Guillaume Tell" is. It would be difficult to point out just how and -where the style hampered the composer, but there constantly is an -undefined feeling that it did--that the score is not as spontaneous -as, for example, "The Barber of Seville"; and that, although -"Guillaume Tell" is heroic, the "sudden cuckoo, with difficulty -restrained in its box," may at any time pop out and join in the -proceedings. - -The care which Rossini bestowed on this work is seen in the layout and -composition of the overture, which as an instrumental number is as -fine a _tour de force_ as his "Una voce poco fa," "Bel raggio," or -"Giorno d'orrore" are for voice. The slow introduction denotes Alpine -calm. There is a beautiful passage for violoncellos, which has been -quoted in books on instrumentation. In it Rossini may well have harked -back to his student years, when he was a pupil in violoncello playing -at the conservatory in Bologna. The calm is followed by a storm and -this, in turn, by a "Ranz des Vaches." The final section consists of a -trumpet call, followed by a fast movement, which can be played so as -to leave the hearer quite breathless. It is supposed to represent the -call to arms and the uprising of the Swiss against their Austrian -oppressors, whose yoke they threw off. - -The most striking musical number in the first act of the opera, is -_Arnold's_ "Ah, Matilda." - -[Music: Ah! Matilda, io t'amo, t'adoro [Transcriber's Note: original -ends with incorrect 'e amoe']] - -A tenor with powerful high tones in his voice always can render this -with great effect. In fact it is so effective that its coming so early -in the work is a fault of construction which in my opinion has been a -factor in the non-success of the opera as a whole. Even a tenor like -Mierzwinski, "a natural singer of short-lived celebrity," with -remarkable high notes, in this number could rouse to a high pitch of -enthusiasm an audience that remained comparatively calm the rest of -the evening. - -The climax of the second act is the trio between _Arnold_, _Tell_, and -_Walter_, followed by the assembly of the cantons and the taking of -the oath to conquer or die ("La gloria infiammi--i nostri petti"--May -glory our hearts with courage exalt). - -Its most effective passage begins as follows: - -[Music] - -Another striking musical number is _Arnold's_ solo in the last act, at -sight of his ruined home, "O muto asil" (O, silent abode). - -The opera ends with a hymn to liberty, "I boschi, i monti" (Through -forests wild, o'er mountain peaks). - -At the initial performance of "Guillaume Tell" in Paris, there was no -indication that the opera was not destined to remain for many years in -the repertoire. It was given fifty-six times. Then, because of the -great length of the opera, only the second act was performed in -connection with some other work, until the sensational success of -Duprez, in 1837, led to a revival. - -"Guillaume Tell," given in full, would last nearly five hours. The -poor quality of the original libretto by "Jouy" led to the revision by -Bis, but even after that there had to be cuts. - -"Ah, Maestro," exclaimed an enthusiastic admirer of Rossini to that -master, "I heard your 'William Tell' at the Opera last night!" - -"What?" asked Rossini. "The whole of it?" - -Clever; but by his question Rossini unconsciously put his finger on -the weak spot of the opera he intended to be his masterpiece. Be it -never so well given, it is long-winded. - - - - -Vincenzo Bellini - -(1802-1835) - - -Bellini, born in Catania, Sicily, November 3, 1802, is the composer of -"La Sonnambula," one of the most popular works of the old type of -Italian opera still found in the repertoire. "I Puritani," another -work by him, was given for the opening of two New York opera houses, -Palmo's in 1844, and Hammerstein's Manhattan, in 1903. But it -maintains itself only precariously. "Norma" is given still more -rarely, although it contains "Casta diva," one of the most famous -solos for soprano in the entire Italian repertory. - -This composer died at the village of Puteaux, France, September 23, -1835, soon after the highly successful production of "I Puritani" in -Paris, and while he was working on a commission to compose two operas -for the San Carlo Theatre, Naples, which had come to him through the -success of "Puritani." He was only thirty-two. - -It is not unlikely that had this composer, with his facile and -graceful gift for melody, lived longer he would have developed, as -Verdi did, a maturer and broader style, and especially have paid more -attention to the instrumentation of his operas, a detail which he -sadly neglected. - - -LA SONNAMBULA - -THE SLEEPWALKER - - Opera in three acts by Bellini, words by Felice Romani. - Produced, Carcano Theatre, Milan, March 6, 1831. London, - King's Theatre, July 28, 1831; in English, Drury Lane, May - 1, 1833. New York, Park Theatre, November 13, 1835, in - English, with Brough, Richings, and Mr. and Mrs. Wood; in - Italian, Palmo's Opera House, May 11, 1844; frequently sung - by Gerster and by Adelina Patti at the Academy of Music, and - at the Metropolitan Opera House by Sembrich; at the - Manhattan Opera House by Tetrazzini. - - CHARACTERS - - COUNT RODOLPHO, Lord of the castle _Bass_ - TERESA, proprietress of the mill _Soprano_ - AMINA, her foster daughter _Soprano_ - LISA, proprietress of the village inn _Soprano_ - ELVINO, a young farmer _Tenor_ - ALESSIO, a villager _Bass_ - - Notary, Villagers, etc. - - _Time_--Early Nineteenth Century. - - _Place_--A Village in Switzerland. - -Act I. The village green. On one side an inn. In the background a -water mill. In the distance mountains. As the curtain rises the -villagers are making merry, for they are about to celebrate a nuptial -contract between _Amina_, an orphan brought up as the foster-child of -_Teresa_, the mistress of the village mill, and _Elvino_, a young -landowner of the neighbourhood. These preparations, however, fill with -jealousy the heart of _Lisa_, the proprietress of the inn. For she is -in love with _Elvino_. Nor do _Alessio's_ ill-timed attentions please -her. _Amina_ enters under the care of _Teresa_, and returns her thanks -to her neighbours for their good wishes. She has two attractive solos. -These are "Come per me sereno" (How, for me brightly shining) - -[Music: Come per me sereno] - -and "Sovra il sen la man mi posa" (With this heart its joy -revealing). - -[Music: Sovra il sen la man mi posa,] - -Both are replete with grace and charm. - -When the village _Notary_ and _Elvino_ appear the contract is signed -and attested, and _Elvino_ places a ring on _Amina's_ finger. Duet: -"Prendi, l'anel ti dono" (Take now the ring I give you), a composition -in long-flowing expressive measures. - -Then the village is startled by the crack of whips and the rumble of -wheels. A handsome stranger in officer's fatigue uniform appears. He -desires to have his horses watered and fed, before he proceeds to the -castle. The road is bad, night is approaching. Counselled by the -villagers, and urged by _Lisa_, the officer consents to remain the -night at the inn. - -The villagers know it not at this time, but the officer is _Rodolpho_, -the lord of the castle. He looks about him and recalls the scenes of -his youth: "Vi ravviso" (As I view). - -[Music: Vi ravviso a luoghi ameni,] - -He then gallantly addresses himself to _Amina_ in the charming air, -"Tu non sai con quei begli occhi" (You know not, maid, the light your -eyes within). - -[Music: Tu non sai con quei begli occhi,] - -_Elvino_ is piqued at the stranger's attentions to his bride, but -_Teresa_ warns all present to retire, for the village is said to be -haunted by a phantom. The stranger treats the superstition lightly, -and, ushered in by _Lisa_, retires to the village inn. All then wend -their several ways homeward. _Elvino_, however, finds time to upbraid -_Amina_ for seemingly having found much pleasure in the stranger's -gallant speeches, but before they part there are mutual concessions -and forgiveness. - -Act II. _Rodolpho's_ sleeping apartment at the inn. He enters, -conducted by _Lisa_. She is coquettish, he quite willing to meet her -halfway in taking liberties with her. He learns from her that his -identity as the lord of the castle has now been discovered by the -villagers, and that they will shortly come to the inn to offer their -congratulations. - -He is annoyed, but quite willing that _Lisa's_ attractions shall atone -therefor. At that moment, however, there is a noise without, and -_Lisa_ escapes into an adjoining room. In her haste she drops her -handkerchief, which _Rodolpho_ picks up and hangs over the bedpost. A -few moments later he is amazed to see _Amina_, all in white, raise his -window and enter his room. He realizes almost immediately that she is -walking in her sleep, and that it is her somnambulism which has given -rise to the superstition of the village phantom. In her sleep _Amina_ -speaks of her approaching marriage, of _Elvino's_ jealousy, of their -quarrel and reconciliation. _Rodolpho_, not wishing to embarrass her -by his presence should she suddenly awaken, extinguishes the candles, -steps out of the window and closes it lightly after him. Still asleep -_Amina_ sinks down upon the bed. - -The villagers enter to greet _Rodolpho_. As the room is darkened, and, -to their amusement, they see the figure of a woman on the bed, they -are about to withdraw discreetly, when _Lisa_, who knows what has -happened, enters with a light, brings in _Elvino_, and points out -_Amina_ to him. The light, the sounds, awaken her. Her natural -confusion at the situation in which she finds herself is mistaken by -_Elvino_ for evidence of guilt. He casts her off. The others, save -_Teresa_, share his suspicions. _Teresa_, in a simple, natural way, -takes the handkerchief hanging over the bedpost and places it around -_Amina's_ neck, and when the poor, grief-stricken girl swoons, as -_Elvino_ turns away from her, her foster-mother catches her in her -arms. - -In this scene, indeed in this act, the most striking musical number is -the duet near the end. It is feelingly composed, and, as befits the -situation of a girl mistakenly, yet none the less cruelly, accused by -her lover, is almost wholly devoid of vocal embellishment. It begins -with _Amina's_ protestations of innocence: "D'un pensiero, e d'un -accento" (Not in thought's remotest region). - -When _Elvino's_ voice joins hers there is no comfort for her in his -words. He is still haunted by dark suspicions. - -[Music] - -An unusual and beautiful effect is the closing of the duet with an -expressive phrase for tenor alone: "Questo pianto del mio cor" (With -what grief my heart is torn). - -[Music] - -Act III, Scene 1. A shady valley between the village and the castle. -The villagers are proceeding to the castle to beg _Rodolpho_ to -intercede with _Elvino_ for _Amina_. _Elvino_ meets _Amina_. Still -enraged at what he considers her perfidy, he snatches from her finger -the ring he gave her. _Amina_ still loves him. She expresses her -feelings in the air: "Ah! perchè non posso odiarti" (Ah! Why is it I -cannot hate him [Transcriber's Note: should be 'hate you']). - -Scene 2. The village, near _Teresa's_ mill. Water runs through the -race and the wheel turns rapidly. A slender wooden bridge, spanning -the wheel, gives access from some dormer lights in the millroof to an -old stone flight of steps leading down to the foreground. - -_Lisa_ has been making hay while the sun shines. She has induced -_Elvino_ to promise to marry her. Preparations for the wedding are on -foot. The villagers have assembled. _Rodolpho_ endeavours to dissuade -_Elvino_ from the step he is about to take. He explains that _Amina_ -is a somnambulist. But _Elvino_ has never heard of somnambulism. He -remains utterly incredulous. - -_Teresa_ begs the villagers to make less disturbance, as poor _Amina_ -is asleep in the mill. The girl's foster-mother learns of _Elvino's_ -intention of marrying _Lisa_. Straightway she takes from her bosom -_Lisa's_ handkerchief, which she found hanging over _Rodolpho's_ -bedpost. _Lisa_ is confused. _Elvino_ feels that she, too, has -betrayed him. _Rodolpho_ again urges upon _Elvino_ that _Amina_ never -was false to him--that she is the innocent victim of sleepwalking. - -"Who can prove it?" _Elvino_ asks in agonized tones. - -"Who? She herself!--See there!" exclaims _Rodolpho_. - -For at that very moment _Amina_, in her nightdress, lamp in hand, -emerges from a window in the mill roof. She passes along, still -asleep, to the lightly built bridge spanning the mill wheel, which is -still turning round quickly. Now she sets foot on the narrow, insecure -bridge. The villagers fall on their knees in prayer that she may cross -safely. _Rodolpho_ stands among them, head uncovered. As _Amina_ -crosses the bridge a rotting plank breaks under her footsteps. The -lamp falls from her hand into the torrent beneath. She, however, -reaches the other side, and gains the stone steps, which she descends. -Still walking in her sleep, she advances to where stand the villagers -and _Rodolpho_. She kneels and prays for _Elvino_. Then rising, she -speaks of the ring he has taken from her, and draws from her bosom the -flowers given to her by him on the previous day. "Ah! non credea -mirarti sì presto estinto, o fiore" (Scarcely could I believe it that -so soon thou would'st wither, O blossoms). - -[Music: Ah! non credea mirarti sì presto estinto, o fiore,] - -Gently _Elvino_ replaces the ring upon her finger, and kneels before -her. "Viva Amina!" cry the villagers. She awakens. Instead of sorrow, -she sees joy all around her, and _Elvino_, with arms outstretched, -waiting to beg her forgiveness and lead her to the altar. - - "Ah! non giunge uman pensiero - Al contento ond'io son piena" - (Mingle not an earthly sorrow - With the rapture now o'er me stealing). - -[Music: - - Ah! non giunge uman pensiero - Al contento ond'io son piena] - -It ends with this brilliant passage: - -[Music] - -The "Ah! non giunge" is one of the show-pieces of Italian opera. Nor -is its brilliance hard and glittering. It is the brightness of a -tender soul rejoicing at being enabled to cast off sorrow. Indeed, -there is about the entire opera a sweetness and a gentle charm, that -go far to account for its having endured so long in the repertoire, -out of which so many works far more ambitious have been dropped. - -Opera-goers of the old Academy of Music days will recall the bell-like -tones of Etelka Gerster's voice in "Ah! non giunge"; nor will they -ever forget the bird-like, spontaneous singing in this rôle of Adelina -Patti, gifted with a voice and an art such as those who had the -privilege of hearing her in her prime have not heard since, nor are -likely to hear again. Admirers of Mme. Sembrich's art also are justly -numerous, and it is fortunate for habitués of the Metropolitan that -she was so long in the company singing at that house. She was a -charming _Amina_. Tetrazzini was brilliant in "La Sonnambula." -_Elvino_ is a stick of a rôle for tenor. _Rodolpho_ has the redeeming -grace of chivalry. _Amina_ is gentle, charming, appealing. - -The story of "Sonnambula" is simple and thoroughly intelligible, which -cannot be said for all opera plots. The mainspring of the action is -the interesting psycho-physical manifestation of somnambulism. This is -effectively worked out. The crossing of the bridge in the last scene -is a tense moment in the simple story. It calls for an interesting -stage "property"--the plank that breaks without precipitating _Amina_, -who sometimes may have more embonpoint than voice, into the mill-race. -All these elements contribute to the success of "La Sonnambula," -which, produced in 1831, still is a good evening's entertainment. - -_Amina_ was one of Jenny Lind's favourite rôles. There is a beautiful -portrait of her in the character by Eichens. It shows her, in the last -act, kneeling and singing "Ah! non credea," and is somewhat of a -rarity. A copy of it is in the print department of the New York Public -Library. It is far more interesting than her better known portraits. - - -NORMA - - Opera in two acts, by Bellini; words by Felice Romani, based - on an old French story. Produced, December 26, 1831, Milan. - King's Theatre, June 20, 1833, in Italian; Drury Lane, June - 24, 1837, in English. Paris, Théâtre des Italiens, 1833. - New York, February 25, 1841, at the Park Theatre; October 2, - 1854, for the opening of the Academy of Music, with Grisi, - Mario, and Susini; December 19, 1891, Metropolitan Opera - House, with Lilli Lehmann as _Norma_. - - CHARACTERS - - POLLIONE, Roman Pro-consul in Gaul _Tenor_ - OROVESO, Archdruid, father of Norma _Bass_ - NORMA, High-priestess of the druidical - temple of Esus _Soprano_ - ADALGISA, a virgin of the temple _Contralto_ - CLOTILDA, Norma's confidante _Soprano_ - FLAVIUS, a centurion _Tenor_ - - Priests, Officers of the Temple, Gallic Warriors, - Priestesses and Virgins of the Temple, and Two Children of - Norma and Pollione. - - _Time_--Roman Occupation, about 50 B.C. - - _Place_--Gaul. - -Act I. Sacred grove of the Druids. The high priest _Oroveso_ comes -with the Druids to the sacred grove to beg of the gods to rouse the -people to war and aid them to accomplish the destruction of the -Romans. Scarcely have they gone than the Roman Pro-consul _Pollione_ -appears and confides to his Centurion, _Flavius_, that he no longer -loves _Norma_, although she has broken her vows of chastity for him -and has borne him two sons. He has seen _Adalgisa_ and loves her. - -At the sound of the sacred instrument of bronze that calls the Druids -to the temple, the Romans disappear. The priests and priestesses -approach the altar. _Norma_, the high-priestess, daughter of -_Oroveso_, ascends the steps of the altar. No one suspects her -intimacy with the Roman enemy. But she loves the faithless man and -therefore seeks to avert the danger that threatens him, should Gaul -rise against the Romans, by prophesying that Rome will fall through -its own weakness, and declaring that it is not yet the will of the -gods that Gaul shall go to war. She also prays to the "chaste goddess" -for the return of the Roman leader, who has left her. Another -priestess is kneeling in deep prayer. This is _Adalgisa_, who also -loves _Pollione_. - -The scene changes and shows _Norma's_ dwelling. The priestess is -steeped in deep sadness, for she knows that _Pollione_ plans to desert -her and their offspring, although she is not yet aware of her rival's -identity. _Adalgisa_ comes to her to unburden her heart to her -superior. She confesses that to her faith she has become untrue -through love--and love for a Roman. _Norma_, thinking of her own -unfaithfulness to her vows, is about to free _Adalgisa_ from hers, -when _Pollione_ appears. Now she learns who the beloved Roman of -_Adalgisa_ is. But the latter turns from _Pollione_. She loves _Norma_ -too well to go away with the betrayer of the high-priestess. - -Act II. _Norma_, filled with despair, is beside the cradle of her -little ones. An impulse to kill them comes over her. But motherhood -triumphs over unrequited love. She will renounce her lover. _Adalgisa_ -shall become the happy spouse of _Pollione_, but shall promise to take -the place of mother to her children. _Adalgisa_, however, will not -hear of treachery to _Norma_. She goes to _Pollione_, but only to -remind him of his duty. - -The scene changes again to a wooded region of the temple in which the -warriors of Gaul have gathered. _Norma_ awaits the result of -_Adalgisa's_ plea to _Pollione_; then learns that she has failed and -has come back to the grove to pass her life as a priestess. _Norma's_ -wrath is now beyond control. Three times she strikes the brazen -shield; and, when the warriors have gathered, they joyfully hear her -message: War against the Romans! But with their deep war song now -mingles the sound of tumult from the temple. A Roman has broken into -the sacred edifice. He has been captured. It is _Pollione_, who she -knows has sought to carry off _Adalgisa_. The penalty for his -intrusion is death. But _Norma_, moved by love to pity, and still -hoping to save her recreant lover, submits a new victim to the -enraged Gauls--a perjured virgin of the priesthood. - -"Speak, then, and name her!" they cry. - -To their amazement she utters her own name, then confesses all to her -father, and to his care confides her children. - -A pyre has been erected. She mounts it, but not alone. _Pollione_, his -love rekindled at the spectacle of her greatness of soul, joins her. -In the flames he, too, will atone for their offences before God. - - * * * * * - -The ambition of every dramatic soprano of old was to don the robes of -a priestess, bind her brow with the mystic vervain, take in her hand a -golden sickle, and appear in the sacred grove of the Druids, there to -invoke the chaste goddess of the moon in the famous "Casta diva." -Prima donnas of a later period found further inspiration thereto in -the beautiful portrait of Grisi as _Norma_. Perhaps the last to yield -to the temptation was Lilli Lehmann, who, not content with having -demonstrated her greatness as _Brünnhilde_ and _Isolde_, desired in -1891, to demonstrate that she was also a great _Norma_, a -demonstration which did not cause her audience to become unduly -demonstrative. The fact is, it would be difficult to revive -successfully "Norma" as a whole, although there is not the slightest -doubt that "Casta diva, che in argenti" (Chaste goddess, may thy -silver beam), is one of the most exquisite gems of Italian song. - -[Music: Casta Diva,] - -It is followed immediately by "Ah! bello a me ritorna" (Beloved, -return unto me), which, being an allegro, contrasts effectively with -the long, flowing measures of "Casta diva." - -Before this in the opera there has occurred another familiar number, -the opening march and chorus of the Druids, "Dell'aura tua profetica" -(With thy prophetic oracle). - -[Music] - -There is a fine trio for _Norma_, _Adalgisa_, and _Pollione_, at the -end of the first act, "Oh! di qual sei tu vittima" (O, how his art -deceived you). - -[Music: Oh! di qual sei tu vittima] - -In the scene between _Norma_ and _Adalgisa_, in the second act, is the -duet, "Mira, O, Norma!" (Hear me, Norma). - -[Music: Mira, o, Norma! a' tuoi ginocchi,] - -Among the melodious passages in the opera, this is second in beauty -only to "Casta diva." - - -I PURITANI - -THE PURITANS - - Opera in three acts, by Bellini; words by Count Pepoli. - Produced, Paris, Théâtre des Italiens, January 25, 1835, - with Grisi as _Elvira_, Rubini as _Arturo_, Tamburini as - _Riccardo_ and Lablache as _Giorgio_. London, King's - Theatre, May 21, 1835, in Italian (I Puritani ed i - Cavalieri). New York, February 3, 1844; Academy of Music, - 1883, with Gerster; Manhattan Opera House, December 3, 1906, - with Bonci as _Arturo_, and Pinkert as _Elvira_; and in 1909 - with Tetrazzini as _Elvira_. - - CHARACTERS - - LORD GAUTIER WALTON of the Puritans _Bass_ - SIR GEORGE WALTON, his brother, - of the Puritans _Bass_ - LORD ARTHUR TALBOT, of the Cavaliers _Tenor_ - SIR RICHARD FORTH, of the Puritans _Baritone_ - SIR BENNO ROBERTSON, of the Puritans _Tenor_ - HENRIETTA, of France, widow of Charles I. _Soprano_ - ELVIRA, daughter of Lord Walton _Soprano_ - - Puritans, Soldiers of the Commonwealth, Men-at-Arms, Women, - Pages, etc. - - _Time_--During the Wars between Cromwell and the Stuarts. - - _Place_--Near Plymouth, England. - -Act I is laid in a fortress near Plymouth, held by _Lord Walton_ for -Cromwell. _Lord Walton's_ daughter, _Elvira_, is in love with _Lord -Arthur Talbot_, a cavalier and adherent of the Stuarts, but her father -has promised her hand to _Sir Richard Forth_, like himself a follower -of Cromwell. He relents, however, and _Elvira_ is bidden by her uncle, -_Sir George Walton_, to prepare for her nuptials with _Arthur_, for -whom a safe-conduct to the fortress has been provided. - -_Queen Henrietta_, widow of Charles I., is a prisoner in the fortress. -On discovering that she is under sentence of death, _Arthur_, loyal to -the Stuarts, enables her to escape by draping her in _Elvira's_ bridal -veil and conducting her past the guards, as if she were the bride. -There is one critical moment. They are met by _Sir Richard_, who had -hoped to marry _Elvira_. The men draw their swords, but a -disarrangement of the veil shows _Sir Richard_ that the woman he -supposes to be _Lord Arthur's_ bride is not _Elvira_. He permits them -to pass. When the escape is discovered, _Elvira_, believing herself -deserted, loses her reason. Those who had gathered for the nuptials, -now, in a stirring chorus, invoke maledictions upon _Arthur's_ head. - -Act II plays in another part of the fortress. It concerns itself -chiefly with the exhibition of _Elvira's_ madness. But it has also the -famous martial duet, "Suoni la tromba" (Sound the trumpet), in which -_Sir George_ and _Sir Richard_ announce their readiness to meet -_Arthur_ in battle and strive to avenge _Elvira's_ sad plight. - -Act III is laid in a grove near the fortress. _Arthur_, although -proscribed, seeks out _Elvira_. Her joy at seeing him again -temporarily lifts the clouds from her mind, but renewed evidence of -her disturbed mental state alarms her lover. He hears men, whom he -knows to be in pursuit of him, approaching, and is aware that capture -means death, but he will not leave _Elvira_. He is apprehended and is -about to be executed when a messenger arrives with news of the defeat -of the Stuarts and a pardon for all prisoners. _Arthur_ is freed. The -sudden shock of joy restores _Elvira's_ reason. The lovers are united. - - * * * * * - -As an opera "I Puritani" lacks the naïveté of "La Sonnambula," nor has -it any one number of the serene beauty of the "Casta diva" in "Norma." -Occasionally, however, it is revived for a tenor like Bonci, whose -elegance of phrasing finds exceptional opportunity in the rôle of -_Arthur_; or for some renowned prima donna of the brilliant coloratura -type, for whom _Elvira_ is a grateful part. - -The principal musical numbers are, in act first, _Sir Richard Forth's_ -cavatina, "Ah! per sempre io ti perdei" (Ah! forever have I lost -thee); _Arthur's_ romance, "A te o cara" (To thee, beloved); - -[Music: A te o cara, amor talora,] - -and _Elvira's_ sparkling polacca, "Son vergin vezzosa" (I am a -blithesome maiden). - -[Music: Son vergin vezzosa, in vesto di sposa,] - -In the second act we have _Elvira's_ mad scene, "Qui la voce sua -soave" (It was here in sweetest accents). - -[Music: Qui la voce sua soave] - -For _Elvira_ there also is in this act the beautiful air, "Vien, -diletto" (Come, dearest love). - -The act closes with the duet for baritone and bass, between _Sir -Richard_ and _Sir George_, "Suoni la tromba," a fine proclamation of -martial ardour, which "in sonorousness, majesty and dramatic -intensity," as Mr. Upton writes, "hardly has an equal in Italian -opera." - -[Music: - - Suoni la tromba, e intrepido - Io pugnerò da forte;] - -"A una fonte afflitto e solo" (Sad and lonely by a fountain), a -beautiful number for _Elvira_ occurs in the third act. - -There also is in this act the impassioned "Star teco ognor" (Still to -abide), for _Arthur_, with _Elvira's_ reply, "Caro, non ho parola" -(All words, dear love are wanting). - -It was in the duet at the end of Act II, on the occasion of the -opera's revival for Gerster, that I heard break and go to pieces the -voice of Antonio Galassi, the great baritone of the heyday of Italian -opera at the Academy of Music. "Suoni la tromba!"--He could sound it -no more. The career of a great artist was at an end. - -"I Puritani" usually is given in Italian, several of the characters -having Italian equivalents for English names--_Arturo_, _Riccardo_, -_Giorgio_, _Enrichetta_, etc. - -The first performance in New York of "I Puritani," which opened -Palmo's Opera House, was preceded by a "public rehearsal," which was -attended by "a large audience composed of the Boards of Aldermen, -editors, police officers, and musical people," etc. Signora Borghese -and Signor Antognini "received vehement plaudits." Antognini, however, -does not appear in the advertised cast of the opera. Signora Borghese -was _Elvira_, Signor Perozzi _Arturo_, and Signor Valtellino -_Giorgio_. The performance took place Friday, February 2, 1844. - - - - -Gaetano Donizetti - -(1797-1848) - - -The composer of "Lucia di Lammermoor," an opera produced in 1835, but -seemingly with a long lease of life yet ahead of it, was born at -Bergamo, November 29, 1797. He composed nearly seventy operas. - -His first real success, "Anna Bolena," was brought out in Rome, in -1830. Even before that, however, thirty-one operas by him had been -performed. Of his many works, the comparatively few still heard -nowadays are, in the order of their production, "L'Elisire d'Amore," -"Lucrezia Borgia," "Lucia di Lammermoor," "La Figlia del Reggimento," -"La Favorita," "Linda di Chamounix," and "Don Pasquale." A clever -little one-act comedy opera, "Il Campanello di Notte" (The Night Bell) -was revived in New York in the spring of 1917. - -With a gift for melody as facile as Bellini's, Donizetti is more -dramatic, his harmonization less monotonous, and his orchestration -more careful. This is shown by his choice of instruments for special -effects, like the harp solo preceding the appearance of _Lucia_, the -flute obligato in the mad scene in the opera of which she is the -heroine, and the bassoons introducing "Una furtiva lagrima," in -"L'Elisire d'Amore." He is a distinct factor in the evolution of -Italian opera from Rossini to and including Verdi, from whom, in turn, -the living Italian opera composers of note derive. - -Donizetti's father was a weaver, who wished his son to become a -lawyer. But he finally was permitted to enter the conservatory at -Bergamo, where, among other teachers, he had J.H. Mayr in harmony. He -studied further, on Mayr's recommendation, with Padre Martini. - -As his father wanted him to teach so that he would be self-supporting, -he enlisted in the army, and was ordered to Venice. There in his -leisure moments he composed his first opera, "Enrico di Borgogna," -produced, Venice, 1818. In 1845 he was stricken with paralysis. He -died at Bergamo, April 8, 1848. - - -L'ELISIRE D'AMORE - -THE ELIXIR OF LOVE - - Opera, in two acts. Music by Donizetti; words by Felice - Romani. Produced, Milan, May 12, 1832; London, December 10, - 1836; New Orleans, March 30, 1842; New York, Academy of - Music, 1883-84, with Gerster; Metropolitan Opera House, - 1904, with Sembrich, Caruso, Scotti, and Rossi. - - CHARACTERS - - NEMORINO, a young peasant _Tenor_ - ADINA, wealthy, and owner of a farm _Soprano_ - BELCORE, a sergeant _Baritone_ - DULCAMARA, a quack doctor _Bass_ - GIANNETTA, a peasant girl _Soprano_ - - _Time_--Nineteenth Century. - - _Place_--A small Italian village. - -Act I. Beauty and riches have made the young peasant woman, _Adina_, -exacting. She laughs at the embarrassed courting of the true-hearted -peasant lad, _Nemorino_; she laughs at the story of "Tristan and -Isolde," and rejoices that there are now no more elixirs to bring the -merry heart of woman into slavish dependence on love. Yet she does not -seem so much indifferent to _Nemorino_ as piqued over his lack of -courage to come to the point. - -_Sergeant Belcore_ arrives in the village at the head of a troop of -soldiers. He seeks to win _Adina's_ heart by storm. The villagers -tease _Nemorino_ about his soldier rival. The young peasant is almost -driven to despair by their raillery. Enter the peripatetic quack, _Dr. -Dulcamara_. For a ducat _Nemorino_ eagerly buys of him a flask of -cheap Bordeaux, which the quack assures him is an elixir of love, and -that, within twenty-four hours, it will enable him to win _Adina_. -_Nemorino_ empties the flask at a draught. A certain effect shows -itself at once. Under the influence of the Bordeaux he falls into -extravagant mirth, sings, dances--and grieves no more about _Adina_, -who becomes piqued and, to vex _Nemorino_, engages herself to marry -_Sergeant Belcore_. An order comes to the troops to move. The -_Sergeant_ presses for an immediate marriage. To this _Adina_, still -under the influence of pique, consents. _Nemorino_ seeks to console -himself by louder singing and livelier dancing. - -Act II. The village is assembled on _Adina's_ farm to celebrate her -marriage with the _Sergeant_. But it is noticeable that she keeps -putting off signing the marriage contract. _Nemorino_ awaits the -effect of the elixir. To make sure of it, he buys from _Dulcamara_ a -second bottle. Not having the money to pay for it, and _Belcore_ being -on the lookout for recruits, _Nemorino_ enlists and, with the money he -receives, pays _Dulcamara_. The fresh dose of the supposed elixir -makes _Nemorino_ livelier than ever. He pictures to himself the glory -of a soldier's career. He also finds himself greatly admired by the -village girls, for enlisting. _Adina_ also realizes that he has joined -the army out of devotion to her, and indicates that she favours him -rather than _Belcore_. But he now has the exalted pleasure of treating -her with indifference, so that she goes away very sad. He attributes -his luck to the elixir. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Hempel (Adina) and Caruso (Nemorino) in "L'Elisir d'Amore"] - -The villagers have learned that his rich uncle is dead and has left a -will making him his heir. But because this news has not yet been -communicated to him, he thinks their attentions due to the -love-philtre, and believes the more firmly in its efficacy. In any -event, _Adina_ has perceived, upon the _Sergeant's_ pressing her to -sign the marriage contract, that she really prefers _Nemorino_. Like a -shrewd little woman, she takes matters into her own hands, and buys -back from _Sergeant Belcore_ her lover's enlistment paper. Having thus -set him free, she behaves so coyly that _Nemorino_ threatens to seek -death in battle, whereupon she faints right into his arms. The -_Sergeant_ bears this unlucky turn of affairs with the bravery of a -soldier, while _Dulcamara's_ fame becomes such that he can sell to the -villagers his entire stock of Bordeaux for love elixir at a price that -makes him rich. - -The elixir of life of this "Elixir of Love" is the romance for tenor -in the second act, "Una furtiva lagrima" (A furtive tear), which -_Nemorino_ sings as _Adina_ sadly leaves him, when she thinks that he -has become indifferent to her. It was because of Caruso's admirable -rendition of this beautiful romance that the opera was revived at the -Metropolitan Opera House, New York, in 1904. Even the instrumental -introduction to it, in which the bassoons carry the air, is -captivating. - -[Music: - - Una furtiva lagrima - Negl'occhi suoi spuntò;] - -Act I is laid on _Adina's_ farm. _Adina_ has a florid air, "Chiedi -all'aura lusinghiera" (Go, demand of yon light zephyr), with which she -turns aside from _Nemorino's_ attentions. - -[Music: Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera,] - -The scene then changes to a square in the village. Here _Dr. -Dulcamara_ makes his entry, singing his buffo air, "Udite, udite, o -rustici" (Give ear, now, ye rustic ones). There are two attractive -duets in this scene. One is for _Nemorino_ and _Dr. Dulcamara_, -"Obbligato! obbligato!" (Thank you kindly! thank you kindly!). - -[Music] - -The other, for _Adina_ and _Nemorino_, is "Esulti pur la barbara per -poco alle mie pene" (Tho' now th' exulting cruel one can thus deride -my bitter pain). - -Act II, which shows a room in _Adina's_ farmhouse, opens with a bright -chorus of rejoicing at her approaching wedding. _Dulcamara_ brings out -a piece of music, which he says is the latest thing from Venice, a -barcarole for two voices. He and _Adina_ sing it; a dainty duet, "Io -son ricco, e tu sei bella" (I have riches, thou hast beauty) which -figures in all the old potpourris of the opera. - -[Music: - - Io son ricco, e tu sei bella; - Io ducati, e vezzi hai tu] - -There is a scene for _Nemorino_, _Giannetta_, and the peasants, in -which _Nemorino_ praises the elixir, "Dell'elisir mirabile" (Of this -most potent elixir). Later comes another duet for _Adina_ and -_Dulcamara_, "Quanto amore!" (What affection!) in which _Adina_ -expresses her realization of the death of _Nemorino's_ affection for -her. - -"The score of 'Elisire d'Amore,'" says the _Dictionnaire des Opéras_, -"is one of the most pleasing that the Bergamo composer has written in -the comic vein. It abounds in charming motifs and graceful melodies. -In the first act the duet for tenor and bass between the young -villager and _Dr. Dulcamara_ is a little masterpiece of animation, the -accompaniment of which is as interesting as the vocal parts. The most -striking passages of the second act are the chorus, 'Cantiamo, facciam -brindisi'; the barcarole for two voices, 'Io son ricco, e tu sei -bella'; the quartet, 'Dell'elisir mirabile'; the duet between _Adina_ -and _Dulcamara_, 'Quanto amore'; and finally the lovely and -smoothly-flowing romance of Nemorino, 'Una furtiva lagrima,' which is -one of the most remarkable inspirations of Donizetti." - - -LUCREZIA BORGIA - - Opera, in a prologue and two acts, by Donizetti; words by - Felice Romani, after Victor Hugo. Produced, La Scala, Milan, - 1834; Théâtre des Italiens, Paris, 1840; London, 1839; in - English, 1843; New York, Astor Place Opera House, 1847; with - Grisi, September 5, 1854; with Tietjens and Brignoli, 1876; - Academy of Music, October 30, 1882; Metropolitan Opera - House, with Caruso, 1902. - - CHARACTERS - - ALFONSO D'ESTE, Duke of Ferrara _Baritone_ - LUCREZIA BORGIA _Soprano_ - MAFFIO ORSINI _Contralto_ - GENNARO } Young noblemen in { _Tenor_ - LIVEROTTO } the service of the { _Tenor_ - VITELLOZZO } Venetian Republic { _Bass_ - GAZELLO _Bass_ - RUSTIGHELLO, in the service of DON ALFONSO _Tenor_ - GUBETTA } { _Bass_ - ASTOLFO } in the service of Lucrezia { _Tenor_ - - Gentlemen-at-arms, officers, and nobles of the Venetian - Republic; same, attached to court of Alfonso; - ladies-in-waiting, Capuchin monks, etc. - - _Time_--Early sixteenth century. - - _Place_--Venice and Ferrara. - -When an opera, without actually maintaining itself in the repertory, -nevertheless is an object of occasional revival, it is sure to contain -striking passages that seem to justify the experiment of bringing it -forward again. "Lucrezia Borgia" has a male character, _Maffio -Orsini_, sung by a contralto. _Orsini's_ _ballata_, "Il segreto per -esser felici" (O the secret of bliss in perfection), is a famous -contralto air which Ernestine Schumann-Heink, with her voice of -extraordinary range, has made well known all over the United States. - -I quote the lines from the Ditson libretto: - - O the secret of bliss in perfection, - Is never to raise an objection, - Whether winter hang tears on the bushes, - Or the summer-kiss deck them with blushes. - Drink, and pity the fool who on sorrow, - Ever wastes the pale shade of a thought. - Never hope for one jot from the morrow, - Save a new day of joy by it brought! - -The music has all the dash and abandon that the words suggest. -_Orsini_ sings it at a banquet in Ferrara. Suddenly from a -neighbouring room comes the sound of monks' voices chanting a dirge. A -door opens. The penitents, still chanting, enter. The lights grow dim -and one by one go out. The central doors swing back. _Lucrezia Borgia_ -appears in the entrance. The banqueters are her enemies. She has -poisoned the wine they have just quaffed to _Orsini's_ song. They are -doomed. The dirge is for them. But--what she did not know--among them -is _Gennaro_, her illegitimate son, whom she dearly loves. She offers -him an antidote, but in vain. He will not save himself, while his -friends die. She then discloses the fact that she is his mother. But, -even then, instead of accepting her proffered aid to save his life, he -repulses her. _Lucrezia_ herself then drains the poisoned cup from -which he has quaffed, and sinks, dying, upon his prostrate form. Such -is the sombre setting for the _Brindisi_--the drinking song--"the -secret of bliss in perfection"--when heard in the opera. - -[Music: - - Il segreto per esser felici - Sò per prova e l'insegno agli amici] - -The tenor rôle of _Gennaro_ also has tempted to occasional revivals of -the work. Mario introduced for this character as a substitute for a -scene in the second act, a recitative and air by Lillo, "Com'è soave -quest'ora di silenzio" (Oh! how delightful this pleasing hour of -silence), a change which is sometimes followed. - -Prologue. Terrace of the Grimani palace, Venice. Festival by night. -_Gennaro_, weary, separates from his friends and falls asleep on a -stone bench of the terrace. Here he is discovered by _Lucrezia_, who -is masked. She regards him with deep affection. "Com'è bello quale -incanto" (Holy beauty, child of nature) she sings. - -[Music: Com'è bello quale incanto] - -_Gennaro_ awakens. In answer to her questions he tells her that he has -been brought up by a poor fisherman, "Di pescatore ignobile" (Deem'd -of a fisher's lowly race). - -[Music: Di pescatore ignobile] - -The youth's friends come upon the scene. _Maffio Orsini_ tears the -mask from _Lucrezia's_ face, and in a dramatic concerted number he and -his friends remind _Lucrezia_, for the benefit of _Gennaro_, who had -been struck by her beauty and was unaware that she was the hated -_Borgia_, how each has lost a brother or other relative through her. -"Maffio Orsini, signora, son'io cui svenaste il dormente fratello" -(Madam, I am Orsini. My brother you did poison, the while he was -sleeping). And so each one in order. - -[Music: Maffio Orsini, signora, son'io] - -_Gennaro_ turns from her in loathing. She faints. - -Act I. A public place in Ferrara. On one side a palace. _Alfonso_, -who, incidentally, is _Lucrezia's_ fourth husband, she having done -away with his predecessors by poison, or other murderous means, is -jealous of _Gennaro_. Like the youth himself, he is ignorant that -_Lucrezia_ is his mother, and is persuaded that he is her paramour. He -has two solos. The first is "Vieni, la mia vendetta" (Haste then to -glut a vengeance); the second, "Qualunque sia l'evento" (On this I -stake my fortune). - -[Music: Qualunque sia l'evento che può recar fortuna,] - -_Gennaro_ and his friends come into the Plaza. They see the letters -BORGIA under the escutcheon of the palace. _Gennaro_, to show his -detestation of _Lucrezia's_ crimes, rushes up the steps and with his -sword hacks away the first letter of the name, leaving only ORGIA. At -the command of the _Duke_, he is arrested. - -_Lucrezia_, not knowing who has committed the outrage, demands of her -husband that its perpetrator be put to death. _Alfonso_, with cynical -readiness, consents. _Gennaro_ is led in. _Lucrezia_ now pleads for -his life. The _Duke_ is firm, even though _Lucrezia_ quite casually -reminds him that he is her fourth husband and may share the fate of -the other three. ("Aye, though the fourth of my husbands, you lord -it.") His comment is the command that _Gennaro_ shall meet death by -quaffing a goblet of poisoned wine handed to him by _Lucrezia_ -herself. There is here a strong trio for _Lucrezia_, _Gennaro_, and -_Alfonso_, as _Alfonso_ pours wine for himself and _Lucrezia_ from a -silver flagon, while he empties the poisoned contents of a gold -vessel, "the Borgia wine," into _Gennaro's_ cup. But _Lucrezia_ has -the antidote; and, the _Duke_ having left her with _Gennaro_, in order -that she shall have the pleasure of watching the death of the man of -whom he suspects her to be enamored, she gives it to _Gennaro_, and -bids him flee from _Ferrara_. - -Act II is laid in the Negroni palace, and is the scene of the banquet, -which has already been described. - -When "Lucrezia Borgia" was produced in Paris, in 1840, Victor Hugo, -author of the drama upon which the libretto is based, objected. The -French have long gone much further than we do in protecting the -property rights of authors and artists in their creations. The -producers of the opera were obliged to have the libretto rewritten. -The title was changed to "La Rinegata" and the scene was transferred -to Turkey. - - -LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR - - Opera in three acts, by Donizetti; words by Salvatore - Cammarano, after Scott's novel, "The Bride of Lammermoor." - Produced, San Carlo Theatre, Naples, September 26, 1835, - with Persiani as _Lucia_, and Duprez as _Edgardo_, the rôles - having been especially composed for these artists. London, - Her Majesty's Theatre, April 5, 1838, and, in English, at - the Princess Theatre, January 19, 1848. Paris, 1839. New - York in English, at the Park Theatre, November 17, 1845; - and, in Italian, November 14, 1849. Among celebrated - _Lucias_ heard in this country, are Patti, Gerster, Melba, - Sembrich, Tetrazzini and Galli-Curci (Chicago, November 21, - 1916); among _Edgardos_, Italo Campanini and Caruso. - - CHARACTERS - - LORD HENRY ASHTON, of Lammermoor _Baritone_ - LUCY, his sister _Soprano_ - EDGAR, Master of Ravenswood _Tenor_ - LORD ARTHUR BUCKLAW _Tenor_ - RAYMOND, chaplain at Lammermoor _Bass_ - ALICE, companion to Lucy _Mezzo-Soprano_ - NORMAN, follower of Lord Ashton _Tenor_ - - Relatives, Retainers, and Friends of the House of - Lammermoor. - - _Time_--About 1700. - - _Place_--Scotland. - - (Note. The characters in Italian are Enrico, Lucia, Edgardo, - Arturo, Raimondo, Alisa, and Normanno.) - -"Lucia di Lammermoor" is generally held to be Donizetti's finest work. -"In it the vein of melody--now sparkling, now sentimental, now -tragic--which embodies Donizetti's best claim on originality and -immortality, finds, perhaps, freest and broadest development." These -words are quoted from Baker's _Biographical Dictionary of Musicians_, -a volume that rarely pauses to comment on an individual work. "Lucia" -is indeed its composer's masterpiece; and a masterpiece of Italian -opera in the older definition of that term. Its melodies are many and -beautiful, and even when ornate in passages, are basically expressive -of the part of the tragic story to which they relate. Moreover, the -sextet at the end of the second act when _Edgar of Ravenswood_ appears -upon the scene just as Lucy with trembling hand has affixed her -signature to the contract of marriage between _Lord Bucklaw_ and -herself, ranks as one of the finest pieces of dramatic music in all -opera, and as a concerted number is rivalled, in Italian opera, by -only one other composition, the quartet in "Rigoletto." - -The sextet in "Lucia" rises to the full height of the dramatic -situation that has been created. It does so because the music -reflects the part each character plays in the action. It has -"physiognomy"--individual aspect and phraseology for each participant -in the drama; but, withal, an interdependence, which blends the -voices, as they are swept along, into one grand, powerful, and -dramatic climax. - -Another number, the mad scene in the third act, gives coloratura -sopranos an opportunity for technical display equal to that afforded -by the lesson scene in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia"; and, unlike the -latter, the music does not consist of interpolated selections, but of -a complete _scena_ with effective recitatives and brilliant solos, -that belong to the score. - -In the story of "Lucia," the heroine's brother, _Lord Henry Ashton_ of -Lammermoor, in order to retrieve his fallen fortunes, and extricate -himself from a perilous situation in which his participation in -political movements directed against the King has placed him, arranges -a marriage between his sister and _Lord Arthur Bucklaw_. _Lucy_ -herself knows nothing of this arrangement. _Henry_, on the other hand, -is equally ignorant of an attachment which exists between _Lucy_ and -_Edgar of Ravenswood_, between whose family and his own there long has -been a deadly feud. When he discovers it, he uses the most underhand -methods to break it off. - -_Edgar of Ravenswood_ is the last of his race. While he is absent on a -mission to France in the interests of Scotland, he despatches many -letters to _Lucy_. These letters are intercepted by _Henry_ who also -arranges that a forged paper, tending to prove the infidelity of -_Edgar_, is shown to _Lucy_. Urged by the necessities of her brother, -and believing herself deserted by her lover, _Lucy_ unwillingly -consents to become the bride of _Lord Arthur Bucklaw_. But, just as -she has signed the marriage contract, _Edgar of Ravenswood_ suddenly -appears. He has returned from France, and now comes to claim the hand -of _Lucy_--but too late. Convinced that _Lucy_ has betrayed his love, -he casts the ring she gave him at her feet and invokes imprecations -upon her and his ancient enemies, the House of Lammermoor. - -At night he is sought out in his gloomy castle by _Henry_. They agree -upon a duel to be fought near the tombs of the Ravenswoods, on the -ensuing morning, when _Edgar_, weary of life, and the last of a doomed -race, intends to throw himself on his adversary's weapon. But the -burden of woe has proved too much for _Lucy_ to bear. At night, after -retiring, she goes out of her mind, slays her husband, and dies of her -sorrows. - -_Edgar_ awaits his enemy in the churchyard of Ravenswood. But _Ashton_ -has fled. Instead, _Edgar's_ solitude is interrupted by a train of -mourners coming from the Castle of Lammermoor. Upon hearing of -_Lucy's_ death he plunges his dagger into his breast, and sinks down -lifeless in the churchyard where repose the remains of his ancestors. - -On the stage this story is developed so that shortly after the curtain -rises on Act I, showing a grove near the Castle of Lammermoor, _Henry_ -learns from _Norman_ the latter's suspicions that _Lucy_ and _Edgar_ -have been meeting secretly in the park of Lammermoor. _Norman_ has -despatched his huntsmen to discover, if they can, whether or not his -suspicions are correct. "Cruda funesta smania" (each nerve with fury -trembleth) sings _Henry_. - -Returning, the hunters relate, in a brisk chorus, that - - Long they wander'd o'er the mountain, - Search'd each cleft around the fountain, - -finally to learn by questioning a falconer that the intruder upon the -domain of Lammermoor was none other than _Edgar of Ravenswood_. Rage -and the spirit of revenge are expressed in _Henry's_ vigorous aria, -"La pietade in suo favore" (From my breast I mercy banish). - -[Music: La pietade in suo favore] - -The scene changes to the park near a fountain. What now occurs is -usually as follows. The curtain rises, and shows the scene--evening -and moonlight. There is played a beautiful harp solo, an unusual and -charming effect in opera. Having prepared the mood for the scene which -is to follow, it is promptly encored and played all over again. Then -_Lucy_ appears with her companion, _Alice_. To her she relates the -legend of the fountain, "Regnava nel silenzio" (Silence o'er all was -reigning). - -[Music: Regnava nel silenzio] - -This number gives an idea of the characteristics of _Lucy's_ principal -solos. It is brilliant in passages, yet its melody is dreamy and -reflective. Largely due to this combination of traits is the -popularity of "Lucia di Lammermoor," in which, although there is -comparatively little downright cheerful music, it is relieved of gloom -by the technical brilliancy for which it often calls;--just as, in -fact, _Lucy's_ solo following the legend of the fountain, dispels the -dark forebodings it inspired. This second solo for _Lucy_, one of the -best-known operatic numbers for soprano, is the "Quando rapito" (Then -swift as thought). - -[Music: Quando rapito in estasi del più cocente ardore] - -Another beautiful and familiar number is the duet between _Lucy_ and -_Edgar_, who has come to tell her of his impending departure for -France and to bid her farewell: "Verranno a te [Transcriber's Note: -original has incorrect "lá"] sull'aure" (My sighs shall on the balmy -breeze). - -[Music: Verranno a te sull'aure i miei sospiri ardenti] - -Act II. Apartment in the Castle of Lammermoor. "Il pallor funesto, -orrendo" (See these cheeks so pale and haggard). - -[Music: Il pallor funesto, orrendo] - -In this sad air _Lucy_ protests to her brother against the marriage -which he has arranged for her with _Bucklaw_. _Henry_ then shows her -the forged letter, which leads her to believe that she has been -betrayed by her lover. "Soffriva nel pianto, languia nel dolore" (My -sufferings and sorrow I've borne without repining) begins the duet -between _Lucy_ and _Henry_ with an especially effective cadenza--a -dramatic number. - -Though believing herself deserted by _Edgar_, _Lucy_ still holds back -from the thought of marriage with another, and yields only to save her -brother from a traitor's death, and even then not until she has sought -counsel from _Raymond_, the chaplain of Lammermoor, who adds his -persuasions to _Henry's_. - -The scene of the signing of the dower opens with a quick, bright -chorus of guests who have assembled for the ceremony. - -[Music] - -There is an interchange of courtesies between _Henry_ and _Arthur_; -and then _Lucy_ enters. The sadness of her mien is explained by her -brother to _Arthur_ on the ground that she is still mourning the death -of her mother. Desperate, yet reluctant, _Lucy_ signs the contracts of -dower; and at that moment, one of the most dramatic in opera, _Edgar_, -a sombre figure, but labouring under evident though suppressed -tension, appears at the head of the broad flight of steps in the -background, and slowly comes forward. - -The orchestra preludes briefly: - -[Music] - -[Illustration: Photo by Mishkin - -Caruso as Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor"] - -[Illustration: Photo copyright, 1916, by Victor Georg - -Galli-Curci as Lucia in "Lucia di Lammermoor"] - -The greatest ensemble number in Italian opera, the sextet, has begun. -_Edgardo_: "Chi mi frena in tal momento? Chi troncò dell'ire il -corso?" (What restrains me at this moment? Why my sword do I not -straightway draw?): - -[Music: Chi mi frena in tal momento?] - -Because he sees _Lucy_ "as a rose 'mid tempest bending": - -[Music] - -Even _Henry_ is moved to exclaim, "To my own blood I am a traitor": - -[Music] - -The chorus swells the volume of sound, but _Lucy's_ voice soars -despairingly above all: - -[Music] - -_Lucy_ and _Edgar_--they are the victims of _Henry's_ treachery, as -will soon transpire. - -Act III. The first scene is laid in _Edgar's_ gloomy castle, whither -at night comes _Henry_ to challenge him to a duel at morn. - -The scene then changes back to Lammermoor, where the wedding guests -still are feasting. Their revels are halted by _Raymond_, who, -horror-stricken, announces to them that _Lucy_ has gone mad and slain -her husband; and soon the unhappy bride herself appears. Then follows -the mad scene, one of the greatest "show numbers" for soprano, with -the further merit that it fits perfectly into the scheme of the work. - -This is an elaborate _scena_. In an earlier part of the opera -Donizetti made effective use of a harp. In the mad scene he introduces -a flute obligato, which plays around the voice, joins with it, touches -it with sharp, brilliant accentuations, and glides with it up and down -the scale in mellifluous companionship. - -In a brief article in _The Musician_, Thomas Tapper writes that "to -perform the mad scene has been an inspiration and incentive to -attainment for many singers. Its demands are severe. There must be the -'mood,' that is, the characterization of the mental state of _Lucy_ -must be evidenced both in vocal tone and physical movement. The aria -requires an unusual degree of facility. Its transparency demands -adherence to pitch that must not vary a shade from the truth (note the -passage where voice and flute are in unison). The coloratura soprano -is here afforded unusual opportunity to display fluency and -flexibility of voice, to portray the character that is 'as Ophelia -was'; the dramatic intensity is paramount and must be sustained at a -lofty eminence. In brief, the aria is truly a _tour de force_." - -One of the best things in the above is its insistence on the "mood," -the emotional situation that underlies the music. However brilliant -the singing of the prima donna, something in her performance must yet -convey to her hearers a sense of the sad fortunes of _Lucy of -Lammermoor_. - -To the accomplishment of this Donizetti lends a helping hand by -introducing, as a mournful reminiscence, the theme of the first act -love duet for _Lucy_ and _Edgar_ ("My sighs shall on the balmy -breeze"); also by the dreaminess of the two melodies, "Alfin son tua" -(Thine am I ever); - -[Music] - -and "Spargi d'amaro pianto" (Shed thou a tear of sorrow). - -[Music] - -Preceding the first of these, and also between the two, are dramatic -recitatives, in which the flute, possibly introduced merely for -musical effect, yet, with its clear, limpid notes, by no means -untypical of _Lucy's_ pure and spiritual personality, is prominent in -the instrumental part of the score. Upon a brilliant phrase of -vocalization, like "Yet shall we meet, dear Edgar, before the altar," - -[Music: Qui ricovriamo, Edgardo, a piè dell'ara] - -it follows with this phrase: - -[Music] - -which simple, even commonplace, as it seems, nevertheless, in place, -has the desired effect of ingenuousness and charm; while the passage -beginning, - -[Music] - -has decided dramatic significance. - -I also give an example of a passage in which flute and voice combine -in a manner that requires impeccable intonation on the singer's part. - -[Music: a noi sarà, la vita etc.] - -The _scena_ ends with a _stretto_, a concluding passage taken in more -rapid tempo in order to enhance the effect. - -It is always interesting to me to hear this scene, when well rendered, -and to note the simple means employed by the composer to produce the -impression it makes. - -The flute is an instrument that long has been the butt of humorists. -"What is worse than one flute?"--"Two flutes." This is a standard -musical joke. The kind suggestion also has been volunteered that _Lucy -of Lammermoor_ went out of her head, not because she was deserted by -_Edgar_, but because she was accompanied by a flute. - -Nevertheless the flute is precisely the instrument required as an -_obligato_ to this scene. Italian composers, as a rule, pay little -attention to instrumentation. Yet it is a fact that, when they make a -special choice of an instrument in order to produce a desired effect, -their selection usually proves a happy inspiration. The flute and the -harp in "Lucia" are instances; the bassoons in the introduction to -"Una furtiva lagrima" (A furtive tear) in "L'Elisire d'Amore" furnish -another; and the wood-wind in the "Semiramide" duet, "Giorno d'orrore" -(Dark day of horror) may also be mentioned. - -There is a point in the mad scene where it is easy to modulate into -the key of G major. Donizetti has written in that key the aria "Perchè -non ho del vento" (Oh, for an eagle's pinions) which sopranos -sometimes introduce during the scene, since it was composed for that -purpose. - -Probably the air is unfamiliar to opera-goers in this country. Lionel -Mapleson, the librarian of the Metropolitan Opera House, never has -heard it sung there, and was interested to know where I had found it. -As it is a florid, brilliant piece of music, and well suited to the -scene, I quote a line of it, as a possible hint to some prima donna. - -[Music: Perchè non ho del vento l'infaticabil vole] - -During the finale of the opera, laid near the churchyard where lie the -bones of _Edgar's_ ancestors, _Lucy's_ lover holds the stage. His -final aria, "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali" (Tho' from earth thou'st -flown before me), is a passage of mournful beauty, which has few -equals in Italian opera. - -[Music: Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali, o bell'alma innamorata] - -Of the singers of former days who have been heard here as _Lucia_, -Adelina Patti interpreted the rôle with the least effort and the -greatest brilliancy. Hers was a pure flexible soprano, which seemed to -flow forth spontaneously from an inexhaustible reservoir of song. -Unfortunately she was heard here by many long after her day had -passed. She had too many "farewells." But those who heard her at her -best, always will remember her as the possessor of a naturally -beautiful voice, exquisitely trained. - -Italo Campanini, a tenor who was in his prime when Mapleson was -impresario at the Academy of Music, was one of the great _Edgardos_. -He was an elder brother of Cleofante Campanini, orchestral conductor -and director of the Chicago Opera Company. - -As for Caruso, rarely have I witnessed such excitement as followed the -singing of the sextet the evening of his first appearance as _Edgardo_ -at the Metropolitan Opera House. It is a fact that the policeman in -the lobby, thinking a riot of some sort had broken loose in the -auditorium, grabbed his night stick and pushed through the swinging -doors--only to find an audience vociferously demanding an encore. Even -granted that some of the excitement was "worked up," it was, -nevertheless, a remarkable demonstration. - -The rôle of _Enrico_, though, of course, of less importance than -_Edgardo_, can be made very effective by a baritone of the first rank. -Such, for example, was Antonio Galassi, who, like Campanini, was one -of Mapleson's singers. He was a tall, well-put-up man; and when, in -the sextet, at the words "È mio rosa inaridita" [Transcriber's Note: -should be 'È mio sangue, l'ho tradita'] (Of thine own blood thou'rt -the betrayer), he came forward in one stride, and projected his voice -into the proceedings, it seemed as if, no matter what happened to the -others, he could take the entire affair on his broad shoulders and -carry it through to success. - - -LA FIGLIA DEL REGGIMENTO - -LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT--THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT. - - Opera in two acts, by Donizetti; words by Bayard and Jules - H. Vernoy (Marquis St. Georges). Produced, Opéra Comique, - Paris, as "La Fille du Régiment," February 11, 1840; Milan, - October 30, 1840; London, in English, at the Surrey Theatre, - December 21, 1847; the same season in Italian, with Jenny - Lind. First American performance, New Orleans, March 7, - 1843. _Marie_ was a favorite rôle with Jenny Lind, Sontag, - Lucca, and Patti, all of whom appeared in it in New York; - also Sembrich, with Charles Gilibert as _Sulpice_, - Metropolitan Opera House, 1902-03; and Hempel, with Scotti - as _Sulpice_, same house, December 17, 1917. Tetrazzini, - McCormack, and Gilibert, Manhattan Opera House, 1909. An - opera with a slight hold on the repertoire, but liable to - occasional revival for coloratura sopranos. - - CHARACTERS - - MARIE, the "Daughter of the Regiment," - but really the daughter of the Marquise - de Birkenfeld _Soprano_ - SULPICE, Sergeant of French Grenadiers _Bass_ - TONIO, a Tyrolese peasant in love with Marie; - afterwards an officer of Grenadiers _Tenor_ - MARQUISE DE BIRKENFELD _Soprano_ - HORTENSIO, steward to the Marquise _Bass_ - CORPORAL _Bass_ - - Soldiers, peasants, friends of the Marquise, etc. - - _Time_--1815. - - _Place_--Mountains of the Swiss Tyrol. - -Act I. A passage in the Tyrolese mountains. On the right is a cottage, -on the left the first houses of a village. Heights in the background. -Tyrolese peasants are grouped on rising ground, as if on the lookout. -Their wives and daughters kneel before a shrine to the Virgin. The -_Marquise de Birkenfeld_ is seated on a rustic bench. Beside her -stands _Hortensio_, her steward. They have been caught in the eddy of -the war. An engagement is in progress not far away. The Tyrolese -chorus sings valiantly, the women pray; the French are victorious. And -why not? Is not the unbeaten Twenty-first Regiment of Grenadiers among -them? - -One of them is coming now, _Sergeant Sulpice_, an old grumbler. After -him comes a pretty girl in uniform, a vivandière--_Marie_, the -daughter of the regiment, found on the field of battle when she was a -mere child, and brought up by a whole regiment of fathers, the spoiled -darling of the grenadiers. She sings "Apparvi alla luce, sul campo -guerrier" - -[Music: - - Apparvi alla luce, - Sul campo guerrier,] - -(I first saw the light in the camp of my brave grenadiers), which ends -in a brilliant cadenza. - -[Music] - -This indicates why the revival of this opera attends the appearance -upon the horizon of a coloratura star. It is typical of the -requirements of the character. - -The _Sergeant_ puts her through a drill. Then they have a "Rataplan" -duet, which may be called a repetition of _Marie's_ solo with an -accompaniment of rataplans. The drum is the music that is sweetest to -her; and, indeed, _Marie's_ manipulation of the drumsticks is a -feature of the rôle. - -But for a few days _Marie_ has not been as cheerful as formerly. She -has been seen with a young man. _Sulpice_ asks her about him. She -tells the _Sergeant_ that this young man saved her life by preventing -her from falling over a precipice. That, however, establishes no claim -upon her. The regiment has decreed that only a grenadier shall have -her for wife. - -There is a commotion. Some soldiers drag in _Tonio_, whom they charge -as a spy. They have discovered him sneaking about the camp. His would -have been short shrift had not _Marie_ pleaded for him, for he is none -other than her rescuer. As he wants to remain near _Marie_, he decides -to become a soldier. The grenadiers celebrate his decision by drinking -to his health and calling upon _Marie_ to sing the "Song of the -Regiment," a dapper tune, which is about the best-known number of the -score: "Ciascun lo dice, ciascun lo sà! È il Reggimento, ch'egual non -ha." - - (All men confess it, - Go where we will! - Our gallant Regiment - Is welcome still.) - -[Music: - - Ciascun lo dice, - Ciascun lo sà! - È il Reggimento - Ch'egual non ha.] - -There is then a love scene for _Marie_ and _Tonio_, followed by a duet -for them, "A voti così ardente" [Transcriber's Note: should be 'A -confession sì ardente'] (No longer can I doubt it). - -Afterwards the grenadiers sing a "Rataplan" chorus. - -[Music: Rataplan, rataplan, rataplan,] - -But, alas, the _Sergeant_ has been informed that the _Marquise de -Birkenfeld_ desires safe conduct. Birkenfeld! That is the very name to -which were addressed certain papers found on _Marie_ when she was -discovered as a baby on the battlefield. The _Marquise_ examines the -papers, declares that _Marie_ is her niece and henceforth must live -with her in the castle. Poor _Tonio_ has become a grenadier in vain. -The regiment cannot help him. It can only lament with him that their -daughter is lost to them. She herself is none too happy. She sings a -sad farewell, "Convien partir! o miei compagni d'arme" (Farewell, a -long farewell, my dear companions). - -Act II. In the castle of the _Marquise_. _Marie_ is learning to dance -the minuet and to sing classical airs. But in the midst of her singing -she and _Sulpice_, whom the _Marquise_ also has brought to the castle, -break out into the "Song of the Regiment" and stirring "rataplans." -Their liveliness, however, is only temporary, for poor _Marie_ is to -wed, at her aunt's command, a scion of the ducal house of Krakenthorp. -The march of the grenadiers is heard. They come in, led by _Tonio_, -who has been made a captain for valour. _Sulpice_ can now see no -reason why _Marie_ should not marry him instead of the nobleman -selected by her aunt. And, indeed, _Marie_ and _Tonio_ decide to -elope. But the _Marquise_ confesses to the _Sergeant_, in order to win -his aid in influencing _Marie_, that the girl really is her daughter, -born out of wedlock. _Sulpice_ informs _Marie_, who now feels that she -cannot go against her mother's wishes. - -In the end, however, it is _Marie_ herself who saves the situation. -The guests have assembled for the signing of the wedding contract, -when _Marie_, before them all, sings fondly of her childhood with the -regiment, and of her life as a vivandière, "Quando il destino, in -mezzo a strage ria" (When I was left, by all abandoned). - -The society people are scandalized. But the _Marquise_ is so touched -that she leads _Tonio_ to _Marie_ and places the girl's hand in that -of her lover. The opera ends with an ensemble, "Salute to France!" - - -LA FAVORITA - -THE FAVORITE - - Opera in four acts, by Donizetti; words by Alphonse Royer - and Gustave Waez [Transcriber's Note: more commonly 'Vaëz'], - adapted from the drama "Le Comte de Comminges," of - Baculard-Darnaud. Produced at the Grand Opéra, Paris, - December 2, 1840. London, in English, 1843; in Italian, - 1847. New York, Park Theatre, October 4, 1848. - - CHARACTERS - - ALFONSO XI., King of Castile _Baritone_ - FERDINAND, a young novice of the Monastery - of St. James of Compostella; afterwards - an officer _Tenor_ - DON GASPAR, the King's Minister _Tenor_ - BALTHAZAR, Superior of the Monastery - of St. James _Bass_ - LEONORA DI GUSMANN _Soprano_ - INEZ, her confidante _Soprano_ - - Courtiers, guards, monks, ladies of the court, attendants. - - _Time_--About 1340. - - _Place_--Castile, Spain. - -_Leonora_, with Campanini as _Fernando_, was, for a number of seasons, -one of the principal rôles of Annie Louise Cary at the Academy of -Music. Mantelli as _Leonora_, Cremonini as _Fernando_, Ancona as _King -Alfonso_, and Plançon as _Balthazar_, appeared, 1895-96, at the -Metropolitan, where "La Favorita" [Transcriber's Note: this is the -Italian title] was heard again in 1905; but the work never became a -fixture, as it had been at the Academy of Music. The fact is that -since then American audiences, the most spoiled in the world, have -established an operatic convention as irrevocable as the laws of the -Medes and Persians. In opera the hero must be a tenor, the heroine a -true soprano. "La Favorita" fulfils the first requisite, but not the -second. The heroine is a rôle for contralto, or mezzo-soprano. Yet the -opera contains some of Donizetti's finest music, both solo and -ensemble. Pity 'tis not heard more frequently. - -There is in "La Favorita" a strong, dramatic scene at the end of the -third act. As if to work up to this as gradually as possible, the -opera opens quietly. - -_Ferdinand_, a novice in the Monastery of St. James of Compostella, -has chanced to see and has fallen in love with _Leonora_, the mistress -of _Alfonso_, King of Castile. He neither knows her name, nor is he -aware of her equivocal position. So deeply conceived is his passion, -it causes him to renounce his novitiate and seek out its object. - -Act I. The interior of the monastery. _Ferdinand_ makes known to -_Balthazar_, the Superior, that he desires to renounce his novitiate, -because he has fallen in love, and cannot banish the woman of his -affections from his thoughts. He describes her to the priest as "Una -vergine, un angel di Dio" (A virgin, an angel of God). - -[Music: Una vergine, un angel di Dio] - -Although this air bears no resemblance to "Celeste Aïda" its flowing -measures and melodious beauty, combined with its position so early in -the opera, recall the Verdi aria--and prepare for it the same -fate--which is to be marred by the disturbance caused by late-comers -and to remain unheard by those who come still later. - -_Balthazar's_ questions elicit from _Ferdinand_ that his only -knowledge of the woman, whose praises he has sung, is of her youth and -beauty. Name and station are unknown to him, although he believes her -to be of high rank. _Balthazar_, who had hoped that in time -_Ferdinand_ would become his successor as superior of the monastery, -releases him reluctantly from his obligations, and prophesies, as the -novice turns away from the peaceful shades of the cloister, that he -will retrace his steps, disappointed and heart-broken, to seek refuge -once more within the monastery's walls. - -The scene changes to an idyllic prospect on the island of St. Leon, -where _Leonora_ lives in splendour. She, in her turn, is deeply -enamoured of _Ferdinand_, yet is convinced that, because of her -relations with _King Alfonso_, he will despise her should he discover -who she is. But so great is her love for him, that, without letting -him learn her name or station, she has arranged that he shall be -brought, blindfolded, to the island. - -"Bei raggi lucenti" (Bright sunbeams, lightly dancing), a graceful -solo and chorus for _Inez_, _Leonora's_ confidante, and her woman -companions, opens the scene. - -It is followed by "Dolce zeffiro, il seconda" (Gentle zephyr, lightly -wafted), which is sung by the chorus of women, as the boat conveying -_Ferdinand_ touches the island and he, after disembarking, has the -bandage withdrawn from over his eyes, and looks in amazement upon the -charming surroundings amid which he stands. He questions _Inez_ -regarding the name and station of her who holds gentle sway over the -island, but in vain. _Inez_ and her companions retire, as _Leonora_ -enters. She interrupts _Ferdinand's_ delight at seeing her by telling -him--but without giving her reasons--that their love can lead only to -sorrow; that they must part. He protests vehemently. She, however, -cannot be moved from her determination that he shall not be sacrificed -to their love, and hands him a parchment, which she tells him will -lead him to a career of honour. - -He still protests. But at that moment _Inez_, entering hurriedly, -announces the approach of the _King_. _Leonora_ bids _Ferdinand_ -farewell and goes hastily to meet _Alfonso_. _Ferdinand_ now believes -that the woman with whom he has fallen in love is of rank so high that -she cannot stoop to wed him, yet expresses her love for him by seeking -to advance him. This is confirmed when, on reading the scroll she has -given him, he discovers that it gratifies his highest ambition and -confers upon him a commission in the army. The act closes with his -martial air, "Sì, che un tuo solo accento" (Oh, fame, thy voice -inspiring). - -He sees the path to glory open up before him, and with it the hope -that some great deed may yet make him worthy to claim the hand of the -woman he loves. - -Act II. Gardens of the Palace of the Alcazar. _Ferdinand's_ dream of -glory has come true. We learn, through a brief colloquy between -_Alfonso_ and _Don Gaspar_, his minister, that the young officer has -led the Spanish army to victory against the Moors. Indeed, this very -palace of the Alcazar has been wrested from the enemy by the young -hero. - -_Gaspar_ having retired, the _King_, who has no knowledge of the love -between _Ferdinand_ and _Leonora_, sings of his own passion for her in -the expressive air, "Vien, Leonora, a' piedi tuoi" (Come, Leonora, -before the kneeling). - -The object of his love enters, accompanied by her confidante. The -_King_ has prepared a fête in celebration of _Ferdinand's_ victory, -but _Leonora_, while rejoicing in the honours destined to be his, is -filled with foreboding because of the illicit relations between -herself and the _King_, when she truly loves another. Moreover, these -fears find justification in the return of _Gaspar_ with a letter in -_Ferdinand's_ handwriting, and intended for _Leonora_, but which the -minister has intercepted in the hand of _Inez_. The _King's_ angry -questions regarding the identity of the writer are interrupted by -confused sounds from without. There enters _Balthazar_, preceded by a -priest bearing a scroll with the Papal seal. He faces the _King_ and -_Leonora_ while the lords and ladies, who have gathered for the fête, -look on in apprehension, though not wholly without knowledge of what -is impending. - -For there is at the court of _Alfonso_ a strong party that condemns -the _King's_ illicit passion for _Leonora_, so openly shown. This -party has appealed to the Papal throne against the _King_. The Pope -has sent a Bull to _Balthazar_, in which the Superior of the Monastery -of St. James is authorized to pronounce the interdict on the _King_ if -the latter refuses to dismiss his favourite from the Court and restore -his legitimate wife to her rights. It is with this commission -_Balthazar_ has now appeared before the _King_, who at first is -inclined to refuse obedience to the Papal summons. He wavers. -_Balthazar_ gives him time till the morrow, and until then withholds -his anathema. - -_Balthazar's_ vigorous yet dignified denunciation of the _King_, "Ah -paventa il furor d'un Dio vendicatore" (Do not call down the wrath of -God, the avenger, upon thee), forms a broadly sonorous foundation for -the finale of the act. - -[Music: Ah paventa il furor d'un Dio vendicatore,] - -Act III. A salon in the Palace of the Alcazar. In a brief scene the -_King_ informs his minister that he has decided to heed the behest of -the church and refrain from braving the Papal malediction. He bids -_Gaspar_ send _Leonora_ to him, but, at the first opportunity, to -arrest _Inez_, her accomplice. - -It is at this juncture, as _Gaspar_ departs, that _Ferdinand_ appears -at court, returning from the war, in which he has not only -distinguished himself by his valour, but actually has saved the -kingdom. _Alfonso_ asks him to name the prize which he desires as -recompense for his services. _Leonora_ enters. _Ferdinand_, seeing -her, at once asks for the bestowal of her hand upon him in marriage. -The _King_, who loves her deeply, and has nearly risked the wrath of -the Pope for her sake, nevertheless, because immediately aware of the -passion between the two, gives his assent, but with reluctance, as -indeed appears from the irony that pervades his solo, "A tanto amor" -(Thou flow'r belov'd). - -He then retires with _Ferdinand_. - -_Leonora_, touched by the _King's_ magnanimity, inspired by her love -for _Ferdinand_, yet shaken by doubts and fears, because aware that he -knows nothing of her past, now expresses these conflicting feelings in -her principal air, "O, mio Fernando," one of the great Italian airs -for mezzo-soprano. - -[Music: O, mio Fernando, della terra il trono] - -She considers that their future happiness depends upon _Ferdinand's_ -being truthfully informed of what her relations have been with the -_King_, thus giving him full opportunity to decide whether, with this -knowledge of her guilt, he will marry her, or not. Accordingly she -despatches _Inez_ with a letter to him. _Inez_, as she is on her way -to deliver this letter, is intercepted by _Gaspar_, who carries out -the _King's_ command and orders her arrest. She is therefore unable to -place in _Ferdinand's_ hands the letter of _Leonora_. - -Into the presence of the assembled nobles the _King_ now brings -_Ferdinand_, decorates him with a rich chain, and announces that he -has created him Count of Zamora. The jealous lords whisper among -themselves about the scandal of _Ferdinand's_ coming marriage with the -mistress of the _King_; but _Leonora_, who enters in bridal attire, -finds _Ferdinand_ eagerly awaiting her, and ready to wed her, -notwithstanding, as she believes, his receipt of her communication and -complete knowledge of her past. - -While the ceremony is being performed in another apartment, the nobles -discuss further the disgrace to _Ferdinand_ in this marriage. That -_Leonora_ was the mistress of the _King_ is, of course, a familiar -fact at court, and the nobles regard _Ferdinand's_ elevation to the -rank of nobility as a reward, not only for his defeat of the Moors, -but also for accommodatingly taking _Leonora_ off the hands of the -_King_, when the latter is threatened with the malediction of Rome. -They cannot imagine that the young officer is ignorant of the -relations that existed between his bride and the _King_. - -_Ferdinand_ re-enters. In high spirits he approaches the courtiers, -offers them his hand, which they refuse. _Balthazar_ now comes to -learn the decision of the _King_. _Ferdinand_, confused by the -taunting words and actions of the courtiers, hastens to greet -_Balthazar_, who, not having seen him since he has returned victorious -and loaded with honours, embraces him, until he hears _Gaspar's_ -ironical exclamation, "Leonora's bridegroom!" _Balthazar_ starts back, -and it is then _Ferdinand_ learns that he has just been wedded "alla -bella del Re"--to the mistress of the _King_. - -At this moment, when _Ferdinand_ has but just been informed of what he -can only interpret as his betrayal by the _King_ and the royal -favourite, _Alfonso_ enters, leading _Leonora_, followed by her -attendants. In a stirring scene, the dramatic climax of the opera, -_Ferdinand_ tears from his neck the chain _Alfonso_ has bestowed upon -him, and throws it contemptuously upon the floor, breaks his sword and -casts it at the _King's_ feet, then departs with _Balthazar_, the -nobles now making a passage for them, and saluting, while they sing - - "Ferdinand, the truly brave, - We salute, and pardon crave!" - -Act IV. The cloisters of the Monastery of St. James. Ceremony of -_Ferdinand's_ entry into the order. "Splendon più belle in ciel le -stelle" (Behold the stars in splendour celestial), a distinguished -solo and chorus for _Balthazar_ and the monks. - -Left alone, _Ferdinand_ gives vent to his sorrow, which still -persists, in the romance, "Spirto gentil" (Spirit of Light), one of -the most exquisite tenor solos in the Italian repertory. - -[Music: Spirto gentil, ne' sogni miei brillasti un dì, ma ti perdei] - -In 1882, thirty-four years after Donizetti's death, there was produced -in Rome an opera by him entitled "Il Duca d'Alba" (The Duke of Alba). -Scribe wrote the libretto for Rossini, who does not appear to have -used it. So it was passed on to Donizetti, who composed, but never -produced it. "Spirto gentil" was in this opera, from which Donizetti -simply transferred it. - -_Balthazar_ and the monks return. With them _Ferdinand_ enters the -chapel. _Leonora_, disguised as a novice, comes upon the scene. She -hears the chanting of the monks, _Ferdinand's_ voice enunciating his -vows. He comes out from the chapel, recognizes _Leonora_, bids her be -gone. "Ah! va, t'invola! e questa terra" (These cloisters fly, etc.). - -She, however, tells him of her unsuccessful effort to let him know of -her past, and craves his forgiveness for the seeming wrong she has -wrought upon him. "Clemente al par di Dio" [Transcriber's Note: some -scores render this as 'Pietoso al par del Nume'] (Forgiveness through -God I crave of thee). - -All of _Ferdinand's_ former love returns for her. "Vieni, ah! vieni," -etc. (Joy once more fills my breast). - -He would bear her away to other climes and there happily pass his days -with her. But it is too late. _Leonora_ dies in his arms. "By tomorrow -my soul, too, will want your prayers," are _Ferdinand's_ words to -_Balthazar_, who, approaching, has drawn _Leonora's_ cowl over her -dishevelled hair. He calls upon the monks to pray for a departed -soul. - - -LINDA DI CHAMOUNIX - -LINDA OF CHAMOUNIX - - Opera, in three acts, by Donizetti; words by Rossi. - Produced, May 19, 1842, Theatre near the Carinthian Gate - (Kärnthnerthor), Vienna. London, June, 1843. New York, - Palma's Opera House, January 4, 1847, with Clothilda Barili; - Academy of Music, March 9, 1861, with Clara Louise Kellogg, - later with Patti as _Linda_ and Galassi as _Antonio_; - Metropolitan Opera House, April 23, 1890, with Patti. - - CHARACTERS - - MARQUIS DE BOISFLEURY _Bass_ - CHARLES, Vicomte de Sirval _Tenor_ - PREFECT _Bass_ - PIERROT _Contralto_ - LINDA _Soprano_ - ANTONIO _Baritone_ - MADELINE _Soprano_ - INTENDANT _Tenor_ - - Peasant men and women, Savoyards, etc. - - _Time_--1760, during the reign of Louis XV. - - _Place_--Chamounix and Paris. - -"Linda di Chamounix" contains an air for soprano without which no -collection of opera arias is complete. This is _Linda's_ aria in the -first act, "O luce di quest'anima" (Oh! star that guid'st my fervent -love). When Donizetti was composing "Linda di Chamounix" for Vienna, -with this air and its fluent embellishments, he also was writing for -the Imperial chapel a "Miserere" and an "Ave Maria" which were highly -praised for a style as severe and restrained as "O luce di -quest'anima" is light and graceful. - -"Linda di Chamounix" is in three acts, entitled "The Departure," -"Paris," "The Return." The story is somewhat naïve, as its exposition -will show. - -Act I. The village of Chamounix. On one side a farmhouse. On an -eminence a church. _Antonio_ and _Madeline_ are poor villagers. -_Linda_ is their daughter. She has fallen in love with an artist, -_Charles_, who really is the _Viscount de Sirval_, but has not yet -disclosed his identity to her. When the opera opens _Linda's_ parents -are in fear of being dispossessed by the _Marquis de Boisfleury_, who -is _Charles's_ uncle, but knows nothing of his nephew's presence in -Chamounix, or of his love for _Linda_. She, it may be remarked, is one -of those pure, sweet, unsophisticated creatures, who exist only on the -stage, and possibly only in opera. - -When the opera opens, _Antonio_ returns from a visit to the -_Marquis's_ agent, the _Intendant_. Hopes have been held out to him -that the _Marquis_ will relent. _Antonio_ communicates these hopes to -his wife in the beautiful solo, "Ambo nati in questa valle" (We were -both in this valley nurtured). - -[Music: Ambo nati in questa valle,] - -There are shouts of "Viva!" without. The _Marquis_ has arrived. He -seems kindness itself to the old couple. He asks for _Linda_, but she -has gone to prayers in the chapel. We learn from an aside between the -_Marquis_ and his _Intendant_, that the _Marquis's_ apparent -benevolence is merely part of a libidinous scheme which involves -_Linda_, whose beauty has attracted the titled roué. - -After this scene, _Linda_ comes on alone and sings "O luce di -quest'anima." - -[Music: - - O luce di quest'anima, - Delizia, amore e vita;] - -I also quote the concluding phrase: - -[Music: - - Unita nostra sorte, - In ciel, in ciel sarà.] - -Savoyards are preparing to depart for Paris to go to work there. Among -them is _Pierrot_, with his hurdy-gurdy. He sings a charming ballad, -"Per sua madre andò una figlia" (Once a better fortune seeking). - -There is then a love scene between _Linda_ and _Charles_, with the -effective duet, "A consolarmi affrettisi" (Oh! that the blessed day -were come, when standing by my side), a phrase which is heard again -with significant effect in the third act. - -[Music: - - A consolarmi affrettisi, - Tal giorno sospirato,] - -_Antonio_ then learns from the good _Prefect_ of the village that the -latter suspects the _Marquis_ of sinister intentions toward _Linda_. -Indeed at that moment _Linda_ comes in with a paper from the -_Marquis_, which assures to her parents their home; but, she adds, -naïvely, that she has been invited by the _Marquis_ to the castle. -Parents and _Prefect_ are alarmed for her safety. The _Prefect_ has a -brother in Paris. To his protection it is decided that _Linda_ shall -go with her Savoyard friends, who even now are preparing to depart. - -Act II. Room in a handsome, well-furnished apartment in Paris. This -apartment is _Linda's_. In it she has been installed by _Charles_. The -natural supposition, that it has been paid for by her virtue, is in -this instance a mistake, but one, I am sure, made by nine people out -of ten of those who see the opera, since the explanation of how she -got there consists merely of a few incidental lines in recitative. - -_Linda_ herself, but for her incredible naïveté would realize the -impossibility of the situation. - -A voice singing in the street she recognizes as _Pierrot's_, calls him -up to her, and assists him with money, of which she appears to have -plenty. She tells him that the _Prefect's_ brother, in whose house -she was to have found protection, had died. She was obliged to support -herself by singing in the street. Fortunately she had by chance met -_Charles_, who disclosed to her his identity as the _Viscount de -Sirval_. He is not ready to marry her yet on account of certain family -complications, but meanwhile has placed her in this apartment, where -he provides for her. There is a duet, in which _Linda_ and _Pierrot_ -sing of her happiness. - -_Pierrot_ having left, the _Marquis_, who has discovered her retreat, -but does not know that it is provided by his nephew _Charles_, calls -to force his unwelcome attentions upon her. He laughs, as is not -unnatural, at her protestations that she is supported here in -innocence; but when she threatens him with possible violence from her -intended, he has a neat little solo of precaution, ending "Guardati, -pensaci, marchese mio" (Be cautious--ponder well, Marquis most -valiant). - -The _Marquis_, having prudently taken his departure, _Linda_ having -gone to another room, and _Charles_ having come in, we learn from his -recitative and air that his mother, the Marquise de Sirval, has -selected a wife for him, whom she insists he shall marry. He hopes to -escape from this marriage, but, as his mother has heard of _Linda_ and -also insists that he shall give her up, he has come to explain matters -to her and temporarily to part from her. But when he sees her, her -beauty so moves him that his courage fails him, although, as he goes, -there is a sadness in his manner that fills her with sad forebodings. - -For three months _Linda_ has heard nothing from her parents. Letters, -with money, which she has sent them, have remained unanswered--another -of the situations in which this most artless heroine of opera -discovers herself, without seeking the simple and obvious way of -relieving the suspense. - -In any event, her parents have become impoverished through the -_Marquis de Boisfleury's_ disfavour, for at this moment her father, in -the condition of a mendicant, comes in to beg the intercession in his -behalf of the _Viscount de Sirval_ (Charles). Not recognizing _Linda_, -he mistakes her for _Charles's_ wife. She bestows bounteous alms upon -him, but hesitates to make herself known, until, when he bends over to -kiss her hand she cannot refrain from disclosing herself. Her -surroundings arouse his suspicions, which are confirmed by _Pierrot_, -who comes running in with the news that he has learned of preparations -for the marriage of _Charles_ to a lady of his mother's choice. In a -scene (which a fine singer like Galassi was able to invest with real -power) _Antonio_ hurls the alms _Linda_ has given him at her feet, -denounces her, and departs. _Pierrot_ seeks to comfort her. But alas! -her father's denunciation of her, and, above all, what she believes to -be _Charles's_ desertion, have unseated her reason. - -Act III. The village of Chamounix. The Savoyards are returning and are -joyfully greeted. _Charles_, who has been able to persuade his mother -to permit him to wed _Linda_, has come in search of her. Incidentally -he has brought solace for _Antonio_ and _Madeline_. The De Sirvals are -the real owners of the farm, the _Marquis_, _Charles's_ uncle, being -only their representative. _Linda's_ parents are to remain in -undisturbed possession of the farm;--but where is she? - -_Pierrot_ is heard singing. Whenever he sings he is able to persuade -_Linda_ to follow him. Thus her faithful friend gradually has led her -back to Chamounix. And when _Charles_ chants for her a phrase of their -first act duet, "O consolarmi affrettisi," her reason returns, and it -is "Ah! di tue pene sparve il sogno" (Ah! the vision of my sorrow -fades). - -In this drama of naïveté, an artlessness which I mention again because -I think it is not so much the music as the libretto that has become -old-fashioned, even the _Marquis_ comes in for a good word. For when -he too offers his congratulations, what does _Linda_ do but refer to -the old libertine, who has sought her ruin, as "him who will be my -uncle dear." - - -DON PASQUALE - - Opera, in three acts, by Donizetti; words by Salvatore - Cammarano, adapted from his earlier libretto, "Ser - Marc'Antonio," which Stefano Pavesi had set to music in - 1813. Produced, Paris, January 4, 1843, Théâtre des - Italiens. London, June 30, 1843. New York, March 9, 1846, in - English; 1849, in Italian; revived for Bonci (with di - Pasquali, Scotti, and Pini-Corsi) at the New Theatre, - December 23, 1909; given also at the Metropolitan Opera - House with Sembrich as _Norina_. - - CHARACTERS - - DON PASQUALE, an old bachelor _Bass_ - DR. MALATESTA, his friend _Baritone_ - ERNESTO, nephew of Don Pasquale _Tenor_ - NORINA, a young widow, affianced to Ernesto _Soprano_ - A NOTARY _Baritone_ - - Valets, chambermaids, majordomo, dress-makers, hairdresser. - - _Time_--Early nineteenth century. - - _Place_--Rome. - -"Don Pasquale" concerns an old man about to marry. He also is wealthy. -Though determined himself to have a wife, on the other hand he is very -angry with his nephew, _Ernesto_, for wishing to marry, and threatens -to disinherit him. _Ernesto_ is greatly disturbed by these threats. So -is his lady-love, the sprightly young widow, _Norina_, when he reports -them to her. - -_Pasquale's_ friend, _Dr. Malatesta_, not being able to dissuade him -from marriage, pretends to acquiesce in it. He proposes that his -sister shall be the bride, and describes her as a timid, naïve, -ingenuous girl, brought up, he says, in a convent. She is, however, -none other than _Norina_, the clever young widow, who is in no degree -related to _Malatesta_. She quickly enters into the plot, which -involves a mock marriage with _Don Pasquale_. An interview takes -place. The modest graces of the supposed convent girl charm the old -man. The marriage--a mock ceremony, of course--is hurriedly -celebrated, so hurriedly that there is no time to inform the -distracted _Ernesto_ that the proceedings are bogus. - -_Norina_ now displays toward _Don Pasquale_ an ungovernable temper. -Moreover she spends money like water, and devotes all her energies to -nearly driving the old man crazy. When he protests, she boxes his -ears. He is on the point of suicide. Then at last _Malatesta_ lets him -know that he has been duped. _Notary_ and contract are fictitious. He -is free. With joy he transfers to _Ernesto_ his conjugal burden--and -an income. - -Act I plays in a room in _Don Pasquale's_ house and later in a room in -_Norina's_, where she is reading a romance. She is singing "Quel -guardo" (Glances so soft) and "So anch'io la virtù magica" (I, too, -thy magic virtues know) in which she appears to be echoing in thought -what she has been reading about in the book. - -[Music: - - So anch'io la virtù magica - D'un guardo a tempo e loco] - -The duet, in which she and _Malatesta_ agree upon the plot--the "duet -of the rehearsal"--is one of the sprightly numbers of the score. - -Act II is in a richly furnished salon of _Don Pasquale's_ house. This -is the scene of the mock marriage, of _Norina's_ assumed display of -temper and extravagance, _Don Pasquale's_ distraction, _Ernesto's_ -amazement and enlightenment, and _Malatesta's_ amused co-operation. In -this act occur the duet of the box on the ears, and the quartet, which -begins with _Pasquale's_ "Son ardito" [Transcriber's Note: should be -'Son tradito'] (I am betrayed). It is the finale of the act and -considered a masterpiece. - -Act III is in two scenes, the first in _Don Pasquale's_ house, where -everything is in confusion; the second in his garden, where _Ernesto_ -sings to _Norina_ the beautiful serenade, "Com'è gentil" (Soft beams -the light). - -[Music: Com'è gentil, la notte a mezzo April,] - -_Don Pasquale_, who has suspected _Norina_ of having a rendezvous in -the garden, rushes out of concealment with _Malatesta_. But _Ernesto_ -is quick to hide, and _Norina_ pretends no one has been with her. This -is too much for _Don Pasquale_, and _Malatesta_ now makes it the -occasion for bringing about the dénouement, and secures the old man's -most willing consent to the marriage between _Ernesto_ and _Norina_. - -When the opera had its original production in Paris, Lablache was _Don -Pasquale_, Mario _Ernesto_, Tamburini _Malatesta_, and Grisi _Norina_. -Notwithstanding this brilliant cast, the work did not seem to be going -well at the rehearsals. After one of these, Donizetti asked the music -publisher, Dormoy, to go with him to his lodgings. There he rummaged -among a lot of manuscripts until, finding what he was looking for, he -handed it to Dormoy. - -"There," he said, "give this to Mario and tell him to sing it in the -last scene in the garden as a serenade to _Norina_." - -When the opera was performed Mario sang it, while Lablache, behind the -scenes, played an accompaniment on the lute. It was the serenade. Thus -was there introduced into the opera that air to which, more than any -other feature of the work, it owes its occasional resuscitation. - -A one-act comedy opera by Donizetti, "Il Campanello di Notte" (The -Night Bell) was produced in Naples in 1836. It would hardly be worth -referring to but for the fact that it is in the repertoire of the -Society of American Singers, who gave it, in an English version by -Sydney Rosenfeld, at the Lyceum Theatre, New York, May 7, 1917. This -little work turns on the attempts of a lover, who has been thrown -over, to prevent his successful rival, an apothecary, from going to -bed on the night of his marriage. He succeeds by adopting various -disguises, ringing the night bell, and asking for medicine. In the -American first performance David Bispham was the apothecary, called in -the adaptation, _Don Hannibal Pistacchio_. Miss Gates, the _Serafina_, -interpolated "O luce di quest'anima," from "Linda di Chamounix." Mr. -Reiss was _Enrico_, the lover. - - - - -Giuseppe Verdi - -(1813-1901) - - -Verdi ranks as the greatest Italian composer of opera. There is a -marked distinction between his career and those of Bellini and -Donizetti. The two earlier composers, after reaching a certain point -of development, failed to advance. No later opera by Bellini equals -"La Sonnambula"; none other by Donizetti ranks with "Lucia di -Lammermoor." - -But Verdi, despite the great success of "Ernani," showed seven years -later, with "Rigoletto," an amazing progress in dramatic expression -and skill in ensemble work. "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata" were -other works of the period ushered in by "Rigoletto." Eighteen years -later the composer, then fifty-eight years old, gave evidence of -another and even more notable advance by producing "Aïda," a work -which marks the beginning of a new period in Italian opera. Still not -satisfied, Verdi brought forward "Otello" (1887) and "Falstaff" -(1893), scores which more nearly resemble music-drama than opera. - -Thus the steady forging ahead of Verdi, the unhalting development of -his genius, is the really great feature of his career. In fact no -Italian composer since Verdi has caught up with "Falstaff," which may -be as profitably studied as "Le Nozze di Figaro," "Il Barbiere di -Siviglia," "Die Meistersinger," and "Der Rosenkavalier." Insert -"Falstaff" in this list, in its proper place between "Meistersinger" -and "Rosenkavalier," and you have the succession of great operas -conceived in the divine spirit of comedy, from 1786 to 1911. - -In the article on "Un Ballo in Maschera," the political use made of -the letters of Verdi's name is pointed out. See p. 428. - -Verdi was born at Roncole, near Busseto, October 9, 1813. He died at -Rome, January 27, 1901. There remains to be said that, at eighteen, he -was refused admission to the Milan Conservatory "on the score of lack -of musical talent." - -What fools these mortals be! - - -ERNANI - - Opera, in four acts, by Verdi; words by Francesco Maria - Piave, after Victor Hugo's drama, "Hernani." Produced, - Fenice Theatre, Venice, March 9, 1844; London, Her Majesty's - Theatre, March 8, 1845; New York, 1846, at the Astor Place - Theatre. Patti, at the Academy of Music, Sembrich at the - Metropolitan Opera House, have been notable interpreters of - the rôle of _Elvira_. - - CHARACTERS - - DON CARLOS, King of Castile _Baritone_ - DON RUY GOMEZ DI SILVA, Grandee of Spain _Bass_ - ERNANI, or JOHN OF ARAGON, a bandit chief _Tenor_ - DON RICCARDO, esquire to the King _Tenor_ - JAGO, esquire to SILVA _Bass_ - ELVIRA, kinswoman to SILVA _Soprano_ - GIOVANNA, in ELVIRA'S service _Soprano_ - - Mountaineers and bandits, followers of _Silva_, ladies of - _Elvira_, followers of _Don Carlos_, electors and pages. - - _Time_--Early sixteenth century. - - _Place_--Spain. - -_John of Aragon_ has become a bandit. His father, the Duke of Segovia, -had been slain by order of _Don Carlos's_ father. _John_, proscribed -and pursued by the emissaries of the King, has taken refuge in the -fastnesses of the mountains of Aragon, where, under the name of -_Ernani_, he has become leader of a large band of rebel mountaineers. -_Ernani_ is in love with _Donna Elvira_, who, although she is about -to be united to her relative, the aged _Ruy Gomez di Silva_, a grandee -of Spain, is deeply enamoured of the handsome, chivalrous bandit -chief. - -_Don Carlos_, afterwards Emperor Charles V., also has fallen violently -in love with _Elvira_. By watching her windows he has discovered that -at dead of night a young cavalier (_Ernani_) gains admission to her -apartments. He imitates her lover's signal, gains admission to her -chamber, and declares his passion. Being repulsed, he is about to drag -her off by force, when a secret panel opens, and he finds himself -confronted by _Ernani_. In the midst of a violent scene _Silva_ -enters. To allay his jealousy and anger, naturally aroused by finding -two men, apparently rival suitors, in the apartment of his affianced, -the _King_, whom _Silva_ has not recognized, reveals himself, and -pretends to have come in disguise to consult him about his approaching -election to the empire, and a conspiracy that is on foot against his -life. Then the _King_, pointing to _Ernani_, says to _Silva_, "It doth -please us that this, our follower, depart," thus insuring _Ernani's_ -temporary safety--for a Spaniard does not hand an enemy over to the -vengeance of another. - -Believing a rumour that _Ernani_ has been run down and killed by the -_King's_ soldiers, _Elvira_ at last consents to give her hand in -marriage to _Silva_. On the eve of the wedding, however, _Ernani_, -pursued by the _King_ with a detachment of troops, seeks refuge in -_Silva's_ castle, in the disguise of a pilgrim. Although not known to -_Silva_, he is, under Spanish tradition, his guest, and from that -moment entitled to his protection. - -_Elvira_ enters in her bridal attire. _Ernani_ is thus made aware that -her nuptials with _Don Silva_ are to be celebrated on the morrow. -Tearing off his disguise, he reveals himself to _Silva_, and demands -to be delivered up to the _King_, preferring death to life without -_Elvira_. But true to his honour as a Spanish host, _Silva_ refuses. -Even his enemy, _Ernani_, is safe in his castle. Indeed he goes so far -as to order his guards to man the towers and prepare to defend the -castle, should the _King_ seek forcible entry. He leaves the apartment -to make sure his orders are being carried out. The lovers find -themselves alone. When _Silva_ returns they are in each other's arms. -But as the _King_ is at the castle gates, he has no time to give vent -to his wrath. He gives orders to admit the _King_ and his men, bids -_Elvira_ retire, and hides _Ernani_ in a secret cabinet. The _King_ -demands that _Silva_ give up the bandit. The grandee proudly refuses. -_Ernani_ is his guest. The _King's_ wrath then turns against _Silva_. -He demands the surrender of his sword and threatens him with death, -when _Elvira_ interposes. The _King_ pardons _Silva_, but bears away -_Elvira_ as hostage for the loyalty of her kinsman. - -The _King_ has gone. From the wall _Silva_ takes down two swords, -releases his guest from his hiding place, and bids him cross swords -with him to the death. _Ernani_ refuses. His host has just protected -his life at the danger of his own. But, if _Silva_ insists upon -vengeance, let grandee and bandit first unite against the _King_, with -whom the honour of _Elvira_ is unsafe. _Elvira_ rescued, _Ernani_ will -give himself up to _Silva_, to whom, handing him his hunting horn, he -avows himself ready to die, whenever a blast upon it shall be sounded -from the lip of the implacable grandee. _Silva_, who has been in -entire ignorance of the _King's_ passion for _Elvira_, grants the -reprieve, and summons his men to horse. - -He sets on foot a conspiracy against the _King_. A meeting of the -conspirators is held in the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, in the -vault, within which stands the tomb of Charlemagne. Here it is -resolved to murder the _King_. A ballot decides who shall do the deed. -_Ernani's_ name is drawn. - -The _King_, however, has received information of the time and place -of this meeting. From the tomb he has been an unobserved witness of -the meeting and purpose of the conspirators. Booming of cannon outside -tells him of his choice as head of the Holy Roman Empire. Emerging -from the tomb, he shows himself to the awed conspirators, who imagine -they see Charlemagne issuing forth to combat them. At the same moment -the doors open. The electors of the Empire enter to pay homage to -Charles V. - -"The herd to the dungeon, the nobles to the headsman," he commands. - -_Ernani_ advances, discovers himself as John of Aragon, and claims the -right to die with the nobles--"to fall, covered, before the _King_." -But upon _Elvira's_ fervent plea, the _King_, now also Emperor, -commences his reign with an act of grace. He pardons the conspirators, -restores to _Ernani_ his titles and estates, and unites him with -_Elvira_. - -_Silva_, thwarted in his desire to marry _Elvira_, waits until -_Ernani_ and _Elvira_, after their nuptials, are upon the terrace of -_Ernani's_ castle in Aragon. At their most blissful moment he sounds -the fatal horn. _Ernani_, too chivalrous to evade his promise, stabs -himself in the presence of the grim avenger and of _Elvira_ who falls -prostrate upon his lifeless body. - -In the opera, this plot develops as follows: Act I opens in the camp -of the bandits in the mountains of Aragon. In the distance is seen the -Moorish castle of _Silva_. The time is near sunset. Of _Ernani's_ -followers, some are eating and drinking, or are at play, while others -are arranging their weapons. They sing, "Allegri, beviamo" (Haste! -Clink we our glasses). - -_Ernani_ sings _Elvira's_ praise in the air, "Come rugiada al cespite" -(Balmier than dew to drooping bud). - -[Music: Come rugiada al cespite] - -This expressive number is followed by one in faster time, "O tu, che -l'alma adora" (O thou toward whom, adoring soul). - -[Music: - - O tu, che l'alma adora, - Vien, vien, la mia vita infiora,] - -Enthusiastically volunteering to share any danger _Ernani_ may incur -in seeking to carry off _Elvira_, the bandits, with their chief at -their head, go off in the direction of _Silva's_ castle. - -The scene changes to _Elvira's_ apartment in the castle. It is night. -She is meditating upon _Ernani_. When she thinks of _Silva_, "the -frozen, withered spectre," and contrasts with him _Ernani_, who "in -her heart ever reigneth," she voices her thoughts in that famous air -for sopranos, one of Verdi's loveliest inspirations, "Ernani! -involami" (Ernani! fly with me). - -[Music: - - Ernani! Ernani! involami - All'abborrito amplesso.] - -It ends with a brilliant cadenza, "Un Eden quegli antri a me" (An Eden -that opens to me). - -[Music: un Eden quegli antri a me.] - -Young maidens bearing wedding gifts enter. They sing a chorus of -congratulation. To this _Elvira_ responds with a graceful air, the -sentiment of which, however, is expressed as an aside, since it refers -to her longing for her young, handsome and chivalrous lover. "Tutto -sprezzo che d'Ernani" (Words that breathe thy name Ernani). - -[Music: Tutto sprezzo che d'Ernani] - -The young women go. Enter _Don Carlos_, the _King_. There is a -colloquy, in which _Elvira_ protests against his presence; and then a -duet, which the _King_ begins, "Da quel dì che t'ho veduta" (From the -day, when first thy beauty). - -A secret panel opens. The _King_ is confronted by _Ernani_, and by -_Elvira_, who has snatched a dagger from his belt. She interposes -between the two men. _Silva_ enters. What he beholds draws from him -the melancholy reflections--"Infelice! e tu credevi" (Unhappy me! and -I believed thee), - -[Music: Infelice! e tu credevi] - -an exceptionally fine bass solo. He follows it with the vindictive -"Infin, che un brando vindice" (In fine a swift, unerring blade). - -Men and women of the castle and the _King's_ suite have come on. The -monarch is recognized by _Silva_, who does him obeisance, and, at the -_King's_ command, is obliged to let _Ernani_ depart. An ensemble -brings the act to a close. - -Act II. Grand hall in _Silva's_ castle. Doors lead to various -apartments. Portraits of the Silva family, surmounted by ducal -coronets and coats-of-arms, are hung on the walls. Near each portrait -is a complete suit of equestrian armour, corresponding in period to -that in which lived the ancestor represented in the portrait. A large -table and a ducal chair of carved oak. - -The persistent chorus of ladies, though doubtless aware that _Elvira_ -is not thrilled at the prospect of marriage with her "frosty" kinsman, -and has consented to marry him only because she believes _Ernani_ -dead, enters and sings "Esultiamo!" (Exultation!), then pays tribute -to the many virtues and graces of the bride. - -To _Silva_, in the full costume of a Grandee of Spain, and seated in -the ducal chair, is brought in _Ernani_, disguised as a monk. He is -welcomed as a guest; but, upon the appearance of _Elvira_ in bridal -array, throws off his disguise and offers his life, a sacrifice to -_Silva's_ vengeance, as the first gift for the wedding. _Silva_, -however, learning that he is pursued by the _King_, offers him the -protection due a guest under the roof of a Spaniard. - -"Ah, morir potessi adesso" (Ah, to die would be a blessing) is the -impassioned duet sung by _Elvira_ and _Ernani_, when _Silva_ leaves -them together. - -[Music: - - Ah, morir potessi adesso - O mio Ernani sul tuo petto] - -_Silva_, even when he returns and discovers _Elvira_ in _Ernani's_ -arms, will not break the law of Spanish hospitality, preferring to -wreak vengeance in his own way. He therefore hides _Ernani_ so -securely that the _King's_ followers, after searching the castle, are -obliged to report their complete failure to discover a trace of him. -Chorus: "Fu esplorato del castello" (We have now explored the castle). - -Then come the important episodes described--the _King's_ demand for -the surrender of _Silva's_ sword and threat to execute him; _Elvira's_ -interposition; and the _King's_ sinister action in carrying her off as -a hostage, after he has sung the significant air, "Vieni meco, sol di -rose" (Come with me, a brighter dawning waits for thee). - -[Music: Vieni meco, sol di rose] - -_Ernani's_ handing of his hunting horn to _Silva_, and his arousal of -the grandee to an understanding of the danger that threatens _Elvira_ -from the _King_, is followed by the finale, a spirited call to arms by -_Silva_, _Ernani_, and chorus, "In arcione, in arcione, cavalieri!" -(To horse, to horse, cavaliers!). - -_Silva_ and _Ernani_ distribute weapons among the men, which they -brandish as they rush from the hall. - -Act III. The scene is a sepulchral vault, enclosing the tomb of -Charlemagne in the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The tomb is entered -by a heavy door of bronze, upon which is carved in large characters -the word "Charlemagne." Steps lead to the great door of the vault. -Other and smaller tombs are seen and other doors that give on other -passageways. Two lamps, suspended from the roof, shed a faint light. - -It is into this sombre but grandiose place the _King_ has come in -order to overhear, from within the tomb of his greatest ancestor, the -plotting of the conspirators. His soliloquy, "Oh, de' verd'anni miei" -(Oh, for my youthful years once more), derives impressiveness both -from the solemnity of the situation and the music's flowing measure. - -[Music: Oh de' verd'anni miei] - -The principal detail in the meeting of the conspirators is their -chorus, "Si ridesti il Leon di Castiglia" (Let the lion awake in -Castilia). Dramatically effective, too, in the midst of the plotting, -is the sudden booming of distant cannon. It startles the conspirators. -Cannon boom again. The bronze door of the tomb swings open. - -Then the _King_ presents himself at the entrance of the tomb. Three -times he strikes the door of bronze with the hilt of his dagger. The -principal entrance to the vault opens. To the sound of trumpets six -Electors enter, dressed in cloth of gold. They are followed by pages -carrying, upon velvet cushions, the sceptre, crown, and other imperial -insignia. Courtiers surround the Emperor. _Elvira_ approaches. The -banners of the Empire are displayed. Many torches borne by soldiers -illuminate the scene. The act closes with the pardon granted by the -_King_, and the stirring finale, "Oh, sommo Carlo!" (Charlemagne!) - -Act IV, on the terrace of _Ernani's_ castle, is brief, and there is -nothing to add to what has been said of its action. _Ernani_ asks -_Silva_ to spare him till his lips have tasted the chalice filled by -love. He recounts his sad life: "Solingo, errante, misero" (To linger -in exiled misery). - -_Silva's_ grim reply is to offer him his choice between a cup of -poison and a dagger. He takes the latter. "Ferma, crudele, estinguere" -(Stay thee, my lord, for me at least) cries _Elvira_, wishing to share -his fate. In the end there is left only the implacable avenger, to -gloat over _Ernani_, dead, and _Elvira_ prostrate upon his form. - - * * * * * - -"Ernani," brought out in 1844, is the earliest work by Verdi that -maintains a foothold in the modern repertoire, though by no means a -very firm one. And yet "Ernani" is in many respects a fine opera. One -wonders why it has not lasted better. Hanslick, the Viennese critic, -made a discriminating criticism upon it. He pointed out that whereas -in Victor Hugo's drama the mournful blast upon the hunting horn, when -heard in the last act, thrills the listener with tragic forebodings, -in the opera, after listening to solos, choruses, and a full orchestra -all the evening, the audience is but little impressed by the sounding -of a note upon a single instrument. That comment, however, presupposes -considerable subtlety, so far undiscovered, on the part of operatic -audiences. - -The fact is, that since 1844 the whirligig of time has made -one--two--three--perhaps even four revolutions, and with each -revolution the public taste that prevailed, when the first audience -that heard the work in the Teatro Fenice, went wild over "Ernani -Involami" and "Sommo Carlo," has become more remote and undergone more -and more changes. To turn back operatic time in its flight requires -in the case of "Ernani," a soprano of unusual voice and personality -for _Elvira_, a tenor of the same qualities for the picturesque rôle -of _Ernani_, a fine baritone for _Don Carlos_, and a sonorous basso, -who doesn't look too much like a meal bag, for _Don Ruy Gomez di -Silva_, Grandee of Spain. - -Early in its career the opera experienced various vicissitudes. The -conspiracy scene had to be toned down for political reasons before the -production of the work was permitted. Even then the chorus, "Let the -lion awake in Castilia," caused a political demonstration. In Paris, -Victor Hugo, as author of the drama on which the libretto is based, -raised objections to its representation, and it was produced in the -French capital as "Il Proscritto" (The Proscribed) with the characters -changed to Italians. Victor Hugo's "Hernani" was a famous play in -Sarah Bernhardt's repertoire during her early engagements in this -country. Her _Doña Sol_ (_Elvira_ in the opera) was one of her finest -achievements. On seeing the play, with her in it, I put to test -Hanslick's theory. The horn was thrilling in the play. It certainly is -less so in the opera. - - -RIGOLETTO - - Opera in three acts, by Verdi; words by Francesco Maria - Piave, founded on Victor Hugo's play, "Le Roi s'Amuse." - Produced, Fenice Theatre, Venice, March 11, 1851; London, - Covent Garden, May 14, 1853; Paris, Théâtre des Italiens, - January 19, 1857; New York, Academy of Music, November 4, - 1857, with Bignardi and Frezzolini. Caruso made his début in - America at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, as the - _Duke_ in "Rigoletto," November 23, 1903; Galli-Curci hers, - as _Gilda_, Chicago, November 18, 1916. - - CHARACTERS - - THE DUKE OF MANTUA _Tenor_ - RIGOLETTO, his jester, a hunchback _Baritone_ - COUNT CEPRANO } { _Bass_ - COUNT MONTERONE } Nobles { _Baritone_ - SPARAFUCILE, a bravo _Bass_ - BORSA, in the Duke's service _Tenor_ - MARULLO _Bass_ - COUNTESS CEPRANO _Soprano_ - GILDA, daughter of Rigoletto _Soprano_ - GIOVANNI, her duenna _Soprano_ - MADDALENA, sister to Sparafucile _Contralto_ - - Courtiers, nobles, pages, servants. - - _Time_--Sixteenth century. - - _Place_--Mantua. - -"Rigoletto" is a distinguished opera. Composed in forty days in 1851, -nearing three-quarters of a century of life before the footlights, it -still retains its vitality. Twenty years, with all they imply in -experience and artistic growth, lie between "Rigoletto" and "Aïda." -Yet the earlier opera, composed so rapidly as to constitute a _tour de -force_ of musical creation, seems destined to remain a close second in -popularity to the more mature work of its great composer. - -There are several reasons for the public's abiding interest in -"Rigoletto." It is based upon a most effective play by Victor Hugo, -"Le Roi s'Amuse," known to English playgoers in Tom Taylor's -adaptation as "The Fool's Revenge." The jester was one of Edwin -Booth's great rôles. This rôle of the deformed court jester, -_Rigoletto_, the hunchback, not only figures in the opera, but has -been vividly characterized by Verdi in his music. It is a vital, -centralizing force in the opera, concentrating and holding attention, -a character creation that appeals strongly both to the singer who -enacts it and to the audience who sees and hears it. The rôle has -appealed to famous artists. Ronconi (who taught singing in New York -for a few years, beginning in 1867) was a notable _Rigoletto_; so was -Galassi, whose intensely dramatic performance still is vividly -recalled by the older opera-goers; Renaud at the Manhattan Opera -House, Titta Ruffo at the Metropolitan Opera House, Philadelphia, both -made their American débuts as _Rigoletto_. - -But the opera offers other rôles of distinction. Mario was a famous -_Duke_ in other days. Caruso made his sensational début at the -Metropolitan in the character of the volatile _Duca di Mantua_, -November 23, 1903. We have had as _Gilda_ Adelina Patti, Melba, and -Tetrazzini, to mention but a few; and the heroine of the opera is one -of the rôles of Galli-Curci, who appeared in it in Chicago, November -18, 1916. No coloratura soprano can, so to speak, afford to be without -it. - -Thus the opera has plot, a central character of vital dramatic -importance, and at least two other characters of strong interest. But -there is even more to be said in its behalf. For, next to the sextet -in "Lucia," the quartet in the last act of "Rigoletto" is the finest -piece of concerted music in Italian opera--and many people will object -to my placing it only "next" to that other famous ensemble, instead of -on complete equality with, or even ahead of it. - -The "argument" of "Rigoletto" deals with the amatory escapades of the -_Duke of Mantua_. In these he is aided by _Rigoletto_, his jester, a -hunchback. _Rigoletto_, both by his caustic wit and unscrupulous -conduct, has made many enemies at court. _Count Monterone_, who comes -to the court to demand the restoration of his daughter, who has been -dishonoured by the _Duke_, is met by the jester with laughter and -derision. The _Count_ curses _Rigoletto_, who is stricken with -superstitious terror. - -For _Rigoletto_ has a daughter, _Gilda_, whom he keeps in strict -seclusion. But the _Duke_, without being aware who she is, has seen -her, unknown to her father, and fallen in love with her. _Count -Ceprano_, who many times has suffered under _Rigoletto's_ biting -tongue, knowing that she is in some way connected with the jester, in -fact believing her to be his mistress, and glad of any opportunity of -doing him an injury, forms a plan to carry off the young girl, and so -arranges it that _Rigoletto_ unwittingly assists in her abduction. -When he finds that it is his own daughter whom he has aided to place -in the power of the _Duke_, he determines to murder his master, and -engages _Sparafucile_, a bravo, to do so. This man has a sister, -_Maddalena_, who entices the _Duke_ to a lonely inn. She becomes -fascinated with him, however, and begs her brother to spare his life. -This he consents to do if before midnight any one shall arrive at the -inn whom he can kill and pass off as the murdered _Duke_. _Rigoletto_, -who has recovered his daughter, brings her to the inn so that, by -being a witness of the _Duke's_ inconstancy, she may be cured of her -unhappy love. She overhears the plot to murder her lover, and -_Sparafucile's_ promise to his sister. Determined to save the _Duke_, -she knocks for admittance, and is stabbed on entering. _Rigoletto_ -comes at the appointed time for the body. _Sparafucile_ brings it out -in a sack. The jester is about to throw it into the water, sack and -all, when he hears the _Duke_ singing. He tears open the sack, only to -find his own daughter, at the point of death. - -Act I opens in a salon in the _Duke's_ palace. A suite of other -apartments is seen extending into the background. All are brilliantly -lighted for the fête that is in progress. Courtiers and ladies are -moving about in all directions. Pages are passing to and fro. From an -adjoining salon music is heard and bursts of merriment. - -[Music] - -There is effervescent gayety in the orchestral accompaniment to the -scene. A minuet played by an orchestra on the stage is curiously -reminiscent of the minuet in Mozart's "Don Giovanni." The _Duke_ and -_Borsa_ enter from the back. They are conversing about an "unknown -charmer"--none other than _Gilda_--whom the _Duke_ has seen at church. -He says that he will pursue the adventure to the end, although a -mysterious man visits her nightly. - -Among a group of his guests the _Duke_ sees the _Countess Ceprano_, -whom he has been wooing quite openly, in spite of the _Count's_ -visible annoyance. The dashing gallant cares nothing about what anyone -may think of his escapades, least of all the husbands or other -relatives of the ladies. "Questa o quella per me pari sono" (This one, -or that one, to me 'tis the same). - -[Music] - -This music floats on air. It gives at once the cue to the _Duke's_ -character. Like _Don Giovanni_ he is indifferent to fate, flits from -one affair to another, and is found as fascinating as he is dangerous -by all women, of whatever degree, upon whom he confers his doubtful -favours. - -_Rigoletto_, hunchbacked but agile, sidles in. He is in cap and bells, -and carries the jester's bauble. The immediate object of his satire is -_Count Ceprano_, who is watching his wife, as she is being led off on -the _Duke's_ arm. _Rigoletto_ then goes out looking for other victims. -_Marullo_ joins the nobles. He tells them that _Rigoletto_, despite -his hump, has an inamorata. The statement makes a visible impression -upon _Count Ceprano_, and when the nobles, after another sally from -the jester, who has returned with the _Duke_, inveigh against his -bitter tongue, the _Count_ bids them meet him at night on the morrow -and he will guarantee them revenge upon the hunchback for the gibes -they have been obliged to endure from him. - -The gay music, which forms a restless background to the recitatives of -which I have given the gist, - -[Music] - -trips buoyantly along, to be suddenly broken in upon by the voice of -one struggling without, and who, having freed himself from those -evidently striving to hold him back, bursts in upon the scene. It is -the aged _Count Monterone_. His daughter has been dishonoured by the -_Duke_, and he denounces the ruler of Mantua before the whole -assembly. His arrest is ordered. _Rigoletto_ mocks him until, drawing -himself up to his full height, the old noble not only denounces him, -but calls down upon him a father's curse. - -_Rigoletto_ is strangely affrighted. He cowers before _Monterone's_ -malediction. It is the first time since he has appeared at the -gathering that he is not gibing at someone. Not only is he subdued; he -is terror-stricken. - -_Monterone_ is led off between halberdiers. The gay music again breaks -in. The crowd follows the _Duke_. But _Rigoletto_? - -The scene changes to the street outside of his house. It is secluded -in a courtyard, from which a door leads into the street. In the -courtyard are a tall tree and a marble seat. There is also seen at the -end of the street, which has no thoroughfare, the gable end of _Count -Ceprano's_ palace. It is night. - -As _Rigoletto_ enters, he speaks of _Monterone's_ curse. His entrance -to the house is interrupted by the appearance of _Sparafucile_, an -assassin for hire. In a colloquy, to which the orchestra supplies an -accompaniment, interesting because in keeping with the scene, he -offers to _Rigoletto_ his services, should they be needed, in putting -enemies out of the way--and his charges are reasonable. - -[Music] - -_Rigoletto_ has no immediate need of him, but ascertains where he can -be found. - -_Sparafucile_ goes. _Rigoletto_ has a soliloquy, beginning, "How like -are we!--the tongue, my weapon, the dagger his! to make others laugh -is my vocation,--his to make them weep!... Tears, the common solace of -humanity, are to me denied.... 'Amuse me buffoon'--and I must obey." -His mind still dwells on the curse--a father's curse, pronounced upon -him, a father to whom his daughter is a jewel. He refers to it, even -as he unlocks the door that leads to his house, and also to his -daughter, who, as he enters, throws herself into his arms. - -He cautions her about going out. She says she never ventures beyond -the courtyard save to go to church. He grieves over the death of his -wife--_Gilda's_ mother--that left her to his care while she was still -an infant. "Deh non parlare al misero" (Speak not of one whose loss to -me). - -[Music: Deh non parlare al misero] - -He charges her attendant, _Giovanna_, carefully to guard her. _Gilda_ -endeavours to dispel his fears. The result is the duet for _Rigoletto_ -and _Gilda_, beginning with his words to _Giovanna_, "Veglia, o donna, -questo fiore" (Safely guard this tender blossom). - -[Illustration: Photo copyright, 1916, by Victor Georg - -Galli-Curci as Gilda in "Rigoletto"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Caruso as the Duke in "Rigoletto"] - -_Rigoletto_ hears footsteps in the street and goes out through the -door of the courtyard to see who may be there. As the door swings out, -the _Duke_, for it is he, in the guise of a student, whose stealthy -footsteps have been heard by the jester, conceals himself behind it, -then slips into the courtyard, tosses a purse to _Giovanna_, and hides -in the shadow of the tree. _Rigoletto_ reappears for a brief moment to -say good-bye to _Gilda_ and once more to warn _Giovanna_ to guard her -carefully. - -When he has gone _Gilda_ worries because fear drove her to refrain -from revealing to her father that a handsome youth has several times -followed her from church. This youth's image is installed in her -heart. "I long to say to him 'I lo--'" - -The _Duke_ steps out of the tree's shadow, motions to _Giovanna_ to -retire and, throwing himself at _Gilda's_ feet, takes the words out of -her mouth by exclaiming, "I love thee!" - -No doubt taken by surprise, yet also thrilled with joy, she hearkens -to him rapturously as he declares, "È il sol dell'anima, la vita è -amore" (Love is the sun by which passion is kindled). - -[Music: È il sol dell'anima, la vita è amore,] - -The meeting is brief, for again there are footsteps outside. But their -farewell is an impassioned duet, "Addio speranza ed anima" (Farewell, -my hope, my soul, farewell). - -He has told her that he is a student, by name Walter Maldè. When he -has gone, she muses upon the name, and, when she has lighted a candle -and is ascending the steps to her room, she sings the enchanting -coloratura air, "Caro nome che il mio cor" (Dear name, my heart -enshrines). - -[Music: - - Caro nome che il mio cor - Festi primo palpitar,] - -If the _Gilda_ be reasonably slender and pretty, the scene, with the -courtyard, the steps leading up to the room, and the young maiden -gracefully and tenderly expressing her heart's first romance, is -charming, and in itself sufficient to account for the attraction which -the rôle holds for prima donnas. - -Tiptoeing through the darkness outside come _Marullo_, _Ceprano_, -_Borsa_, and other nobles and courtiers, intent upon seeking revenge -for the gibes _Rigoletto_ at various times has aimed at them, by -carrying off the damsel, whom they assume to be his inamorata. At that -moment, however, the jester himself appears. They tell him they have -come to abduct the _Countess Ceprano_ and bear her to the Ducal -palace. To substantiate this statement _Marullo_ quickly has the keys -to _Ceprano's_ house passed to him by the _Count_, and in the darkness -holds them out to _Rigoletto_, who, his suspicions allayed because he -can feel the Ceprano crest in basso-relievo on the keys, volunteers to -aid in the escapade. _Marullo_ gives him a mask and, as if to fasten -it securely, ties it with a handkerchief, which he passes over the -piercings for the eyes. _Rigoletto_, confused, holds a ladder against -what he believes to be the wall of _Ceprano's_ house. By it, the -abductors climb his own wall, enter his house, gag, seize, and carry -away _Gilda_, making their exit from the courtyard, but in their hurry -failing to observe a scarf that has fluttered from their precious -burden. - -_Rigoletto_ is left alone in the darkness and silence. He tears off -his mask. The door to his courtyard is open. Before him lies _Gilda's_ -scarf. He rushes into the house, into her room; reappears, staggering -under the weight of the disaster, which, through his own unwitting -connivance, has befallen him. - -"Ah! La maledizione!" he cries out. It is _Monterone's_ curse. - -Act II has its scene laid in the ducal palace. This salon has large -folding doors in the background and smaller ones on each side, above -which are portraits of the _Duke_ and of the Duchess, a lady who, -whether from a sense of delicacy or merely to serve the convenience of -the stage, does not otherwise appear in the opera. - -The _Duke_ is disconsolate. He has returned to _Rigoletto's_ house, -found it empty. The bird had flown. The scamp mourns his loss--in -affecting language and music, "Parmi veder le lagrime" (Fair maid, -each tear of mine that flows). - -In a capital chorus he is told by _Marullo_ and the others that they -have abducted _Rigoletto's_ inamorata. - -[Music: Scorrendo uniti remota via] - -The _Duke_ well knows that she is the very one whose charms are the -latest that have enraptured him. "Possente amor mi chiama" (To her I -love with rapture). - -He learns from the courtiers that they have brought her to the palace. -He hastens to her, "to console her," in his own way. It is at this -moment _Rigoletto_ enters. He knows his daughter is in the palace. He -has come to search for her. Aware that he is in the presence of those -who took advantage of him and thus secured his aid in the abduction of -the night before, he yet, in order to accomplish his purpose, must -appear light-hearted, question craftily, and be diplomatic, although -at times he cannot prevent his real feelings breaking through. It is -the ability of Verdi to give expression to such varied emotions which -make this scene one of the most significant in his operas. It is -dominated by an orchestral motive, that of the clown who jests while -his heart is breaking. - -[Music: La rà, la rà, la la, la rà, la rà, la rà, la rà etc.] - -Finally he turns upon the crowd that taunts him, hurls invective upon -them; and, when a door opens and _Gilda_, whose story can be read in -her aspect of despair, rushes into his arms, he orders the courtiers -out of sight with a sense of outrage so justified that, in spite of -the flippant words with which they comment upon his command, they obey -it. - -Father and daughter are alone. She tells him her story--of the -handsome youth, who followed her from church--"Tutte le feste al -tempio" (One very festal morning). - -Then follows her account of their meeting, his pretence that he was a -poor student, when, in reality, he was the _Duke_--to whose chamber -she was borne after her abduction. It is from there she has just come. -Her father strives to comfort her--"Piangi, fanciulla" (Weep, my -child). - -At this moment he is again reminded of the curse pronounced upon him -by the father whose grief with him had been but the subject of ribald -jest. _Count Monterone_, between guards, is conducted through the -apartment to the prison where he is to be executed for denouncing the -_Duke_. Then _Rigoletto_ vows vengeance upon the betrayer of _Gilda_. - -But such is the fascination which the _Duke_ exerts over women that -_Gilda_, fearing for the life of her despoiler, pleads with her father -to "pardon him, as we ourselves the pardon of heaven hope to gain," -adding, in an aside, "I dare not say how much I love him." - -It was a corrupt, carefree age. Victor Hugo created a debonair -character--a libertine who took life lightly and flitted from pleasure -to pleasure. And so Verdi lets him flit from tune to tune--gay, -melodious, sentimental. There still are plenty of men like the _Duke_, -and plenty of women like _Gilda_ to love them; and other women, be it -recalled, as discreet as the Duchess, who does not appear in this -opera save as a portrait on the wall, from which she calmly looks down -upon a jester invoking vengeance upon her husband, because of the -wrong he has done the girl, who weeps on the breast of her hunchback -father. - -To Act III might be given as a sub-title, "The Fool's Revenge," the -title of Tom Taylor's adaptation into English of Victor Hugo's play. -The scene shows a desolate spot on the banks of the Mincio. On the -right, with its front to the audience, is a house two stories high, in -a very dilapidated state, but still used as an inn. The doors and -walls are so full of crevices that whatever is going on within can be -seen from without. In front are the road and the river; in the -distance is the city of Mantua. It is night. - -The house is that of _Sparafucile_. With him lives his sister, -_Maddalena_, a handsome young gypsy woman, who lures men to the inn, -there to be robbed--or killed, if there is more money to be had for -murder than for robbery. _Sparafucile_ is seen within, cleaning his -belt and sharpening his sword. - -Outside are _Rigoletto_ and _Gilda_. She cannot banish the image of -her despoiler from her heart. Hither the hunchback has brought her to -prove to her the faithlessness of the _Duke_. She sees him in the garb -of a soldier coming along the city wall. He descends, enters the inn, -and calls for wine and a room for the night. Shuffling a pack of -cards, which he finds on the table, and pouring out the wine, he sings -of woman. This is the famous "La donna è mobile" (Fickle is woman -fair). - -[Music: - - La donna è mobile - Qual piuma al vento,] - -It has been highly praised and violently criticized; and usually gets -as many encores as the singer cares to give. As for the criticisms, -the cadenzas so ostentatiously introduced by singers for the sake of -catching applause, are no more Verdi's than is the high C in "Il -Trovatore." The song is perfectly in keeping with the _Duke's_ -character. It has grace, verve, and buoyancy; and, what is an -essential point in the development of the action from this point on, -it is easily remembered. In any event I am glad that among my operatic -experiences I can count having heard "La donna è mobile" sung by such -great artists as Campanini, Caruso, and Bonci, the last two upon their -first appearances in the rôle in this country. - -At a signal from _Sparafucile_, _Maddalena_ joins the _Duke_. He -presses his love upon her. With professional coyness she pretends to -repulse him. This leads to the quartet, with its dramatic -interpretation of the different emotions of the four participants. The -_Duke_ is gallantly urgent and pleading: "Bella figlia dell'amore" -(Fairest daughter of the graces). - -[Music] - -_Maddalena_ laughingly resists his advances: "I am proof, my gentle -wooer, 'gainst your vain and empty nothings." - -[Music] - -_Gilda_ is moved to despair: "Ah, thus to me of love he spoke." - -[Music] - -_Rigoletto_ mutters of vengeance. - -It is the _Duke_ who begins the quartet; _Maddalena_ who first joins -in by coyly mocking him; _Gilda_ whose voice next falls upon the night -with despairing accents; _Rigoletto_ whose threats of vengeance then -are heard. With the return of the theme, after the first cadence, the -varied elements are combined. - -They continue so to the end. _Gilda's_ voice, in brief cries of grief, -rising twice to effective climaxes, then becoming even more poignant -through the syncopation of the rhythm. - -Rising to a beautiful and highly dramatic climax, the quartet ends -pianissimo. - -This quartet usually is sung as the pièce de résistance of the opera, -and is supposed to be the great event of the performance. I cannot -recall a representation of the work with Nilsson and Campanini in -which this was not the case, and it was so at the Manhattan when -"Rigoletto" was sung there by Melba and Bonci. But at the -Metropolitan, since Caruso's advent, "Rigoletto" has become a "Caruso -opera," and the stress is laid on "La donna è mobile," for which -numerous encores are demanded, while with the quartet, the encore is -deliberately side-stepped--a most interesting process for the -initiated to watch. - -[Illustration: Photo by Hall - -The Quartet in "Rigoletto" - -The Duke (Sheehan), Maddalena (Albright), Gilda (Easton), Rigoletto -(Goff)] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Riccardo Martin as Manrico in "Il Trovatore"] - -After the quartet, _Sparafucile_ comes out and receives from -_Rigoletto_ half of his fee to murder the _Duke_, the balance to be -paid when the body, in a sack, is delivered to the hunchback. -_Sparafucile_ offers to throw the sack into the river, but that does -not suit the fool's desire for revenge. He wants the grim -satisfaction of doing so himself. Satisfied that _Gilda_ has seen -enough of the _Duke's_ perfidy, he sends her home, where, for safety, -she is to don male attire and start on the way to Verona, where he -will join her. He himself also goes out. - -A storm now gathers. There are flashes of lightning; distant rumblings -of thunder. The wind moans. (Indicated by the chorus, _à bouche -fermée_, behind the scenes.) The _Duke_ has gone to his room, after -whispering a few words to _Maddalena_. He lays down his hat and sword, -throws himself on the bed, sings a few snatches of "La donna è -mobile," and in a short time falls asleep. _Maddalena_, below, stands -by the table. _Sparafucile_ finishes the contents of the bottle left -by the _Duke_. Both remain silent for awhile. - -_Maddalena_, fascinated by the _Duke_, begins to plead for his life. -The storm is now at its height. Lightning plays vividly across the -sky, thunder crashes, wind howls, rain falls in torrents. Through this -uproar of the elements, to which night adds its terrors, comes -_Gilda_, drawn as by a magnet to the spot where she knows her false -lover to be. Through the crevices in the wall of the house she can -hear _Maddalena_ pleading with _Sparafucile_ to spare the _Duke's_ -life. "Kill the hunchback," she counsels, "when he comes with the -balance of the money." But there is honour even among assassins as -among thieves. The bravo will not betray a customer. - -_Maddalena_ pleads yet more urgently. Well--_Sparafucile_ will give -the handsome youth one desperate chance for life: Should any other man -arrive at the inn before midnight, that man will he kill and put in -the sack to be thrown into the river, in place of _Maddalena's_ -temporary favourite. A clock strikes the half-hour. _Gilda_ is in male -attire. She determines to save the _Duke's_ life--to sacrifice hers -for his. She knocks. There is a moment of surprised suspense within. -Then everything is made ready. _Maddalena_ opens the door, and runs -forward to close the outer one. _Gilda_ enters. For a moment one -senses her form in the darkness. A half-stifled outcry. Then all is -buried in silence and gloom. - -The storm is abating. The rain has ceased; the lightning become -fitful, the thunder distant and intermittent. _Rigoletto_ returns. "At -last the hour of my vengeance is nigh." A bell tolls midnight. He -knocks at the door. _Sparafucile_ brings out the sack, receives the -balance of his money, and retires into the house. "This sack his -winding sheet!" exclaims the hunchback, as he gloats over it. The -night has cleared. He must hurry and throw it into the river. - -Out of the second story of the house and on to the wall steps the -figure of a man and proceeds along the wall toward the city. -_Rigoletto_ starts to drag the sack with the body toward the stream. -Lightly upon the night fall the notes of a familiar voice singing: - - La donna è mobile - Qual piuma al vento; - Muta d'accento, - E di pensiero. - - (Fickle is woman fair, - Like feather wafted; - Changeable ever, - Constant, ah, never.) - -It is the _Duke_. Furiously the hunchback tears open the sack. In it -he beholds his daughter. Not yet quite dead, she is able to whisper, -"Too much I loved him--now I die for him." There is a duet: _Gilda_, -"Lassù in cielo" (From yonder sky); _Rigoletto_, "Non morir" (Ah, -perish not). - -"Maledizione!"--The music of _Monterone's_ curse upon the ribald -jester, now bending over the corpse of his own despoiled daughter, -resounds on the orchestra. The fool has had his revenge. - -For political reasons the performance of Victor Hugo's "Le Roi -s'Amuse" was forbidden in France after the first representation. In -Hugo's play the principal character is Triboulet, the jester of -François I. The King, of course, also is a leading character; and -there is a pen-portrait of Saint-Vallier. It was considered unsafe, -after the revolutionary uprisings in Europe in 1848, to present on the -stage so licentious a story involving a monarch. Therefore, to avoid -political complications, and copyright ones possibly later, the -Italian librettist laid the scene in Mantua. _Triboulet_ became -_Rigoletto_; _François I._ the _Duke_, and _Saint-Vallier_ the _Count -Monterone_. Early in its career the opera also was given under the -title of "Viscardello." - - -IL TROVATORE - -THE TROUBADOUR - - Opera in four acts, by Verdi; words by Salvatore Cammarano, - based on the Spanish drama of the same title by Antonio - Garcia Gutierrez. Produced, Apollo Theatre, Rome, January - 19, 1853. Paris, Théâtre des Italiens, December 23, 1854; - Grand Opéra, in French as "Le Trouvère," January 12, 1857. - London, Covent Garden, May 17, 1855; in English, as "The - Gypsy's Vengeance," Drury Lane, March 24, 1856. America: New - York, April 30, 1855, with Brignoli (_Manrico_), Steffanone - (_Leonora_), Amodio (_Count di Luna_), and Vestvali - (_Azucena_); Philadelphia, Walnut Street Theatre, January - 14, 1856, and Academy of Music, February 25, 1857; New - Orleans, April 13, 1857. Metropolitan Opera House, New York, - in German, 1889; 1908, Caruso, Eames, and Homer. Frequently - performed at the Academy of Music, New York, with Campanini - (_Manrico_), Nilsson (_Leonora_), and Annie Louise Cary - (_Azucena_); and Del Puente or Galassi as _Count di Luna_. - - CHARACTERS - - COUNT DI LUNA, a young noble of Aragon _Baritone_ - FERRANDO, DI LUNA'S captain of the guard _Bass_ - MANRICO, a chieftain under the Prince - of Biscay, and reputed son of AZUCENA _Tenor_ - RUIZ, a soldier in MANRICO'S service _Tenor_ - AN OLD GYPSY _Baritone_ - DUCHESS LEONORA, lady-in-waiting to a - Princess of Aragon _Soprano_ - INEZ, confidante of LEONORA _Soprano_ - AZUCENA, a Biscayan gypsy woman _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Followers of COUNT DI LUNA and of MANRICO; messenger, - gaoler, soldiers, nuns, gypsies. - - _Time_--Fifteenth century. - - _Place_--Biscay and Aragon. - -For many years "Il Trovatore" has been an opera of world-wide -popularity, and for a long time could be accounted the most popular -work in the operatic repertoire of practically every land. While it -cannot be said to retain its former vogue in this country, it is still -a good drawing card, and, with special excellences of cast, an -exceptional one. - -The libretto of "Il Trovatore" is considered the acme of absurdity; -and the popularity of the opera, notwithstanding, is believed to be -entirely due to the almost unbroken melodiousness of Verdi's score. - -While it is true, however, that the story of this opera seems to be a -good deal of a mix-up, it is also a fact that, under the spur of -Verdi's music, even a person who has not a clear grasp of the plot can -sense the dramatic power of many of the scenes. It is an opera of -immense verve, of temperament almost unbridled, of genius for the -melodramatic so unerring that its composer has taken dance rhythms, -like those of mazurka and waltz, and on them developed melodies most -passionate in expression and dramatic in effect. Swift, spontaneous, -and stirring is the music of "Il Trovatore." Absurdities, -complexities, unintelligibilities of story are swept away in its -unrelenting progress. "Il Trovatore" is the Verdi of forty working at -white heat. - -One reason why the plot of "Il Trovatore" seems such a jumbled-up -affair is that a considerable part of the story is supposed to have -transpired before the curtain goes up. These events are narrated by -_Ferrando_, the _Count di Luna's_ captain of the guard, soon after -the opera begins. But as even spoken narrative on the stage makes -little impression, narrative when sung may be said to make none at -all. Could the audience know what _Ferrando_ is singing about, the -subsequent proceedings would not appear so hopelessly involved, or -appeal so strongly to humorous rhymesters, who usually begin their -parodies on the opera with, - - This is the story - of "Il Trovatore." - -What is supposed to have happened before the curtain goes up on the -opera is as follows: The old Count di Luna, sometime deceased, had two -sons nearly of the same age. One night, when they still were infants, -and asleep, in a nurse's charge in an apartment in the old Count's -castle, a gypsy hag, having gained stealthy entrance into the chamber, -was discovered leaning over the cradle of the younger child, Garzia. -Though she was instantly driven away, the child's health began to fail -and she was believed to have bewitched it. She was pursued, -apprehended and burned alive at the stake. - -Her daughter, _Azucena_, at that time a young gypsy woman with a child -of her own in her arms, was a witness to the death of her mother, -which she swore to avenge. During the following night she stole into -the castle, snatched the younger child of the Count di Luna from its -cradle, and hurried back to the scene of execution, intending to throw -the baby boy into the flames that still raged over the spot where they -had consumed her mother. Almost bereft of her senses, however, by her -memory of the horrible scene she had witnessed, she seized and hurled -into the flames her own child, instead of the young Count (thus -preserving, with an almost supernatural instinct for opera, the baby -that was destined to grow up into a tenor with a voice high enough to -sing "Di quella pira"). - -Thwarted for the moment in her vengeance, _Azucena_ was not to be -completely baffled. With the infant Count in her arms she fled and -rejoined her tribe, entrusting her secret to no one, but bringing him -up--_Manrico, the Troubadour_--as her own son; and always with the -thought that through him she might wreak vengeance upon his own -kindred. - -When the opera opens, _Manrico_ has grown up; she has become old and -wrinkled, but is still unrelenting in her quest of vengeance. The old -Count has died, leaving the elder son, _Count di Luna_ of the opera, -sole heir to his title and possessions, but always doubting the death -of the younger, despite the heap of infant's bones found among the -ashes about the stake. - -"After this preliminary knowledge," quaintly says the English -libretto, "we now come to the actual business of the piece." Each of -the four acts of this "piece" has a title: Act I, "Il Duello" (The -Duel); Act II, "La Gitana" (The Gypsy); Act III, "Il Figlio della -Zingara" (The Gypsy's Son); Act IV, "Il Supplizio" (The Penalty). - -Act I. Atrium of the palace of Aliaferia, with a door leading to the -apartments of the _Count di Luna_. _Ferrando_, the captain of the -guard, and retainers, are reclining near the door. Armed men are -standing guard in the background. It is night. The men are on guard -because _Count di Luna_ desires to apprehend a minstrel knight, a -troubadour, who has been heard on several occasions to be serenading -from the palace garden, the _Duchess Leonora_, for whom a deep, but -unrequited passion sways the _Count_. - -Weary of the watch, the retainers beg _Ferrando_ to tell them the -story of the _Count's_ brother, the stolen child. This _Ferrando_ -proceeds to do in the ballad, "Abbietta zingara" (Sat there a gypsy -hag). - -_Ferrando's_ gruesome ballad and the comments of the horror-stricken -chorus dominate the opening of the opera. The scene is an unusually -effective one for a subordinate character like _Ferrando_. But in "Il -Trovatore" Verdi is lavish with his melodies--more so, perhaps, than -in any of his other operas. - -The scene changes to the gardens of the palace. On one side a flight -of marble steps leads to _Leonora's_ apartment. Heavy clouds obscure -the moon. _Leonora_ and _Inez_ are in the garden. From the -confidante's questions and _Leonora's_ answers it is gathered that -_Leonora_ is enamoured of an unknown but valiant knight who, lately -entering a tourney, won all contests and was crowned victor by her -hand. She knows her love is requited, for at night she has heard her -_Troubadour_ singing below her window. In the course of this narrative -_Leonora_ has two solos. The first of these is the romantic "Tacea la -notte placida" (The night calmly and peacefully in beauty seemed -reposing). - -[Music: - - Tacea la notte placida, - E bella in ciel sereno;] - -It is followed by the graceful and engaging "Di tale amor che dirsi" -(Of such a love how vainly), - -[Music: Di tale amor che dirsi] - -with its brilliant cadenza. - -_Leonora_ and _Inez_ then ascend the steps and retire into the palace. -The _Count di Luna_ now comes into the garden. He has hardly entered -before the voice of the _Troubadour_, accompanied on a lute, is heard -from a nearby thicket singing the familiar romanza, "Deserto sulla -terra" (Lonely on earth abiding). - -[Music: Deserto sulla terra] - -From the palace comes _Leonora_. Mistaking the Count in the shadow of -the trees for her _Troubadour_, she hastens toward him. The moon -emerging from a cloud, she sees the figure of a masked cavalier, -recognizes it as that of her lover, and turns from the _Count_ toward -the _Troubadour_. Unmasking, the _Troubadour_ now discloses his -identity as _Manrico_, one who, as a follower of the Prince of Biscay, -is proscribed in Aragon. The men draw their swords. There is a trio -that fairly seethes with passion--"Di geloso amor sprezzato" (Fires of -jealous, despised affection). - -[Music] - -These are the words, in which the _Count_ begins the trio. It -continues with "Un istante almen dia loco" (One brief moment thy fury -restraining). - -[Music: Un istante almen dia loco] - -The men rush off to fight their duel. _Leonora_ faints. - -Act II. An encampment of gypsies. There is a ruined house at the foot -of a mountain in Biscay; the interior partly exposed to view; within a -great fire is lighted. Day begins to dawn. - -_Azucena_ is seated near the fire. _Manrico_, enveloped in his mantle, -is lying upon a mattress; his helmet is at his feet; in his hand he -holds a sword, which he regards fixedly. A band of gypsies are sitting -in scattered groups around them. - -Since an almost unbroken sequence of melodies is a characteristic of -"Il Trovatore," it is not surprising to find at the opening of this -act two famous numbers in quick succession;--the famous "Anvil -Chorus," - -[Music] - -in which the gypsies, working at the forges, swing their hammers and -bring them down on clanking metal in rhythm with the music; the chorus -being followed immediately by _Azucena's_ equally famous "Stride la -vampa" (Upward the flames roll). - -[Music: Stride la vampa!] - -In this air, which the old gypsy woman sings as a weird, but -impassioned upwelling of memories and hatreds, while the tribe gathers -about her, she relates the story of her mother's death. "Avenge thou -me!" she murmurs to _Manrico_, when she has concluded. - -The corps de ballet which, in the absence of a regular ballet in "Il -Trovatore," utilizes this scene and the music of the "Anvil Chorus" -for its picturesque saltations, dances off. The gypsies now depart, -singing their chorus. With a pretty effect it dies away in the -distance. - -[Music] - -Swept along by the emotional stress under which she labours, _Azucena_ -concludes her narrative of the tragic events at the pyre, voice and -orchestral accompaniment uniting in a vivid musical setting of her -memories. Naturally, her words arouse doubts in _Manrico's_ mind as to -whether he really is her son. She hastens to dispel these; they were -but wandering thoughts she uttered. Moreover, after the recent battle -of Petilla, between the forces of Biscay and Aragon, when he was -reported slain, did she not search for and find him, and has she not -been tenderly nursing him back to strength? - -The forces of Aragon were led by _Count di Luna_, who but a short time -before had been overcome by _Manrico_ in a duel in the palace -garden;--why, on that occasion, asks the gypsy, did he spare the -_Count's_ life? - -_Manrico's_ reply is couched in a bold, martial air, "Mal reggendo -all'aspro assalto" (Ill sustaining the furious encounter). - -But at the end it dies away to _pp_, when he tells how, when the -_Count's_ life was his for a thrust, a voice, as if from heaven, bade -him spare it--a suggestion, of course, that although neither _Manrico_ -nor the _Count_ know that they are brothers, _Manrico_ unconsciously -was swayed by the relationship, a touch of psychology rare in Italian -opera librettos, most unexpected in this, and, of course, completely -lost upon those who have not familiarized themselves with the plot of -"Il Trovatore." Incidentally, however, it accounts for a musical -effect--the _pp_, the sudden softening of the expression, at the end -of the martial description of the duel. - -Enter now _Ruiz_, a messenger from the Prince of Biscay, who orders -_Manrico_ to take command of the forces defending the stronghold of -Castellor, and at the same time informs him that _Leonora_, believing -reports of his death at Petilla, is about to take the veil in a -convent near the castle. - -The scene changes to the cloister of this convent. It is night. The -_Count_ and his followers, led by _Ferrando_, and heavily cloaked, -advance cautiously. It is the _Count's_ plan to carry off _Leonora_ -before she becomes a nun. He sings of his love for her in the air, "Il -Balen" (The Smile)--"Il balen del suo sorriso" (Of her smile, the -radiant gleaming)--which is justly regarded as one of the most chaste -and beautiful baritone solos in Italian opera. - -[Music: Il balen del suo sorriso] - -It is followed by an air _alla marcia_, also for the _Count_, "Per me -ora fatale" (Oh, fatal hour impending). - -[Music: Per me ora fatale,] - -A chorus of nuns is heard from within the convent. _Leonora_, with -_Inez_, and her ladies, come upon the scene. They are about to proceed -from the cloister into the convent when the _Count_ interposes. But -before he can seize _Leonora_, another figure stands between them. It -is _Manrico_. With him are _Ruiz_ and his followers. The _Count_ is -foiled. - -"E deggio!--e posso crederlo?" (And can I still my eyes believe!) -exclaims _Leonora_, as she beholds before her _Manrico_, whom she had -thought dead. It is here that begins the impassioned finale, an -ensemble consisting of a trio for _Leonora_, _Manrico_, and the _Count -di Luna_, with chorus. - -Act III. The camp of _Count di Luna_, who is laying siege to -Castellor, whither _Manrico_ has safely borne _Leonora_. There is a -stirring chorus for _Ferrando_ and the soldiers. - -[Music] - -The _Count_ comes from his tent. He casts a lowering gaze at the -stronghold from where his rival defies him. There is a commotion. -Soldiers have captured a gypsy woman found prowling about the camp. -They drag her in. She is _Azucena_. Questioned, she sings that she is -a poor wanderer, who means no harm. "Giorni poveri vivea" (I was poor, -yet uncomplaining). - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Schumann-Heink as Azucena in "Il Trovatore"] - -But _Ferrando_, though she thought herself masked by the grey hairs -and wrinkles of age, recognizes her as the gypsy who, to avenge her -mother, gave over the infant brother of the _Count_ to the flames. In -the vehemence of her denials, she cries out to _Manrico_, whom she -names as her son, to come to her rescue. This still further enrages -the _Count_. He orders that she be cast into prison and then burned at -the stake. She is dragged away. - -The scene changes to a hall adjoining the chapel in the stronghold of -Castellor. _Leonora_ is about to become the bride of _Manrico_, who -sings the beautiful lyric, "Amor--sublime amore" ('Tis love, sublime -emotion). - -Its serenity makes all the more effective the tumultuous scene that -follows. It assists in giving to that episode, one of the most famous -in Italian opera, its true significance as a dramatic climax. - -Just as _Manrico_ takes _Leonora's_ hand to lead her to the altar of -the chapel, _Ruiz_ rushes in with word that _Azucena_ has been -captured by the besiegers and is about to be burned to death. Already -through the windows of Castellor the glow of flames can be seen. Her -peril would render delay fatal. Dropping the hand of his bride, -_Manrico_, draws his sword, and, as his men gather, sings "Di quella -pira l'orrendo foco" (See the pyre blazing, oh, sight of horror), and -rushes forth at the head of his soldiers to attempt to save _Azucena_. - -[Music] - -The line, "O teco almeno, corro a morir" (Or, all else failing, to die -with thee), contains the famous high C. - -[Music: O teco almeno corro a morir] - -This is a _tour de force_, which has been condemned as vulgar and -ostentatious, but which undoubtedly adds to the effectiveness of the -number. There is, it should be remarked, no high C in the score of "Di -quella pira." In no way is Verdi responsible for it. It was introduced -by a tenor, who saw a chance to make an effect with it, and succeeded -so well that it became a fixture. A tenor now content to sing "O teco -almeno" as Verdi wrote it - -[Music] - -would never be asked to sing it. - -Dr. Frank E. Miller, author of _The Voice_ and _Vocal Art Science_, -the latter the most complete exposition of the psycho-physical -functions involved in voice-production, informs me that a series of -photographs have been made (by an apparatus too complicated to -describe) of the vibrations of Caruso's voice as he takes and holds -the high C in "Di quella pira." The record measures fifty-eight feet. -While it might not be correct to say that Caruso's high C is -fifty-eight feet long, the record is evidence of its being superbly -taken and held. - -Not infrequently the high C in "Di quella pira" is faked for tenors -who cannot reach it, yet have to sing the rôle of _Manrico_, or who, -having been able to reach it in their younger days and at the height -of their prime, still wish to maintain their fame as robust tenors. -For such the number is transposed. The tenor, instead of singing high -C, sings B-flat, a tone and a half lower, and much easier to take. By -flourishing his sword and looking very fierce he usually manages to -get away with it. Transpositions of operatic airs, requiring unusually -high voices, are not infrequently made for singers, both male and -female, no longer in their prime, but still good for two or three more -"farewell" tours. All they have to do is to step up to the footlights -with an air of perfect confidence, which indicates that the great -moment in the performance has arrived, deliver, with a certain -assumption of effort--the semblance of a real _tour de force_--the -note which has conveniently been transposed, and receive the -enthusiastic plaudits of their devoted admirers. But the assumption of -effort must not be omitted. The tenor who sings the high C in "Di -quella pira" without getting red in the face will hardly be credited -with having sung it at all. - -Act IV. _Manrico's_ sortie to rescue his supposed mother failed. His -men were repulsed, and he himself was captured and thrown into the -dungeon tower of Aliaferia, where _Azucena_ was already enchained. The -scene shows a wing of the palace of Aliaferia. In the angle is a tower -with window secured by iron bars. It is night, dark and clouded. - -_Leonora_ enters with _Ruiz_, who points out to her the place of -_Manrico's_ confinement, and retires. That she has conceived a -desperate plan to save her lover appears from the fact that she wears -a poison ring, a ring with a swift poison concealed under the jewel, -so that she can take her own life, if driven thereto. - -Unknown to _Manrico_, she is near him. Her thoughts wander to -him;--"D'amor sull'ali rosee" (On rosy wings of love depart). - -[Music: D'amor sull'ali rosee] - -It is followed by the "Miserere," which was for many years and perhaps -still is the world over the most popular of all melodies from opera, -although at the present time it appears to have been superseded by -the "Intermezzo" from "Cavalleria Rusticana." - -The "Miserere" is chanted by a chorus within. - -[Music] - -Against this as a sombre background are projected the heart-broken -ejaculations of _Leonora_. - -[Music] - -Then _Manrico's_ voice in the tower intones "Ah! che la morte ognora" -(Ah! how death still delayeth). - -[Music] - -One of the most characteristic phrases, suggestions of which occur -also in "La Traviata" and even in "Aïda," is the following: - -[Music: a chi desia, a chi desia morir!] - -Familiarity may breed contempt, and nothing could well be more -familiar than the "Miserere" from "Il Trovatore." Yet, well sung, it -never fails of effect; and the gaoler always has to let _Manrico_ come -out of the tower and acknowledge the applause of an excited house, -while _Leonora_ stands by and pretends not to see him, one of those -little fictions and absurdities of old-fashioned opera that really -add to its charm. - -The _Count_ enters, to be confronted by _Leonora_. She promises to -become his wife if he will free _Manrico_. _Di Luna's_ passion for her -is so intense that he agrees. There is a solo for _Leonora_, "Mira, di -acerbe lagrime" (Witness the tears of agony), followed by a duet -between her and the _Count_, who little suspects that, _Manrico_ once -freed, she will escape a hated union with himself by taking the poison -in her ring. - -The scene changes to the interior of the tower. _Manrico_ and -_Azucena_ sing a duet of mournful beauty, "Ai nostri monti" (Back to -our mountains). - -[Music: Ai nostri monti] [Music: Riposa o madre, io prono e muto] - -_Leonora_ enters and bids him escape. But he suspects the price she -has paid; and his suspicions are confirmed by herself, when the poison -she has drained from beneath the jewel in her ring begins to take -effect and she feels herself sinking in death, while _Azucena_, in her -sleep, croons dreamily, "Back to our mountains." - -The _Count di Luna_, coming upon the scene, finds _Leonora_ dead in -her lover's arms. He orders _Manrico_ to be led to the block at once -and drags _Azucena_ to the window to witness the death of her supposed -son. - -"It is over!" exclaims _Di Luna_, when the executioner has done his -work. - -"The victim was thy brother!" shrieks the gypsy hag. "Thou art -avenged, O mother!" - -She falls near the window. - -"And I still live!" exclaims the _Count_. - -With that exclamation the cumulative horrors, set to the most tuneful -score in Italian opera, are over. - - -LA TRAVIATA - -THE FRAIL ONE - - Opera in three acts by Verdi; words by Francesco Maria - Piave, after the play "La Dame aux Camélias," by Alexandre - Dumas, _fils_. Produced Fenice Theatre, Venice, March 6, - 1853. London, May 24, 1856, with Piccolomini. Paris, in - French, December 6, 1856; in Italian, October 27, 1864, with - Christine Nilsson. New York, Academy of Music, December 3, - 1856, with La Grange (_Violetta_), Brignoli (_Alfredo_), and - Amodio (_Germont, père_). Nilsson, Patti, Melba, Sembrich - and Tetrazzini have been among famous interpreters of the - rôle of _Violetta_ in America. Galli-Curci first sang - _Violetta_ in this country in Chicago, December 1, 1916. - - CHARACTERS - - ALFREDO GERMONT, lover of VIOLETTA _Tenor_ - GIORGIO GERMONT, his father _Baritone_ - GASTONE DE LETORIÈRES _Tenor_ - BARON DOUPHOL, a rival of ALFREDO _Bass_ - MARQUIS D'OBIGNY _Bass_ - DOCTOR GRENVIL _Bass_ - GIUSEPPE, servant to VIOLETTA _Tenor_ - VIOLETTA VALÉRY, a courtesan _Soprano_ - FLORA BERVOIX, her friend _Mezzo-Soprano_ - ANNINA, confidante of VIOLETTA _Soprano_ - - Ladies and gentlemen who are friends and guests in the - houses of Violetta and Flora; servants and masks; dancers - and guests as matadors, picadors, and gypsies. - - _Time_--Louis XIV. [Transcriber's Note: The correct time is - about 1850. See author's discussion below.] - - _Place_--Paris and vicinity. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Galli-Curci as Violetta in "La Traviata"] - -At its production in Venice in 1853 "La Traviata" was a failure, for -which various reasons can be advanced. The younger Dumas's play, "La -Dame aux Camélias," familiar to English playgoers under the incorrect -title of "Camille," is a study of modern life and played in modern -costume. When Piave reduced his "Traviata" libretto from the play, he -retained the modern period. This is said to have nonplussed an -audience accustomed to operas laid in the past and given in "costume." -But the chief blame for the fiasco appears to have rested with the -singers. Graziani, the _Alfredo_, was hoarse. Salvini-Donatelli, the -_Violetta_, was inordinately stout. The result was that the scene of -her death as a consumptive was received with derision. Varesi, the -baritone, who sang _Giorgio Germont_, who does not appear until the -second act, and is of no importance save in that part of the opera, -considered the rôle beneath his reputation--notwithstanding -_Germont's_ beautiful solo, "Di Provenza"--and was none too cheerful -over it. There is evidence in Verdi's correspondence that the composer -had complete confidence in the merits of his score, and attributed its -failure to its interpreters. - -When the opera was brought forward again a year later, the same city -which had decried it as a failure acclaimed it a success. On this -occasion, however, the period of the action differed from that of the -play. It was set back to the time of Louis XIV., and costumed -accordingly. There is, however, no other opera today in which this -matter of costume is so much a go-as-you-please affair for the -principals, as it is in "La Traviata." I do not recall if Christine -Nilsson dressed _Violetta_ according to the Louis XIV. period, or not; -but certainly Adelina Patti and Marcella Sembrich, both of whom I -heard many times in the rôle (and each of them the first time they -sang it here) wore the conventional evening gown of modern times. To -do this has become entirely permissible for prima donnas in this -character. Meanwhile the _Alfredo_ may dress according to the Louis -XIV. period, or wear the swallow-tail costume of today, or compromise, -as some do, and wear the swallow-tail coat and modern waistcoat with -knee-breeches and black silk stockings. As if even this diversity were -not yet quite enough, the most notable _Germont_ of recent years, -Renaud, who, at the Manhattan Opera House, sang the rôle with the most -exquisite refinement, giving a portrayal as finished as a genre -painting by Meissonnier, wore the costume of a gentleman of Provence -of, perhaps, the middle of the last century. But, as I have hinted -before, in old-fashioned opera, these incongruities, which would be -severely condemned in a modern work, don't amount to a row of pins. -Given plenty of melody, beautifully sung, and everything else can go -hang. - -Act I. A salon in the house of _Violetta_. In the back scene is a -door, which opens into another salon. There are also side doors. On -the left is a fireplace, over which is a mirror. In the centre of the -apartment is a dining-table, elegantly laid. _Violetta_, seated on a -couch, is conversing with _Dr. Grenvil_ and some friends. Others are -receiving the guests who arrive, among whom are _Baron Douphol_ and -_Flora_ on the arm of the _Marquis_. - -The opera opens with a brisk ensemble. _Violetta_ is a courtesan -(_traviata_). Her house is the scene of a revel. Early in the -festivities _Gaston_, who has come in with _Alfred_, informs -_Violetta_ that his friend is seriously in love with her. She treats -the matter with outward levity, but it is apparent that she is touched -by _Alfred's_ devotion. Already, too, in this scene, there are slight -indications, more emphasized as the opera progresses, that consumption -has undermined _Violetta's_ health. - -First in the order of solos in this act is a spirited drinking song -for _Alfred_, which is repeated by _Violetta_. After each measure the -chorus joins in. This is the "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (Let us quaff -from the wine cup o'erflowing). - -[Music: Libiamo, libiamo ne' lieti calici] - -Music is heard from an adjoining salon, toward which the guests -proceed. _Violetta_ is about to follow, but is seized with a -coughing-spell and sinks upon a lounge to recover. _Alfred_ has -remained behind. She asks him why he has not joined the others. He -protests his love for her. At first taking his words in banter, she -becomes more serious, as she begins to realize the depth of his -affection for her. How long has he loved her? A year, he answers. "Un -dì felice, eterea" (One day a rapture ethereal), he sings. - -In this the words, "Di quell'amor ch'è palpito" (Ah, 'tis with love -that palpitates) are set to a phrase which _Violetta_ repeats in the -famous "Ah, fors'è lui," just as she has previously repeated the -drinking song. - -Verdi thus seems to intend to indicate in his score the effect upon -her of _Alfred's_ genuine affection. She repeated his drinking song. -Now she repeats, like an echo of heartbeats, his tribute to a love of -which she is the object. - -It is when _Alfred_ and the other guests have retired that _Violetta_, -lost in contemplation, her heart touched for the first time, sings "Ah -fors'è lui che l'anima" (For him, perchance, my longing soul). - -[Music: Ah, fors'è lui che l'anima solinga ne' tumulti, solinga ne' -tumulti] - -Then she repeats, in the nature of a refrain, the measures already -sung by _Alfred_. Suddenly she changes, as if there were no hope of -lasting love for woman of her character, and dashes into the brilliant -"Sempre libera degg'io folleggiare di gioja in gioja" (Ever free shall -I still hasten madly on from pleasure to pleasure). - -[Music: Sempre libera degg'io folleggiare] - -With this solo the act closes. - -Act II. Salon on the ground floor of a country house near Paris, -occupied by _Alfred_ and _Violetta_, who for him has deserted the -allurements of her former life. _Alfred_ enters in sporting costume. -He sings of his joy in possessing _Violetta_: "Di miei bollenti -spiriti" (Wild my dream of ecstasy). - -From _Annina_, the maid of _Violetta_, he learns that the expenses of -keeping up the country house are much greater than _Violetta_ has told -him, and that, in order to meet the cost, which is beyond his own -means, she has been selling her jewels. He immediately leaves for -Paris, his intention being to try to raise money there so that he may -be able to reimburse her. - -After he has gone, _Violetta_ comes in. She has a note from _Flora_ -inviting her to some festivities at her house that night. She smiles -at the absurdity of the idea that she should return, even for an -evening, to the scenes of her former life. Just then a visitor is -announced. She supposes he is a business agent, whom she is expecting. -But, instead, the man who enters announces that he is _Alfred's_ -father. His dignity, his courteous yet restrained manner, at once fill -her with apprehension. She has foreseen separation from the man she -loves. She now senses that the dread moment is impending. - -The elder _Germont's_ plea that she leave _Alfred_ is based both upon -the blight threatened his career by his liaison with her, and upon -another misfortune that will result to the family. There is not only -the son; there is a daughter. "Pura siccome un angelo" (Pure as an -angel) sings _Germont_, in the familiar air: - -[Music: Pura siccome un angelo] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Farrar as Violetta in "La Traviata"] - -[Illustration: Photo by Mishkin - -Scotti as Germont in "La Traviata"] - -Should the scandal of _Alfred's_ liaison with _Violetta_ continue, the -family of a youth, whom the daughter is to marry, threaten to break -off the alliance. Therefore it is not only on behalf of his son, it is -also for the future of his daughter, that the elder _Germont_ pleads. -As in the play, so in the opera, the reason why the rôle of the -heroine so strongly appeals to us is that she makes the sacrifice -demanded of her--though she is aware that among other unhappy -consequences to her, it will aggravate the disease of which she is a -victim and hasten her death, wherein, indeed, she even sees a solace. -She cannot yield at once. She prays, as it were, for mercy: "Non -sapete" (Ah, you know not). - -Finally she yields: "Dite alla giovine" (Say to thy daughter); then -"Imponete" (Now command me); and, after that, "Morrò--la mia memoria" -(I shall die--but may my memory). - -_Germont_ retires. _Violetta_ writes a note, rings for _Annina_, and -hands it to her. From the maid's surprise as she reads the address, it -can be judged to be for _Flora_, and, presumably, an acceptance of her -invitation. When _Annina_ has gone, she writes to _Alfred_ informing -him that she is returning to her old life, and that she will look to -_Baron Douphol_ to maintain her. _Alfred_ enters. She conceals the -letter about her person. He tells her that he has received word from -his father that the latter is coming to see him in an attempt to -separate him from her. Pretending that she leaves, so as not to be -present during the interview, she takes of him a tearful farewell. - -_Alfred_ is left alone. He picks up a book and reads listlessly. A -messenger enters and hands him a note. The address is in _Violetta's_ -handwriting. He breaks the seal, begins to read, staggers as he -realizes the import, and would collapse, but that his father, who has -quietly entered from the garden, holds out his arms, in which the -youth, believing himself betrayed by the woman he loves, finds refuge. - -"Di Provenza il mar, il suol chi dal cor ti cancellò" (From fair -Provence's sea and soil, who hath won thy heart away), sings the -elder _Germont_, in an effort to soften the blow that has fallen upon -his son. - -[Music: Di Provenza il mar, il suol] - -_Alfred_ rouses himself. Looking about vaguely, he sees _Flora's_ -letter, glances at the contents, and at once concludes that -_Violetta's_ first plunge into the vortex of gayety, to return to -which she has, as he supposes, abandoned him, will be at _Flora's_ -fête. - -"Thither will I hasten, and avenge myself!" he exclaims, and departs -precipitately, followed by his father. - -The scene changes to a richly furnished and brilliantly lighted salon -in _Flora's_ palace. The fête is in full swing. There is a ballet of -women gypsies, who sing as they dance "Noi siamo zingarelle" (We're -gypsies gay and youthful). - -_Gaston_ and his friends appear as matadors and others as picadors. -_Gaston_ sings, while the others dance, "È Piquillo, un bel gagliardo" -('Twas Piquillo, so young and so daring). - -It is a lively scene, upon which there enters _Alfred_, to be followed -soon by _Baron Douphol_ with _Violetta_ on his arm. _Alfred_ is seated -at a card table. He is steadily winning. "Unlucky in love, lucky in -gambling!" he exclaims. _Violetta_ winces. The _Baron_ shows evidence -of anger at _Alfred's_ words and is with difficulty restrained by -_Violetta_. The _Baron_, with assumed nonchalance, goes to the gaming -table and stakes against _Alfred_. Again the latter's winnings are -large. A servant's announcement that the banquet is ready is an -evident relief to the _Baron_. All retire to an adjoining salon. For a -brief moment the stage is empty. - -_Violetta_ enters. She has asked for an interview with _Alfred_. He -joins her. She begs him to leave. She fears the _Baron's_ anger will -lead him to challenge _Alfred_ to a duel. The latter sneers at her -apprehensions; intimates that it is the _Baron_ she fears for. Is it -not the _Baron Douphol_ for whom he, _Alfred_, has been cast off by -her? _Violetta's_ emotions almost betray her, but she remembers her -promise to the elder _Germont_, and exclaims that she loves the -_Baron_. - -_Alfred_ tears open the doors to the salon where the banquet is in -progress. "Come hither, all!" he shouts. - -They crowd upon the scene. _Violetta_, almost fainting, leans against -the table for support. Facing her, _Alfred_ hurls at her invective -after invective. Finally, in payment of what she has spent to help him -maintain the house near Paris in which they have lived together, he -furiously casts at her feet all his winnings at the gaming table. She -faints in the arms of _Flora_ and _Dr. Grenvil_. - -The elder _Germont_ enters in search of his son. He alone knows the -real significance of the scene, but for the sake of his son and -daughter cannot disclose it. A dramatic ensemble, in which _Violetta_ -sings, "Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo core non puoi comprendere tutto -l'amore" (Alfred, Alfred, little canst thou fathom the love within my -heart for thee) brings the act to a close. - -Act III. _Violetta's_ bedroom. At the back is a bed with the curtains -partly drawn. A window is shut in by inside shutters. Near the bed -stands a tabouret with a bottle of water, a crystal cup, and different -kinds of medicine on it. In the middle of the room is a toilet-table -and settee. A little apart from this is another piece of furniture -upon which a night-lamp is burning. On the left is a fireplace with a -fire in it. - -_Violetta_ awakens. In a weak voice she calls _Annina_, who, waking up -confusedly, opens the shutters and looks down into the street, which -is gay with carnival preparations. _Dr. Grenvil_ is at the door. -_Violetta_ endeavours to rise, but falls back again. Then, supported -by _Annina_, she walks slowly toward the settee. The doctor enters in -time to assist her. _Annina_ places cushions about her. To _Violetta_ -the physician cheerfully holds out hope of recovery, but to _Annina_ -he whispers, as he is leaving, that her mistress has but few hours -more to live. - -_Violetta_ has received a letter from the elder _Germont_ telling her -that _Alfred_ has been apprised by him of her sacrifice and has been -sent for to come to her bedside as quickly as possible. But she has -little hope that he will arrive in time. She senses the near approach -of death. "Addio del passato" (Farewell to bright visions) she sighs. -For this solo, - -[Music: Addio del passato bei sogni ridenti,] - -when sung in the correct interpretive mood, should be like a sigh from -the depths of a once frail, but now purified soul. - -A bacchanalian chorus of carnival revellers floats up from the street. -_Annina_, who had gone out with some money which _Violetta_ had given -her to distribute as alms, returns. Her manner is excited. _Violetta_ -is quick to perceive it and divine its significance. _Annina_ has seen -_Alfred_. He is waiting to be announced. The dying woman bids _Annina_ -hasten to admit him. A moment later he holds _Violetta_ in his arms. -Approaching death is forgotten. Nothing again shall part them. They -will leave Paris for some quiet retreat. "Parigi, o cara, noi -lasceremo" (We shall fly from Paris, beloved), they sing. - -[Music: Parigi, o cara, noi lasceremo] - -But it is too late. The hand of death is upon the woman's brow. "Gran -Dio! morir sì giovine" (O, God! to die so young). - -The elder _Germont_ and _Dr. Grenvil_ have come in. There is nothing -to be done. The cough that racked the poor frail body has ceased. _La -traviata_ is dead. - -Not only were "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata" produced in the same -year, but "La Traviata" was written between the date of "Trovatore's" -première at Rome (January 19th) and March 6th. Only four weeks in all -are said to have been devoted to it, and part of the time Verdi was -working on "Trovatore" as well. Nothing could better illustrate the -fecundity of his genius, the facility with which he composed. But it -was not the fatal facility that sacrifices real merit for temporary -success. There are a few echoes of "Trovatore" in "Traviata"; but the -remarkable achievement of Verdi is not in having written so beautiful -an opera as "La Traviata" in so short a time, but in having produced -in it a work in a style wholly different from "Il Trovatore." The -latter palpitates with the passions of love, hatred, and vengeance. -The setting of the action encourages these. It consists of palace -gardens, castles, dungeons. But "La Traviata" plays in drawing-rooms. -The music corresponds with these surroundings. It is vivacious, -graceful, gentle. When it palpitates, it is with sorrow. The opera -also contains a notably beautiful instrumental number--the -introduction to the third act. This was a favourite piece with -Theodore Thomas. Several times--years ago--I heard it conducted by him -at his Popular Concerts. - -Oddly enough, although "Il Trovatore" is by far the more robust and at -one time was, as I have stated, the most popular opera in the world, I -believe that today the advantage lies with "La Traviata," and that, as -between the two, there belongs to that opera the ultimate chance of -survival. I explain this on the ground that, in "Il Trovatore" the -hero and heroine are purely musical creations, the real character -drawing, dramatically and musically, being in the rôle of _Azucena_, -which, while a principal rôle, has not the prominence of _Leonora_ or -_Manrico_. In "La Traviata," on the other hand, we have in the -original of _Violetta_--the _Marguerite Gauthier_ of Alexandre Dumas, -_fils_--one of the great creations of modern drama, the frail woman -redeemed by the touch of an artist. Piave, in his libretto, preserves -the character. In the opera, as in the play, one comprehends the -injunction, "Let him who is not guilty throw the first stone." For -Verdi has clothed _Violetta_ in music that brings out the character so -vividly and so beautifully that whenever I see "Traviata" I recall the -first performance in America of the Dumas play by Bernhardt, then in -her slender and supple prime, and the first American appearance in it -of Duse, with her exquisite intonation and restraint of gesture. - -In fact, operas survive because the librettist has known how to create -a character and the composer how to match it with his musical genius. -Recall the dashing _Don Giovanni_; the resourceful _Figaro_, both in -the Mozart and the Rossini opera; the real interpretive quality of a -mild and gracious order in the heroine of "La Sonnambula"--innocence -personified; the gloomy figure of _Edgardo_ stalking through "Lucia di -Lammermoor"; the hunchback and the titled gallant in "Rigoletto," and -you can understand why these very old operas have lived so long. They -are not make-believe; they are real. - - -UN BALLO IN MASCHERA - -THE MASKED BALL - - Opera in three acts, by Verdi; words by Somma, based on - Scribe's libretto for Auber's opera, "Gustave III., ou Le - Bal Masqué" (Gustavus III., or the Masked Ball). Produced, - Apollo Theatre, Rome, February 17, 1859. Paris, Théâtre des - Italiens, January 13, 1861. London, June 15, 1861. New York, - February 11, 1861. Revivals, Metropolitan Opera House, N.Y., - with Jean de Reszke, 1903; with Caruso, Eames, Homer, - Scotti, Plançon, and Journet, February 6, 1905; with Caruso, - Destinn, Matzenauer, Hempel, and Amato, November 22, 1913. - - CHARACTERS - - RICHARD, Count of Warwick and Governor of - Boston (or Riccardo, Duke of Olivares and - Governor of Naples) _Tenor_ - AMELIA (Adelia) _Soprano_ - REINHART (Renato), secretary to the Governor - and husband of Amelia _Baritone_ - SAMUEL } enemies of the Governor _Bass_ - TOM (Tommaso) } - SILVAN, a sailor _Soprano_ - OSCAR (Edgardo), a page _Soprano_ - ULRICA, a negress astrologer _Contralto_ - - A judge, a servant of Amelia, populace, guards, etc., - conspirators, maskers, and dancing couples. - - _Place_--Boston, or Naples. - - _Time_--Late seventeenth or middle eighteenth century. - -The English libretto of "Un Ballo in Maschera," literally "A Masked -Ball," but always called by us "The Masked Ball," has the following -note: - -"The scene of Verdi's 'Ballo in Maschera' was, by the author of the -libretto, originally laid in one of the European cities. But the -government censors objected to this, probably, because the plot -contained the record of a successful conspiracy against an established -prince or governor. By a change of scene to the distant, and, to the -author, little-known, city of Boston, in America, this difficulty -seems to have been obviated. The fact should be borne in mind by -Bostonians and others, who may be somewhat astonished at the events -which are supposed to have taken place in the old Puritan city." - -Certainly the events in "The Masked Ball" are amazing for the Boston -of Puritan or any other time, and it was only through necessity that -the scene of the opera was laid there. Now that political reasons for -this no longer exist, it is usually played with the scene laid in -Naples. - -Auber produced, in 1833, an opera on a libretto by Scribe, entitled -"Gustave III., ou Le Bal Masqué." Upon this Scribe libretto the book -of "Un Ballo in Maschera" is based. Verdi's opera was originally -called "Gustavo III.," and, like the Scribe-Auber work, was written -around the assassination of Gustavus III., of Sweden, who, March 16, -1792, was shot in the back during a masked ball at Stockholm. - -Verdi composed the work for the San Carlo Theatre, Naples, where it -was to have been produced for the carnival of 1858. But January 14th -of that year, and while the rehearsals were in progress, Felice -Orsini, an Italian revolutionist, made his attempt on the life of -Napoleon III. In consequence the authorities forbade the performance -of a work dealing with the assassination of a king. The suggestion -that Verdi adapt his music to an entirely different libretto was put -aside by the composer, and the work was withdrawn, with the result -that a revolution nearly broke out in Naples. People paraded the -street, and by shouting "Viva Verdi!" proclaimed, under guise of the -initials of the popular composer's name, that they favoured the cause -of a united Italy, with Victor Emanuel as King; viz.: Vittorio -Emmanuele Re D'Italia (Victor Emanuel, King of Italy). Finally the -censor in Rome suggested, as a way out of the difficulty, that the -title of the opera be changed to "Un Ballo in Maschera" and the scene -transferred to Boston. For however nervous the authorities were about -having a king murdered on the stage, they regarded the assassination -of an English governor in far-off America as a quite harmless -diversion. So, indeed, it proved to be, the only excitement evinced by -the audience of the Apollo Theatre, Rome, on the evening of February -18, 1859, being the result of its enthusiasm over the various musical -numbers of the work, this enthusiasm not being at all dampened by the -fact that, with the transfer to Boston, two of the conspirators, -_Samuel_ and _Tommaso_, became negroes, and the astrologer who figures -in the opera, a negress. - -The sensible change of scene from Boston to Naples is said to have -been initiated in Paris upon the instance of Mario, who "would never -have consented to sing his ballad in the second act in short -pantaloons, silk stockings, red dress, and big epaulettes of gold -lace. He would never have been satisfied with the title of Earl of -Warwick and the office of governor. He preferred to be a grandee of -Spain, to call himself the Duke of Olivares, and to disguise himself -as a Neapolitan fisherman, besides paying little attention to the -strict accuracy of the rôle, but rather adapting it to his own gifts -as an artist." The ballad referred to in this quotation undoubtedly is -_Richard's_ barcarolle, "Di' tu se fedele il flutto m'aspetta" -(Declare if the waves will faithfully bear me). - -Act I. Reception hall in the Governor's house. _Richard, Earl of -Warwick_, is giving an audience. _Oscar_, a page, brings him the list -of guests invited to a masked ball. _Richard_ is especially delighted -at seeing on it the name of _Amelia_, the wife of his secretary, -_Reinhart_, although his conscience bitterly reproaches him for loving -_Amelia_, for _Reinhart_ is his most faithful friend, ever ready to -defend him. The secretary also has discovered a conspiracy against his -master; but as yet has been unable to learn the names of the -conspirators. - -At the audience a judge is announced, who brings for signature the -sentence of banishment against an old fortune teller, the negress -_Ulrica_. _Oscar_, however, intercedes for the old woman. _Richard_ -decides to visit her in disguise and test her powers of divination. - -The scene changes to _Ulrica's_ hut, which _Richard_ enters disguised -as a fisherman. Without his knowledge, _Amelia_ also comes to consult -the negress. Concealed by a curtain he hears her ask for a magic herb -to cure her of the love which she, a married woman, bears to -_Richard_. The old woman tells her of such an herb, but _Amelia_ must -gather it herself at midnight in the place where stands the gibbet. -_Richard_ thus learns that she loves him, and of her purpose to be at -the place of the gibbet at midnight. When she has gone he comes out of -his concealment and has his fortune told. _Ulrica_ predicts that he -will die by the hand of a friend. The conspirators, who are in his -retinue, whisper among themselves that they are discovered. "Who will -be the slayer?" asks Richard. The answer is, "Whoever first shall -shake your hand." At this moment _Reinhart_ enters, greets his friend -with a vigorous shake of the hand, and _Richard_ laughs at the evil -prophecy. His retinue and the populace rejoice with him. - -Act II. Midnight, beside the gallows. _Amelia_, deeply veiled, comes -to pluck the magic herb. _Richard_ arrives to protect her. _Amelia_ is -unable to conceal her love for him. But who comes there? It is -_Reinhart_. Concern for his master has called him to the spot. The -conspirators are lying in wait for him nearby. _Richard_ exacts from -_Reinhart_ a promise to escort back to the city the deeply veiled -woman, without making an attempt to learn who she is, while he himself -returns by an unfrequented path. _Reinhart_ and his companion fall -into the hands of the conspirators. The latter do not harm the -secretary, but want at least to learn who the _Governor's_ sweetheart -is. They lift the veil. _Reinhart_ sees his own wife. Rage grips his -soul. He bids the leaders of the conspiracy to meet with him at his -house in the morning. - -Act III. A study in _Reinhart's_ dwelling. For the disgrace he has -suffered he intends to kill _Amelia_. Upon her plea she is allowed to -embrace her son once more. He reflects that, after all, _Richard_ is -much the more guilty of the two. He refrains from killing her, but -when he and the conspirators draw lots to determine who shall kill -_Richard_, he calls her in, and, at his command, she draws a piece of -paper from an urn. It bears her husband's name, drawn unwittingly by -her to indicate the person who is to slay the man she loves. Partly to -remove _Amelia's_ suspicions, _Reinhart_ accepts the invitation to the -masked ball which _Oscar_ brings him, _Richard_, of course, knowing -nothing of what has transpired. - -In the brilliant crowd of maskers, the scene having changed to that of -the masked ball, _Reinhart_ learns from _Oscar_ what disguise is worn -by _Richard_. _Amelia_, who, with the eyes of apprehensive love, also -has recognized _Richard_, implores him to flee the danger that -threatens him. But _Richard_ knows no fear. In order that the honour -of his friend shall remain secure, he has determined to send him as an -envoy to England, accompanied by his wife. Her, he tells _Amelia_, he -will never see again. "Once more I bid thee farewell, for the last -time, farewell." - -"And thus receive thou my farewell!" exclaims _Reinhart_, stabbing him -in the side. - -With his last words _Richard_ assures _Reinhart_ of the guiltlessness -of _Amelia_, and admonishes all to seek to avenge his death on no one. - -It is hardly necessary to point out how astonishing these proceedings -are when supposed to take place in Colonial Boston. Even the one -episode of _Richard, Earl of Warwick_, singing a barcarolle in the hut -of a negress who tells fortunes is so impossible that it affects the -whole story with incredibility. But Naples--well, anything will go -there. In fact, as truth is stranger than fiction, we even can regard -the events of "The Masked Ball" as occurring more naturally in an -Italian city than in Stockholm, where the assassination of Gustavus -III. at a masquerade actually occurred. - -Although the opera is a subject of only occasional revival, it -contains a considerable amount of good music and a quintet of -exceptional quality. - -Early in the first act comes _Richard's_ solo, "La rivedrà -nell'estasi" (I shall again her face behold). - -[Music: La rivedrà nell'estasi] - -This is followed by the faithful _Reinhart's_ "Alla vita che t'arride" -(To thy life with joy abounding), with horn solo. - -Strikingly effective is _Oscar's_ song, in which the page vouches for -the fortune-teller. "Volta la terrea fronte alle stelle" (Lift up -thine earthly gaze to where the stars are shining). - -[Music: Volta la terrea fronte alle stelle] - -In the scene in the fortune-teller's hut are a trio for _Amelia_, -_Ulrica_, and _Richard_, while the latter overhears _Amelia's_ welcome -confession of love for himself, and _Richard's_ charming barcarolle -addressed to the sorceress, a Neapolitan melody, "Di' tu se fedele il -flutto m'aspetta" (Declare if the waves will faithfully bear me). - -[Music: Di' tu se fedele il flutto m'aspetta,] - -The quintet begins with _Richard's_ laughing disbelief in _Ulrica's_ -prophecy regarding himself, "È scherzo od è follia" ('Tis an idle -folly). - -Concluding the scene is the chorus, in which, after the people have -recognized _Richard_, they sing what has been called, "a kind of 'God -Save the King' tribute to his worth"--"O figlio d'Inghilterra" (O son -of mighty England). - -The second act opens with a beautiful air for _Amelia_, "Ma dall'arido -stelo divulsa" (From the stem, dry and withered, dissevered). - -An impassioned duet occurs during the meeting at the place of the -gibbet between _Richard_ and _Amelia_: "O qual soave brivido" (Oh, -what delightful ecstasies). - -The act ends with a quartet for _Amelia_, _Reinhart_, _Samuel_, and -_Tom_. - -In the last act is _Amelia's_ touching supplication to her husband, in -which "The weeping of the violoncello and the veiled key of E-flat -minor stretch to the last limits of grief this prayer of the wife and -mother,"--"Morrò, ma prima in grazia" (I die, but first in mercy). - -"O dolcezze perdute!" (O delights now lost for ever) sings her -husband, in a musical inspiration prefaced by harp and flute. - -During the masked ball there is a quintet for _Amelia_, _Oscar_, -_Reinhart_, _Samuel_, and _Tom_, from which the sprightly butterfly -allegro of _Oscar_, "Di che fulgor, che musiche" (What brilliant -lights, what music gay) detaches itself, while later on the _Page_ has -a buoyant "tra-la-la" solo, beginning, in reply to _Reinhart's_ -question concerning _Richard's_ disguise, "Saper vorreste di che si -veste" (You'd fain be hearing what mask he's wearing). - -There is a colloquy between _Richard_ and _Amelia_. Then the -catastrophe. - - -BEFORE AND AFTER "UN BALLO" - -Prior to proceeding to a consideration of "Aïda," I will refer briefly -to certain works by Verdi, which, although not requiring a complete -account of story and music, should not be omitted from a book on -opera. - -At the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, December 8, 1849, Verdi brought out -the three-act opera "Luisa Miller," based on a play by Schiller, -"Kabale und Liebe" (Love and Intrigue). It appears to have been -Verdi's first real success since "Ernani" and to have led up to that -achieved by "Rigoletto" a year later, and to the successes of "Il -Trovatore" and "La Traviata." "Luisa Miller" was given at the Academy -of Music, New York, October 20, 1886, by Angelo's Italian Opera -Company. Giulia Valda was _Luisa_ and Vicini _Rodolfo_. - -The story is a gloomy one. The first act is entitled "Love," the -second "Intrigue," the third "Poison." - - CHARACTERS - - COUNT WALTER _Bass_ - RODOLFO, his son _Tenor_ - MILLER, an old soldier _Bass_ - LUISA, his daughter _Soprano_ - FREDERICA, DUCHESS OF OSTHEIM, - Walter's niece _Contralto_ - LAURA, a peasant girl _Contralto_ - - Ladies attending the Duchess, pages, servants, archers, and - villagers. - -_Luisa_ is the daughter of _Miller_, an old soldier. There is ardent -love between her and _Rodolfo_, the son of _Count Walter_, who has -concealed his real name and rank from her and her father and is known -to them as a peasant named Carlo. Old _Miller_, however, has a -presentiment that evil will result from their attachment. This is -confirmed on his being informed by _Wurm_ that Carlo is _Rodolfo_, his -master's son. _Wurm_ is himself in love with _Luisa_. - -The _Duchess Frederica_, _Count Walter's_ niece, arrives at the -castle. She had been brought up there with _Rodolfo_, and has from -childhood cherished a deep affection for him; but, compelled by her -father to marry the Duke d'Ostheim, has not seen _Rodolfo_ for some -years. The Duke, however, having died, she is now a widow, and, on the -invitation of _Count Walter_, who has, unknown to _Rodolfo_, made -proposals of marriage to her on his son's behalf, she arrives at the -castle, expecting to marry at once the love of her childhood. The -_Count_ having been informed by _Wurm_ of his son's love for _Luisa_, -resolves to break off their intimacy. _Rodolfo_ reveals to the -_Duchess_ that he loves another. He also discloses his real name and -position to _Luisa_ and her father. The _Count_ interrupts this -interview between the lovers. Enraged at his son's persistence in -preferring a union with _Luisa_, he calls in the guard and is about to -consign her and her father to prison, when he is, for the moment, -deterred and appalled by _Rodolfo's_ threat to reveal that the -_Count_, aided by _Wurm_, assassinated his predecessor, in order to -obtain possession of the title and estates. - -_Luisa's_ father has been seized and imprisoned by the _Count's_ -order. She, to save his life, consents, at the instigation of _Wurm_, -to write a letter in which she states that she had never really loved -_Rodolfo_, but only encouraged him on account of his rank and fortune, -of which she was always aware; and finally offering to fly with -_Wurm._ This letter, as the _Count_ and his steward have arranged, -falls into the hands of _Rodolfo_, who, enraged by the supposed -treachery of the woman he loves, consents to marry the _Duchess_, but -ultimately resolves to kill _Luisa_ and himself. - -_Luisa_ also has determined to put an end to her existence. _Rodolfo_ -enters her home in the absence of _Miller_, and, after extracting from -_Luisa's_ own lips the avowal that she did write the letter, he pours -poison into a cup. She unwittingly offers it to him to quench his -thirst. Afterwards, at his request, she tastes it herself. She had -sworn to _Wurm_ that she would never reveal the fact of the compulsion -under which she had written the letter, but feeling herself released -from her oath by fast approaching death, she confesses the truth to -_Rodolfo_. The lovers die in the presence of their horror-stricken -parents. - -The principal musical numbers include _Luisa's_ graceful and -brilliant solo in the first act--"Lo vidi, e'l primo palpito" (I saw -him and my beating heart). Besides there is _Old Miller's_ air, "Sacra -la scelta è d'un consorte" (Firm are the links that are forged at the -altar), a broad and beautiful melody, which, were the opera better -known, would be included in most of the operatic anthologies for bass. - -There also should be mentioned _Luisa's_ air in the last act, "La -tomba è un letto sparso di fiori" (The tomb a couch is, covered with -roses). - - * * * * * - -"I Vespri Siciliani" (The Sicilian Vespers) had its first performance -at the Grand Opéra, Paris, under the French title, "Les Vêpres -Siciliennes," June 13, 1855. It was given at La Scala, Milan, 1856; -London, Drury Lane, 1859; New York, Academy of Music, November 7, -1859; and revived there November, 1868. The work also has been -presented under the title of "Giovanna di Guzman." The libretto is by -Scribe and deals with the massacre of the French invaders of Sicily, -at vespers, on Easter Monday, 1282. The principal characters are _Guy -de Montford_, French Viceroy, _baritone_; _Arrigo_, a Sicilian -officer, _tenor_; _Duchess Hélène_, a prisoner, _soprano_; _Giovanni -di Procida_, a native conspirator, _bass_. _Arrigo_, who afterwards is -discovered to be the brutal _Guy de Montford's_ son, is in love with -_Hélène_. The plot turns upon his efforts to rescue her. - -There is one famous number in the "The Sicilian Vespers." This is the -"Bolero," sung by _Hélène_--"Mercé, dilette amiche" (My thanks, -beloved companions). - - * * * * * - -At Petrograd, November 10, 1862, there was brought out Verdi's opera -in four acts, "La Forza del Destino" (The Force of Destiny). London -heard it in June, 1867; New York, February 2, 1865, and, with the last -act revised by the composer, at the Academy of Music in 1880, with -Annie Louise Cary, Campanini, Galassi, and Del Puente. The principal -characters are _Marquis di Calatrava_, _bass_; _Donna Leonora_ and -_Don Carlo_, his children, _soprano_ and _baritone_; _Don Alvaro_, -_tenor_; _Abbot of the Franciscan Friars_, _bass_. There are -muleteers, peasants, soldiers, friars, etc. The scenes are laid in -Spain and Italy; the period is the middle of the eighteenth century. -The libretto is based on the play, "Don Alvaro o La Fuerza de Sino" by -the Duke of Rivas. - -_Don Alvaro_ is about to elope with _Donna Leonora_, daughter of the -_Marquis_, when the latter comes upon them and is accidentally killed -by _Don Alvaro_. The _Marquis_ curses his daughter with his dying -breath and invokes the vengeance of his son, _Don Carlo_, upon her and -her lover. She escapes in male attire to a monastery, confesses to the -_Abbot_, and is conducted by him to a cave, where he assures her of -absolute safety. - -_Don Alvaro_ and _Don Carlo_ meet before the cave. They fight a duel -in which _Don Alvaro_ mortally wounds _Don Carlo_. _Donna Leonora_, -coming out of the cave and finding her brother dying, goes to him. -With a last effort he stabs her in the heart. _Don Alvaro_ throws -himself over a nearby precipice. - -"Madre, pietosa Vergine" (Oh, holy Virgin) is one of the principal -numbers of the opera. It is sung by _Donna Leonora_, kneeling in the -moonlight near the convent, while from within is heard the chant of -the priests. - -The "Madre pietosa" also is utilized as a theme in the overture. - - * * * * * - -"Don Carlos," produced at the Grand Opéra, Paris, March 11, 1867, -during the Universal Exposition, was the last opera composed by Verdi -before he took the musical world by storm with "Aïda." The work is in -four acts, the libretto, by Méry and du Locle, having been reduced -from Schiller's tragedy of the same title as the opera. - -The characters are _Philip II._, of Spain, _bass_; _Don Carlos_, his -son, _tenor_; _Rodrigo, Marquis de Posa_, _baritone_; _Grand -Inquisitor_, _bass_; _Elizabeth de Valois_, Queen of _Philip II._, and -stepmother of _Don Carlos_, _soprano_; _Princess Eboli_, _soprano_. In -the original production the fine rôle of _Rodrigo_ was taken by Faure. - -_Don Carlos_ and _Elizabeth de Valois_ have been in love with each -other, but for reasons of state _Elizabeth_ has been obliged to marry -_Philip II._, _Don Carlos's_ father. The son is counselled by -_Rodrigo_ to absent himself from Spain by obtaining from his father a -commission to go to the Netherlands, there to mitigate the cruelties -practised by the Spaniards upon the Flemings. _Don Carlos_ seeks an -audience with _Elizabeth_, in order to gain her intercession with -_Philip_. The result, however, of the meeting, is that their passion -for each other returns with even greater intensity than before. -_Princess Eboli_, who is in love with _Don Carlos_, becomes cognizant -of the _Queen's_ affection for her stepson, and informs the _King_. -_Don Carlos_ is thrown into prison. _Rodrigo_, who visits him there, -is shot by order of _Philip_, who suspects him of aiding Spain's -enemies in the Low Countries. _Don Carlos_, having been freed, makes a -tryst with the _Queen_. Discovered by the _King_, he is handed over by -him to the Inquisition to be put to death. - - * * * * * - -"La Forza del Destino" and "Don Carlos" lie between Verdi's middle -period, ranging from "Luisa Miller" to "Un Ballo in Maschera" and -including "Rigoletto," "Il Trovatore," and "La Traviata," and his -final period, which began with "Aïda." It can be said that in "La -Forza" and "Don Carlos" Verdi had absorbed considerable of Meyerbeer -and Gounod, while in "Aïda," in addition to these, he had assimilated -as much of Wagner as is good for an Italian. The enrichment of the -orchestration in the two immediate predecessors of "Aïda" is apparent, -but not so much so as in that masterpiece of operatic composition. He -produced in "Aïda" a far more finished score than in "La Forza" or -"Don Carlos," sought and obtained many exquisite instrumental effects, -but always remained true to the Italian principle of the supremacy of -melody in the voice. - - -AÏDA - - Grand opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. Plot by Mariette - Bey. Written in French prose by Camille du Locle. Translated - into Italian verse by Antonio Ghislanzoni. - - Produced in Cairo, Egypt, December 24, 1871; La Scala, - Milan, under the composer's direction, February 8, 1872; - Théâtre Italien, Paris, April 22, 1876; Covent Garden, - London, June 22, 1876; Academy of Music, New York, November - 26, 1873; Grand Opéra, Paris, March 22, 1880; Metropolitan - Opera House, with Caruso, 1904. - - CHARACTERS - - AÏDA, an Ethiopian slave _Soprano_ - AMNERIS, daughter of the King of Egypt _Contralto_ - AMONASRO, King of Ethiopia, father of Aïda _Baritone_ - RHADAMES, captain of the Guard _Tenor_ - RAMPHIS, High Priest _Bass_ - KING OF EGYPT _Bass_ - MESSENGER _Tenor_ - - Priests, soldiers, Ethiopian slaves, prisoners, Egyptians, - etc. - - _Time_--Epoch of the Pharaohs. - - _Place_--Memphis and Thebes. - -"Aïda" was commissioned by Ismail Pacha, Khedive of Egypt, for the -Italian Theatre in Cairo, which opened in November, 1869. The opera -was produced there December 24, 1871; not at the opening of the house, -as sometimes is erroneously stated. Its success was sensational. - -Equally enthusiastic was its reception when brought out at La Scala, -Milan, February 7, 1872, under the direction of Verdi himself, who was -recalled thirty-two times and presented with an ivory baton and -diamond star with the name of Aïda in rubies and his own in other -precious stones. - -It is an interesting fact that "Aïda" reached New York before it did -any of the great European opera houses save La Scala. It was produced -at the Academy of Music under the direction of Max Strakosch, November -26, 1873. I am glad to have heard that performance and several other -performances of it that season. For the artists who appeared in it -gave a representation that for brilliancy has not been surpassed if, -indeed, it has been equalled. In support of this statement it is only -necessary to say that Italo Campanini was _Rhadames_, Victor Maurel -_Amonasro_, and Annie Louise Cary _Amneris_. No greater artists have -appeared in these rôles in this country. Mlle. Torriani, the _Aïda_, -while not so distinguished, was entirely adequate. Nannetti as -_Ramphis_, the high priest, Scolara as the _King_, and Boy as the -_Messenger_, completed the cast. - -I recall some of the early comment on the opera. It was said to be -Wagnerian. In point of fact "Aïda" is Wagnerian only as compared with -Verdi's earlier operas. Compared with Wagner himself, it is -Verdian--purely Italian. It was said that the fine melody for the -trumpets on the stage in the pageant scene was plagiarized from a -theme in the Coronation March of Meyerbeer's "Prophète." Slightly -reminiscent the passage is, and, of course, stylistically the entire -scene is on Meyerbeerian lines; but these resemblances no longer are -of importance. - -Paris failed to hear "Aïda" until April, 1876, and then at the Théâtre -Italien, instead of at the Grand Opéra, where it was not heard until -March, 1880, when Maurel was the _Amonasro_ and Édouard de Reszke, -later a favourite basso at the Metropolitan Opera House, the _King_. -In 1855 Verdi's opera, "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" (The Sicilian Vespers) -had been produced at the Grand Opéra and occurrences at the rehearsals -had greatly angered the composer. The orchestra clearly showed a -disinclination to follow the composer's minute directions regarding -the manner in which he wished his work interpreted. When, after a -conversation with the chef d'orchestre, the only result was plainly an -attempt to annoy him, he put on his hat, left the theatre, and did not -return. In 1867 his "Don Carlos" met only with a _succès d'estime_ at -the Opéra. He had not forgotten these circumstances, when the Opéra -wanted to give "Aïda." He withheld permission until 1880. But when at -last this was given, he assisted at the production, and the public -authorities vied in atoning for the slights put upon him so many years -before. The President of France gave a banquet in his honour and he -was created a Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of -Honour. - -When the Khedive asked Verdi to compose a new opera especially for the -new opera house at Cairo, and inquired what the composer's terms would -be, Verdi demanded $20,000. This was agreed upon and he was then given -the subject he was to treat, "Aïda," which had been suggested to the -Khedive by Mariette Bey, the great French Egyptologist. The composer -received the rough draft of the story. From this Camille du Locle, a -former director of the Opéra Comique, who happened to be visiting -Verdi at Busseto, wrote a libretto in French prose, "scene by scene, -sentence by sentence," as he has said, adding that the composer showed -the liveliest interest in the work and himself suggested the double -scene in the finale of the opera. The French prose libretto was -translated into Italian verse by Antonio Ghislanzoni, who wrote more -than sixty opera librettos, "Aïda" being the most famous. Mariette Bey -brought his archeological knowledge to bear upon the production. "He -revived Egyptian life of the time of the Pharaohs; he rebuilt ancient -Thebes, Memphis, the Temple of Phtah; he designed the costumes and -arranged the scenery. And under these exceptional circumstances, -Verdi's new opera was produced." - -Verdi's score was ready a year before the work had its première. The -production was delayed by force of circumstances. Scenery and costumes -were made by French artists. Before these accessories could be shipped -to Cairo, the Franco-Prussian war broke out. They could not be gotten -out of Paris. Their delivery was delayed accordingly. - -Does the score of "Aïda" owe any of its charm, passion, and dramatic -stress to the opportunity thus afforded Verdi of going over it and -carefully revising it, after he had considered it finished? Quite -possibly. For we know that he made changes, eliminating, for instance, -a chorus in the style of Palestrina, which he did not consider -suitable to the priesthood of Isis. Even this one change resulted in -condensation, a valuable quality, and in leaving the exotic music of -the temple scene entirely free to exert to the full its fascination of -local colour and atmosphere. - -The story is unfolded in four acts and seven scenes. - -Act I. Scene 1. After a very brief prelude, the curtain rises on a -hall in the _King's_ palace in Memphis. Through a high gateway at the -back are seen the temples and palaces of Memphis and the pyramids. - -It had been supposed that, after the invasion of Ethiopia by the -Egyptians, the Ethiopians would be a long time in recovering from -their defeat. But _Amonasro_, their king, has swiftly rallied the -remnants of his defeated army, gathered new levies to his standard, -and crossed the frontier--all this with such extraordinary rapidity -that the first news of it has reached the Egyptian court in Memphis -through a messenger hot-foot from Thebes with the startling word that -the sacred city itself is threatened. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Emma Eames as Aïda] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Saléza as Rhadames in "Aïda"] - -While the priests are sacrificing to Isis in order to learn from the -goddess whom she advises them to choose as leader of the Egyptian -forces, _Rhadames_, a young warrior, indulges in the hope that he may -be the choice. To this hope he joins the further one that, -returning victorious, he may ask the hand in marriage of _Aïda_, an -Ethiopian slave of the Egyptian King's daughter, _Amneris_. To these -aspirations he gives expression in the romance, "Celeste Aïda" -(Radiant Aïda). - -[Music: Celeste Aïda] - -It ends effectively with the following phrase: - -[Music: un trono vicino al sol, un trono vicino al sol] - -He little knows that _Aïda_ is of royal birth or that _Amneris_ -herself, the Princess Royal, is in love with him and, having noted the -glances he has cast upon _Aïda_, is fiercely jealous of her--a -jealousy that forms the mainspring of the story and leads to its -tragic dénouement. - -A premonition of the emotional forces at work in the plot is given in -the "Vieni, O diletta" (Come dearest friend), beginning as a duet -between _Amneris_ and _Aïda_ and later becoming a trio for them and -_Rhadames_. In this the _Princess_ feigns friendship for _Aïda_, but, -in asides, discloses her jealous hatred of her. - -Meanwhile the Egyptian hosts have gathered before the temple. There -the _King_ announces that the priests of Isis have learned from the -lips of that goddess the name of the warrior who is to lead the -army--_Rhadames_! It is the _Princess_ herself who, at this great -moment in his career, places the royal standard in his hands. But amid -the acclaims that follow, as _Rhadames_, to the strains of march and -chorus, is conducted by the priests to the temple of Phtah to be -invested with the consecrated armour, _Amneris_ notes the fiery look -he casts upon _Aïda_. Is this the reason _Rhadames_, young, handsome, -brave, has failed to respond to her own guarded advances? Is she, a -princess, to find a successful rival in her own slave? - -Meanwhile _Aïda_ herself is torn by conflicting emotions. She loves -_Rhadames_. When the multitude shouts "Return victorious!" she joins -in the acclamation. Yet it is against her own people he is going to -give battle, and the Ethiopians are led by their king, _Amonasro_, her -father. For she, too, is a princess, as proud a princess in her own -land as _Amneris_, and it is because she is a captive and a slave that -her father has so swiftly rallied his army and invaded Egypt in a -desperate effort to rescue her, facts which for obvious reasons she -carefully has concealed from her captors. - -It is easy to imagine _Aïda's_ agonized feelings since _Rhadames_ has -been chosen head of the Egyptian army. If she prays to her gods for -the triumph of the Ethiopian arms, she is betraying her lover. If she -asks the gods of victory to smile upon _Rhadames_, she is a traitress -to her father, who has taken up arms to free her, and to her own -people. Small wonder if she exclaims, as she contemplates her own -wretched state: - -"Never on earth was heart torn by more cruel agonies. The sacred names -of father, lover, I can neither utter nor remember. For the one--for -the other--I would weep, I would pray!" - -This scene for _Aïda_, beginning "Ritorna vincitor" (Return -victorious), in which she echoes the acclamation of the martial chorus -immediately preceding, is one of the very fine passages of the score. -The lines to which it is set also have been highly praised. They -furnished the composer with opportunity, of which he made full use, to -express conflicting emotions in music of dramatic force and, in its -concluding passage, "Numi pietà" (Pity, kind heaven), of great -beauty. - -[Music: - - Numi pietà - Del mio soffrir! - Speme non v'ha - pel mio dolor.] - -Scene 2. _Ramphis_, the high priest, at the foot of the altar; priests -and priestesses; and afterwards _Rhadames_ are shown in the Temple of -Vulcan at Memphis. A mysterious light descends from above. A long row -of columns, one behind the other, is lost in the darkness; statues of -various deities are visible; in the middle of the scene, above a -platform rises the altar, surmounted by sacred emblems. From golden -tripods comes the smoke of incense. - -A chant of the priestesses, accompanied by harps, is heard from the -interior. _Rhadames_ enters unarmed. While he approaches the altar, -the priestesses execute a sacred dance. On the head of _Rhadames_ is -placed a silver veil. He is invested with consecrated armor, while the -priests and priestesses resume the religious chant and dance. - -The entire scene is saturated with local colour. Piquant, exotic, it -is as Egyptian to the ear as to the eye. You see the temple, you hear -the music of its devotees, and that music sounds as distinctively -Egyptian as if Mariette Bey had unearthed two examples of ancient -Egyptian temple music and placed them at the composer's disposal. It -is more likely, however, that the themes are original with Verdi and -that the Oriental tone colour, which makes the music of the scene so -fascinating, is due to his employment of certain intervals peculiar to -the music of Eastern people. The interval, which, falling upon Western -ears, gives an Oriental clang to the scale, consists of three -semi-tones. In the very Eastern sounding themes in the temple scenes -in "Aïda," these intervals are G to F-flat, and D to C-flat. - -The sacred chant, - -[Music] - -twice employs the interval between D and C-flat, the first time -descending, the second time ascending, in which latter it sounds more -characteristic to us, because we regard the scale as having an upward -tendency, whereas in Oriental systems the scale seems to have been -regarded as tending downward. - -In the sacred dance, - -[Music] - -the interval is from G to F-flat. The intervals, where employed in the -two music examples just cited, are bracketed. The interval of three -semi-tones--the characteristic of the Oriental scale--could not be -more clearly shown than it is under the second bracket of the sacred -dance. - -Act II. Scene 1. In this scene, which takes place in a hall in the -apartments of _Amneris_, the Princess adopts strategy to discover if -_Aïda_ returns the passion which she suspects in _Rhadames_. -Messengers have arrived from the front with news that _Rhadames_ has -put the Ethiopians to utter rout and is returning with many trophies -and captives. Naturally _Aïda_ is distraught. Is her lover safe? Was -her father slain? It is while _Aïda's_ mind and heart are agitated by -these questions that _Amneris_ chooses the moment to test her feelings -and wrest from her the secret she longs yet dreads to fathom. The -Princess is reclining on a couch in her apartment in the palace at -Thebes, whither the court has repaired to welcome the triumphant -Egyptian army. Slaves are adorning her for the festival or agitating -the air with large feather fans. Moorish slave boys dance for her -delectation and her attendants sing: - - While on thy tresses rain - Laurels and flowers interwoven, - Let songs of glory mingle - With strains of tender love. - -In the midst of these festive preparations _Aïda_ enters, and -_Amneris_, craftily feigning sympathy for her lest she be grieving -over the defeat of her people and the possible loss in battle of -someone dear to her, affects to console her by telling her that -_Rhadames_, the leader of the Egyptians, has been slain. - -It is not necessary for the Princess to watch the girl intently in -order to note the effect upon her of the sudden and cruelly contrived -announcement. Almost as suddenly, having feasted her eyes on the slave -girl's grief, the Princess exclaims: "I have deceived you; _Rhadames_ -lives!" - -"He lives!" Tears of gratitude instead of despair now moisten _Aïda's_ -eyes as she raises them to Heaven. - -"You love him; you cannot deny it!" cries _Amneris_, forgetting in her -furious jealousy her dignity as a Princess. "But know, you have a -rival. Yes--in me. You, my slave, have a rival in your mistress, a -daughter of the Pharaohs!" - -Having fathomed her slave's secret, she vents the refined cruelty of -her jealous nature upon the unfortunate girl by commanding her to be -present at the approaching triumphant entry of _Rhadames_ and the -Egyptian army: - -"Come, follow me, and you shall learn if you can contend with me--you, -prostrate in the dust, I on the throne beside the king!" - -What has just been described is formulated by Verdi in a duet for -_Amneris_ and _Aïda_, "Amore! gaudio tormento" (Oh, love! Oh, joy and -sorrow!), which expresses the craftiness and subtlety of the Egyptian -Princess, the conflicting emotions of _Aïda_, and the dramatic stress -of the whole episode. - -This phrase especially seems to express the combined haughtiness and -jealousy in the attitude of _Amneris_ toward _Aïda_: - -[Music] - -Scene 2. Brilliant indeed is the spectacle to which _Aïda_ is -compelled to proceed with the Princess. It is near a group of palms at -the entrance to the city of Thebes that the _King_ has elected to give -_Rhadames_ his triumph. Here stands the temple of Ammon. Beyond it a -triumphal gate has been erected. When the _King_ enters to the cheers -of the multitude and followed by his gaudily clad court, he takes his -seat on the throne surmounted by a purple canopy. To his left sits -_Amneris_, singling out for her disdainful glances the most unhappy of -her slaves. - -A blast of trumpets, and the victorious army begins its defile past -the throne. After the foot soldiers come the chariots of war; then the -bearers of the sacred vases and statues of the gods, and a troupe of -dancing girls carrying the loot of victory. A great flourish of -trumpets, an outburst of acclaim, and _Rhadames_, proudly standing -under a canopy borne high on the shoulders of twelve of his officers, -is carried through the triumphal gate and into the presence of his -_King_. As the young hero descends from the canopy, the monarch, too, -comes down from the throne and embracing him exclaims: - -"Savior of your country, I salute you. My daughter with her own hand -shall place the crown of laurels upon your brow." And when -_Amneris_, suiting her action to her father's words, crowns -_Rhadames_, the _King_ continues: "Now ask of me whatever you most -desire. I swear by my crown and by the sacred gods that nothing shall -be denied to you this day!" - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Louise Homer as Amneris in "Aïda"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Rosina Galli in the Ballet of "Aïda"] - -But although no wish is nearer the heart of _Rhadames_ than to obtain -freedom for _Aïda_, he does not consider the moment as yet opportune. -Therefore he requests that first the prisoners of war be brought -before the _King_. When they enter, one of them, by his proud mien and -spirited carriage, easily stands forth from the rest. Hardly has -_Aïda_ set eyes upon him than she utters the startled exclamation, "My -father!" - -It is indeed none other than _Amonasro_, the Ethiopian king, who, his -identity unknown to the Egyptians, has been made captive by them. -Swiftly gliding over to where _Aïda_ stands, he whispers to her not to -betray his rank to his captors. Then, turning to the Egyptian monarch, -he craftily describes how he has seen the king of Ethiopia dead at his -feet from many wounds, and concludes by entreating clemency for the -conquered. Not only do the other captives and _Aïda_ join in his -prayer, but the people, moved by his words and by his noble aspect, -beg their king to spare the prisoners. The priests, however, protest. -The gods have delivered these enemies into the hands of Egypt; let -them be put to death lest, emboldened by a pardon so easily obtained, -they should rush to arms again. - -Meanwhile _Rhadames_ has had eyes only for _Aïda_, while _Amneris_ -notes with rising jealousy the glances he turns upon her hated slave. -At last _Rhadames_, carried away by his feelings, himself joins in the -appeal for clemency. "Oh, _King_," he exclaims, "by the sacred gods -and by the splendour of your crown, you swore to grant my wish this -day! Let it be life and liberty for the Ethiopian prisoners." But the -high priest urges that even if freedom is granted to the others, -_Aïda_ and her father be detained as hostages and this is agreed upon. -Then the _King_, as a crowning act of glory for _Rhadames_, leads -_Amneris_ forth, and addressing the young warrior, says: - -"_Rhadames_, the country owes everything to you. Your reward shall be -the hand of _Amneris_. With her one day you shall reign over Egypt." - -A great shout goes up from the multitude. Unexpectedly _Amneris_ sees -herself triumphant over her rival, the dream of her heart fulfilled, -and _Aïda_ bereft of hope, since for _Rhadames_ to refuse the hand of -his king's daughter would mean treason and death. And so while all -seemingly are rejoicing, two hearts are sad and bewildered. For -_Aïda_, the man she adores appears lost to her forever and all that is -left to her, the tears of hopeless love; while to _Rhadames_ the heart -of _Aïda_ is worth more than the throne of Egypt, and its gift, with -the hand of _Amneris_, is like the unjust vengeance of the gods -descending upon his head. - -This is the finale of the second act. It has been well said that not -only is it the greatest effort of the composer, but also one of the -grandest conceptions of modern musical and specifically operatic art. -The importance of the staging, the magnificence of the spectacle, the -diversity of characterization, and the strength of action of the drama -all conspire to keep at an unusually high level the inspiration of the -composer. The triumphal chorus, "Gloria all'Egitto" (Glory to Egypt), -is sonorous and can be rendered with splendid effect. - -It is preceded by a march. - -[Music] - -Then comes the chorus of triumph. - -[Music] - -Voices of women join in the acclaim. - -[Music] - -The trumpets of the Egyptian troops execute a most brilliant -modulation from A-flat to B-natural. - -The reference here is to the long, straight trumpets with three valves -(only one of which, however, is used). These trumpets, in groups of -three, precede the divisions of the Egyptian troops. The trumpets of -the first group are tuned in A-flat. - -[Music] - -When the second group enters and intones the same stirring march theme -in B-natural, the enharmonic modulation to a tone higher gives an -immediate and vastly effective "lift" to the music and the scene. - -[Music] - -The entrance of _Rhadames_, borne on high under a canopy by twelve -officers, is a dramatic climax to the spectacle. But a more emotional -one is to follow. - -The recognition of _King Amonasro_ by his daughter; the supplication -of the captives; the plea of _Rhadames_ and the people in their -favour; the vehement protests of the priests who, in the name of the -gods of Egypt, demand their death; the diverse passions which agitate -_Rhadames_, _Aïda_, and _Amneris_; the hope of vengeance that -_Amonasro_ cherishes--all these conflicting feelings are musically -expressed with complete success. The structure is reared upon -_Amonasro's_ plea to the _King_ for mercy for the Ethiopian captives, -"Ma tu, re, tu signore possente" (But thou, O king, thou puissant -lord). - -[Music] - -When the singer who takes the rôle of _Amonasro_ also is a good actor, -he will know how to convey, between the lines of this supplication, -his secret thoughts and unavowed hope for the reconquest of his -freedom and his country. After the Egyptian _King_ has bestowed upon -_Rhadames_ the hand of _Amneris_, the chorus, "Gloria all'Egitto," is -heard again, and, above its sonorous measures, _Aïda's_ cry: - - What hope now remains to me? - To him, glory and the throne; - To me, oblivion--the tears - Of hopeless love. - -It is largely due to Verdi's management of the score to this elaborate -scene that "Aïda" not only has superseded all spectacular operas that -came before it, but has held its own against and survived practically -all those that have come since. The others were merely spectacular. In -"Aïda" the surface radiates and glows because beneath it seethe the -fires of conflicting human passion. In other operas spectacle is -merely spectacle. In "Aïda" it clothes in brilliant habiliments the -forces of impending and on-rushing tragedy. - -Act III. That tragedy further advances toward its consummation in the -present act. - -It is a beautiful moonlight night on the banks of the Nile--moonlight -whose silvery rays are no more exquisite than the music that seems -steeped in them. - -[Music] - -Half concealed in the foliage is the temple of Isis, from which issues -the sound of women's voices, softly chanting. A boat approaches the -shore and out of it steps _Amneris_ and the high priest, with a train -of closely veiled women and several guards. The _Princess_ is about to -enter upon a vigil in the temple to implore the favour of the goddess -before her nuptials with _Rhadames_. - -For a while after they have entered the temple, the shore seems -deserted. But from the shadow of a grove of palms _Aïda_ cautiously -emerges into the moonlight. In song she breathes forth memories of her -native land: _Oh, patria mia!--O cieli azzurri!_ (Oh, native -land!--Oh, skies of tender blue!). - -[Music: O cieli azzurri, o dolci aure native,] - -The phrase, _O patria mia! mai più ti rivedrò_ (Oh, native land! I -ne'er shall see thee more)--a little further on--recalls the famous -"Non ti scordar" from the "Miserere" in "Trovatore." Here _Rhadames_ -has bid _Aïda_ meet him. Is it for a last farewell? If so, the Nile -shall be her grave. She hears a swift footfall, and turning, in -expectation of seeing _Rhadames_, beholds her father. He has fathomed -her secret and divined that she is here to meet _Rhadames_--the -betrothed of _Amneris_! Cunningly _Amonasro_ works upon her feelings. -Would she triumph over her rival? The Ethiopians again are in arms. -Again _Rhadames_ is to lead the Egyptians against them. Let her draw -from him the path which he intends to take with his army and that path -shall be converted into a fatal ambuscade. - -At first the thought is abhorrent to _Aïda_; but her father by -craftily inciting her love of country and no less her jealousy and -despair, at last is able to wrest consent from her; then draws back -into the shadow as he hears _Rhadames_ approaching. - -This duet of _Aïda_ and _Amonasro_ is and will remain one of the -beautiful dramatic efforts of the Italian repertory. The situation is -one of those in which Verdi delights; he is in his element. - -It is difficult to bring _Aïda_ to make the designs of her father -agree with her love for the young Egyptian chief. But the subtlety of -the score, its warmth, its varied and ably managed expression, almost -make plausible the submission of the young girl to the adjurations of -_Amonasro_, and excusable a decision of which she does not foresee the -consequences. To restore the crown to her father, to view again her -own country, to escape an ignominious servitude, to prevent her lover -becoming the husband of _Amneris_, her rival,--such are the thoughts -which assail her during this duet, and they are quite capable of -disturbing for a moment her better reason. _Amonasro_ sings these -phrases, so charming in the Italian: - - Rivedrai le foreste imbalsamate, - Le fresche valli, i nostri templi d'or! - Sposa felice a lui che amasti tanto, - Tripudii immensi ivi potrai gioir!... - - (Thou shalt see again the balmy forests, - The green valleys, and our golden temples. - Happy bride of him thou lovest so much, - Great rejoicing thenceforth shall be thine.) - -As she still is reluctant to lure from her lover the secret of the -route by which, in the newly planned invasion of her country, the -Egyptians expect to enter Ethiopia, _Amonasro_ changes his tactics and -conjures up for her in music a vision of the carnage among her people, -and finally invokes her mother's ghost, until, in pianissimo, -dramatically contrasting with the force of her father's savage -imprecation, she whispers, _O patria! quanto mi costi!_ (Oh, native -land! how much thou demandest of me!). - -_Amonasro_ leaves. _Aïda_ awaits her lover. When she somewhat coldly -meets _Rhadames's_ renewed declaration of love with the bitter protest -that the rites of another love are awaiting him, he unfolds his plan -to her. He will lead the Egyptians to victory and on returning with -these fresh laurels, he will prostrate himself before the _King_, lay -bare his heart to him, and ask for the hand of _Aïda_ as a reward for -his services to his country. But _Aïda_ is well aware of the power of -_Amneris_ and that her vengeance would swiftly fall upon them both. -She can see but one course to safety--that _Rhadames_ join her in -flight to her native land, where, amid forest groves and the scent of -flowers, and all forgetful of the world, they will dream away their -lives in love. This is the beginning of the dreamy yet impassioned -love duet--"Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti" (Ah, fly with me). She -implores him in passionate accents to escape with her. Enthralled by -the rapture in her voice, thrilled by the vision of happiness she -conjures up before him, he forgets for the moment country, duty, all -else save love; and exclaiming, "Love shall be our guide!" turns to -fly with her. - -This duet, charged with exotic rapture, opens with recitativo phrases -for _Aïda_. I have selected three passages for quotation: "Là tra -foreste vergini" (There 'mid the virgin forest groves); "Di fiori -profumate" (And 'mid the scent of flowers); and "In estasi la terra -scorderem" (In ecstasy the world forgotten). - -[Music: Là tra foreste vergini,] - -[Music: In estasi beate la terra scorderem,] - -[Music: in estasi la terra scorderem,] - -But Aïda, feigning alarm, asks: - -"By what road shall we avoid the Egyptian host?" - -"The path by which our troops plan to fall upon the enemy will be -deserted until tomorrow." - -"And that path?" - -"The pass of Napata." - -A voice echoes his words, "The pass of Napata." - -"Who hears us?" exclaims _Rhadames_. - -"The father of _Aïda_ and king of the Ethiopians," and _Amonasro_ -issues forth from his hiding place. He has uncovered the plan of the -Egyptian invasion, but the delay has been fatal. For at the same -moment there is a cry of "Traitor!" from the temple. - -It is the voice of _Amneris_, who with the high priest has overheard -all. _Amonasro_, baring a dagger, would throw himself upon his -daughter's rival, but _Rhadames_ places himself between them and bids -the Ethiopian fly with _Aïda_. _Amonasro_, drawing his daughter away -with him, disappears in the darkness; while _Rhadames_, with the -words, "Priest, I remain with you," delivers himself a prisoner into -his hands. - -Act IV. Scene 1. In a hall of the Royal Palace _Amneris_ awaits the -passage, under guard, of _Rhadames_ to the dungeon where the priests -are to sit in judgment upon him. There is a duet between _Rhadames_ -and this woman, who now bitterly repents the doom her jealousy is -about to bring upon the man she loves. She implores him to exculpate -himself. But _Rhadames_ refuses. Not being able to possess _Aïda_ he -will die. - -He is conducted to the dungeon, from where, as from the bowels of the -earth, she hears the sombre voices of the priests. - - Ramfis. (Nel sotterraneo.) - Radames--Radames: tu rivelasti - Della patria i segreti allo straniero.... - - Sacer. Discolpati! - - Ramfis. Egli tace. - - Tutti. Traditor! - - - Ramphis. (In the subterranean hall.) - Rhadames, Rhadames, thou didst reveal - The country's secrets to the foreigner.... - - Priests. Defend thyself! - - Ramphis. He is silent. - - All. Traitor! - -The dramatically condemnatory "Traditor!" is a death knell for her -lover in the ears of _Amneris_. And after each accusation, silence by -_Rhadames_, and cry by the priests of "Traitor!" _Amneris_ realizes -only too well that his approaching doom is to be entombed alive! Her -revulsions of feeling from hatred to love and despair find vent in -highly dramatic musical phrases. In fact _Amneris_ dominates this -scene, which is one of the most powerful passages for mezzo-soprano in -all opera. - -Scene 2. This is the famous double scene. The stage setting is divided -into two floors. The upper floor represents the interior of the Temple -of Vulcan, resplendent with light and gold; the lower floor a -subterranean hall and long rows of arcades which are lost in the -darkness. A colossal statue of Osiris, with the hands crossed, -sustains the pilasters of the vault. - -In the temple _Amneris_ and the priestesses kneel in prayer. And -_Rhadames_? Immured in the dungeon and, as he thought, to perish -alone, a form slowly takes shape in the darkness, and his own name, -uttered by the tender accents of a familiar voice, falls upon his ear. -It is _Aïda_. Anticipating the death to which he will be sentenced, -she has secretly made her way into the dungeon before his trial and -there hidden herself to find reunion with him in death. And so, while -in the temple above them the unhappy _Amneris_ kneels and implores the -gods to vouchsafe Heaven to him whose death she has compassed, -_Rhadames_ and _Aïda_, blissful in their mutual sacrifice, await the -end. - -From "Celeste Aïda," _Rhadames's_ apostrophe to his beloved, with -which the opera opens, to "O, terra, addio; addio, valle di pianti!" -(Oh, earth, farewell! Farewell, vale of tears!), - -[Music: O terra addio; addio valle di pianti] - -which is the swan-song of _Rhadames_ and _Aïda_, united in death in -the stone-sealed vault,--such is the tragic fate of love, as set forth -in this beautiful and eloquent score by Giuseppe Verdi. - - -OTELLO - -OTHELLO - - Opera in four acts, by Verdi. Words by Arrigo Boïto, after - Shakespeare. Produced, La Scala, Milan, February 5, 1887, - with Tamagno (_Otello_), and Maurel (_Iago_). London, Lyceum - Theatre, July 5, 1889. New York, Academy of Music, under - management of Italo Campanini, April 16, 1888, with Marconi, - Tetrazzini, Galassi, and Scalchi. (Later in the engagement - Marconi was succeeded by Campanini.); Metropolitan Opera - House, 1894, with Tamagno, Albani, Maurel; 1902, Alvarez, - Eames, and Scotti; later with Slezak, Alda, and Scotti; - Manhattan Opera House, with Zenatello, Melba, and Sammarco. - - CHARACTERS - - OTHELLO, a Moor, general in the army - of Venice _Tenor_ - IAGO, ancient to Othello _Baritone_ - CASSIO, lieutenant to Othello _Tenor_ - RODERIGO, a Venetian _Tenor_ - LODOVICO, Venetian ambassador _Bass_ - MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the - government of Cyprus _Bass_ - A HERALD _Bass_ - DESDEMONA, wife of Othello _Soprano_ - EMILIA, wife of Iago _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Soldiers and sailors of the Republic of Venice; men, women, - and children of Venice and of Cyprus; heralds; soldiers of - Greece, Dalmatia, and Albania; innkeeper and servants. - - _Time_--End of fifteenth century. - - _Place_--A port of the island of Cyprus. - -Three years after the success of "Aïda," Verdi produced at Milan his -"Manzoni Requiem"; but nearly sixteen years were to elapse between -"Aïda" and his next work for the lyric stage. "Aïda," with its far -richer instrumentation than that of any earlier work by Verdi, yet is -in form an opera. "Otello" more nearly approaches a music-drama, but -still is far from being one. It is only when Verdi is compared with -his earlier self that he appears Wagnerian. Compared with Wagner, he -remains characteristically Italian--true to himself, in fact, as -genius should be. - -Nowhere, perhaps, is this matter summed up as happily as in Baker's -_Biographical Dictionary of Musicians_: "Undoubtedly influenced by his -contemporaries Meyerbeer, Gounod, and Wagner in his treatment of the -orchestra, Verdi's dramatic style nevertheless shows a natural and -individual development, and has remained essentially Italian as an -orchestral accompaniment of vocal melody; but his later -instrumentation is far more careful in detail and luxuriant than that -of the earlier Italian school, and his melody more passionate and -poignant in expression." - -"Otello" is a well-balanced score, composed to a libretto by a -distinguished poet and musician--the composer of "Mefistofele." It has -vocal melodies, which are rounded off and constitute separate -"numbers" (to employ an expression commonly applied to operatic airs), -and its recitatives are set to a well thought out instrumental -accompaniment. - -It is difficult to explain the comparative lack of success with the -public of Verdi's last two scores for the lyric stage, "Otello" and -"Falstaff." Musicians fully appreciate them. Indeed "Falstaff," which -followed "Otello," is considered one of the greatest achievements in -the history of opera. Yet it is rarely given, and even "Otello" has -already reached the "revival" stage, while "Aïda," "Rigoletto," "La -Traviata," and "Il Trovatore" are fixtures, although "Rigoletto" was -composed thirty-six years before "Otello" and forty-two before -"Falstaff." Can it be that critics (including myself) and professional -musicians have been admiring the finished workmanship of Verdi's last -two scores, while the public has discovered in them a halting -inspiration, a too frequent substitution of miraculous skill for the -old-time _flair_, and a lack of that careless but attractive -occasional _laissez faire aller_ of genius, which no technical -perfection can replace? Time alone can answer. - -When "Otello" opens, _Desdemona_ has preceded her husband to Cyprus -and is living in the castle overlooking the port. There are a few bars -of introduction. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Alda as Desdemona in "Otello"] - -Act I. In the background a quay and the sea; a tavern with an arbour; -it is evening. - -Through a heavy storm _Othello's_ ship is seen to be making port. -Among the crowd of watchers, who exclaim upon the danger to the -vessel, are _Iago_ and _Roderigo_. _Othello_ ascends the steps to the -quay, is acclaimed by the crowd, and proceeds to the castle followed -by _Cassio_, _Montano_, and soldiers. The people start a wood fire -and gather about it dancing and singing. - -It transpires in talk between _Iago_ and _Roderigo_ that _Iago_ hates -_Othello_ because he has advanced _Cassio_ over him, and that -_Roderigo_ is in love with _Desdemona_. - -The fire dies out, the storm has ceased. _Cassio_ has returned from -the castle. Now comes the scene in which _Iago_ purposely makes him -drunk, in order to cause his undoing. They, with others, are grouped -around the table outside the tavern. _Iago_ sings his drinking song, -"Inaffia l'ugola! trinca tracanna" (Then let me quaff the noble wine, -from the can I'll drink it). - -[Music: Inaffia l'ugola! trinca, tracanna,] - -Under the influence of the liquor _Cassio_ resents the taunts of -_Roderigo_, instigated by _Iago_. _Montano_ tries to quiet him. -_Cassio_ draws. There follows the fight in which _Montano_ is wounded. -The tumult, swelled by alarums and the ringing of bells, brings -_Othello_ with _Desdemona_ to the scene. _Cassio_ is dismissed from -the Moor's service. _Iago_ has scored his first triumph. - -The people disperse. Quiet settles upon the scene. _Othello_ and -_Desdemona_ are alone. The act closes with their love duet, which -_Desdemona_ begins with "Quando narravi" (When thou dids't speak). - -[Music] - -Act II. A hall on the ground floor of the castle. _Iago_, planning to -make _Othello_ jealous of _Desdemona_, counsels _Cassio_ to induce -the Moor's wife to plead for his reinstatement. _Cassio_ goes into a -large garden at the back. _Iago_ sings his famous "Credo in un Dio -crudel che m'ha creato" [Transcriber's Note: should be 'un Dio -crudel,' but 'crudel' was possibly omitted deliberately, as 'cruel' is -also missing from the translation] (I believe in a God, who has -created me in his image). This is justly regarded as a masterpiece of -invective. It does not appear in Shakespeare, so that the lines are as -original with Boïto as the music is with Verdi. Trumpets, employed in -what may be termed a declamatory manner, are conspicuous in the -accompaniment. - -_Iago_, seeing _Othello_ approach, leans against a column and looks -fixedly in the direction of _Desdemona_ and _Cassio_, exclaiming, as -_Othello_ enters, "I like not that!" As in the corresponding scene in -the play, this leads up to the questioning of him by _Othello_ and to -_Iago's_ crafty answers, which not only apply the match to, but also -fan the flame of _Othello's_ jealousy, as he watches his wife with -_Cassio_. - -Children, women, and Cypriot and Albanian sailors now are seen with -_Desdemona_. They bring her flowers and other gifts. Accompanying -themselves on the cornemuse, and small harps, they sing a mandolinata, -"Dove guardi splendono" (Wheresoe'er thy glances fall). This is -followed by a graceful chorus for the sailors, who bring shells and -corals. - -The scene and _Desdemona's_ beauty deeply move the _Moor_. He cannot -believe her other than innocent. But, unwittingly, she plays into -_Iago's_ hand. For her first words on joining _Othello_ are a plea for -_Cassio_. All the _Moor's_ jealousy is re-aroused. When she would -apply her handkerchief to his heated brow, he tears it from her hand, -and throws it to the ground. _Emilia_ picks it up, but _Iago_ takes it -from her. The scene is brought to a close by a quartet for -_Desdemona_, _Othello_, _Iago_, and _Emilia_. - -_Othello_ and _Iago_ are left together again. _Othello_ voices the -grief that shakes his whole being, in what Mr. Upton happily describes -as "a pathetic but stirring melody." In it he bids farewell, not only -to love and trust, but to the glories of war and battle. The trumpet -is effectively employed in the accompaniment to this outburst of -grief, which begins, "Addio sante memorie" (Farewell, O sacred -memories). - -[Music: Addio sante memorie, addio sublimi incanti del pensier] - -To such a fury is the _Moor_ aroused that he seizes _Iago_, hurls him -to the ground, and threatens to kill him should his accusations -against _Desdemona_ prove false. There is a dramatic duet in which -_Iago_ pledges his aid to _Othello_ in proving beyond doubt the -falseness of _Desdemona_. - -Act III. The great hall of the castle. At the back a terrace. After a -brief scene in which the approach of a galley with the Venetian -ambassadors is announced, _Desdemona_ enters. Wholly unaware of the -cause of _Othello's_ strange actions toward her, she again begins to -plead for _Cassio's_ restoration to favour. _Iago_ has pretended to -_Othello_ that _Desdemona's_ handkerchief (of which he surreptitiously -possessed himself) had been given by her to _Cassio_, and this has -still further fanned the flame of the _Moor's_ jealousy. The scene, -for _Othello_, is one of mingled wrath and irony. Upon her knees -_Desdemona_ vows her constancy: "Esterrefatta fisso lo sguardo tuo -tremendo" (Upon my knees before thee, beneath thy glance I tremble). I -quote the phrase, "Io prego il cielo per te con questo pianto" (I pray -my sighs rise to heaven with prayer). - -[Music: Io prego il cielo per te con questo pianto] - -_Othello_ pushes her out of the room. He soliloquizes: "Dio! mi potevi -scagliar tutti i mali della miseria" (Heav'n had it pleased thee to -try me with affliction). - -_Iago_, entering, bids _Othello_ conceal himself; then brings in -_Cassio_, who mentions _Desdemona_ to _Iago_, and also is led by -_Iago_ into light comments on other matters, all of which _Othello_, -but half hearing them from his place of concealment, construes as -referring to his wife. _Iago_ also plays the trick with the -handkerchief, which, having been conveyed by him to _Cassio_, he now -induces the latter (within sight of _Othello_) to draw from his -doublet. There is a trio for _Othello_ (still in concealment), _Iago_, -and _Cassio_. - -The last-named having gone, and the _Moor_ having asked for poison -with which to kill _Desdemona_, _Iago_ counsels that _Othello_ -strangle her in bed that night, while he goes forth and slays -_Cassio_. For this counsel _Othello_ makes _Iago_ his lieutenant. - -The Venetian ambassadors arrive. There follows the scene in which the -recall of _Othello_ to Venice and the appointment of _Cassio_ as -Governor of Cyprus are announced. This is the scene in which, also, -the _Moor_ strikes down _Desdemona_ in the presence of the -ambassadors, and she begs for mercy--"A terra--sì--nel livido fango" -(Yea, prostrate here, I lie in the dust); and "Quel sol sereno e -vivido che allieta il cielo e il mare" (The sun who from his cloudless -sky illumes the heavens and sea). - -[Music: Quel Sol sereno e vivido che allieta il cielo e il mare] - -After this there is a dramatic sextet. - -All leave, save the _Moor_ and his newly created lieutenant. Overcome -by rage, _Othello_ falls in a swoon. The people, believing that the -_Moor_, upon his return to Venice, is to receive new honours from the -republic, shout from outside, "Hail, Othello! Hail to the lion of -Venice!" - -"There lies the lion!" is _Iago's_ comment of malignant triumph and -contempt, as the curtain falls. - -Act IV. The scene is _Desdemona's_ bedchamber. There is an orchestral -introduction of much beauty. Then, as in the play, with which I am -supposing the reader to be at least fairly familiar, comes the brief -dialogue between _Desdemona_ and _Emilia_. _Desdemona_ sings the -pathetic little willow song, said to be a genuine Italian folk tune -handed down through many centuries. - -[Music: Piangea cantando nell'erma landa, piangea la mesta.... O Salce!] - -_Emilia_ goes, and _Desdemona_ at her prie-Dieu, before the image of -the Virgin, intones an exquisite "Ave Maria," beginning and ending in -pathetic monotone, with an appealing melody between. - -[Music: Prega per chi adorando a te si prostra, Ave! Amen!] - -_Othello's_ entrance is accompanied by a powerful passage on the -double basses. - -Then follows the scene of the strangling, through which are heard -mournfully reminiscent strains of the love duet that ended the first -act. _Emilia_ discloses _Iago's_ perfidy. _Othello_ kills himself. - - -FALSTAFF - - Opera in three acts, by Verdi; words by Arrigo Boïto, after - Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" and "King Henry IV." - Produced, La Scala, Milan, March 12, 1893. Paris, Opéra - Comique, April 18, 1894. London, May 19, 1894. New York, - Metropolitan Opera House, February 4, 1895. This was the - first performance of "Falstaff" in North America. It had - been heard in Buenos Aires, July 19, 1893. The Metropolitan - cast included Maurel as _Falstaff_, Eames as _Mistress - Ford_, Zélie de Lussan as _Nannetta_ (_Anne_), Scalchi as - _Dame Quickly_, Campanini as _Ford_, Russitano as _Fenton_. - Scotti, Destinn, Alda, and Gay also have appeared at the - Metropolitan in "Falstaff." The London production was at - Covent Garden. - - CHARACTERS - - SIR JOHN FALSTAFF _Baritone_ - FENTON, a young gentleman _Tenor_ - FORD, a wealthy burgher _Baritone_ - DR. CAJUS _Tenor_ - BARDOLPH } followers of Falstaff { _Tenor_ - PISTOL } { _Bass_ - ROBIN, a page in Ford's household - MISTRESS FORD _Soprano_ - ANNE, her daughter _Soprano_ - MISTRESS PAGE _Mezzo-Soprano_ - DAME QUICKLY _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Burghers and street-folk, Ford's servants, maskers, as - elves, fairies, witches, etc. - - _Time_--Reign of Henry IV. - - _Scene_--Windsor. - - Note. In the Shakespeare comedy _Anne Ford_ is _Anne Page_. - -Shakespeare's comedy, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," did not have its -first lyric adaptation when the composer of "Rigoletto" and "Aïda," -influenced probably by his distinguished librettist, penned the score -of his last work for the stage. "Falstaff," by Salieri, was produced -in Vienna in 1798; another "Falstaff," by Balfe, came out in London -in 1838. Otto Nicolai's opera "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is -mentioned on p. 80 of this book. The character of _Falstaff_ also -appears in "Le Songe d'une Nuit d'Été" (The Midsummer Night's Dream) -by Ambroise Thomas, Paris, 1850, "where the type is treated with an -adept's hand, especially in the first act, which is a masterpiece of -pure comedy in music." "Le Songe d'une Nuit d'Été" was, in fact, -Thomas's first significant success. A one-act piece, "Falstaff," by -Adolphe Adam, was produced at the Théâtre Lyrique in 1856. - -The comedy of the "Merry Wives," however, was not the only Shakespeare -play put under contribution by Boïto. At the head of the "Falstaff" -score is this note: "The present comedy is taken from 'The Merry Wives -of Windsor' and from several passages in 'Henry IV.' by Shakespeare." - -Falstaff, it should be noted, is a historic figure; he was a brave -soldier; served in France; was governor of Honfleur; took an important -part in the battle of Agincourt, and was in all the engagements before -the walls of Orleans, where the English finally were obliged to -retreat before Joan of Arc. Sir John Falstaff died at the age of -eighty-two years in county Norfolk, his native shire, after numerous -valiant exploits, and having occupied his old age in caring for the -interests of the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to the -foundation of which he had largely contributed. To us, however, he is -known almost wholly as an enormously stout comic character. - -The first scene in the first act of the work by Boïto and Verdi shows -_Falstaff_ in a room of the Garter Inn. He is accompanied by those two -good-for-nothings in his service, _Bardolph_ and _Pistol_, ragged -blackguards, whom he treats with a disdain measured by their own low -standards. _Dr. Cajus_ enters. He comes to complain that _Falstaff_ -has beaten his servants; also that _Bardolph_ and _Pistol_ made him -drunk and then robbed him. _Falstaff_ laughs and browbeats him out of -countenance. He departs in anger. - -_Falstaff_ has written two love letters and despatched them to two -married belles of Windsor--_Mistress Alice Ford_ and _Mistress Meg -Page_, asking each one for a rendezvous. - -The scene changes to the garden of _Ford's_ house, and we are in -presence of the "merry wives"--_Alice Ford_, _Meg Page_, and _Mistress -Quickly_. With them is _Anne Ford_, _Mistress Ford's_ daughter. -Besides the garden there is seen part of the Ford house and the public -road. In company with _Dame Quickly_, _Meg_ has come to pay a visit to -_Alice Ford_, to show her a letter which she has just received from -_Falstaff_. _Alice_ matches her with one she also has received from -him. The four merry women then read the two letters, which, save for -the change of address, are exactly alike. The women are half amused, -half annoyed, at the pretensions of the fat knight. They plan to -avenge themselves upon him. Meanwhile _Ford_ goes walking before his -house in company with _Cajus_, young _Fenton_ (who is in love with -_Anne_), _Bardolph_, and _Pistol_. The last two worthies have betrayed -their master. From them _Ford_ has learned that _Falstaff_ is after -his wife. He too meditates revenge, and goes off with the others, -except _Fenton_, who lingers, kisses _Anne_ through the rail fence of -the garden, and sings a love duet with her. The men return. _Fenton_ -rejoins them. _Anne_ runs back to her mother, and the four women are -seen up-stage, concocting their conspiracy of revenge. - -The second act reverts to the Garter Inn, where _Falstaff_ is still at -table. _Dame Quickly_ comes with a message from _Alice_ to agree to -the rendezvous he has asked for. It is at the Ford house between two -and three o'clock, it being Ford's custom to absent himself at that -time. _Falstaff_ is pompously delighted. He promises to be prompt. - -Hardly has _Dame Quickly_ left, when _Ford_ arrives. He introduces -himself to _Falstaff_ under an assumed name, presents the knight with -a purse of silver as a bait, then tells him that he is in love with -_Mistress Ford_, whose chastity he cannot conquer, and begs _Falstaff_ -to lay siege to her and so make the way easier for him. _Falstaff_ -gleefully tells him that he has a rendezvous with her that very -afternoon. This is just what _Ford_ wanted to know. - -The next scene takes place in _Ford's_ house, where the four women get -ready to give _Falstaff_ the reception he merits. One learns here, -quite casually from talk between _Mistress Ford_ and _Anne_, that -_Ford_ wants to marry off the girl to the aged pedant _Cajus_, while -she, of course, will marry none but _Fenton_, with whom she is in -love. Her mother promises to aid her plans. - -_Falstaff's_ arrival is announced. _Dame Quickly_, _Meg_, and _Anne_ -leave _Mistress Ford_ with him, but conceal themselves in readiness to -come in response to the first signal. They are needed sooner than -expected. _Ford_ is heard approaching. Quick! The fat lover must be -concealed. This is accomplished by getting him behind a screen. _Ford_ -enters with his followers, hoping to surprise the rake. With them he -begins a search of the rooms. While they are off exploring another -part of the house the women hurry _Falstaff_ into a big wash basket, -pile the soiled clothes over him, and fasten it down. Scarcely has -this been done when _Ford_ comes back, thinking of the screen. Just -then he hears the sound of kissing behind this piece of furniture. No -longer any doubt! _Falstaff_ is hidden there with his wife. He knocks -down the screen--and finds behind it _Anne_ and _Fenton_, who have -used to their own purpose the diversion of attention from them by the -hunt for _Falstaff_. _Ford_, more furious than ever, rushes out. His -wife and her friends call in the servants, who lift the basket and -empty it out of the window into the Thames, which flows below. When -_Ford_ comes back, his wife leads him to the window and shows him -_Falstaff_ striking out clumsily for the shore, a butt of ridicule -for all who see him. - -In the third act _Dame Quickly_ is once more seen approaching -_Falstaff_, who is seated on a bench outside the Garter Inn. In behalf -of _Mistress Ford_, she offers him another rendezvous. _Falstaff_ -wants to hear no more, but _Dame Quickly_ makes so many good excuses -for her friend that he decides to meet _Mistress Ford_ at the time and -place asked for by her--midnight, at Herne's oak in Windsor forest, -_Falstaff_ to appear in the disguise of the black huntsman, who, -according to legend, hung himself from the oak, with the result that -the spot is haunted by witches and sprites. - -_Falstaff_, in the forest at midnight, is surrounded by the merry -women, the whole _Ford_ entourage, and about a hundred others, all -disguised and masked. They unite in mystifying, taunting, and -belabouring him, until at last he realizes whom he has to deal with. -And as it is necessary for everything to end in a wedding, it is then -that _Mistress Ford_ persuades her husband to abandon his plan to take -the pedantic _Dr. Cajus_ for son-in-law and give his daughter _Anne_ -to _Fenton_. - -Even taking into account "Otello," the general form of the music in -"Falstaff" is an innovation for Verdi. All the scenes are connected -without break in continuity, as in the Wagnerian music-drama, but -applied to an entirely different style of music from Wagner's. "It -required all the genius and dramatic experience of a Verdi, who had -drama in his blood, to succeed in a lyrical adventure like 'Falstaff,' -the whole score of which displays amazing youthfulness, dash, and -spirit, coupled with extraordinary grace." On the other hand, as -regards inspiration pure and simple, it has been said that there is -not found in "Falstaff" the freshness of imagination or the abundance -of ideas of the earlier Verdi, and that one looks in vain for one of -those motifs _di prima intenzione_, like the romance of _Germont_ in -"La Traviata," the song of the _Duke_ in "Rigoletto," or the -"Miserere" in "Il Trovatore," and so many others that might be named. -The same writer, however, credits the score with remarkable purity of -form and with a _sveltesse_ and lightness that are astonishing in the -always lively attraction of the musical discourse, to say nothing of a -"charming orchestration, well put together, likeable and full of -coquetry, in which are found all the brilliancy and facility of the -Rossini method." - -Notwithstanding the above writer's appreciative words regarding the -instrumentation of "Falstaff," he has fallen foul of the work, because -he listened to it purely in the spirit of an opera-goer, and judged it -as an opera instead of as a music-drama. If I may be pardoned the -solecism, a music-drama "listens" different from an opera. A person -accustomed only to opera has his ears cocked for song soaring above an -accompaniment that counts for nothing save as a support for the voice. -The music-lover, who knows what a music-drama consists of, is aware -that it presents a well-balanced score, in which the orchestra -frequently changes place with the voice in interpreting the action. It -is because in "Falstaff" Verdi makes the orchestra act and sing--which -to an opera-goer, his ears alert for vocal melody, means nothing--that -the average audience, expecting something like unto what Verdi has -given them before, is disappointed. Extremists, one way or another, -are one-sided. Whoever is able to appreciate both opera and -music-drama, a catholicity of taste I consider myself fortunate in -possessing, can admire "Rigoletto," "Il Trovatore," and "La Traviata" -as much as the most confirmed devotee of opera; but can also go -further, and follow Verdi into regions where the intake is that of the -pure spirit of comedy at times exhaled by the voice, at times by the -orchestra. - -While not divided into distinct "numbers," there are passages in -"Falstaff" in which Verdi has concentrated his attention on certain -characteristic episodes. In the first scene of the first act occurs -_Falstaff's_ lyric in praise of _Mistress Ford_, "O amor! Sguardo di -stella!" (O Love, with star-like eyes). I quote the beautiful passage -at "Alice è il nome" (And Alice is her name). - -[Music: (Copyright, 1893, by G. Ricordi & Co.)] - -The same scene has the honour monologue from "King Henry IV.," which -is purely declamatory, but with a remarkably vivid and characteristic -accompaniment, in which especially the bassoons and clarinets comment -merrily on the sarcastic sentences addressed to _Bardolph_ and -_Pistol_. - -In the second scene of Act I, besides the episodes in which _Mistress -Ford_ reads _Falstaff's_ letter, the unaccompanied quartet for the -women ("Though shaped like a barrel, he fain would come courting"), -the quartet for the men, and the close of the act in which both -quartets take part, there is the piquant duet for _Anne_ and _Fenton_, -in which the lovers kiss each other between the palings of the fence. -From this duet I quote the amatory exchange of phrases, "Labbra di -foco" (Lips all afire) and "Labbra di fiore" (Lips of a flower) -between _Anne_ and _Fenton_. - -[Music: (Copyright, 1893, by G. Ricordi & Co.)] - -As the curtain falls _Mistress Ford_ roguishly quotes a line from -_Falstaff's_ verses, the four women together add another quotation, -"Come una stella sull'immensità" (Like some sweet star that sparkles -all the night), and go out laughing. In fact the music for the women -takes many a piquant turn. - -[Music: (Copyright, 1893, by G. Ricordi & Co.)] - -In Act II, the whole scene between _Falstaff_ and _Dame Quickly_ is -full of witty commentary by the orchestra. The scene between -_Falstaff_ and _Ford_ also derives its significance from the -instrumentation. _Ford's_ monologue, when he is persuaded by -_Falstaff's_ boastful talk that his wife is fickle, is highly -dramatic. The little scene of _Ford's_ and _Falstaff's_ -departure--_Ford_ to expose his betrayal by his wife, _Falstaff_ for -his rendezvous with her--"is underscored by a graceful and very -elegant orchestral dialogue." - -The second scene of this act has _Dame Quickly's_ madcap narrative of -her interview with _Falstaff_; and _Falstaff's_ ditty sung to -_Mistress Ford_, "Quand'ero paggio del Duca di Norfolk" (When I was -page to the Duke of Norfolk). From the popular point of view, this is -the outstanding musical number of the work. It is amusing, pathetic, -graceful, and sad; irresistible, in fact, in its mingled sentiments of -comedy and regret. Very brief, it rarely fails of encores from one to -four in number. I quote the following: - -[Music: Quand'ero paggio del Duca di Norfolk ero sottile, sottile, -sottile, - -(Copyright, 1893, by G. Ricordi & Co.)] - -The search for _Falstaff_ by _Ford_ and his followers is most -humorously treated in the score. - -In Act III, in the opening scene, in which _Falstaff_ soliloquizes -over his misadventures, the humour, so far as the music is concerned, -is conveyed by the orchestra. - -From _Fenton's_ song of love, which opens the scene at Herne's oak in -Windsor forest, I quote this expressive passage: - -[Music: (Copyright, 1893, by G. Ricordi & Co.)] - -Another delightful solo in this scene is _Anne's_ "Erriam sotto la -luna" (We'll dance in the moonlight). - -[Music: (Copyright, 1893, by G. Ricordi & Co.)] - -There are mysterious choruses--sibilant and articulately -vocalized--and a final fugue. - - - - -Arrigo Boïto, 1842- - - -MEFISTOFELE - -(MEPHISTOPHELES) - - Opera in four acts; words and music by Arrigo Boïto, the - book based on Goethe's _Faust_. Produced, without success, - La Scala, Milan, March 5, 1868; revised and revived, with - success, Bologna, October 4, 1875. London, Her Majesty's - Theatre, July 1, 1880. New York, Academy of Music, November - 24, 1880, with Campanini, Valleria, Cary, and Novara; and - Metropolitan Opera House, December 5, 1883, Campanini, - Nilsson, Trebelli, and Mirabella. Revivals: Metropolitan - Opera House, 1889 (Lehmann); 1896 (Calvé); 1901 (Margaret - McIntyre, Homer, and Plançon); 1904 (Caruso and Eames); 1907 - (Chaliapine); later with Caruso, Hempel, Destinn, and Amato. - Manhattan Opera House, 1906, with Renaud. Chicago Opera - Company, with Ruffo. The singer of _Margaret_ usually takes - the part of _Elena_ (Helen), and the _Martha_ also is the - _Pantalis_. - - CHARACTERS - - MEFISTOFELE _Bass_ - FAUST _Tenor_ - MARGHERITA _Soprano_ - MARTHA _Contralto_ - WAGNER _Tenor_ - ELENA _Soprano_ - PANTALIS _Contralto_ - NERENO _Tenor_ - - Mystic choir, celestial phalanxes, cherubs, penitents, - wayfarers, men-at-arms, huntsmen, students, citizens, - populace, townsmen, witches, wizards, Greek chorus, sirens, - nayads, dancers, warriors. - - _Time_--Middle Ages. - - _Place_--Heaven; Frankfurt, Germany; Vale of Tempe, Ancient - Greece. - -"Mefistofele" is in a prologue, four acts, and epilogue. In Gounod's -"Faust," the librettists were circumspect, and limited the book of the -opera to the first part of Goethe's _Faust_, the story of _Faust_ and -_Marguerite_--succinct, dramatic, and absorbing. Only for the ballet -did they reach into the second part of Goethe's play and appropriate -the scene on the Brocken, which, however, is frequently omitted. - -Boïto, himself a poet, based his libretto on both parts of Goethe's -work, and endeavoured to give it the substratum of philosophy upon -which the German master reared his dramatic structure. This, however, -resulted in making "Mefistofele" two operas in one. Wherever the work -touches on the familiar story of _Faust_ and _Marguerite_, it is -absorbingly interesting, and this in spite of the similarity between -some of its scenes and those of Gounod's "Faust." When it strays into -Part II of Goethe's drama, the main thread of the action suddenly -seems broken. The skein ravels. That is why one of the most profound -works for the lyric stage, one of the most beautiful scores that has -come out of Italy, is heard so rarely. - -Theodore T. Barker prefaces his translation of the libretto, published -by Oliver Ditson Company, with a recital of the story. - -The Prologue opens in the nebulous regions of space, in which float -the invisible legions of angels, cherubs, and seraphs. These lift -their voices in a hymn of praise to the Supreme Ruler of the universe. -_Mefistofele_ enters on the scene at the close of the anthem, and, -standing erect amid the clouds, with his feet upon the border of his -cloak, mockingly addresses the Deity. In answer to the question from -the mystic choir, "Knowest thou Faust?" he answers contemptuously, and -offers to wager that he will be able to entice _Faust_ to evil, and -thus gain a victory over the powers of good. The wager is accepted, -and the spirits resume their chorus of praise. - -Musically the Prologue is full of interest. There are five distinct -periods of music, varied in character, so that it gives necessary -movement to a scene in which there is but little stage action. There -are the prelude with mystic choir; the sardonic scherzo foreshadowing -the entry of _Mefistofele_; his scornful address, in which finally he -engages to bring about the destruction of _Faust's_ soul; a vivacious -chorus of cherubs (impersonated by twenty-four boys); a psalmody of -penitents and spirits. - -Act I. The drama opens on Easter Sunday, at Frankfort-on-the-Main. -Crowds of people of all conditions move in and out of the city gates. -Among them appears a grey friar, an object of both reverence and -dread to those near him. The aged _Dr. Faust_ and his pupil _Wagner_ -descend from a height and enter upon the scene, shadowed by the friar, -whose actions they discuss. _Faust_ returns to his laboratory, still -at his heels the friar, who, unheeded, enters with him, and conceals -himself in an alcove. _Faust_ gives himself to meditation, and upon -opening the sacred volume, is startled by a shriek from the friar as -he rushes from his place of concealment. _Faust_ makes the all-potent -"sign of Solomon," which compels _Mefistofele_ to throw off his -friar's disguise and to appear in his own person in the garb of a -cavalier, with a black cloak upon his arm. In reply to _Faust's_ -questionings, he declares himself the spirit that denieth all things, -desiring only the complete ruin of the world, and a return to chaos -and night. He offers to make _Faust_ the companion of his wanderings, -upon certain conditions, to which the latter agrees, saying: "If thou -wilt bring me one hour of peace, in which my soul may rest--if thou -wilt unveil the world and myself before me--if I may find cause to say -to some flying moment, 'Stay, for thou art blissful,' then let me die, -and let hell's depths engulf me." The contract completed, -_Mefistofele_ spreads his cloak, and both disappear through the air. - -The first scene of this act gains its interest from the reflection in -the music of the bustle and animation of the Easter festival. The -score plastically follows the many changing incidents of the scene -upon the stage. Conspicuous in the episodes in _Faust's_ laboratory -are _Faust's_ beautiful air, "Dai campi, dai prati" (From the fields -and from the meadows); and _Mefistofele's_ proclamation of his -identity, "Son lo spirito che nega" (I am the spirit that denieth). - -Act II opens with the garden scene. _Faust_, rejuvenated, and under -the name of _Henry_; _Margaret_, _Mefistofele_, and _Martha_ stroll -here and there in couples, chatting and love-making. Thence -_Mefistofele_ takes _Faust_ to the heights of the Brocken, where he -witnesses the orgies of the Witches' Sabbath. The fiend is welcomed -and saluted as their king. _Faust_, benumbed and stupefied, gazes into -the murky sky, and experiences there a vision of _Margaret_, pale, -sad, and fettered with chains. - -In this act the garden scene is of entrancing grace. It contains -_Faust's_ "Colma il tuo cor d'un palpito" (Flood thou thy heart with -all the bliss), and the quartet of farewell, with which the scene -ends, _Margaret_, with the gay and reckless laugh of ineffable bliss, -exclaiming to _Faust_ that she loves him. The scene in the Brocken, -besides the whirl of the witches' orgy, has a solo for _Mefistofele_, -when the weird sisters present to him a glass globe, reflected in -which he sees the earth. "Ecco il mondo" (Behold the earth). - -Act III. The scene is a prison. _Margaret_ lies extended upon a heap -of straw, mentally wandering, and singing to herself. _Mefistofele_ -and _Faust_ appear outside the grating. They converse hurriedly, and -_Faust_ begs for the life of _Margaret_. _Mefistofele_ promises to do -what he can, and bids him haste, for the infernal steeds are ready for -flight. He opens the cell, and _Faust_ enters it. _Margaret_ thinks -the jailors have come to release her, but at length recognizes her -lover. She describes what followed his desertion of her, and begs him -to lay her in death beside her loved ones;--her babe, whom she -drowned, her mother whom she is accused of having poisoned. _Faust_ -entreats her to fly with him, and she finally consents, saying that in -some far distant isle they may yet be happy. But the voice of -_Mefistofele_ in the background recalls her to the reality of the -situation. She shrinks away from _Faust_, prays to Heaven for mercy, -and dies. Voices of the celestial choir are singing softly "She's -saved!" _Faust_ and _Mefistofele_ escape, as the executioner and his -escort appear in the background. - -The act opens with _Margaret's_ lament, "L'altra notte in fonda al -mare" (To the sea, one night in sadness), in which she tells of the -drowning of her babe. There is an exquisite duet, for _Margaret_ and -_Faust_, "Lontano, sui flutti d'un ampio oceano" (Far away, o'er the -waves of a far-spreading ocean). - -Act IV. _Mefistofele_ takes _Faust_ to the shores of the Vale of -Tempe. _Faust_ is ravished with the beauty of the scene while -_Mefistofele_ finds that the orgies of the _Brocken_ were more to his -taste. - -'Tis the night of the classic Sabbath. A band of young maidens appear, -singing and dancing. _Mefistofele_, annoyed and confused, retires. -_Helen_ enters with chorus, and, absorbed by a terrible vision, -rehearses the story of Troy's destruction. _Faust_ enters, richly clad -in the costume of a knight of the fifteenth century, followed by -_Mefistofele_, _Nereno_, _Pantalis_, and others, with little fauns and -sirens. Kneeling before _Helen_, he addresses her as his ideal of -beauty and purity. Thus pledging to each other their love and -devotion, they wander through the bowers and are lost to sight. - -_Helen's_ ode, "La luna immobile innonda l'etere" (Motionless -floating, the moon floods the dome of night); her dream of the -destruction of Troy; the love duet for _Helen_ and _Faust_, "Ah! -Amore! mistero celeste" ('Tis love, a mystery celestial); and the -dexterous weaving of a musical background by orchestra and chorus, are -the chief features in the score to this act. - -In the Epilogue, we find _Faust_ in his laboratory once more--an old -man, with death fast approaching, mourning over his past life, with -the holy volume open before him. Fearing that _Faust_ may yet escape -him, _Mefistofele_ spreads his cloak, and urges _Faust_ to fly with -him through the air. Appealing to Heaven, _Faust_ is strengthened by -the sound of angelic songs, and resists. Foiled in his efforts, -_Mefistofele_ conjures up a vision of beautiful sirens. _Faust_ -hesitates a moment, flies to the sacred volume, and cries, "Here at -last I find salvation"; then falling on his knees in prayer, -effectually overcomes the temptations of the evil one. He then dies -amid a shower of rosy petals, and to the triumphant song of a -celestial choir. _Mefistofele_ has lost his wager, and holy influences -have prevailed. - -We have here _Faust's_ lament, "Giunto sul passo estremo" (Nearing the -utmost limit); his prayer, and the choiring of salvation. - - * * * * * - -Arrigo Boïto was, it will be recalled, the author of the books to -Ponchielli's opera "La Gioconda," and Verdi's "Otello" and "Falstaff." -He was born in Padua, February 24, 1842. From 1853 to 1862 he was a -pupil of the Milan Conservatory. During a long sojourn in Germany and -Poland he became an ardent admirer of Wagner's music. Since -"Mefistofele" Boïto has written and composed another opera, "Nerone" -(Nero), but has withheld it from production. - - - - -Amilcare Ponchielli - -(1834-1886) - - -Amilcare Ponchielli, the composer of "La Gioconda," was born at -Paderno Fasolaro, Cremona, August 31, 1834. He studied music, 1843-54, -at the Milan Conservatory. In 1856 he brought out at Cremona an opera, -"I Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed), which, in a revised version, -Milan, 1872, was his first striking success. The same care Ponchielli -bestowed upon his studies, which lasted nearly ten years, he gave to -his works. Like "I Promessi Sposi," his opera, "I Lituani" (The -Lithuanians), brought out in 1874, was revived ten years later, as -"Alguna"; and, while "La Gioconda" (1876) did not wait so long for -success, it too was revised and brought out in a new version before it -received popular acclaim. Among his other operas are, 1880, "Il -Figliuol Prodigo" (The Prodigal Son), and, 1885, "Marion Delorme." "La -Gioconda," however, is the only one of his operas that has made its -way abroad. - -Ponchielli died at Milan, January 16, 1886. He was among the very -first Italian composers to yield to modern influences and enrich his -score with instrumental effects intended to enhance its beauty and -give the support of an eloquent and expressive accompaniment to the -voice without, however, challenging its supremacy. His influence upon -his Italian contemporaries was considerable. He, rather than Verdi, is -regarded by students of music as the founder of the modern school of -Italian opera. What really happened is that there was going on in -Italy, influenced by a growing appreciation of Wagner's works among -musicians, a movement for a more advanced style of lyric drama. -Ponchielli and Boïto were leaders in this movement. Verdi, a far -greater genius than either of these, was caught up in it, and, because -of his genius, accomplished more in it than the actual leaders. -Ponchielli's influence still is potent. For he was the teacher of the -most famous living Italian composer of opera, Giacomo Puccini. - - -LA GIOCONDA - -THE BALLAD SINGER - - Opera in four acts by Ponchielli, libretto by Arrigo Boïto, - after Victor Hugo's play, "Angelo, Tyrant of Padua." Boïto - signed the book with his anagram, "Tobia Gorrio." Produced - in its original version, La Scala, Milan, April 8, 1876; and - with a new version of the libretto in Genoa, December, 1876. - London, Covent Garden, May 31, 1883. New York, December 20, - 1883 (for details, see below); revived, Metropolitan Opera - House, November 28, 1904, with Nordica, Homer, Edyth Walker, - Caruso, Giraldoni, and Plançon; later with Destinn, Ober, - and Amato. - - CHARACTERS - - LA GIOCONDA, a ballad singer _Soprano_ - LA CIECA, her blind mother _Contralto_ - ALVISE, one of the heads of the - State Inquisition _Bass_ - LAURA, his wife _Mezzo-Soprano_ - ENZO GRIMALDO, a Genoese noble _Tenor_ - BARNABA, a spy of the Inquisition _Baritone_ - ZUÀNE, a boatman _Bass_ - ISÈPO, a public letter-writer _Tenor_ - A PILOT _Bass_ - - Monks, senators, sailors, shipwrights, ladies, gentlemen, - populace, maskers, guards, etc. - - _Time_--17th Century. - - _Place_--Venice. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Amato as Barnaba in "La Gioconda"] - -Twenty-one years elapsed between the production of "La Gioconda" at -the Metropolitan Opera House and its revival. Since its reawakening it -has taken a good hold on the repertoire, which makes it difficult to -explain why it should have been allowed to sleep so long. It may be -that possibilities of casting it did not suggest themselves. Not -always does "Cielo e mar" flow as suavely from lips as it does from -those of Caruso. Then, too, managers are superstitious, and may have -hesitated to make re-trial of anything that had been attempted at that -first season of opera at the Metropolitan, one of the most disastrous -on record. Even Praxede Marcelline Kochanska (in other words Marcella -Sembrich), who was a member of Henry E. Abbey's troupe, was not -re-engaged for this country, and did not reappear at the Metropolitan -until fourteen years later. - -"La Gioconda" was produced at that house December 20, 1883, with -Christine Nilsson in the title rôle; Scalchi as _La Cieca_; -Fursch-Madi as _Laura_; Stagno as _Enzo_; Del Puente as _Barnaba_; and -Novara as _Alvise_. Cavalazzi, one of the leading dancers of her day, -appeared in the "Danza delle Ore" (Dance of the Hours). It was a good -performance, but Del Puente hardly was sinister enough for _Barnaba_, -or Stagno distinguished enough in voice and personality for _Enzo_. - -There was in the course of the performance an unusual occurrence and -one that is interesting to hark back to. Nilsson had a voice of great -beauty--pure, limpid, flexible--but not one conditioned to a severe -dramatic strain. Fursch-Madi, on the other hand, had a large, powerful -voice and a singularly dramatic temperament. When _La Gioconda_ and -_Laura_ appeared in the great duet in the second act, "L'amo come il -fulgor del creato" (I love him as the light of creation), Fursch-Madi, -without great effort, "took away" this number from Mme. Nilsson, and -completely eclipsed her. When the two singers came out in answer to -the recalls, Mme. Nilsson, as etiquette demanded, was slightly in -advance of the mezzo-soprano, for whom, however, most of the applause -was intended. Mme. Fursch-Madi was a fine singer, but lacked the -pleasing personality and appealing temperament that we spoiled -Americans demand of our singers. She died, in extreme poverty and -after a long illness, in a little hut on one of the Orange mountains -in New Jersey, where an old chorus singer had given her shelter. She -had appeared in many tragedies of the stage, but none more tragic than -her own last hours. - -Each act of "La Gioconda" has its separate title: Act I, "The Lion's -Mouth"; Act II, "The Rosary"; Act III, "The House of Gold"; Act IV, -"The Orfano Canal." The title of the opera can be translated as "The -Ballad Singer," but the Italian title appears invariably to be used. - -Act I. "The Lion's Mouth." Grand courtyard of the Ducal palace, -decorated for festivities. At back, the Giant's Stairway, and the -Portico della Carta, with doorway leading to the interior of the -Church of St. Mark. On the left, the writing-table of a public -letter-writer. On one side of the courtyard one of the historic Lion's -Mouths, with the following inscription cut in black letters into the -wall: - - FOR SECRET DENUNCIATIONS - TO THE INQUISITION - AGAINST ANY PERSON, - WITH IMPUNITY, SECRECY, AND - BENEFIT TO THE STATE. - -It is a splendid afternoon in spring. The stage is filled with -holiday-makers, monks, sailors, shipwrights, masquers, etc., and -amidst the busy crowd are seen some Dalmatians and Moors. - -_Barnaba_, leaning his back against a column, is watching the people. -He has a small guitar, slung around his neck. - -The populace gaily sings, "Feste e pane" (Sports and feasting). They -dash away to watch the regatta, when _Barnaba_, coming forward, -announces that it is about to begin. He watches them disdainfully. -"Above their graves they are dancing!" he exclaims. _Gioconda_ leads -in _La Cieca_, her blind mother. There is a duet of much tenderness -between them: "Figlia, che reggi il tremulo" (Daughter in thee my -faltering steps). - -_Barnaba_ is in love with the ballad singer, who has several times -repulsed him. For she is in love with _Enzo_, a nobleman, who has been -proscribed by the Venetian authorities, but is in the city in the -disguise of a sea captain. His ship lies in the Fusina Lagoon. - -_Barnaba_ again presses his love upon the girl. She escapes from his -grasp and runs away, leaving her mother seated by the church door. -_Barnaba_ is eager to get _La Cieca_ into his power in order to compel -_Gioconda_ to yield to his sinister desires. Opportunity soon offers. -For, now the regatta is over, the crowd returns bearing in triumph the -victor in the contest. With them enter _Zuàne_, the defeated -contestant, _Gioconda_, and _Enzo_. _Barnaba_ subtly insinuates to -_Zuàne_ that _La Cieca_ is a witch, who has caused his defeat by -sorcery. The report quickly spreads among the defeated boatman's -friends. The populace becomes excited. _La Cieca_ is seized and -dragged from the church steps. _Enzo_ calls upon his sailors, who are -in the crowd, to aid him in saving her. - -At the moment of greatest commotion the palace doors swing open. From -the head of the stairway where stand _Alvise_ and his wife, _Laura_, -who is masked, _Alvise_ sternly commands an end to the rioting, then -descends with _Laura_. - -_Barnaba_, with the keenness that is his as chief spy of the -Inquisition, is quick to observe that, through her mask, _Laura_ is -gazing intently at _Enzo_, and that _Enzo_, in spite of _Laura's_ -mask, appears to have recognized her and to be deeply affected by her -presence. _Gioconda_ kneels before _Alvise_ and prays for mercy for -her mother. When _Laura_ also intercedes for _La Cieca_, _Alvise_ -immediately orders her freed. In one of the most expressive airs of -the opera, "Voce di donna, o d'angelo" (Voice thine of woman, or angel -fair), _La Cieca_ thanks _Laura_ and gives to her a rosary, at the -same time extending her hands over her in blessing. - -She also asks her name. _Alvise's_ wife, still masked, and looking -significantly in the direction of _Enzo_, answers, "Laura!" - -"'Tis she!" exclaims _Enzo_. - -The episode has been observed by _Barnaba_, who, when all the others -save _Enzo_ have entered the church, goes up to him and, despite his -disguise as a sea captain, addresses him by his name and title, "Enzo -Grimaldo, Prince of Santa Fior." - -The spy knows the whole story. _Enzo_ and _Laura_ were betrothed. -Although they were separated and she obliged to wed _Alvise_, and -neither had seen the other since then, until the meeting a few moments -before, their passion still is as strong as ever. _Barnaba_, cynically -explaining that, in order to obtain _Gioconda_ for himself, he wishes -to show her how false _Enzo_ is, promises him that he will arrange for -_Laura_, on that night, to be aboard _Enzo's_ vessel, ready to escape -with him to sea. - -_Enzo_ departs. _Barnaba_ summons one of his tools, _Isèpo_, the -public letter-writer, whose stand is near the Lion's Mouth. At that -moment _Gioconda_ and _La Cieca_ emerge from the church, and -_Gioconda_, seeing _Barnaba_, swiftly draws her mother behind a -column, where they are hidden from view. The girl hears the spy -dictate to _Isèpo_ a letter, for whom intended she does not know, -informing someone that his wife plans to elope that evening with -_Enzo_. Having thus learned that _Enzo_ no longer loves her, she -vanishes with her mother into the church. _Barnaba_ drops the letter -into the Lion's Mouth. _Isèpo_ goes. The spy, as keen in intellect as -he is cruel and unrelenting in action, addresses in soliloquy the -Doge's palace. "O monumento! Regia e bolgia dogale!" (O mighty -monument, palace and den of the Doges). - -The masquers and populace return. They are singing. They dance "La -Furlana." In the church a monk and then the chorus chant. _Gioconda_ -and her mother come out. _Gioconda_ laments that _Enzo_ should have -forsaken her. _La Cieca_ seeks to comfort her. In the church the -chanting continues. - -Act II. "The Rosary." Night. A brigantine, showing its starboard side. -In front, the deserted bank of an uninhabited island in the Fusina -Lagoon. In the farthest distance, the sky and the lagoon. A few stars -visible. On the right, a cloud, above which the moon is rising. In -front, a small altar of the Virgin, lighted by a red lamp. The name of -the brigantine--"Hecate"--painted on the prow. Lanterns on the deck. - -At the rising of the curtain sailors are discovered; some seated on -the deck, others standing in groups, each with a speaking trumpet. -Several cabin boys are seen, some clinging to the shrouds, some -seated. Remaining thus grouped, they sing a _Marinaresca_, in part a -sailors' "chanty," in part a regular melody. - -In a boat _Barnaba_ appears with _Isèpo_. They are disguised as -fishermen. _Barnaba_ sings a fisherman's ballad, "Ah! Pescator, -affonda l'esca" (Fisher-boy, thy net now lower). - -[Music] - -He has set his net for _Enzo_ and _Laura_, as well as for _Gioconda_, -as his words, "Some sweet siren, while you're drifting, in your net -will coyly hide," imply. The song falls weirdly upon the night. The -scene is full of "atmosphere." - -_Enzo_ comes up on deck, gives a few orders; the crew go below. He -then sings the famous "Cielo e mar!" (O sky, and sea)--an impassioned -voicing of his love for her whom he awaits. The scene, the moon having -emerged from behind a bank of clouds, is of great beauty. - -[Music] - -A boat approaches. In it _Barnaba_ brings _Laura_ to _Enzo_. There is -a rapturous greeting. They are to sail away as soon as the setting of -the moon will enable the ship to depart undetected. There is distant -singing. _Enzo_ goes below. _Laura_ kneels before the shrine and -prays, "Stella del marinar! Vergine santa!" (Star of the mariner! -Virgin most holy). - -_Gioconda_ steals on board and confronts her rival. The duet between -the two women, who love _Enzo_, and in which each defies the other, -"L'amo come il fulgor del creato" (I adore him as the light of -creation), is the most dramatic number in the score. - -[Music] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Caruso as Enzo in "La Gioconda"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Louise Homer as Laura in "La Gioconda"] - -_Gioconda_ is about to stab _Laura_, but stops suddenly and, seizing -her with one hand, points with the other out over the lagoon, where a -boat bearing _Alvise_ and his armed followers is seen approaching. -_Laura_ implores the Virgin for aid. In doing so she lifts up the -rosary given to her by _La Cieca_. Through it _Gioconda_ recognizes in -_Laura_ the masked lady who saved her mother from the vengeance of -the mob. Swiftly the girl summons the boat of two friendly boatmen who -have brought her thither, and bids _Laura_ make good her escape. When -_Barnaba_ enters, his prey has evaded him. _Gioconda_ has saved her. -_Barnaba_ hurries back to _Alvise's_ galley, and, pointing to the -fugitive boat in the distance, bids the galley start in pursuit. - -_Enzo_ comes on deck. Instead of _Laura_ he finds _Gioconda_. There is -a dramatic scene between them. Venetian galleys are seen approaching. -Rather than that his vessel shall be captured by them, _Enzo_ sets -fire to it. - -Act III. "The House of Gold." A room in _Alvise's_ house. _Alvise_ -sings of the vengeance he will wreak upon _Laura_ for her betrayal of -his honour. "Sì! morir ella de'" (Yes, to die is her doom). - -He summons _Laura_. Nocturnal serenaders are heard singing without, as -they wend their way in gondolas along the canal. _Alvise_ draws the -curtains from before a doorway and points to a funeral bier erected in -the chamber beyond. To _Laura_ he hands a vial of swift poison. She -must drain it before the last note of the serenade they now hear has -died away. He will leave her. The chorus ended, he will return to find -her dead. - -When he has gone, _Gioconda_, who, anticipating the fate that might -befall the woman who has saved her mother, has been in hiding in the -palace, hastens to _Laura_, and hands her a flask containing a -narcotic that will create the semblance of death. _Laura_ drinks it, -and disappears through the curtains into the funeral chamber. -_Gioconda_ pours the poison from the vial into her own flask, and -leaves the empty vial on the table. - -The serenade ceases. _Alvise_ re-entering, sees the empty vial on the -table. He enters the funeral apartment for a brief moment. _Laura_ is -lying as one dead upon the bier. He believes that he has been obeyed -and that _Laura_ has drained the vial of poison. - -The scene changes to a great hall in _Alvise's_ house, where he is -receiving his guests. Here occurs the "Dance of the Hours," a ballet -suite which, in costume changes, light effects and choreography -represents the hours of dawn, day, evening, and night. It is also -intended to symbolize, in its mimic action, the eternal struggle -between the powers of darkness and light. - -_Barnaba_ enters, dragging in with him _La Cieca_, whom he has found -concealed in the house. _Enzo_ also has managed to gain admittance. -_La Cieca_, questioned as to her purpose in the House of Gold, -answers, "For her, just dead, I prayed." A hush falls upon the fête. -The passing bell for the dead is heard slowly tolling. "For whom?" -asks _Enzo_ of _Barnaba_. "For Laura," is the reply. The guests -shudder. "D'un vampiro fatal l'ala fredda passò" (As if over our brows -a vampire's wing had passed), chants the chorus. "Già ti vedo immota e -smorta" (I behold thee motionless and pallid), sings _Enzo_. -_Barnaba_, _Gioconda_, _La Cieca_, and _Alvise_ add their voices to an -ensemble of great power. _Alvise_ draws back the curtains of the -funeral chamber, which also gives upon the festival hall. He points to -_Laura_ extended upon the bier. _Enzo_, brandishing a poniard, rushes -upon _Alvise_, but is seized by guards. - -Act IV. "The Orfano Canal." The vestibule of a ruined palace on the -island of Giudecca. In the right-hand corner an opened screen, behind -which is a bed. Large porch at back, through which are seen the -lagoon, and, in the distance, the square of Saint Mark, brilliantly -illuminated. A picture of the Virgin and a crucifix hang against the -wall. Table and couch; on the table a lamp and a lighted lantern; the -flask of poison and a dagger. On a couch are various articles of mock -jewelry belonging to _Gioconda_. - -On the right of the scene a long, dimly lighted street. From the end -two men advance, carrying in their arms _Laura_, who is enveloped in a -black cloak. The two _cantori_ (street singers) knock at the door. It -is opened by _Gioconda_, who motions them to place their burden upon -the couch behind the screen. As they go, she pleads with them to -search for her mother, whom she has not been able to find since the -scene in the House of Gold. - -She is alone. Her love for _Enzo_, greater than her jealousy of -_Laura_, has prompted her to promise _Barnaba_ that she will give -herself to him, if he will aid _Enzo_ to escape from prison and guide -him to the Orfano Canal. Now, however, despair seizes her. In a -dramatic soliloquy--a "terrible song," it has been called--she invokes -suicide. "Suicidio! ... in questi fieri momenti tu sol mi resti" (Aye, -suicide, the sole resource now left me). For a moment she even thinks -of carrying out _Alvise's_ vengeance by stabbing _Laura_ and throwing -her body into the water--"for deep is yon lagoon." - -Through the night a gondolier's voice calls in the distance over the -water: "Ho! gondolier! hast thou any fresh tidings?" Another voice, -also distant: "In the Orfano Canal there are corpses." - -In despair _Gioconda_ throws herself down weeping near the table. -_Enzo_ enters. In a tense scene _Gioconda_ excites his rage by telling -him that she has had _Laura's_ body removed from the burial vault and -that he will not find it there. He seizes her. His poniard already is -poised for the thrust. Hers--so she hopes--is to be the ecstacy of -dying by his hand! - -At that moment, however, the voice of _Laura_, who is coming out of -the narcotic, calls, "Enzo!" He rushes to her, and embraces her. In -the distance is heard a chorus singing a serenade. It is the same -song, before the end of which _Alvise_ had bidden _Laura_ drain the -poison. Both _Laura_ and _Enzo_ now pour out words of gratitude to -_Gioconda_. The girl has provided everything for flight. A boat, -propelled by two of her friends, is ready to convey them to a barque, -which awaits them. What a blessing, after all, the rosary, bestowed -upon the queenly _Laura_ by an old blind woman has proved to be. "Che -vedo là! Il rosario!" (What see I there! 'Tis the rosary!) Thus sings -_Gioconda_, while _Enzo_ and _Laura_ voice their thanks: "Sulle tue -mani l'anima tutta stempriamo in pianto" (Upon thy hands thy generous -tears of sympathy are falling). The scene works up to a powerful -climax. - -Once more _Gioconda_ is alone. The thought of her compact with -_Barnaba_ comes over her. She starts to flee the spot, when the spy -himself appears in the doorway. Pretending that she wishes to adorn -herself for him, she begins putting on the mock jewelry, and, -utilizing the opportunity that brings her near the table, seizes the -dagger that is lying on it. - -"Gioconda is thine!" she cries, facing _Barnaba_, then stabs herself -to the heart. - -Bending over the prostrate form, the spy furiously shouts into her -ear, "Last night thy mother did offend me. I have strangled her!" But -no one hears him. _La Gioconda_ is dead. With a cry of rage, he rushes -down the street. - - - - -French Opera - - -Gluck, Wagner, and Verdi each closed an epoch. In Gluck there -culminated the pre-Mozartean school. In Mozart two streams of opera -found their source. "Don Giovanni" and "Le Nozze di Figaro" were -inspirations to Rossini, to whom, in due course of development, varied -by individual characteristics, there succeeded Bellini, Donizetti, and -Verdi. - -The second stream of opera which found its source in Mozart was -German. The score of "Die Zauberflöte" showed how successfully the -rich vein of popular melody, or folk music, could be worked for the -lyric stage. The hint was taken by Weber, from whom, in the course of -gradual development, there derived Richard Wagner. - -Meanwhile, however, there was another development which came direct -from Gluck. His "Iphigénie en Aulide," "Orphée et Eurydice," -"Alceste," and "Armide" were produced at the Académie Royale de -Musique, founded by Lully in 1672, and now the Grand Opéra, Paris. -They contributed materially to the development of French grand opera, -which derives from Gluck, as well as from Lully (pp. 1, 4, and 6), and -Rameau (p. 1). French opera also was sensibly influenced, and its -development in the serious manner furthered, by one of the most -learned of composers, Luigi Cherubini, for six years professor of -composition and for twenty years thereafter (1821-1841) director of -the Paris Conservatoire and at one time widely known as the composer -of the operas "Les Deux Journées" (Paris, 1800; London, as "The -Water-carrier," 1801); and "Faniska," Vienna, 1806. - -To the brief statement regarding French grand opera on p. 2, I may -add, also briefly, that manner as well as matter is a characteristic -of all French art. The Frenchman is not satisfied with what he says, -unless he says it in the best possible manner or style. Thus, while -Italian composers long were contented with an instrumental -accompaniment that simply did not interfere with the voice, the French -always have sought to enrich and beautify what is sung, by the -instrumental accompaniment with which they have supported and -environed it. In its seriousness of purpose, and in the care with -which it strives to preserve the proper balance between the vocal and -orchestral portions of the score, French opera shows most clearly its -indebtedness to Gluck, and, after him, to Cherubini. It is a beautiful -form of operatic art. - -In the restricted sense of the repertoire in this country, French -grand opera means Meyerbeer, Gounod, Bizet, and Massenet. In fact it -is a question if, popularly speaking, we draw the line at all between -French and Italian grand opera, since, both being Latin, they are -sister arts, and quite distinct from the German school. - -Having traced opera in Germany from Gluck to Wagner, and in Italy from -Rossini to Verdi, I now turn to opera in France from Meyerbeer and a -few predecessors to Bizet. - - - - -Méhul to Meyerbeer - - -Certain early French operas still are in the Continental repertoire, -although they may be said to have completely disappeared here. They -are of sufficient significance to be referred to in this book. - -The pianoforte pupils abroad are few who, in the course of their first -years of instruction, fail to receive a potpourri of the three-act -opera "Joseph" (Joseph in Egypt), by Étienne Nicholas Méhul -(1763-1817). The score is chaste and restrained. The principal air for -_Joseph_ (tenor), "À peine au sortir de l'enfance" (Whilst yet in -tender childhood), and the prayer for male voice, "Dieu d'Israel" (Oh, -God of Israel), are the best-known portions of the score. In -constructing the libretto Alexander Duval followed the Biblical story. -When the work opens, not only has the sale of _Joseph_ by his brethren -taken place, but the young Jew has risen to high office. Rôles, -besides _Joseph_, are _Jacob_ (bass), _Siméon_ (baritone) -[Transcriber's Note: should be 'tenor'], _Benjamin_ (soprano), -_Utobal_, _Joseph's_ confidant (bass). "Joseph en Egypte" was produced -at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris, February 17, 1808. - -"Le Calife de Bagdad," "Jean de Paris," and "La Dame Blanche" (The -White Lady), by François Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834), are still known -by their graceful overtures. In "La Dame Blanche" the composer has -used the song of "Robin Adair," the scene of the opera being laid in -Scotland, and drawn by Scribe from Scott's novels, "The Monastery" and -"Guy Mannering." _George Brown_ was a favorite rôle with Wachtel. He -sang it in this country. The graceful invocation to the white lady was -especially well suited to his voice. "La Dame Blanche" was produced at -the Opéra Comique, Paris, December 10, 1825. - -Boieldieu's music is light and graceful, in perfect French taste, and -full of charm. It has the spirit of comedy and no doubt helped develop -the comic vein in the lighter scores of Daniel François Esprit Auber -(1782-1871). But in his greatest work, "Masaniello," the French title -of which is "La Muette de Portici" (The Dumb Girl of Portici), Auber -is, musically, a descendant of Méhul. The libretto is by Scribe and -Delavigne. The work was produced in Paris, February 29, 1828. It is -one of the foundation stones of French grand opera. Eschewing vocal -ornament merely as such, and introducing it only when called for by -the portrayal of character, the emotion to be expressed, or the -situation devised by the librettist, it is largely due to its -development from this work of Auber's that French opera has occupied -for so long a time the middle ground between Italian opera with its -frank supremacy of voice on the one hand, and German opera with its -solicitude for instrumental effects on the other. - -The story of "Masaniello" is laid in 1647, in and near Naples. It -deals with an uprising of the populace led by _Masaniello_. He is -inspired thereto both by the wrongs the people have suffered and by -his sister _Fenella's_ betrayal by _Alfonso_, Spanish viceroy of -Naples. The revolution fails, its leader loses his mind and is killed, -and, during an eruption of Vesuvius, _Fenella_ casts herself into the -sea. _Fenella_ is dumb. Her rôle is taken by a pantomimist, usually -the _prima ballerina_. - -Greatly admired by musicians though the score be, "Masaniello's" hold -upon the repertory long has been precarious. I doubt if it has been -given in this country upon any scale of significance since the -earliest days of opera in German at the Metropolitan, when Dr. -Leopold Damrosch revived it with Anton Schott in the title rôle. Even -then it was difficult to imagine that, when "Masaniello" was played in -Brussels, in 1830, the scene of the uprising so excited the people -that they drove the Dutch out of Belgium, which had been joined to -Holland by the Congress of Vienna. The best-known musical number in -the opera is the "Air du Sommeil" (Slumber-song) sung by _Masaniello_ -to _Fenella_ in the fourth act. - -Auber composed many successful operas in the vein of comedy. His "Fra -Diavolo" long was popular. Its libretto by Scribe is amusing, the -score sparkling. _Fra Diavolo's_ death can be made a sensational piece -of acting, if the tenor knows how to take a fall down the wooden -runway among the canvas rocks, over which the dashing bandit--the -villain of the piece--is attempting to escape, when shot. - -"Fra Diavolo" was given here with considerable frequency at one time. -But in a country where opéra comique (in the French sense of the term) -has ceased to exist, it has no place. We swing from one extreme to the -other--from grand opera, with brilliant accessories, to musical -comedy, with all its slap-dash. The sunlit middle road of opéra -comique we have ceased to tread. - -Two other works, once of considerable popularity, also have -disappeared from our stage. The overture to "Zampa," by Louis J.F. -Hérold (1791-1833) still is played; the opera no more. It was produced -in Paris May 3, 1831. The libretto, by Mélésville, is based on the old -tale of "The Statue Bride." - -The high tenor rôle of _Chappelou_ in "Le Postillon de Longjumeau," by -Adolphe Charles Adam (1802-1856), with its postillion song, "Ho! -ho!--Ho! ho!--Postillion of Longjumeau!" was made famous by Theodore -Wachtel, who himself was a postillion before his voice was discovered -by patrons of his father's stable, with whom he chanced to join in -singing quartet. It was he who introduced the rhythmic cracking of the -whip in the postillion's song. Wachtel sang the rôle in this country -in the season of 1871-72, at the Stadt Theatre, and in 1875-76 at the -Academy of Music. Then, having accumulated a fortune, chiefly out of -the "Postillon," in which he sang more than 1200 times, he practically -retired, accepting no fixed engagements. - -During the Metropolitan Opera House season of 1884-85, Dr. Leopold -Damrosch revived, in German, "La Juive," a five-act opera by Jacques -François Fromental Élie Halévy (1799-1862), the libretto by Scribe. -Materna was the Jewess, _Rachel_ (in German _Recha_). I cannot recall -any production of the work here since then, and a considerable period -had elapsed since its previous performance here. It had its _première_ -in Paris, February 23, 1835. Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable" had been -produced in 1831. Nevertheless "La Juive" scored a triumph. But with -the production of Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," that composer became -the operatic idol of the public, and Halévy's star paled, although -musicians continued for many years to consider "La Juive" one of the -finest opera scores composed in France; and there are many who would -be glad to see an occasional revival of this work, as well as of -Auber's "Masaniello." The libretto of "La Juive," originally written -for Rossini, was rejected by that composer for "William Tell" (see p. -312). - - - - -Giacomo Meyerbeer - -(1791-1864) - - -Although he was born in Berlin (September 5, 1791), studied pianoforte -and theory in Germany, and attained in that country a reputation as a -brilliant pianist, besides producing several operas there, Meyerbeer -is regarded as the founder of what generally is understood as modern -French grand opera. It has been said of him that "he joined to the -flowing melody of the Italians the solid harmony of the Germans, the -poignant declamation and varied, piquant rhythm of the French"; which -is a good description of the opera that flourishes on the stage of the -Académie or Grand Opéra, Paris. The models for elaborate spectacular -scenes and finales furnished by Meyerbeer's operas have been followed -ever since by French composers; nor have they been ignored by -Italians. He understood how to write effectively for the voice, and he -was the first composer of opera who made a point of striving for tone -colour in the instrumental accompaniment. Sometimes the effect may be -too calculated, too cunningly contrived, too obviously sought for. But -what he accomplished had decided influence on the enrichment of the -instrumental score in operatic composition. - -Much criticism has been directed at Meyerbeer, and much of his music -has disappeared from the stage. But such also has been the fate of -much of the music of other composers earlier than, contemporary with, -and later than he. Meyerbeer had the pick of the great artists of his -day. His works were written for and produced with brilliant casts, and -had better not be sung at all than indifferently. His greatest work, -"Les Huguenots," is still capable of leaving a deep impression, when -adequately performed. - -Meyerbeer, like many other composers for the lyric stage, has suffered -much from writers who have failed to approach opera as opera, but have -written about it from the standpoint of the symphony, with which it -has nothing in common, or have looked down upon it from the lofty -heights of the music-drama, from which, save for the fact that both -are intended to be sung and acted with scenery on a stage, it differs -greatly. Opera is a highly artificial theatrical product, and those -who have employed convincingly its sophisticated processes are not -lightly to be thrust aside. - -Meyerbeer came of a Jewish family. His real name was Jacob Liebmann -Beer. He prefixed "Meyer" to his patronymic at the request of a -wealthy relative who made him his heir. He was a pupil in pianoforte -of Clementi; also studied under Abbé Vogler, being a fellow pupil of -C.M. von Weber. His first operas were German. In 1815 he went to Italy -and composed a series of operas in the style of Rossini. Going to -Paris in 1826, he became "immersed in the study of French opera, from -Lully onward." The first result was "Robert le Diable" (Robert the -Devil), Grand Opéra, Paris, 1831. This was followed by "Les -Huguenots," 1836; "Le Prophète," 1849; "L'Étoile du Nord," Opéra -Comique, 1854; "Dinorah, ou le Pardon de Ploërmel" (Dinorah, or the -Pardon of Ploërmel), Opéra Comique, 1859. Much of the music of -"L'Étoile du Nord" came from an earlier score, "Das Feldlager in -Schlesien" (The Camp in Silesia), Berlin, 1843. Meyerbeer died May 2, -1864, in Paris, where his "L'Africaine" was produced at the Grand -Opéra in 1865. - - -ROBERT LE DIABLE - -ROBERT THE DEVIL - - Opera in five acts, by Meyerbeer; words by Scribe and - Delavigne. Produced, Grand Opéra, Paris, November 22, 1831. - Drury Lane, London, February 20, 1832, in English, as "The - Demon, or the Mystic Branch"; Covent Garden, February 21, - 1832, in English, as "The Fiend Father, or Robert of - Normandy"; King's Theatre, June 11, 1832, in French; Her - Majesty's Theatre, May 4, 1847, in Italian. Park Theatre, - New York, April 7, 1834, in English, with Mrs. Wood as - _Isabel_ and Wood as _Robert_, the opera being followed by a - _pas seul_ by Miss Wheatley, and a farce, "My Uncle John"; - Astor Place Opera House, November 3, 1851, with Bettini - (_Robert_), Marini (_Bertram_), Bosio (_Isabella_), - Steffanone (_Alice_); Academy of Music, November 30, 1857, - with Formes as _Bertram_. - - CHARACTERS - - ALICE, foster-sister of Robert _Soprano_ - ISABELLA, Princess of Sicily _Soprano_ - THE ABBESS _Dancer_ - ROBERT, Duke of Normandy _Tenor_ - BERTRAM, the Unknown _Bass_ - RAIMBAUT, a minstrel _Tenor_ - - _Time_--13th Century. - - _Place_--Sicily. - -The production of "Robert le Diable" in Paris was such a sensational -success that it made the fortune of the Grand Opéra. Nourrit was -_Robert_, Levasseur, _Bertram_ (the prototype of _Mephistopheles_); -the women of the cast were Mlle. Dorus as _Alice_, Mme. Cinti-Damoreau -as _Isabella_, and Taglioni, the famous danseuse, as the _Abbess_. -Jenny Lind made her début in London as _Alice_, in the Italian -production of the work. In New York Carl Formes was heard as _Bertram_ -at the Astor Place Theatre, November 30, 1857. - -Whatever criticism may now be directed against "Robert le Diable," it -was a remarkable creation for its day. Meyerbeer's score not only -saved the libretto, in which the grotesque is carried to the point of -absurdity, but actually made a brilliant success of the production as -a whole. - -The story is legendary. _Robert_ is the son of the arch-fiend by a -human woman. _Robert's_ father, known as _Bertram_, but really the -devil, ever follows him about, and seeks to lure him to destruction. -The strain of purity in the drama is supplied by _Robert's_ -foster-sister, _Alice_, who, if _Bertram_ is the prototype of -_Mephistopheles_ in "Faust," may be regarded as the original of -_Michaela_ in "Carmen." - -_Robert_, because of his evil deeds (inspired by _Bertram_), has been -banished from Normandy, and has come to Sicily. He has fallen in love -with _Isabella_, she with him. He is to attend a tournament at which -she is to award the prizes. Tempted by _Bertram_, he gambles and loses -all his possessions, including even his armour. These facts are -disclosed in the first act. This contains a song by _Raimbaut_, the -minstrel, in which he tells of Robert's misdeeds, but is saved from -the latter's fury by _Alice_, who is betrothed to _Raimbaut_, and who, -in an expressive air, pleads vainly with _Robert_ to mend his ways and -especially to avoid _Bertram_, from whom she instinctively shrinks. In -the second act _Robert_ and _Isabella_ meet in the palace. She bestows -upon him a suit of armour to wear in the tournament. But, misled by -_Bertram_, he seeks his rival elsewhere than in the lists, and, by his -failure to appear there, loses his honour as a knight. In the next -act, laid in the cavern of St. Irene, occurs an orgy of evil spirits, -to whose number _Bertram_ promises to add _Robert_. Next comes a scene -that verges upon the grotesque, but which is converted by Meyerbeer's -genius into something highly fantastic. This is in the ruined convent -of St. Rosalie. _Bertram_ summons from their graves the nuns who, in -life, were unfaithful to their vows. The fiend has promised _Robert_ -that if he will but seize a mystic cypress branch from over the grave -of St. Rosalie, and bear it away, whatever he wishes for will become -his. The ghostly nuns, led by their _Abbess_, dance about him. They -seek to inveigle him with gambling, drink, and love, until, dazed by -their enticements, he seizes the branch. Besides the ballet of the -nuns, there are two duets for _Robert_ and _Bertram_--"Du rendezvous" -(Our meeting place), and "Le bonheur est dans l'inconstance" (Our -pleasure lies in constant change). - -The first use _Robert_ makes of the branch is to effect entrance into -_Isabella's_ chamber. He threatens to seize her and bear her away, but -yields to her entreaties, breaks the branch, and destroys the spell. -In this act--the fourth--occurs the famous air for _Isabella_, -"Robert, toi que j'aime" (Robert, whom I love). - -Once more _Bertram_ seeks to make with _Robert_ a compact, the price -for which shall be paid with his soul. But _Alice_, by repeating to -him the last warning words of his mother, delays the signing of the -compact until the clock strikes twelve. The spell is broken. _Bertram_ -disappears. The cathedral doors swing open disclosing _Isabella_, who, -in her bridal robes, awaits _Robert_. The finale contains a trio for -_Alice_, _Robert_, and _Bertram_, which is considered one of -Meyerbeer's finest inspirations. - - -LES HUGUENOTS - -THE HUGUENOTS - - Opera in five acts; music by Meyerbeer, words by Scribe and - Deschamps. Produced, Grand Opéra, Paris, February 29, 1836. - New York, Astor Place Opera House, June 24, 1850, with Salvi - (_Raoul_), Coletti (_de Nevers_), Setti (_St. Bris_), Marini - (_Marcel_), Signorina Bosio (_Marguerite_), Steffanone - (_Valentine_), Vietti (Urbain); Academy of Music, March 8, - 1858, with La Grange and Formes; April 30, 1872, - Parepa-Rosa, Wachtel, and Santley (_St. Bris_): Academy of - Music, 1873, with Nilsson, Cary, Del Puente, and Campanini; - Metropolitan Opera House, beginning 1901, with Melba or - Sembrich as _Marguerite de Valois_, Nordica (_Valentine_), - Jean de Reszke (_Raoul_), Édouard de Reszke (_Marcel_), - Plançon (_St. Bris_), Maurel (_de Nevers_), and Mantelli - (_Urbain_) (performances known as "the nights of the seven - stars"); Metropolitan Opera House, 1914, with Caruso, - Destinn, Hempel, Matzenauer, Braun, and Scotti. The first - performance in America occurred April 29, 1839, in New - Orleans. - - CHARACTERS - - VALENTINE, daughter of St. Bris _Soprano_ - MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, betrothed to - Henry IV., of Navarre _Soprano_ - URBAIN, page to Marguerite _Mezzo-Soprano_ - COUNT DE ST. BRIS } Catholic noblemen { _Baritone_ - COUNT DE NEVERS } { _Baritone_ - COSSE _Tenor_ - MÉRU } { _Baritone_ - THORE } Catholic gentlemen { _Baritone_ - TAVANNES } { _Tenor_ - DE RETZ _Baritone_ - RAOUL DE NANGIS, a Huguenot nobleman _Tenor_ - MARCEL, a Huguenot soldier, servant to Raoul _Bass_ - - Catholic and Huguenot ladies, and gentlemen of the court; - soldiers, pages, citizens, and populace; night watch, monks, - and students. - - _Place_--Touraine and Paris. - - _Time_--August, 1572. - -It has been said that, because Meyerbeer was a Jew, he chose for two -of his operas, "Les Huguenots" and "Le Prophète," subjects dealing -with bloody uprisings due to religious differences among Christians. -"Les Huguenots" is written around the massacre of the Huguenots by the -Catholics, on the night of St. Bartholomew's, Paris, August 24, 1572; -"Le Prophète" around the seizure and occupation of Münster, in 1555, -by the Anabaptists, led by John of Leyden. Even the ballet of the -spectral nuns, in "Robert le Diable," has been suggested as due to -Meyerbeer's racial origin and a tendency covertly to attack the -Christian religion. Far-fetched, I think. Most likely his famous -librettist was chiefly responsible for choice of subjects and -Meyerbeer accepted them because of the effective manner in which they -were worked out. Even so, he was not wholly satisfied with Scribe's -libretto of "Les Huguenots." He had the scene of the benediction of -the swords enlarged, and it was upon his insistence that Deschamps -wrote in the love duet in Act IV. As it stands, the story has been -handled with keen appreciation of its dramatic possibilities. - -Act I. Touraine. _Count de Nevers_, one of the leaders of the Catholic -party, has invited friends to a banquet at his château. Among these is -_Raoul de Nangis_, a Huguenot. He is accompanied by an old retainer, -the Huguenot soldier, _Marcel_. In the course of the fête it is -proposed that everyone shall toast his love in a song. _Raoul_ is the -first to be called upon. The name of the beauty whom he pledges in his -toast is unknown to him. He had come to her assistance while she was -being molested by a party of students. She thanked him most -graciously. He lives in the hope of meeting her again. - -_Marcel_ is a fanatic Huguenot. Having followed his master to the -banquet, he finds him surrounded by leaders of the party belonging to -the opposite faith. He fears for the consequences. In strange contrast -to the glamour and gaiety of the festive proceedings, he intones -Luther's hymn, "A Stronghold Sure." The noblemen of the Catholic party -instead of becoming angry are amused. _Marcel_ repays their levity by -singing a fierce Huguenot battle song. That also amuses them. - -At this point the _Count de Nevers_ is informed that a lady is in the -garden and wishes to speak with him. He leaves his guests who, through -an open window, watch the meeting. _Raoul_, to his surprise and -consternation, recognizes in the lady none other than the fair -creature whom he saved from the molestations of the students and with -whom he has fallen in love. Naturally, however, from the circumstances -of her meeting with _de Nevers_ he cannot but conclude that a liaison -exists between them. - -_De Nevers_ returns, rejoins his guests. _Urbain_, the page of _Queen -Marguerite de Valois_, enters. He is in search of _Raoul_, having come -to conduct him to a meeting with a gracious and noble lady whose name, -however, is not disclosed. _Raoul's_ eyes having been bandaged, he is -conducted to a carriage and departs with _Urbain_, wondering what his -next adventure will be. - -Act II. In the Garden of Chenonçeaux, _Queen Marguerite de Valois_ -receives _Valentine_, daughter of the _Count de St. Bris_. The _Queen_ -knows of her rescue from the students by _Raoul_. Desiring to put an -end to the differences between Huguenots and Catholics, which have -already led to bloodshed, she has conceived the idea of uniting -_Valentine_, daughter of one of the great Catholic leaders, to -_Raoul_. _Valentine_, however, was already pledged to _de Nevers_. It -was at the _Queen's_ suggestion that she visited _de Nevers_ and had -him summoned from the banquet in order to ask him to release her from -her engagement to him--a request which, however reluctantly, he -granted. - -Here, in the Gardens of Chenonçeaux, _Valentine_ and _Raoul_ are, -according to the Queen's plan, to meet again, but she intends first to -receive him alone. He is brought in, the bandage is removed from his -eyes, he does homage to the _Queen_, and when, in the presence of the -leaders of the Catholic party, _Marguerite de Valois_ explains her -purpose and her plan through this union of two great houses to end the -religious differences which have disturbed her reign, all consent. - -_Valentine_ is led in. _Raoul_ at once recognizes her as the woman of -his adventure but also, alas, as the woman whom _de Nevers_ met in the -garden during the banquet. Believing her to be unchaste, he refuses -her hand. General consternation. _St. Bris_, his followers, all draw -their swords. _Raoul's_ flashes from its sheath. Only the _Queen's_ -intervention prevents bloodshed. - -Act III. The scene is an open place in Paris before a chapel, where -_de Nevers_, who has renewed his engagement with _Valentine_, is to -take her in marriage. The nuptial cortège enters the building. The -populace is restless, excited. Religious differences still are the -cause of enmity. The presence of Royalist and Huguenot soldiers adds -to the restlessness of the people. _De Nevers_, _St. Bris_, and -another Catholic nobleman, _Maurevert_, come out from the chapel, -where _Valentine_ has desired to linger in prayer. The men are still -incensed over what appears to them the shameful conduct of _Raoul_ -toward _Valentine_. _Marcel_ at that moment delivers to _St. Bris_ a -challenge from _Raoul_ to fight a duel. When the old Huguenot soldier -has retired, the noblemen conspire together to lead _Raoul_ into an -ambush. During the duel, followers of _St. Bris_, who have been placed -in hiding, are suddenly to issue forth and murder the young Huguenot -nobleman. - -From a position in the vestibule of the chapel, _Valentine_ has -overheard the plot. She still loves _Raoul_ and him alone. How shall -she warn him of the certain death in store for him? She sees _Marcel_ -and counsels him that his master must not come here to fight the duel -unless he is accompanied by a strong guard. As a result, when _Raoul_ -and his antagonist meet, and _St. Bris's_ soldiers are about to attack -the Huguenot, _Marcel_ summons the latter's followers from a nearby -inn. A street fight between the two bodies of soldiers is imminent, -when the _Queen_ and her suite enter. A gaily bedecked barge comes up -the river and lays to at the bank. It bears _de Nevers_ and his -friends. He has come to convey his bride from the chapel to his home. -And now _Raoul_ learns, from the Queen, and to his great grief, that -he has refused the hand of the woman who loved him and who had gone to -_de Nevers_ in order to ask him to release her from her engagement -with him. - -Act IV. _Raoul_ seeks _Valentine_, who has become the wife of _de -Nevers_, in her home. He wishes to be assured of the truth of what he -has heard from the _Queen_. During their meeting footsteps are heard -approaching and _Valentine_ barely has time to hide _Raoul_ in an -adjoining room when _de Nevers_, _St. Bris_, and other noblemen of the -Catholic party enter, and form a plan to be carried out that very -night--the night of St. Bartholomew--to massacre the Huguenots. Only -_de Nevers_ refuses to take part in the conspiracy. Rather than do so, -he yields his sword to _St. Bris_ and is led away a prisoner. The -priests bless the swords, _St. Bris_ and his followers swear loyalty -to the bloody cause in which they are enlisted, and depart to await -the order to put it into effect, the tolling of the great bell from -St. Germain. - -_Raoul_ comes out from his place of concealment. His one thought is to -hurry away and notify his brethren of their peril. _Valentine_ seeks -to detain him, entreats him not to go, since it will be to certain -death. As the greatest and final argument to him to remain, she -proclaims that she loves him. But already the deep-voiced bell tolls -the signal. Flames, blood-red, flare through the windows. Nothing can -restrain _Raoul_ from doing his duty. _Valentine_ stands before the -closed door to block his egress. Rushing to a casement, he throws back -the window and leaps to the street. - -Act V. Covered with blood, _Raoul_ rushes into the ballroom of the -Hôtel de Nesle, where the Huguenot leaders, ignorant of the massacre -that has begun, are assembled, and summons them to battle. Already -Coligny, their great commander, has fallen. Their followers are being -massacred. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by A. Dupont - -Plançon as Saint Bris in "The Huguenots"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Jean de Reszke as Raoul in "The Huguenots"] - -The scene changes to a Huguenot churchyard, where _Raoul_ and _Marcel_ -have found temporary refuge. _Valentine_ hurries in. She wishes to -save _Raoul_. She adjures him to adopt her faith. _De Nevers_ has met -a noble death and she is free--free to marry _Raoul_. But he -refuses to marry her at the sacrifice of his religion. Now she decides -that she will die with him and that they will both die as Huguenots -and united. _Marcel_ blesses them. The enemy has stormed the -churchyard and begins the massacre of those who have sought safety -there and in the edifice itself. Again the scene changes, this time to -a square in Paris. _Raoul_, who has been severely wounded, is -supported by _Marcel_ and _Valentine_. _St. Bris_ and his followers -approach. In answer to _St. Bris's_ summons, "Who goes there?" -_Raoul_, calling to his aid all the strength he has left, cries out, -"Huguenots." There is a volley. _Raoul_, _Valentine_, _Marcel_ lie -dead on the ground. Too late _St. Bris_ discovers that he has been the -murderer of his own daughter. - -Originally in five acts, the version of "Les Huguenots" usually -performed contains but three. The first two acts are drawn into one by -converting the second act into a scene and adding it to the first. The -fifth act (or in the usual version the fourth) is nearly always -omitted. This is due to the length of the opera. The audience takes it -for granted that, when _Raoul_ leaves _Valentine_, he goes to his -death. I have seen a performance of "Les Huguenots" with the last act. -So far as an understanding of the work is concerned, it is -unnecessary. It also involves as much noise and smell of gunpowder as -Massenet's opera, "La Navarraise"--and that is saying a good deal. - -The performances of "Les Huguenots," during the most brilliant -revivals of that work at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, under -Maurice Grau, were known as "les nuits de sept étoiles" (the nights of -the seven stars). The cast to which the performances owed this -designation is given in the summary above. A manager, in order to put -"Les Huguenots" satisfactorily upon the stage, should be able to give -it with seven first-rate principals, trained as nearly as possible in -the same school of opera. The work should be sung preferably in -French and by singers who know something of the traditions of the -Grand Opéra, Paris. Mixed casts of Latin and Teutonic singers mar a -performance of this work. If "Les Huguenots" appears to have fallen -off in popularity since "the nights of the seven stars," I am inclined -to attribute this to inability or failure to give the opera with a -cast either as fine or as homogeneous as that which flourished at the -Metropolitan during the era of "les nuits de sept étoiles," when there -not only were seven stars on the stage, but also seven dollars in the -box office for every orchestra stall that was occupied--and they all -were. - -Auber's "Masaniello," Rossini's "William Tell," Halévy's "La Juive," -and Meyerbeer's own "Robert le Diable" practically having dropped out -of the repertoire in this country, "Les Huguenots," composed in 1836, -is the earliest opera in the French grand manner that maintains itself -on the lyric stage of America--the first example of a school of music -which, through the "Faust" of Gounod, the "Carmen" of Bizet, and the -works of Massenet, has continued to claim our attention. - -After a brief overture, in which Luther's hymn is prominent, the first -act opens with a sonorous chorus for the banqueters in the salon of -_de Nevers's_ castle. _Raoul_, called upon to propose in song a toast -to a lady, pledges the unknown beauty, whom he rescued from the -insolence of a band of students. He does this in the romance, "Plus -blanche que la plus blanche hermine" (Whiter than the whitest ermine). -The accompaniment to the melodious measures, with which the romance -opens, is supplied by a viola solo, the effective employment of which -in this passage shows Meyerbeer's knowledge of the instrument and its -possibilities. This romance is a perfect example of a certain phase of -Meyerbeer's art--a suave and elegant melody for voice, accompanied in -a highly original manner, part of the time, in this instance, by a -single instrument in the orchestra, which, however, in spite of its -effectiveness, leaves an impression of simplicity not wholly -uncalculated. - -_Raoul's_ romance is followed by the entrance of _Marcel_, and the -scene for that bluff, sturdy old Huguenot campaigner and loyal servant -of _Raoul_, a splendidly drawn character, dramatically and musically. -_Marcel_ tries to drown the festive sounds by intoning the stern -phrases of Luther's hymn. This he follows with the Huguenot battle -song, with its "Piff, piff, piff," which has been rendered famous by -the great bassos who have sung it, including, in this country, Formes -and Édouard de Reszke. - -_De Nevers_ then is called away to his interview with the lady, whom -_Raoul_ recognizes as the unknown beauty rescued by him from the -students, and whom, from the circumstances of her visit to _de -Nevers_, he cannot but believe to be engaged in a liaison with the -latter. Almost immediately upon _de Nevers's_ rejoining his guests -there enters _Urbain_, the page of _Marguerite de Valois_. He greets -the assembly with the brilliant recitative, "Nobles Seigneurs salut!" -This is followed by a charming cavatina, "Une dame noble et sage" (A -wise and noble lady). Originally this was a soprano number, _Urbain_ -having been composed as a soprano rôle, which it remained for twelve -years. Then, in 1844, when "Les Huguenots" was produced in London, -with Alboni as _Urbain_, Meyerbeer transposed it, and a contralto, or -mezzo-soprano, part it has remained ever since, its interpreters in -this country having included Annie Louise Cary, Trebelli, Scalchi, and -Homer. The theme of "Une dame noble et sage" is as follows: - -[Transcriber's Note: Music apparently missing from original.] - -The letter brought by _Urbain_ is recognized by the Catholic noblemen -as being in the handwriting of _Marguerite de Valois_. As it is -addressed to _Raoul_, they show by their obsequious demeanour toward -him the importance they attach to the invitation. In accordance with -its terms _Raoul_ allows himself to be blindfolded and led away by -_Urbain_. - -Following the original score and regarding what is now the second -scene of Act I as the second act, this opens with _Marguerite de -Valois's_ apostrophe to the fair land of Touraine (Ô beau pays de la -Touraine), which, with the air immediately following, "À ce mot tout -s'anime et renaît la nature" (At this word everything revives and -Nature renews itself), - -[Music] - -constitutes an animated and brilliant scene for coloratura soprano. - -There is a brief colloquy between _Marguerite_ and _Valentine_, then -the graceful female chorus, sung on the bank of the Seine and known as -the "bathers' chorus," this being followed by the entrance of _Urbain_ -and his engaging song--the rondeau composed for Alboni--"Non!--non, -non, non, non, non! Vous n'avez jamais, je gage" (No!--no, no, no, no, -no! You have never heard, I wager). - -_Raoul_ enters, the bandage is removed from his eyes, and there -follows a duet, "Beauté divine, enchanteresse" (Beauty brightly -divine, enchantress), between him and _Marguerite_, all graciousness -on her side and courtly admiration on his. The nobles and their -followers come upon the scene. _Marguerite de Valois's_ plan to end -the religious strife that has distracted the realm meets with their -approbation. The finale of the act begins with the swelling chorus in -which they take oath to abide by it. There is the brief episode in -which _Valentine_ is led in by _St. Bris_, presented to _Raoul_, and -indignantly spurned by him. The act closes with a turbulent ensemble. -Strife and bloodshed, then and there, are averted only by the -interposition of _Marguerite_. - -Act III opens with the famous chorus of the Huguenot soldiers in -which, while they imitate with their hands the beating of drums, they -sing their spirited "Rataplan." By contrast, the Catholic maidens, who -accompany the bridal cortège of _Valentine_ and _de Nevers_ to the -chapel, intone a litany, while Catholic citizens, students, and women -protest against the song of the Huguenot soldiers. These several -choral elements are skilfully worked out in the score. _Marcel_, -coming upon the scene, manages to have _St. Bris_ summoned from the -chapel, and presents _Raoul's_ challenge to a duel. The Catholics form -their plot to assassinate _Raoul_, of which _Valentine_ finds -opportunity to notify _Marcel_, in what is one of the striking scenes -of the opera. The duel scene is preceded by a stirring septette, a -really great passage, "En mon bon droit j'ai confiance" (On my good -cause relying). The music, when the ambuscade is uncovered and -_Marcel_ summons the Huguenots to _Raoul's_ aid, and a street combat -is threatened, reaches an effective climax in a double chorus. The -excitement subsides with the arrival of _Marguerite de Valois_, and of -the barge containing _de Nevers_ and his retinue. A brilliant chorus, -supported by the orchestra and by a military band on the stage, with -ballet to add to the spectacle forms the finale, as _de Nevers_ -conducts _Valentine_ to the barge, and is followed on board by _St. -Bris_ and the nuptial cortège. - -The fourth act, in the home of _de Nevers_, opens with a romance for -_Valentine_, "Parmi les pleurs mon rêve se ranime" (Amid my tears, by -dreams once more o'ertaken), which is followed by a brief scene -between her and _Raoul_, whom the approach of the conspirators quickly -obliges her to hide in an adjoining apartment. The scene of the -consecration of the swords is one of the greatest in opera; but that -it shall have its full effect _St. Bris_ must be an artist like -Plançon, who, besides being endowed with a powerful and beautifully -managed voice, was superb in appearance and as _St. Bris_ had the -bearing of the dignified, commanding yet fanatic nobleman of old -France. Musically and dramatically the scene rests on _St. Bris's_ -shoulders, and broad they must be, since his is the most conspicuous -part in song and action, from the intonation of his solo, "Pour cette -cause sainte, obéisses sans crainte" (With sacred zeal and ardor let -now your soul be burning), - -[Music] - -to the end of the savage _stretta_, when, the conspirators, having -tiptoed almost to the door, in order to disperse for their mission, -suddenly turn, once more uplift sword hilts, poignards, and -crucifixes, and, after a frenzied adjuration of loyalty to a cause -that demands the massacre of an unsuspecting foe, steal forth into the -shades of fateful night. - -Powerful as this scene is, Meyerbeer has made the love duet which -follows even more gripping. For now he interprets the conflicting -emotions of love and loyalty in two hearts. It begins with _Raoul's_ -exclamation, "Le danger presse et le temps vole, laisse-moi partir" -(Danger presses and time flies. Let me depart), and reaches its climax -in a _cantilena_ of supreme beauty, "Tu l'as dit, oui tu m'aimes" -(Thou hast said it; aye, thou lov'st me), - -[Music] - -which is broken in upon by the sinister tolling of a distant bell--the -signal for the massacre to begin. An air for _Valentine_, an -impassioned _stretta_ for the lovers, _Raoul's_ leap from the window, -followed by a discharge of musketry, from which, in the curtailed -version, he is supposed to meet his death, and this act, still an -amazing achievement in opera, is at an end. - -In the fifth act, there is the fine scene of the blessing by _Marcel_ -of _Raoul_ and _Valentine_, during which strains of Luther's hymn are -heard, intoned by Huguenots, who have crowded into their church for a -last refuge. - -"Les Huguenots" has been the subject of violent attacks, beginning -with Robert Schumann's essay indited as far back as 1837, and starting -off with the assertion, "I feel today like the young warrior who draws -his sword for the first time in a holy cause." Schumann's most -particular "holy cause" was, in this instance, to praise Mendelssohn's -oratorio, "St. Paul," at the expense of Meyerbeer's opera "Les -Huguenots," notwithstanding the utter dissimilarity of purpose in the -two works. On the other hand Hanslick remarks that a person who cannot -appreciate the dramatic power of this Meyerbeer opera, must be lacking -in certain elements of the critical faculty. Even Wagner, one of -Meyerbeer's bitterest detractors, found words of the highest praise -for the passage from the love duet, which is quoted immediately above. -The composer of "The Ring of the Nibelung" had a much broader outlook -upon the world than Schumann, in whose genius there was, after all, a -good deal of the _bourgeois_. - -Pro or con, when "Les Huguenots" is sung with a fully adequate cast, -it cannot fail of making a deep impression--as witness "les nuits de -sept étoiles." - -A typical night of the seven stars at the Metropolitan Opera House, -New York, was that of December 26, 1894. The _sept étoiles_ were -Nordica (_Valentine_), Scalchi (_Urbain_), Melba (_Marguerite de -Valois_), Jean de Reszke (_Raoul_), Plançon (_St. Bris_), Maurel (_de -Nevers_), and Édouard de Reszke (_Marcel_). Two Academy of Music casts -are worth referring to. April 30, 1872, Parepa-Rosa, for her last -appearance in America, sang _Valentine_. Wachtel was _Raoul_ and -Santley _St. Bris_. The other Academy cast was a "Night of six stars," -and is noteworthy as including Maurel twenty years, almost to the -night, before he appeared in the Metropolitan cast. The date was -December 24, 1874. Nilsson was _Valentine_, Cary _Urbain_, Maresi -_Marguerite de Valois_, Campanini _Raoul_, Del Puente _St. Bris_, -Maurel _de Nevers_, and Nannetti _Marcel_. With a more distinguished -_Marguerite de Valois_, this performance would have anticipated the -"nuits de sept étoiles." - - -LE PROPHÈTE - -THE PROPHET - - Opera in five acts, by Meyerbeer; words by Scribe. Produced, - Grand Opéra, Paris, April 6, 1849. London, Covent Garden, - July 24, 1849, with Mario, Viardot-Garcia, Miss Hayes, and - Tagliafico. New Orleans, April 2, 1850. New York, Niblo's - Garden, November 25, 1853, with Salvi (_John of Leyden_), - Steffanone and Mme. Maretzek. Revived in German, - Metropolitan Opera House, by Dr. Leopold Damrosch, December - 17, 1884, with Anton Schott as _John of Leyden_, Marianne - Brandt as _Fides_ and Schroeder-Hanfstaengl as _Bertha_. It - was given ten times during the season, in which it was - equalled only by "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin." Also, - Metropolitan Opera House, 1898-99, with Jean de Reszke, - Brema (_Fides_), Lehmann (_Bertha_); January 22, 1900, - Alvarez, Schumann-Heink, Suzanne Adams, Plançon and Édouard - de Reszke; by Gatti-Casazza, February 7, 1918, with Caruso, - Matzenauer, Muzio, Didur, and Mardones. - - CHARACTERS - - JOHN OF LEYDEN _Tenor_ - FIDES, his mother _Mezzo-Soprano_ - BERTHA, his bride _Soprano_ - JONAS } { _Tenor_ - MATTHISEN } Anabaptists { _Bass_ - ZACHARIAS } { _Bass_ - COUNT OBERTHAL _Baritone_ - - Nobles, citizens, Anabaptists, peasants, soldiers, - prisoners, children. - - _Time_--1534-35. - - _Place_--Dordrecht, Holland, and Münster. - -Act I. At the foot of _Count Oberthal's_ castle, near Dordrecht, -Holland, peasants and mill hands are assembled. _Bertha_ and _Fides_ -draw near. The latter is bringing to _Bertha_ a betrothal ring from -her son _John_, who is to marry her on the morrow. But permission must -first be obtained from _Count Oberthal_ as lord of the domain. The -women are here to seek it. - -There arrive three sombre looking men, who strive to rouse the people -to revolt against tyranny. They are the Anabaptists, _Jonas_, -_Matthisen_, and _Zacharias_. The _Count_, however, who chances to -come out of the castle with his followers, recognizes in _Jonas_ a -steward who was discharged from his employ. He orders his soldiers to -beat the three men with the flat of their swords. _John's_ mother and -_Bertha_ make their plea to _Oberthal_. _John_ and _Bertha_ have loved -ever since he rescued her from drowning in the Meuse. Admiring -_Bertha's_ beauty, _Oberthal_ refuses to give permission for her to -marry _John_, but, instead, orders her seized and borne to the castle -for his own diversion. The people are greatly agitated and, when the -three Anabaptists reappear, throw themselves at their feet, and on -rising make threatening gestures toward the castle. - -Act II. In _John's_ inn at Leyden are the three Anabaptists and a -throng of merry-making peasants. Full of longing for _Bertha_, _John_ -is thinking of the morrow. The Anabaptists discover that he bears a -remarkable resemblance to the picture of King David in the Cathedral -of Münster. They believe this resemblance can be made of service to -their plans. _John_ tells them of a strange dream he has had, and in -which he found himself standing under the dome of a temple with people -prostrate before him. They interpret it for him as evidence that he -will mount a throne, and urge him to follow them. But for him there is -but one throne--that of the kingdom of love with _Bertha_. - -At that moment, however, she rushes in and begs him quickly to hide -her. She has escaped from _Oberthal_, who is in pursuit. _Oberthal_ -and his soldiers enter. The _Count_ threatens that if _John_ does not -deliver over _Bertha_ to him, his mother, whom the soldiers have -captured on the way to the inn, shall die. She is brought in and -forced to her knees. A soldier with a battle-axe stands over her. -After a brief struggle _John's_ love for his mother conquers. He hands -over _Bertha_ to _Oberthal_. She is led away. _Fides_ is released. - -The three Anabaptists return. Now _John_ is ready to join them, if -only to wreak vengeance on _Oberthal_. They insist that he come at -once, without even saying farewell to his mother, who must be kept in -ignorance of their plans. John consents and hurries off with them. - -Act III. In the winter camp of the Anabaptists in a forest of -Westphalia, before Münster. On a frozen lake people are skating. The -people have risen against their oppressors. _John_ has been proclaimed -a prophet of God. At the head of the Anabaptists he is besieging -Münster. - -The act develops in three scenes. The first reveals the psychological -medley of fanaticism and sensuality of the Anabaptists and their -followers. In the second _John_ enters. _Oberthal_ is delivered into -his hands. From him _John_ learns that _Bertha_ again has escaped from -the castle and is in Münster. The three Anabaptist leaders wish to put -the _Count_ to death. But _John_, saying that _Bertha_ shall be his -judge, puts off the execution, much to the disgust of the three -fanatics, who find _John_ assuming more authority than is agreeable to -them. This scene, the second of the act, takes place in _Zachariah's_ -tent. The third scene shows again the camp of the Anabaptists. The -leaders, fearing _John's_ usurpation of power, have themselves headed -an attack by their followers on Münster and met with defeat. The -rabble they have led is furious and ready to turn even against _John_. -He, however, by sheer force of personality coupled with his assumption -of superhuman inspiration, rallies the crowd to his standard, and -leads it to victory. - -Act IV. A public place in Münster. The city is in possession of the -Anabaptists. _John_, once a plain innkeeper of Leyden, has been swept -along on the high tide of success and decides to have himself -proclaimed Emperor. Meanwhile _Fides_ has been reduced to beggary. The -Anabaptists, in order to make her believe that _John_ is dead--so as -to reduce to a minimum the chance of her suspecting that the new -_Prophet_ and her son are one and the same--left in the inn a bundle -of _John's_ clothes stained with blood, together with a script stating -that he had been murdered by the _Prophet_ and his followers. - -The poor woman has come to Münster to beg. There she meets _Bertha_, -who, when _Fides_ tells her that _John_ has been murdered, vows -vengeance upon the _Prophet_. - -_Fides_ follows the crowd into the cathedral, to which the scene -changes. When, during the coronation scene, _John_ speaks, and -announces that he is the elect of God, the poor beggar woman starts at -the sound of his voice. She cries out, "My son!" _John's_ cause is -thus threatened and his life at stake. He has claimed divine origin. -If the woman is his mother, the people, whom he rules with an iron -hand, will denounce and kill him. With quick wit he meets the -emergency, and even makes use of it to enhance his authority by -improvising an affirmation scene. He bids his followers draw their -swords and thrust them into his breast, if the beggar woman again -affirms that he is her son. Seeing the swords held ready to pierce -him, _Fides_, in order to save him, now declares that he is not her -son--that her eyes, dimmed by age, have deceived her. - -Act V. The three Anabaptists, _Jonas_, _Matthisen_, and _Zacharias_, -had intended to use _John_ only as an instrument to attain power for -themselves. The German Emperor, who is moving on Münster with a large -force, has promised them pardon if they will betray the _Prophet_ and -usurper into his hands. To this they have agreed, and are ready on his -coronation day to betray him. - -At _John's_ secret command _Fides_ has been brought to the palace. -Here her son meets her. He, whom she has seen in the hour of his -triumph and who still is all-powerful, implores her pardon, but in -vain, until she, in the belief that he has been impelled to his -usurpation of power and bloody deeds only by thirst for vengeance for -_Bertha's_ wrongs, forgives him, on condition that he return to -Leyden. This he promises in full repentance. - -They are joined by _Bertha_. She has sworn to kill the _Prophet_ whom -she blames for the supposed murder of her lover. To accomplish her -purpose, she has set a slow fire to the palace. It will blaze up near -the powder magazine, when the _Prophet_ and his henchmen are at -banquet in the great hall of the palace, and blow up the edifice. - -She recognizes her lover. Her joy, however, is short-lived, for at the -moment a captain comes to _John_ with the announcement that he has -been betrayed and that the Emperor's forces are at the palace gates. -Thus _Bertha_ learns that her lover and the bloodstained _Prophet_ are -one. Horrified, she plunges a dagger into her heart. - -_John_ determines to die, a victim to the catastrophe which _Bertha_ -has planned, and which is impending. He joins the banqueters at their -orgy. At the moment when all his open and secret enemies are at the -table and pledge him in a riotous bacchanale, smoke rises from the -floor. Tongues of fire shoot up. _Fides_, in the general uproar and -confusion, calmly joins her son, to die with him, as the powder -magazine blows up, and, with a fearful crash the edifice collapses in -smoke and flame. - -_John of Leyden's_ name was Jan Beuckelszoon. He was born in 1509. In -business he was successively a tailor, a small merchant, and an -innkeeper. After he had had himself crowned in Münster, that city -became a scene of orgy and cruelty. It was captured by the imperial -forces June 24, 1535. The following January the "prophet" was put to -death by torture. The same fate was meted out to Knipperdölling, his -henchman, who had conveniently rid him of one of his wives by cutting -off her head. - - * * * * * - -The music of the first act of "Le Prophète" contains a cheerful chorus -for peasants, a cavatina for _Bertha_, "Mon coeur s'élance" (My -heart throbs wildly), in which she voices her joy over her expected -union with _John_; the Latin chant of the three Anabaptists, gloomy -yet stirring; the music of the brief revolt of the peasantry against -_Oberthal_; the plea of _Fides_ and _Bertha_ to _Oberthal_ for his -sanction of _Bertha's_ marriage to _John_, "Un jour, dans les flots de -la Meuse" (One day in the waves of the Meuse); _Oberthal's_ refusal, -and his abduction of _Bertha_; the reappearance of the three -Anabaptists and the renewal of their efforts to impress the people -with a sense of the tyranny by which they are oppressed. - -Opening the second act, in _John's_ tavern, in the suburbs of Leyden, -are the chorus and dance of _John's_ friends, who are rejoicing over -his prospective wedding. When the three Anabaptists have recognized -his resemblance to the picture of David in the cathedral at Münster, -_John_, observing their sombre yet impressive bearing, tells them of -his dream, and asks them to interpret it: "Sous les vastes arceaux -d'un temple magnifique" (Under the great dome of a splendid temple). -They promise him a throne. But he knows a sweeter empire than the one -they promise, that which will be created by his coming union with -_Bertha_. Her arrival in flight from _Oberthal_ and _John's_ sacrifice -of her in order to save his mother from death, lead to _Fides's_ solo, -"Ah, mon fils" (Ah, my son), one of the great airs for mezzo-soprano. - -[Music] - -Most attractive in the next act is the ballet of the skaters on the -frozen lake near the camp of the Anabaptists. The scene is brilliant -in conception, the music delightfully rhythmic and graceful. There is -a stirring battle song for _Zacharias_, in which he sings of the enemy -"as numerous as the stars," yet defeated. Another striking number is -the fantastic trio for _Jonas_, _Zacharias_, and _Oberthal_, -especially in the descriptive passage in which in rhythm with the -music, _Jonas_ strikes flint and steel, ignites a lantern and by its -light recognizes _Oberthal_. When _John_ rallies the Anabaptists, who -have been driven back from under the walls of Münster and promises to -lead them to victory, the act reaches a superb climax in a "Hymne -Triomphal" for _John_ and chorus, "Roi du Ciel et des Anges" (Ruler of -Heaven and the Angels). At the most stirring moment of this finale, as -_John_ is being acclaimed by his followers, mists that have been -hanging over the lake are dispelled. The sun bursts forth in glory. - -[Music] - -In the next act there is a scene for _Fides_ in the streets of -Münster, in which, reduced to penury, she begs for alms. There also is -the scene at the meeting of _Fides_ and _Bertha_. The latter -believing, like _Fides_, that _John_ has been slain by the -Anabaptists, vows vengeance upon the _Prophet_. - -The great procession in the cathedral with its march and chorus has -been, since the production of "Le Prophète" in 1849, a model of -construction for striking spectacular scenes in opera. The march is -famous. Highly dramatic is the scene in which _Fides_ first proclaims -and then denies that John is her son. The climax of the fifth act is -the drinking song, "Versez, que tout respire l'ivresse et le délire" -(Quaff, quaff, in joyous measure; breathe, breathe delirious -pleasure), in the midst of which the building is blown up, and _John_ -perishes with those who would betray him. - - * * * * * - -During the season of opera which Dr. Leopold Damrosch conducted at the -Metropolitan Opera House, 1884-85, when this work of Meyerbeer's led -the repertoire in number of performances, the stage management -produced a fine effect in the scene at the end of Act III, when the -_Prophet_ rallies his followers. Instead of soldiers tamely marching -past, as _John_ chanted his battle hymn, he was acclaimed by a rabble, -wrought up to a high pitch of excitement, and brandishing cudgels, -scythes, pitchforks, and other implements that would serve as weapons. -The following season, another stage manager, wishing to outdo his -predecessor, brought with him an electric sun from Germany, a horrid -thing that almost blinded the audience when it was turned on. - - -L'AFRICAINE - -THE AFRICAN - - Opera in five acts, by Meyerbeer; words by Scribe. Produced - Grand Opéra, Paris, April 28, 1865. London, in Italian, - Covent Garden, July 22, 1865; in English, Covent Garden, - October 21, 1865. New York, Academy of Music, December 1, - 1865, with Mazzoleni as _Vasco_, and Zucchi as _Selika_; - September 30, 1872, with Lucca as _Selika_; Metropolitan - Opera House, January 15, 1892, Nordica (_Selika_), - Pettigiani (_Inez_), Jean de Reszke (_Vasco_), Édouard de - Reszke (_Don Pedro_), Lasalle (_Nelusko_). - - CHARACTERS - - SELIKA, a slave _Soprano_ - INEZ, daughter of Don Diego _Soprano_ - ANNA, her attendant _Contralto_ - VASCO DA GAMA, an officer in the - Portuguese Navy _Tenor_ - NELUSKO, a slave _Baritone_ - DON PEDRO, President of the Royal Council _Bass_ - DON DIEGO } Members of the Council { _Bass_ - DON ALVAR } { _Tenor_ - GRAND INQUISITOR _Bass_ - - Priests, inquisitors, councillors, sailors, Indians, - attendants, ladies, soldiers. - - _Time_--Early sixteenth century. - - _Place_--Lisbon; on a ship at sea; and India. - -In 1838 Scribe submitted to Meyerbeer two librettos: that of "Le -Prophète" and that of "L'Africaine." For the purposes of immediate -composition he gave "Le Prophète" the preference, but worked -simultaneously on the scores of both. As a result, in 1849, soon after -the production of "Le Prophète," a score of "L'Africaine" was -finished. - -The libretto, however, never had been entirely satisfactory to the -composer. Scribe was asked to retouch it. In 1852 he delivered an -amended version to Meyerbeer who, so far as his score had gone, -adapted it to the revised book, and finished the entire work in 1860. -"Thus," says the _Dictionnaire des Opéras_, "the process of creating -'L'Africaine' lasted some twenty years and its birth appears to have -cost the life of its composer, for he died, in the midst of -preparations for its production, on Monday, May 2, 1864, the day after -a copy of his score was finished in his own house in the Rue Montaigne -and under his eyes." - - * * * * * - -Act I. Lisbon. The Royal Council Chamber of Portugal. Nothing has been -heard of the ship of Bartholomew Diaz, the explorer. Among his -officers was _Vasco da Gama_, the affianced of _Inez_, daughter of the -powerful nobleman, _Don Diego_. _Vasco_ is supposed to have been lost -with the ship and her father now wishes _Inez_ to pledge her hand to -_Don Pedro_, head of the Royal Council of Portugal. - -During a session of the Council, it is announced that the King wishes -to send an expedition to search for Diaz, but one of the councillors, -_Don Alvar_, informs the meeting that an officer and two captives, the -only survivors from the wreck of Diaz's vessel have arrived. The -officer is brought in. He is _Vasco da Gama_, whom all have believed -to be dead. Nothing daunted by the perils he has been through, he has -formed a new plan to discover the new land that, he believes, lies -beyond Africa. In proof of his conviction that such a land exists, he -brings in the captives, _Selika_ and _Nelusko_, natives, apparently, -of a country still unknown to Europe. _Vasco_ then retires to give the -Council opportunity to discuss his enterprise. - -In his absence _Don Pedro_, who desires to win _Inez_ for himself, and -to head a voyage of discovery, surreptitiously gains possession of an -important chart from among _Vasco's_ papers. He then persuades the -_Grand Inquisitor_ and the Council that the young navigator's plans -are futile. Through his persuasion they are rejected. _Vasco_, who has -again come before the meeting, when informed that his proposal has -been set aside, insults the Council by charging it with ignorance and -bias. _Don Pedro_, utilizing the opportunity to get him out of the -way, has him seized and thrown into prison. - -Act II. _Vasco_ has fallen asleep in his cell. Beside him watches -_Selika_. In her native land she is a queen. Now she is a captive and -a slave, her rank, of course, unknown to her captor, since she and -_Nelusko_ carefully have kept it from the knowledge of all. _Selika_ -is deeply in love with _Vasco_ and is broken-hearted over his passion -for _Inez_, of which she has become aware. But the love of this -supposedly savage slave is greater than her jealousy. She protects the -slumbering _Vasco_ from the thrust of _Nelusko's_ dagger. For her -companion in captivity is deeply in love with her and desperately -jealous of the Portuguese navigator for whom she has conceived so -ardent a desire. Not only does she save _Vasco's_ life, but on a map -hanging on the prison wall she points out to him a route known only to -herself and _Nelusko_, by which he can reach the land of which he has -been in search. - -_Inez_, _Don Pedro_, and their suite enter the prison. _Vasco_ is -free. _Inez_ has purchased his freedom through her own sacrifice in -marrying _Don Pedro_. _Vasco_, through the information received from -_Selika_, now hopes to undertake another voyage of discovery and thus -seek to make up in glory what he has lost in love. But he learns that -_Don Pedro_ has been appointed commander of an expedition and has -chosen _Nelusko_ as pilot. _Vasco_ sees his hopes shattered. - -Act III. The scene is on _Don Pedro's_ ship at sea. _Don Alvar_, a -member of the Royal Council, who is with the expedition, has become -suspicious of _Nelusko_. Two ships of the squadron have already been -lost. _Don Alvar_ fears for the safety of the flagship. At that moment -a Portuguese vessel is seen approaching. It is in command of _Vasco da -Gama_, who has fitted it out at his own expense. Although _Don Pedro_ -is his enemy, he comes aboard the admiral's ship to warn him that the -vessel is on a wrong course and likely to meet with disaster. _Don -Pedro_, however, accuses him of desiring only to see _Inez_, who is on -the vessel, and charges that his attempted warning is nothing more -than a ruse, with that purpose in view. At his command, _Vasco_ is -seized and bound. A few moments later, however, a violent storm breaks -over the ship. It is driven upon a reef. Savages, for whom _Nelusko_ -has signalled, clamber up the sides of the vessel and massacre all -save a few whom they take captive. - -Act IV. On the left, the entrance to a Hindu temple; on the right a -palace. Tropical landscape. Among those saved from the massacre is -_Vasco_. He finds himself in the land which he has sought to -discover--a tropical paradise. He is threatened with death by the -natives, but _Selika_, in order to save him, protests to her subjects -that he is her husband. The marriage is now celebrated according to -East Indian rites. _Vasco_, deeply touched by _Selika's_ fidelity, is -almost determined to abide by his nuptial vow and remain here as -_Selika's_ spouse, when suddenly he hears the voice of _Inez_. His -passion for her revives. - -Act V. The gardens of _Selika's_ palace. Again _Selika_ makes a -sacrifice of love. How easily she could compass the death of _Vasco_ -and _Inez_! But she forgives. She persuades _Nelusko_ to provide the -lovers with a ship and bids him meet her, after the ship has sailed, -on a high promontory overlooking the sea. - -To this the scene changes. On the promontory stands a large manchineel -tree. The perfume of its blossoms is deadly to anyone who breathes it -in from under the deep shadow of its branches. From here _Selika_ -watches the ship set sail. It bears from her the man she loves. -Breathing in the poison-laden odour from the tree from under which she -has watched the ship depart, she dies. _Nelusko_ seeks her, finds her -dead, and himself seeks death beside her under the fatal branches of -the manchineel. - - * * * * * - -Meyerbeer considered "L'Africaine" his masterpiece, and believed that -through it he was bequeathing to posterity an immortal monument to his -fame. But although he had worked over the music for many years, and -produced a wonderfully well-contrived score, his labour upon it was -more careful and self-exacting than inspired; and this despite moments -of intense interest in the opera. Not "L'Africaine," but "Les -Huguenots," is considered his greatest work. - -"L'Africaine" calls for one of the most elaborate stage-settings in -opera. This is the ship scene, which gives a lengthwise section of a -vessel, so that its between-decks and cabin interiors are seen--like -the compartments of a huge but neatly partitioned box laid on its -oblong side; in fact an amazing piece of marine architecture. - -Scribe's libretto has been criticized, and not unjustly, on account of -the vacillating character which he gives _Vasco da Gama_. In the first -act this operatic hero is in love with _Inez_. In the prison scene, in -the second act, when _Selika_ points out on the map the true course to -India, he is so impressed with her as a teacher of geography, that he -clasps the supposed slave-girl to his breast and addresses her in -impassioned song. _Selika_, being enamoured of her pupil, naturally is -elated over his progress. Unfortunately _Inez_ enters the prison at -this critical moment to announce to _Vasco_ that she has secured his -freedom. To prove to _Inez_ that he still loves her _Vasco_ glibly -makes her a present of _Selika_ and _Nelusko_. _Selika_, so to speak, -no longer is on the map, so far as _Vasco_ is concerned, until, in the -fourth act, she saves his life by pretending he is her husband. -Rapturously he pledges his love to her. Then _Inez's_ voice is heard -singing a ballad to the Tagus River--and _Selika_ again finds herself -deserted. There is nothing for her to do but to die under the -manchineel tree. - -"Is the shadow of this tree so fatal?" asks a French authority. -"Monsieur Scribe says yes, the naturalists say no." With this question -and answer "L'Africaine" may be left to its future fate upon the -stage, save that it seems proper to remark that, although the opera is -called "The African," _Selika_ appears to have been an East Indian. - -Early in the first act of the opera occurs _Inez's_ ballad, "Adieu, -mon beau rivage" (Farewell, beloved shores). It is gracefully -accompanied by flute and oboe. This is the ballad to the river Tagus, -which _Vasco_ hears her sing in the fourth act. The finale of the -first act--the scene in which _Vasco_ defies the Royal Council--is a -powerful ensemble. The slumber song for _Selika_ in the second act, as -she watches over _Vasco_, "Sur mes genoux, fils du soleil" (On my -knees, offspring of the sun) is charming, and entirely original, with -many exotic and fascinating touches. _Nelusko's_ air of homage, "Fille -des rois, à toi l'hommage" (Daughter of Kings, my homage thine), -expresses a sombre loyalty characteristic of the savage whose passion -for his queen amounts to fanaticism. The finale of the act is an -unaccompanied septette for _Inez_, _Selika_, _Anna_, _Vasco_, -_d'Alvar_, _Nelusko_, and _Don Pedro_. - -In the act which plays aboardship, are the graceful chorus of women, -"Le rapide et léger navire" (The swiftly gliding ship), the prayer of -the sailors, "Ô grand Saint Dominique," and Nelusko's song, -"Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes" (Adamastor, monarch of the -trackless deep), a savage invocation of sea and storm, chanted to the -rising of a hurricane, by the most dramatic figure among the -characters in the opera. For like _Marcel_ in "Les Huguenots" and -_Fides_ in "Le Prophète," _Nelusko_ is a genuine dramatic creation. - -The Indian march and the ballet, which accompanies the ceremony of the -crowning of _Selika_, open the fourth act. The music is exotic, -piquant, and in every way effective. The scene is a masterpiece of its -kind. There follow the lovely measures of the principal tenor solo of -the opera, _Vasco's_ "Paradis sorti du sein de l'onde" (Paradise, -lulled by the lisping sea). Then comes the love duet between _Vasco_ -and _Selika_, "Ô transport, ô douce extase" (Oh transport, oh sweet -ecstacy). One authority says of it that "rarely have the tender -passion, the ecstacy of love been expressed with such force." Now it -would be set down simply as a tiptop love duet of the old-fashioned -operatic kind. - -The scene of _Selika's_ death under the manchineel tree is preceded by -a famous prelude for strings in unison supported by clarinets and -bassoons, a brief instrumental recital of grief that makes a powerful -appeal. The opera ends dramatically with a soliloquy for -_Selika_--"D'ici je vois la mer immense" (From here I gaze upon the -boundless deep). - - -L'ÉTOILE DU NORD AND DINORAH - -Two other operas by Meyerbeer remain for mention. One of them has -completely disappeared from the repertoire of the lyric stage. The -other suffers an occasional revival for the benefit of some prima -donna extraordinarily gifted in lightness and flexibility of vocal -phrasing. These operas are "L'Étoile du Nord" (The Star of the North), -and "Dinorah, ou Le Pardon de Ploërmel" (Dinorah, or The Pardon of -Ploërmel). - -Each of these contains a famous air. "L'Étoile du Nord" has the high -soprano solo with _obbligato_ for two flutes, which was one of Jenny -Lind's greatest show-pieces, but has not sufficed to keep the opera -alive. In "Dinorah" there is the "Shadow Song," in which _Dinorah_ -dances and sings to her own shadow in the moonlight--a number which, -at long intervals of time, galvanizes the rest of the score into some -semblance of life. - -The score of "L'Étoile du Nord," produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, -February 16, 1854, was assembled from an earlier work, "Das Feldlager -in Schlesien" (The Camp in Silesia), produced for the opening of the -Berlin Opera House, February 17, 1847; but the plots differ. The story -of "L'Étoile du Nord" relates to the love of _Peter the Great_ for -_Catherine_, a cantinière. Their union finally takes place, but not -until _Catherine_ has disguised herself as a soldier and served in the -Russian camp. After surreptitiously watching _Peter_ and a companion -drink and roister in the former's tent with a couple of girls, she -loses her reason. When it is happily restored by Peter playing -familiar airs to her on his flute, she voices her joy in the -show-piece, "La, la, la, air chéri" (La, la, la, beloved song), to -which reference already has been made. In the first act _Catherine_ -has a "Ronde bohémienne" (Gypsy rondo), the theme of which Meyerbeer -took from his opera "Emma de Rohsburg." - -"L'Étoile du Nord" is in three acts. There is much military music in -the second act--a cavalry chorus, "Beau cavalier au coeur d'acier" -(Brave cavalier with heart of steel); a grenadier song with chorus, -"Grenadiers, fiers Moscovites" (grenadiers, proud Muscovites), in -which the chorus articulates the beat of the drums ("tr-r-r-um"); the -"Dessauer" march, a cavalry fanfare "Ah! voyez nos Tartares du Don" -(Ah, behold our Cossacks of the Don); and a grenadiers' march: -stirring numbers, all of them. - -The libretto is by Scribe. The first act scene is laid in Wyborg, on -the Gulf of Finland; the second in a Russian camp; the third in -Peter's palace in Petrograd. Time, about 1700. - - * * * * * - -Barbier and Carré wrote the words of "Dinorah," founding their -libretto on a Breton tale. Under the title, "Le Pardon de Ploërmel" -(the scene of the opera being laid near the Breton village of -Ploërmel) the work was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, April 4, -1859. It has three principal characters--a peasant girl, _Dinorah_, -_soprano_; _Hoël_, a goat-herd, _baritone_; _Corentino_, a bagpiper, -_tenor_. The famous baritone, Faure, was the _Hoël_ of the Paris -production. Cordier (_Dinorah_), Amodio (_Hoël_), Brignoli -(_Corentino_) were heard in the first American production, Academy of -Music, New York, November 24, 1864. As _Dinorah_ there also have been -heard here Ilma di Murska (Booth's Theatre, 1867), Marimon (with -Campanini as _Corentino_), December 12, 1879; Adelina Patti (1882); -Tetrazzini (Manhattan Opera House, 1907); and Galli-Curci (Lexington -Theatre, January 28, 1918), with the Chicago Opera Company. - -_Dinorah_ is betrothed to _Hoël_. Her cottage has been destroyed in a -storm. _Hoël_, in order to rebuild it, goes into a region haunted by -evil spirits, in search of hidden treasure. _Dinorah_, believing -herself deserted, loses her reason and, with her goat, whose tinkling -bell is heard, wanders through the mountains in search of _Hoël_. - -The opera is in three acts. It is preceded by an overture during which -there is sung by the villagers behind the curtain the hymn to Our Lady -of the Pardon. The scene of the first act is a rough mountain passage -near _Corentino's_ hut. _Dinorah_ finds her goat asleep and sings to -it a graceful lullaby, "Dors, petite, dors tranquille" (Little one, -sleep; calmly rest). _Corentino_, in his cottage, sings of the fear -that comes over him in this lonely region. To dispel it, he plays on -his cornemuse. _Dinorah_ enters the hut, and makes him dance with her, -while she sings. - -When someone is heard approaching, she jumps out of the window. It is -_Hoël_. Both he and _Corentino_ think she is a sprite. _Hoël_ sings of -the gold he expects to find, and offers _Corentino_ a share in the -treasure if he will aid him lift it. According to the legend, however, -the first one to touch the treasure must die, and _Hoël's_ seeming -generosity is a ruse to make _Corentino_ the victim of the discovery. -The tinkle of the goat's bell is heard. _Hoël_ advises that they -follow the sound as it may lead to the treasure. The act closes with a -trio, "Ce tintement que l'on entend" (The tinkling tones that greet -the ear). _Dinorah_ stands among the high rocks, while _Hoël_ and -_Corentino_, the latter reluctantly, make ready to follow the tinkle -of the bell. - -A wood of birches by moonlight is the opening scene of the second act. -It is here _Dinorah_ sings of "Le vieux sorcier de la montagne" (The -ancient wizard of the mountain), following it with the "Shadow Song," -"Ombre légère qui suis mes pas" (Fleet shadow that pursues my -steps)--"Ombra leggiera" in the more familiar Italian version. - -[Music] - -This is a passage so graceful and, when sung and acted by an Adelina -Patti, was so appealing, that I am frank to confess it suggested to me -the chapter entitled "Shadows of the Stage," in my novel of opera -behind the scenes, _All-of-a-Sudden Carmen_. - -The scene changes to a wild landscape. A ravine bridged by an uprooted -tree. A pond, with a sluiceway which, when opened, gives on the -ravine. The moon has set. A storm is rising. - -_Hoël_ and _Corentino_ enter; later _Dinorah_. Through the night, that -is growing wilder, she sings the legend of the treasure, "Sombre -destinée, âme condamnée" (O'ershadowing fate, soul lost for aye). - -Her words recall the tragic story of the treasure to _Corentino_, who -now sees through _Hoël's_ ruse, and seeks to persuade the girl to go -after the treasure. She sings gaily, in strange contrast to the -gathering storm. Lightning flashes show her her goat crossing the -ravine by the fallen tree. She runs after her pet. As she is crossing -the tree, a thunderbolt crashes. The sluice bursts, the tree is -carried away by the flood, which seizes _Dinorah_ in its swirl. _Hoël_ -plunges into the wild waters to save her. - -Not enough of the actual story remains to make a third act. But as -there has to be one, the opening of the act is filled in with a song -for a _Hunter_ (_bass_), another for a _Reaper_ (_tenor_), and a duet -for _Goat-herds_ (_soprano and contralto_). _Hoël_ enters bearing -_Dinorah_, who is in a swoon. _Hoël_ here has his principal air, "Ah! -mon remords te venge" (Ah, my remorse avenges you). _Dinorah_ comes -to. Her reason is restored when she finds herself in her lover's -arms. The villagers chant the "Hymn of the Pardon." A procession forms -for the wedding, which is to make happy _Dinorah_ and _Hoël_, every -one, in fact, including the goat. - -Except for the scene of the "Shadow Dance," the libretto is incredibly -inane--far more so than the demented heroine. But Meyerbeer evidently -wanted to write a pastoral opera. He did so; with the result that now, -instead of pastoral, it sounds pasteurized. - - - - -Hector Berlioz - -(1803-1869) - - -This composer, born Côte-Saint-André, near Grenoble, December 11, -1803; died Paris, March 9, 1869, has had comparatively little -influence upon opera considered simply as such. But, as a musician -whose skill in instrumentation, and knowledge of the individual tone -quality of every instrument in the orchestra amounted to positive -genius, his influence on music in general was great. In his -symphonies--"Episode de la Vie d'un Artiste" (characterized by him as -a _symphonie phantastique_), its sequel, "Lelio, ou la Retour à la -Vie," "Harold en Italie," in which Harold is impersonated by the -viola, and the _symphonie dramatique_, "Roméo et Juliette," he proved -the feasibility of producing, by means of orchestral music, the effect -of narrative, personal characterization and the visualization of -dramatic action, as well as of scenery and material objects. He thus -became the founder of "program music." - -Of Berlioz's operas not one is known on the stage of English-speaking -countries. For "La Damnation de Faust," in its original form, is not -an opera but a dramatic cantata. First performed in 1846, it was not -made over into an opera until 1893, twenty-four years after the -composer's death. - - -BENVENUTO CELLINI - - Opera in three acts, by Berlioz. Words by du Wailly and - Barbier. Produced, and failed completely, Grand Opéra, - Paris, September 3, 1838, and London a fortnight later. - Revived London, Covent Garden, 1853, under Berlioz's own - direction; by Liszt, at Weimar, 1855; by von Bülow, Hanover, - 1879. - - CHARACTERS - - CARDINAL SALVIATI _Bass_ - BALDUCCI, Papal Treasurer _Bass_ - TERESA, his daughter _Soprano_ - BENVENUTO CELLINI, a goldsmith _Tenor_ - ASCANIO, his apprentice _Mezzo-Soprano_ - FRANCESCO } Artisans in { _Tenor_ - BERNARDINO } Cellini's workshop { _Bass_ - FIERAMOSCA, sculptor to the Pope _Baritone_ - POMPEO, a bravo _Baritone_ - - _Time_--1532. - - _Place_--Rome. - -Act I. The carnival of 1532. We are in the house of the Papal -treasurer, _Balducci_, who has scolded his daughter _Teresa_ for -having looked out of the window. The old man is quite vexed, because -the Pope has summoned the goldsmith _Cellini_ to Rome. - -_Balducci's_ daughter _Teresa_, however, thinks quite otherwise and is -happy. For she has found a note from _Cellini_ in a bouquet that was -thrown in to her from the street by a mask--_Cellini_, of course. A -few moments later he appears at her side and proposes a plan of -elopement. In the morning, during the carnival mask, he will wear a -white monk's hood. His apprentice _Ascanio_ will wear a brown one. -They will join her and they will flee together. But a listener has -sneaked in--_Fieramosca_, the Pope's sculptor, and no less _Cellini's_ -rival in love than in art. He overhears the plot. Unexpectedly, too, -_Teresa's_ father, _Balducci_, comes back. His daughter still up? In -her anxiety to find an excuse, she says she heard a man sneak in. -During the search _Cellini_ disappears, and _Fieramosca_ is -apprehended. Before he can explain his presence, women neighbours, who -have hurried in, drag him off to the public bath house and treat him -to a ducking. - -Act II. In the courtyard of a tavern _Cellini_ is seated, with his -assistants. He is happy in his love, for he places it even higher than -fame, which alone heretofore he has courted. He must pledge his love -in wine. Unfortunately the host will no longer give him credit. Just -then _Ascanio_ brings some money from the Papal treasurer, but in -return _Cellini_ must promise to complete his "Perseus" by morning. He -promises, although the avaricious _Balducci_ has profited by his -necessity and has sent too little money. _Ascanio_ is informed by -_Cellini_ of the disguises they are to wear at the carnival, and of -his plan that _Teresa_ shall flee with him. - -Again _Fieramosca_ has been spying, and overhears the plot. -Accordingly he hires the bravo _Pompeo_ to assist him in carrying off -_Teresa_. - -A change of scene shows the crowd of maskers on the Piazza di Colonna. -_Balducci_ comes along with _Teresa_. Both from the right and left -through the crowd come two monks in the disguise she and her lover -agreed upon. Which is the right couple? Soon, however, the two couples -fall upon each other. A scream, and one of the brown-hooded monks -(_Pompeo_) falls mortally wounded to the ground. A white-hooded monk -(_Cellini_) has stabbed him. The crowd hurls itself upon _Cellini_. -But at that moment the boom of a cannon gives notice that the carnival -celebration is over. It is Ash Wednesday. In the first shock of -surprise _Cellini_ escapes, and in his place the other white-hooded -monk, _Fieramosca_, is seized. - -Act III. Before _Cellini's_ house, in the background of which, through -a curtain, is seen the bronze foundry, the anxious _Teresa_ is assured -by _Ascanio_ that her lover is safe. Soon he comes along himself, with -a band of monks, to whom he describes his escape. Then _Balducci_ and -_Fieramosca_ rush in. _Balducci_ wants to force his daughter to become -_Fieramosca's_ bride. The scene is interrupted by the arrival of -_Cardinal Salviati_ to see the completed "Perseus." Poor _Cellini_! -Accused of murder and the attempted kidnapping of a girl, the -"Perseus" unfinished, the money received for it spent! Heavy -punishment awaits him, and another shall receive the commission to -finish the "Perseus." - -The artist flies into a passion. Another finish his masterpiece! -Never! The casting shall be done on the spot! Not metal enough? He -seizes his completed works and throws them into the molten mass. The -casting begins. The master shatters the mould. The "Perseus," a noble -work of art, appears before the eyes of the astonished onlookers--a -potent plea for the inspired master. Once more have Art and her -faithful servant triumphed over all rivals. - -The statue of Perseus, by Benvenuto Cellini, one of the most famous -creations of mediæval Italy, is one of the art treasures of Florence. - - -BEATRICE AND BENEDICT - - Opera in two acts, by Berlioz. Words by the composer, after - Shakespeare's comedy, "Much Ado about Nothing." Produced at - Baden Baden, 1862. - - CHARACTERS - - DON PEDRO, a general _Bass_ - LEONATO, governor of Messina _Bass_ - HERO, his daughter _Soprano_ - BEATRICE, his niece _Soprano_ - CLAUDIO, an officer _Baritone_ - BENEDICT, an officer _Tenor_ - URSULA, Hero's companion _Contralto_ - SOMARONE, orchestral conductor _Bass_ - -The story is an adaptation of the short version of Shakespeare's play, -which preserves the spirit of the comedy, but omits the saturnine -intrigue of _Don John_ against _Claudio_ and _Hero_. The gist of the -comedy is the gradual reaction of the brilliant but captious -_Beatrice_ from pique and partially feigned indifference toward the -witty and gallant _Benedict_, to love. Both have tempers. In fact they -reach an agreement to marry as a result of a spirited quarrel. - - -LES TROYENS - -THE TROJANS - -PART I. "LA PRISE DE TROIE" - -THE CAPTURE OF TROY - - Opera in three acts, by Berlioz. Words by the composer, - based upon a scenario furnished by Liszt's friend, the - Princess Caroline Sayn-Wittgenstein. Produced, November 6, - 1890, in Karlsruhe, under the direction of Felix Mottl. - - CHARACTERS - - PRIAM _Bass_ - HECUBA _Contralto_ - CASSANDRA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - POLYXENA _Soprano_ - HECTOR'S ghost _Bass_ - ANDROMACHE } _Mutes_ - ASTYONAX } - ÆNEAS _Tenor_ - ASCANIUS _Soprano_ - PANTHEUS _Bass_ - CHOROEBUS _Baritone_ - - _Time_--1183 B.C. - - _Place_--The Trojan Plain. - -Act I. The Greek camp before Troy. It has been deserted by the Greeks. -The people of Troy, rejoicing at what they believe to be the raising -of the siege, are bustling about the camp. Many of them, however, are -standing amazed about a gigantic wooden horse. There is only one -person who does not rejoice, _Cassandra_, _Priam's_ daughter, whose -clairvoyant spirit foresees misfortune. But no one believes her dire -prophecies, not even her betrothed, _Choroebus_, whom she implores -in vain to flee. - -Act II. In a grove near the walls of the city the Trojan people, with -their princes at their head, are celebrating the return of peace. -_Andromache_, however, sees no happiness for herself, since _Hector_ -has fallen. Suddenly _Æneas_ hurries in with the news that the priest -_Laocoon_, who had persisted in seeing in the wooden horse only a -stratagem of the Greeks, has been strangled by a serpent. Athena must -be propitiated; the horse must be taken into the city, to the sacred -Palladium, and there set up for veneration. Of no avail is -_Cassandra's_ wailing, when the goddess has so plainly indicated her -displeasure. - -Act III. _Æneas_ is sleeping in his tent. A distant sound of strife -awakens him. _Hector's Ghost_ appears to him. Troy is lost; far away, -to Italy, must _Æneas_ go, there to found a new kingdom. The _Ghost_ -disappears. The priest, _Pantheus_, rushes in, bleeding from wounds. -He announces that Greeks have come out of the belly of the horse and -have opened the gates of the city to the Greek army. Troy is in -flames. _Æneas_ goes forth to place himself at the head of his men. - -The scene changes to the vestal sanctuary in _Priam's_ palace. To the -women gathered in prayer _Cassandra_ announces that _Æneas_ has -succeeded in saving the treasure and covering a retreat to Mount Ida. -But her _Choroebus_ has fallen and she desires to live no longer. -Shall she become the slave of a Greek? She paints the fate of the -captive woman in such lurid colours that they decide to go to death -with her. Just as the Greeks rush in, the women stab themselves, and -grief overcomes even the hardened warriors. - - -PART II. "LES TROYENS À CARTHAGE" - -THE TROJANS IN CARTHAGE - - Opera in five acts. Music by Berlioz. Words by the composer. - Produced, Paris, November 4, 1863, when it failed - completely. Revived, 1890, in Karlsruhe, under the direction - of Felix Mottl. Mottl's performances in Karlsruhe, in 1890, - of "La Prise de Troie" and "Les Troyens à Carthage" - constituted the first complete production of "Les Troyens." - - CHARACTERS - - DIDO _Soprano_ - ANNA _Contralto_ - ÆNEAS _Tenor_ - ASCANIUS _Soprano_ - PANTHEUS _Bass_ - NARBAL _Bass_ - JOPAS _Tenor_ - HYLAS _Tenor_ - - _Time_--1183 B.C. - - _Place_--Carthage. - -Act I. In the summer-house of her palace _Dido_ tells her retainers -that the savage Numidian King, Jarbas, has asked for her hand, but she -has decided to live only for the memory of her dead husband. Today, -however, shall be devoted to festive games. The lyric poet _Jopas_ -enters and announces the approach of strangers, who have escaped from -the dangers of the sea. They arrive and _Ascanius_, son of _Æneas_, -begs entertainment for a few days for himself and his companions. This -_Dido_ gladly grants them. Her Minister, _Narbal_, rushes in. The -Numidian king has invaded the country. Who will march against him? -_Æneas_, who had concealed himself in disguise among his sailors, -steps forth and offers to defend the country against the enemy. - -Act II. A splendid festival is in progress in Dido's garden in honour -of the victor, _Æneas_. _Dido_ loves _Æneas_, who tells her of -Andromache, and how, in spite of her grief over _Hector_, she has laid -aside her mourning and given her hand to another. Why should _Dido_ -not do likewise? Night closes in, and under its cover both pledge -their love and faith. - -Has _Æneas_ forgotten his task? To remind him, Mercury appears and -strikes resoundingly on the weapons that have been laid aside, while -invisible voices call out to _Æneas_: "Italie!" - -Act III. Public festivities follow the betrothal of _Dido_ and -_Æneas_. But _Dido's_ faithful Minister knows that, although _Æneas_ -is a kingly lover, it is the will of the gods that the Trojan proceed -to Italy; and that to defy the gods is fatal. - -Meanwhile the destiny of the lovers is fulfilled. During a hunt they -seek shelter from a thunderstorm in a cave. There they seal their love -compact. (This scene is in pantomime.) - -Act IV. The Trojans are incensed that _Æneas_ places love ahead of -duty. They have determined to seek the land of their destiny without -him. Finally _Æneas_ awakes from his infatuation and, when the voices -of his illustrious dead remind him of his duty, he resolves, in spite -of _Dido's_ supplications, to depart at once. - -Act V. Early morning brings to _Dido_ in her palace the knowledge that -she has lost _Æneas_ forever. She decides not to survive her loss. On -the sea beach she orders a huge pyre erected. All the love tokens of -the faithless one are fed to the flames. She herself ascends the pyre. -Her vision takes in the great future of Carthage and the greater one -of Rome. Then she throws herself on her lover's sword. - - -LA DAMNATION DE FAUST - -THE DAMNATION OF FAUST - - In its original form a "dramatic legend" in four parts for - the concert stage. Music by Hector Berlioz. Words, after - Gerald de Nerval's version of Goethe's play, by Berlioz, - Gérard, and Gandonnière. Produced in its original form as a - concert piece at the Opéra Comique, Paris, December 6, 1846; - London, two parts of the work, under Berlioz's direction, - Drury Lane, February 7, 1848; first complete performance in - England, Free Trade Hall, Manchester, February 5, 1880. New - York, February 12, 1880, by Dr. Leopold Damrosch. Adapted - for the operatic stage by Raoul Gunsberg, and produced by - him at Monte Carlo, February 18, 1893, with Jean de Reszke - as _Faust_; revived there March, 1902, with Melba, Jean de - Reszke, and Maurice Renaud. Given in Paris with Calvé, - Alvarez, and Renaud, to celebrate the centennial of - Berlioz's birth, December 11, 1903. New York, Metropolitan - Opera House, December 7, 1906; Manhattan Opera House, - November 6, 1907, with Dalmorès as _Faust_ and Renaud as - _Méphistophélès_. - - CHARACTERS - - MARGUERITE _Soprano_ - FAUST _Tenor_ - MÉPHISTOPHÉLÈS _Bass_ - BRANDER _Bass_ - - Students, soldiers, citizens, men and women, fairies, etc. - - _Time_--Eighteenth Century. - - _Place_--A town in Germany. - -In the first part of Berlioz's dramatic legend _Faust_ is supposed to -be on the Plains of Hungary. Introspectively he sings of nature and -solitude. There are a chorus and dance of peasants and a recitative. -Soldiers march past to the stirring measures of the "Rákóczy March," -the national air of Hungary. - -This march Berlioz orchestrated in Vienna, during his tour of 1845, -and conducted it at a concert in Pesth, when it created the greatest -enthusiasm. It was in order to justify the interpolation of this march -that he laid the first scene of his dramatic legend on the plains of -Hungary. Liszt claimed that his pianoforte transcription of the march -had freely been made use of by Berlioz, "especially in the harmony." - -In the operatic version Gunsbourg shows _Faust_ in a mediæval chamber, -with a view, through a window, of the sally-port of a castle, out of -which the soldiers march. At one point in the march, which Berlioz has -treated contrapuntally, and where it would be difficult for marchers -to keep step, the soldiers halt and have their standards solemnly -blessed. - -The next part of the dramatic legend only required a stage setting to -make it operatic. _Faust_ is in his study. He is about to quaff -poison, when the walls part and disclose a church interior. The -congregation, kneeling, sings the Easter canticle, "Christ is Risen." -Change of scene to Auerbach's cellar, Leipsic. Revel of students and -soldiers. _Brander_ sings the "Song of the Rat," whose death is -mockingly grieved over by a "Requiescat in pace" and a fugue on the -word "Amen," sung by the roistering crowd. _Méphistophélès_ then -"obliges" with the song of the flea, in which the skipping about of -the elusive insect is depicted in the accompaniment. - -In the next scene in the dramatic legend, _Faust_ is supposed to be -asleep on the banks of the Elbe. Here is the most exquisite effect of -the score, the "Dance of the Sylphs," a masterpiece of delicate and -airy illustration. Violoncellos, _con sordini_, hold a single note as -a pedal point, over which is woven a gossamer fabric of melody and -harmony, ending with the faintest possible pianissimo from drum and -harps. Gunsbourg employed here, with admirable results, the aërial -ballet, and has given a rich and beautiful setting to the scene, -including a vision of _Marguerite_. The ballet is followed by a chorus -of soldiers and a students' song in Latin. - -The scenic directions of Gounod's "Faust" call _Marguerite's_ -house--so much of it as is projected into the garden scene--a -pavilion. Gunsbourg makes it more like an arbour, into which the -audience can see through the elimination of a supposedly existing -wall, the same as in _Sparafucile's_ house, in the last act of -"Rigoletto." Soldiers and students are strolling and singing in the -street. _Marguerite_ sings the ballad of the King of Thule. Berlioz's -setting of the song is primitive. He aptly characterizes the number as -a "Chanson Gothique." The "Invocation" of _Méphistophélès_ is followed -by the "Dance of Will-o'-the-Wisps." Then comes _Méphistophélès's_ -barocque serenade. _Faust_ enters _Marguerite's_ pavilion. There is a -love duet, which becomes a trio when _Méphistophélès_ joins the -lovers and urges _Faust's_ departure. - -_Marguerite_ is alone. Berlioz, instead of using Goethe's song, "Meine -Ruh ist hin" (My peace is gone), the setting of which by Schubert is -famous, substitutes a poem of his own. The unhappy _Marguerite_ sings, -"D'Amour, l'ardente flamme" (Love, devouring fire). - -The singing of the students and the soldiers grows fainter. The -"retreat"--the call to which the flag is lowered at sunset--is sounded -by the drums and trumpets. _Marguerite_, overcome by remorse, swoons -at the window. - -A mountain gorge. _Faust's_ soliloquy, "Nature, immense, impénétrable -et fière" (Nature, vast, unfathomable and proud). The "Ride to Hell"; -moving panorama; pandemonium; redemption of _Marguerite_, whom angels -are seen welcoming in the softly illumined heavens far above the town, -in which the action is supposed to have transpired. - -The production by Dr. Leopold Damrosch of "La Damnation de Faust" in -its original concert form in New York, was one of the sensational -events of the concert history of America. As an opera, however, the -work has failed so far to make the impression that might have been -expected from its effect on concert audiences; "... the experiment, -though tried in various theatres," says Grove's _Dictionary of Music -and Musicians_, "has happily not been permanently successful." Why -"happily"? It would be an advantage to operatic art if a work by so -distinguished a composer as Berlioz could find a permanent place in -the repertoire. - -Gounod's "Faust," Boïto's "Mefistofele," and Berlioz's "La Damnation -de Faust" are the only settings of the Faust legend, or, more properly -speaking, of Goethe's "Faust," with which a book on opera need concern -itself. Gounod's "Faust," with its melodious score, and full of a -sentiment that more than occasionally verges on sentimentality, has -genuine popular appeal, and is likely long to maintain itself in the -repertoire. "Mefistofele," nevertheless, is the profounder work. -Boïto, in his setting, sounds Goethe's drama to greater depths than -Gounod. It always will be preferred by those who do not have to be -written down to. "La Damnation de Faust," notwithstanding its -brilliant and still modern orchestration, is the most truly mediæval -of the three scores. Berlioz himself characterizes the ballad of the -King of Thule as "Gothic." The same spirit of the Middle Ages runs -through much of the work. In several important details the operatic -adaptation has been clumsily made. Were it improved in these details, -this "Faust" of Berlioz would have a chance of more than one revival. - - - - -F. von Flotow - - -MARTHA - - Opera in four acts, by Friedrich von Flotow; words by - Wilhelm Friedrich Riese, the plot based on a French ballet - pantomime by Jules H. Vernoy and Marquis St. Georges (see p. - 559). Produced at the Imperial Opera House, Vienna, November - 25, 1847. Covent Garden, London, July 1, 1858, in Italian; - in English at Drury Lane, October 11, 1858. Paris, Théâtre - Lyrique, December 16, 1865, when was interpolated the famous - air "M'apparì," from Flotow's two-act opera, "L'Âme en - Peine," produced at the Grand Opéra, Paris, June, 1846. New - York, Niblo's Garden, November 1, 1852, with Mme. Anna - Bishop; in French, at New Orleans, January 27, 1860. An - opera of world-wide popularity, in which, in this country, - the title rôle has been sung by Nilsson, Patti, Gerster, - Kellogg, Parepa-Rosa, and Sembrich, and _Lionel_ by - Campanini and Caruso. - - CHARACTERS - - LADY HARRIET DURHAM, Maid of Honor to - Queen Anne _Soprano_ - LORD TRISTAN DE MIKLEFORD, her cousin _Bass_ - PLUNKETT, a young farmer _Bass_ - LIONEL, his foster-brother. Afterwards - Earl of Derby _Tenor_ - NANCY, waiting-maid to Lady Harriet _Contralto_ - SHERIFF _Bass_ - THREE MAN SERVANTS _Tenor_ and two _Basses_ - THREE MAID SERVANTS _Soprano_ and two _Mezzo-Sopranos_ - - Courtiers, pages, ladies, hunters and huntresses, farmers, - servants, etc. - - _Time_--About 1710. - - _Place_--In and near Richmond. - -The first act opens in _Lady Harriet's_ boudoir. The second scene of -this act is the fair at Richmond. The scene of the second act is laid -in _Plunkett's_ farmhouse; that of the third in a forest near -Richmond. The fourth act opens in the farmhouse and changes to _Lady -Harriet's_ park. - -Act I. Scene 1. The _Lady Harriet_ yawned. It was dull even at the -court of Queen Anne. - -"Your Ladyship," said _Nancy_, her sprightly maid, "here are flowers -from _Sir Tristan_." - -"Their odour sickens me," was her ladyship's weary comment. - -"And these diamonds!" urged _Nancy_, holding up a necklace for her -mistress to view. - -"They hurt my eyes," said her ladyship petulantly. - -The simple fact is the _Lady Harriet_, like many others whose -pleasures come so easily that they lack zest, was bored. Even the -resourceful _Nancy_, a prize among maids, was at last driven to -exclaim: - -"If your ladyship only would fall in love!" - -But herein, too, _Lady Harriet_ had the surfeit that creates -indifference. She had bewitched every man at court only to remain -unmoved by their protestations of passion. Even as _Nancy_ spoke, a -footman announced the most persistent of her ladyship's suitors, _Sir -Tristan of Mikleford_, an elderly cousin who presumed upon his -relationship to ignore the rebuffs with which she met his suit. _Sir -Tristan_ was a creature of court etiquette. His walk, his gesture, -almost his speech itself were reduced to rule and method. The -stiffness that came with age made his exaggerated manner the more -ridiculous. In fact he was the incarnation of everything that the -_Lady Harriet_ was beginning to find intolerably tedious. - -"Most respected cousin, Lady in Waiting to Her Most Gracious Majesty," -he began sententiously, and would have added all her titles had she -not cut him short with an impatient gesture, "will your ladyship seek -diversion by viewing the donkey races with me today?" - -"I wonder," _Nancy_ whispered so that none but her mistress could -hear, "if he is going to run in the races himself?" which evoked from -the _Lady Harriet_ the first smile that had played around her lips -that day. Seeing this and attributing it to her pleasure at his -invitation _Sir Tristan_ sighed like a wheezy bellows and cast -sentimental glances at her with his watery eyes. To stop this -ridiculous exhibition of vanity her ladyship straightway sent him -trotting about the room on various petty pretexts. "Fetch my fan, -Sir!--Now my smelling salts--I feel a draught. Would you close the -window, cousin? Ah, I stifle for want of air! Open it again!" - -To these commands _Sir Tristan_ responded with as much alacrity as his -stiff joints would permit, until _Nancy_ again whispered to her -mistress, "See! He is running for the prize!" - -Likely enough _Sir Tristan's_ fair cousin soon would have sent him on -some errand that would have taken him out of her presence. But when he -opened the window again, in came the strains of a merry chorus sung by -fresh, happy voices of young women who, evidently, were walking along -the highway. The _Lady Harriet's_ curiosity was piqued. Who were these -women over whose lives ennui never seemed to have hung like a pall? -_Nancy_ knew all about them. They were servants on the way to the -Richmond fair to hire themselves out to the farmers, according to -time-honoured custom. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Ober and De Luca; Caruso and Hempel in "Martha"] - -The Richmond fair! To her ladyship's jaded senses it conveyed a -suggestion of something new and frolicsome. "Nancy," she cried, -carried away with the novelty of the idea, "let us go to the fair -dressed as peasant girls and mingle with the crowd! Who knows, someone -might want to hire us! I will call myself Martha, you can be Julia, -and you, cousin, can drop your title for the nonce and go along with -us as plain Bob!" And when _Sir Tristan_, shocked at the thought that -a titled lady should be willing so to lower herself, to say nothing of -the part he himself was asked to play, protested, she appealed to him -with a feigned tenderness that soon won his consent to join them in -their lark. Then to give him a foretaste of what was expected of him, -they took him, each by an arm, and danced him about the room, shouting -with mock admiration as he half slid, half stumbled, "Bravo! What -grace! What agility!" - -The _Lady Harriet_ actually was enjoying herself. - -Scene 2. Meanwhile the Richmond fair was at its height. From a large -parchment the pompous _Sheriff_ had read the law by which all -contracts for service made at the fair were binding for at least one -year as soon as money had passed. Among those who had come to bid were -a sturdy young farmer, _Plunkett_, and his foster-brother _Lionel_. -The latter evidently was of a gentler birth, but his parentage was -shrouded in mystery. As a child he had been left with _Plunkett's_ -mother by a fugitive, an aged man who, dying from exposure and -exhaustion, had confided the boy to her care, first, however, handing -her a ring with the injunction that if misfortune ever threatened the -boy, to show the ring to the queen. - -One after another the girls proclaimed their deftness at cooking, -sewing, gardening, poultry tending, and other domestic and rural -accomplishments, the _Sheriff_ crying out, "Four guineas! Who'll have -her?--Five guineas! Who'll try her?" Many of them cast eyes at the -two handsome young farmers, hoping to be engaged by them. But they -seemed more critical than the rest. - -Just then they heard a young woman's voice behind them call out, "No, -I won't go with you!" and, turning, they saw two sprightly young women -arguing with a testy looking old man who seemed to have a ridiculous -idea of his own importance. _Lionel_ and _Plunkett_ nudged each other. -Never had they seen such attractive looking girls. And when they heard -one of them call out again to the old man, "No, we won't go with -you!"--for _Sir Tristan_ was urging the _Lady Harriet_ and _Nancy_ to -leave the fair--the young men hurried over to the group. - -"Can't you hear her say she won't go with you?" asked _Lionel_, while -_Plunkett_ called out to the girls near the _Sheriff's_ stand, "Here, -girls, is a bidder with lots of money!" A moment later the absurd old -man was the centre of a rioting, shouting crowd of girls, who followed -him when he tried to retreat, so that finally "Martha" and "Julia" -were left quite alone with the two men. The young women were in high -spirits. They had sallied forth in quest of adventure and here it was. -_Lionel_ and _Plunkett_, on the other hand, suddenly had become very -shy. There was in the demeanour of these girls something quite -different from what they had been accustomed to in other serving -maids. Somehow they had an "air," and it made the young men bashful. -_Plunkett_ tried to push _Lionel_ forward, but the latter hung back. - -"Watch me then," said _Plunkett_. He advanced as if to speak to the -young women, but came to a halt and stood there covered with -confusion. It chanced that _Lady Harriet_ and _Nancy_ had been -watching these men with quite as much interest as they had been -watched by them. _Lionel_, who bore himself with innate grace and -refinement under his peasant garb, had immediately attracted "Martha," -while the sturdier _Plunkett_ had caught "Julia's" eye, and they were -glad when, after a few slyly reassuring glances from them, _Plunkett_ -overcame his hesitancy and spoke up: - -"You're our choice, girls! We'll pay fifty crowns a year for wages, -with half a pint of ale on Sundays and plum pudding on New Year's -thrown in for extras." - -"Done!" cried the girls, who thought it all a great lark, and a moment -later the _Lady Harriet_ had placed her hand in _Lionel's_ and _Nancy_ -hers in _Plunkett's_ and money had passed to bind the bargain. - -And now, thinking the adventure had gone far enough and that it was -time for them to be returning to court, they cast about them for _Sir -Tristan_. He, seeing them talking on apparently intimate terms with -two farmers, was scandalized and, having succeeded in standing off the -crowd by scattering money about him, he called out brusquely, "Come -away!" - -"Come away?" repeated _Plunkett_ after him. "_Come away?_ Didn't these -girls let you know plainly enough a short time ago that they wouldn't -hire out to you?" - -"But I rather think," interposed "Martha," who was becoming slightly -alarmed, "that it is time for 'Julia' and myself to go." - -"What's that!" exclaimed _Plunkett_. "_Go?_ No, indeed," he added with -emphasis. "You may repent of your bargain, though I don't see why. But -it is binding for a year." - -"If only you knew who," began _Sir Tristan_, and he was about to tell -who the young women were. But "Martha" quickly whispered to him not to -disclose their identity, as the escapade, if it became known, would -make them the sport of the court. Moreover _Plunkett_ and _Lionel_ -were growing impatient at the delay and, when the crowd again gathered -about _Sir Tristan_, they hurried off the girls,--who did not seem to -protest as much as might have been expected,--lifted them into a farm -wagon, and drove off, while the crowd blocked the blustering knight -and jeered as he vainly tried to break away in pursuit. - -Act II. The adventure of the _Lady Harriet_ and her maid _Nancy_, so -lightly entered upon, was carrying them further than they had -expected. To find themselves set down in a humble farmhouse, as they -did soon after they left the fair, and to be told to go into the -kitchen and prepare supper, was more than they had bargained for. - -"Kitchen work!" exclaimed the _Lady Harriet_ contemptuously. - -"Kitchen work!" echoed _Nancy_ in the same tone of voice. - -_Plunkett_ was for having his orders carried out. But _Lionel_ -interceded. A certain innate gallantry that already had appealed to -her ladyship, made him feel that although these young women were -servants, they were, somehow, to be treated differently. He suggested -as a substitute for the kitchen that they be allowed to try their -hands at the spinning wheels. But they were so awkward at these that -the men sat down to show them how to spin, until _Nancy_ brought the -lesson to an abrupt close by saucily overturning _Plunkett's_ wheel -and dashing away with the young farmer in pursuit, leaving _Lionel_ -and "Martha" alone. - -It was an awkward moment for her ladyship, since she could hardly fail -to be aware that _Lionel_ was regarding her with undisguised -admiration. To relieve the situation she began to hum and, finally, to -sing, choosing her favorite air, "The Last Rose of Summer." But it had -the very opposite effect of what she had planned. For she sang the -charming melody so sweetly and with such tender expression that -Lionel, completely carried away, exclaimed: "Ah, Martha, if you were -to marry me, you no longer would be a servant, for I would raise you -to my own station!" - -As _Lionel_ stood there she could not help noting that he was handsome -and graceful. Yet that a farmer should suggest to her, the spoiled -darling of the court, that he would raise her to _his_ station, struck -her as so ridiculous that she burst out laughing. Just then, -fortunately, _Plunkett_ dragged in _Nancy_, whom he had pursued into -the kitchen, where she had upset things generally before he had been -able to seize her; and a distant tower clock striking midnight, the -young farmers allowed their servants, whose accomplishments as such, -if they had any, so far remained undiscovered, to retire to their -room, while they sought theirs, but not before _Lionel_ had whispered: - -"Perchance by the morrow, Martha, you will think differently of what I -have said and not treat it so lightly." - -Act III. But when morning came the birds had flown the cage. There was -neither a Martha nor a Julia in the little farmhouse, while at the -court of Queen Anne a certain _Lady Harriet_ and her maid _Nancy_ were -congratulating themselves that, after all, an old fop named _Sir -Tristan of Mikleford_ had had sense enough to be in waiting with a -carriage near the farmhouse at midnight and helped them escape through -the window. It even is not unlikely that within a week the _Lady -Harriet_, who was so anxious not to have her escapade become known, -might have been relating it at court as a merry adventure and that -_Nancy_ might have been doing the same in the servants' hall. But -unbeknown to the others, there had been a fifth person in the little -farmhouse, none other than Dan Cupid, who had hidden himself, perhaps -behind the clock, and from this vantage place of concealment had -discharged arrows, not at random, but straight at the hearts of two -young women and two young men. And they had not recovered from their -wounds. The _Lady Harriet_ no longer was bored; she was sad; and even -_Nancy_ had lost her sprightliness. The two men, one of them so -courteous despite his peasant garb, the other sturdy and commanding, -with whom their adventure had begun at the Richmond fair and ended -after midnight at the farmhouse, had brought some zest into their -lives; they were so different from the smooth, insincere courtiers by -whom the _Lady Harriet_ had been surrounded and from the men servants -who aped their masters and with whom _Nancy_ had been thrown when she -was not with her ladyship. The simple fact is that the _Lady Harriet_ -and _Nancy_, without being certain of it themselves, were in love, her -ladyship with _Lionel_ and _Nancy_ with _Plunkett_. Of course, there -was the difference in station between _Lady Harriet_ and _Lionel_. But -he had the touch of innate breeding that made her at times forget that -he was a peasant while she was a lady of title. As for _Nancy_ and -_Plunkett_, that lively young woman felt that she needed just such a -strong hand as his to keep her out of mischief. And so it happened -that the diversions of the court again palled upon them and that, when -a great hunt was organized in which the court ladies were asked to -join, the _Lady Harriet_, although she looked most dapper in her -hunting costume, found the sport without zest and soon wandered off -into the forest solitudes. - -Here, too, it chanced that _Lionel_, in much the same state of mind -and heart as her ladyship, was wandering, when, suddenly looking up, -he saw a young huntress in whom, in spite of her different costume, he -recognized the "Martha" over whose disappearance he had been grieving. -But she was torn by conflicting feelings. However her heart might go -out toward _Lionel_, her pride of birth still rebelled against -permitting a peasant to address words of love to her. "You are -mistaken. I do not know you!" she exclaimed. And when he first -appealed to her in passionate accents and then in anger began to -upbraid her for denying her identity to him who was by law her master, -she cried out for help, bringing not only _Sir Tristan_ but the entire -hunting train to her side. Noting the deference with which she was -treated and hearing her called "My Lady," _Lionel_ now perceived the -trick that had been played upon himself and _Plunkett_ at the fair. -Infuriated at the heartless deceit of which he was a victim, he -protested: "But if she accepted earnest money from me, if she bound -herself to serve me for a year----" - -He was interrupted by a shout of laughter from the bystanders, and the -_Lady Harriet_, quickly profiting by the incredulity with which his -words were received, exclaimed: - -"I never have laid eyes on him before. He is a madman and should be -apprehended!" - -Immediately _Lionel_ was surrounded and might have been roughly -handled, had not my lady herself, moved partly by pity, partly by a -deeper feeling that kept asserting itself in spite of all, begged that -he be kindly treated. - -Act IV. Before very long, however, there was a material change in the -situation. In his extremity, _Lionel_ remembered about his ring and he -asked _Plunkett_ to show it to the queen and plead his cause. The ring -proved to have been the property of the Earl of Derby. It was that -nobleman who, after the failure of a plot to recall James II. from -France and restore him to the throne, had died a fugitive and confided -his son to the care of _Plunkett's_ mother, and that son was none -other than _Lionel_, now discovered to be the rightful heir to the -title and estates. Naturally he was received with high favor at the -court of Anne, the daughter of the king to whom the old earl had -rendered such faithful service. - -Despite his new honours, however, _Lionel_ was miserably unhappy. He -was deeply in love with the _Lady Harriet_. Yet he hardly could bring -himself to speak to her, let alone appear so much as even to notice -the advances which she, in her contrition, so plainly made toward him. -So, while she too suffered, he went about lonely and desolate, eating -out his heart with love and the feeling of injured pride that -prevented him from acknowledging it. - -This sad state of affairs might have continued indefinitely had not -_Nancy's_ nimble wit come to the rescue. She and _Plunkett_, after -meeting again, had been quick in coming to an understanding, and now -the first thing they did was to plan how to bring together _Lionel_ -and the _Lady Harriet_, who were so plainly in love with each other. -One afternoon _Plunkett_ joined _Lionel_ in his lonely walk and, -unknown to him, gradually guided him into her ladyship's garden. A -sudden turn in the path brought them in view of a bustling scene. -There were booths as at the Richmond fair, a crowd of servants and -farmers and a sheriff calling out the accomplishments of the girls. As -the crowd saw the two men, there was a hush. Then above it _Lionel_ -heard a sweet, familiar voice singing: - - 'Tis the last rose of summer, - Left blooming alone; - All her lovely companions - Are faded and gone; - No flower of her kindred, - No rosebud is nigh - To reflect back her blushes, - Or give sigh for sigh. - - I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, - To pine on the stem; - Since the lonely are sleeping, - Go sleep thou with them, - Thus kindly I scatter - Thy leaves o'er the bed-- - Where thy mates of the garden - Lie scentless and dead. - -The others quickly vanished. "Martha!" cried _Lionel_. "Martha! Is it -really you?" She stood before him in her servant's garb, no longer, -however, smiling and coquettish as at Richmond, but with eyes cast -down and sad. - -And then as if answering to a would-be master's question of "What can -you do?" she said: "I can forget all my dreams of wealth and gold. I -can despise all the dross in which artifice and ignoble ambition mask -themselves. I can put all these aside and remember only those accents -of love and tenderness that I would have fall upon my hearing once -more." She raised her eyes pleadingly to _Lionel_. All that had -intervened was swept away. _Lionel_ saw only the girl he loved. And, a -moment later, he held his "Martha" in his arms. - - * * * * * - -"Martha" teems with melody. The best-known airs are "The Last Rose of -Summer" and _Lionel's_ "M'apparì" (Like a dream). The best ensemble -piece, a quintet with chorus, occurs near the close of Act III.--"Ah! -che a voi perdoni Iddio" (Ah! May Heaven to you grant pardon). The -spinning-wheel quartet in Act II is most sprightly. But, as indicated, -there is a steady flow of light and graceful melody in this opera. -Almost at the very opening of Act I, _Lady Harriet_ and _Nancy_ have a -duet, "Questo duol che si v'affana" (Of the knights so brave and -charming). Bright, clever music abounds in the Richmond fair scene, -and _Lionel_ and _Plunkett_ express their devotion to each other in -"Solo, profugo, reietto" (Lost, proscribed, a friendless wanderer), -and "Ne giammai saper potemmo" (Never have we learned his station). -Then there is the gay quartet when the two girls leave the fair with -their masters, while the crowd surrounds _Sir Tristan_ and prevents -him from breaking through and interfering. It was in this scene that -the bass singer Castelmary, the _Sir Tristan_ of a performance of -"Martha" at the Metropolitan Opera House, February 10, 1897, was -stricken with heart failure and dropped dead upon the stage. - -A capital quartet opens Act II, in the farmhouse, and leads to the -spinning-wheel quartet, "Di vederlo" (What a charming occupation). -There is a duet between _Lady Harriet_ and _Lionel_, in which their -growing attraction for each other finds expression, "Il suo sguardo è -dolce tanto" (To his eye, mine gently meeting). Then follows "Qui -sola, vergin rosa" ('Tis the last rose of summer), the words a poem by -Tom Moore, the music an old Irish air, "The Groves of Blarney," to -which Moore adapted "The Last Rose of Summer." A new and effective -touch is given to the old song by Flotow in having the tenor join with -the soprano at the close. Moreover, the words and music fit so -perfectly into the situation on the stage that for Flotow to have -"lifted" and interpolated them into his opera was a master-stroke. To -it "Martha" owes much of its popularity. - -[Music: 'Tis the last rose of summer, left blooming alone,] - -There is a duet for _Lady Harriet_ and _Lionel_, "Ah! ride del mio -pianto" (She is laughing at my sorrow). The scene ends with another -quartet, one of the most beautiful numbers of the score, and known as -the "Good Night Quartet," "Dormi pur, ma il mio riposo" (Cruel one, -may dreams transport thee). - -Act III, played in a hunting park in Richmond forest, on the left a -small inn, opens with a song in praise of porter, the "Canzone del -Porter" by _Plunkett_, "Chi mi dirà?" (Will you tell me). The pièces -de résistance of this act are the "M'apparì"; a solo for _Nancy_, "Il -tuo stral nel lanciar" - -[Music] - -(Huntress fair, hastens where); _Martha's_ song, "Qui tranquilla almen -poss'io" (Here in deepest forest shadows); and the stirring quintet -with chorus. - -[Music] - -In Act IV there are a solo for _Plunkett_, "Il mio Lionel perirà" -(Soon my Lionel will perish), and a repetition of some of the -sprightly music of the fair scene. - - * * * * * - -It is not without considerable hesitation that I have classed "Martha" -as a French opera. For Flotow was born in Teutendorf, April 27, 1812, -and died in Darmstadt January 24, 1883. Moreover, "Martha," was -produced in Vienna, and his next best-known work, "Alessandro -Stradella," in Hamburg (1844). - -The music of "Martha," however, has an elegance that not only is quite -unlike any music that has come out of Germany, but is typically -French. Flotow, in fact, was French in his musical training, and both -the plot and score of "Martha" were French in origin. The composer -studied composition in Paris under Reicha, 1827-30, leaving Paris -solely on account of the July revolution, and returning in 1835, to -remain until the revolution in March, 1848, once more drove him away. -After living in Paris again, 1863-8, he settled near Vienna, making, -however, frequent visits to that city, the French capital, and Italy. - -During his second stay in Paris he composed for the Grand Opéra the -first act of a ballet, "Harriette, ou la Servante de Greenwiche." This -ballet, the text by Vernoy and St. George, was for Adèle Dumilâtre. -The reason Flotow was entrusted with only one of the three acts was -the short time in which it was necessary to complete the score. The -other acts were assigned, one each, to Robert Bergmüller and Édouard -Deldevez. Of this ballet, written and composed for a French dancer and -a French audience, "Martha" is an adaptation. This accounts for its -being so typically French and not in the slightest degree German. -Flotow's opera "Alessandro Stradella" also is French in origin. It is -adapted from a one-act _pièce lyrique_, brought out by him in Paris, -in 1837. Few works produced so long ago as "Martha" have its -freshness, vivacity, and charm. Pre-eminently graceful, it yet carries -in a large auditorium like the Metropolitan, where so many operas of -the lighter variety have been lost in space. - - - - -Charles François Gounod - -(1818-1893) - - -The composer of "Faust" was born in Paris, June 17, 1818. His father -had, in 1783, won the second prix de Rome for painting at the École -des Beaux Arts. In 1837, the son won the second prix de Rome for -music, and two years later captured the grand prix de Rome, by -twenty-five votes out of twenty-seven, at the Paris Conservatoire. His -instructors there had been Reicha in harmony, Halévy in counterpoint -and fugue, and Leseur in composition. - -Gounod's first works, in Rome and after his return from there, were -religious. At one time he even thought of becoming an abbé, and on the -title-page of one of his published works he is called Abbé Charles -Gounod. A performance of his "Messe Solenelle" in London evoked so -much praise from both English and French critics that the Grand Opéra -commissioned him to write an opera. The result was "Sapho," performed -April 16, 1851, without success. It was his "Faust" which gave him -European fame. "Faust" and his "Roméo et Juliette" (both of which see) -suffice for the purposes of this book, none of his other operas having -made a decided success. - -"La Rédemption," and "Mors et Vita," Birmingham, England, 1882 and -1885, are his best-known religious compositions. They are "sacred -trilogies." Gounod died, Paris, October 17, 1893. - -In Dr. Theodore Baker's _Biographical Dictionary of Musicians_ -Gounod's merits as a composer are summed up as follows: "Gounod's -compositions are of highly poetic order, more spiritualistic than -realistic; in his finest lyrico-dramatic moments he is akin to Weber, -and his modulation even reminds of Wagner; his instrumentation and -orchestration are frequently original and masterly." These words are -as true today as when they were written, seventeen years ago. - - -FAUST - - Opera, in five acts, by Gounod; words by Barbier and Carré. - Produced, Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, March 19, 1859, with - Miolan-Carvalho as _Marguerite_; Grand Opéra, Paris, March - 3, 1869, with Christine Nilsson as _Marguerite_, Colin as - _Faust_, and Faure as _Méphistophélès_. London, Her - Majesty's Theatre, June 11, 1863; Royal Italian Opera, - Covent Garden, July 2, 1863, in Italian, as "Faust e - Margherita"; Her Majesty's Theatre, January 23, 1864, in an - English version by Chorley, for which, Santley being the - _Valentine_, Gounod composed what was destined to become one - of the most popular numbers of the opera, "Even bravest - heart may swell" ("_Dio possente_"). New York, Academy of - Music, November 26, 1863, in Italian, with Clara Louise - Kellogg (_Margherita_), Henrietta Sulzer (_Siebel_), Fanny - Stockton (_Martha_), Francesco Mazzoleni (_Faust_), Hannibal - Biachi (_Méphistophélès_), G. Yppolito (_Valentine_), D. - Coletti (_Wagner_). Metropolitan Opera House, opening night, - October 22, 1883, with Nilsson, Scalchi, Lablache, - Campanini, Novara, Del Puente. - - CHARACTERS - - FAUST, a learned doctor _Tenor_ - MÉPHISTOPHÉLÈS, Satan _Bass_ - MARGUERITE _Soprano_ - VALENTINE, a soldier, brother - to Marguerite _Baritone_ - SIEBEL, a village youth, in love - with Marguerite _Mezzo-Soprano_ - WAGNER, a student _Baritone_ - MARTHA SCHWERLEIN, neighbour - to Marguerite _Mezzo-Soprano_ - - Students, soldiers, villagers, angels, demons, Cleopatra, - Laïs, Helen of Troy, and others. - - _Time_--16th Century. - - _Place_--Germany. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Plançon as Méphistophélès in "Faust"] - -Popular in this country from the night of its American production, -Gounod's "Faust" nevertheless did not fully come into its own here -until during the Maurice Grau régime at the Metropolitan Opera House. -Sung in French by great artists, every one of whom was familiar with -the traditions of the Grand Opéra, Paris, the work was given so often -that William J. Henderson cleverly suggested "Faustspielhaus" as an -appropriate substitute for the name of New York's yellow brick temple -of opera; a _mot_ which led Krehbiel, in a delightful vein of banter, -to exclaim, "Henderson, your German jokes are better than your serious -German!" - -Several distinguished singers have been heard in this country in the -rôle of _Faust_. It is doubtful if that beautiful lyric number, -_Faust's_ romance, "Salut! demeure chaste et pure" (Hail to the -dwelling chaste and pure), ever has been delivered here with more -exquisite vocal phrasing than by Campanini, who sang the Italian -version, in which the romance becomes "Salve! dimora casta e pura." -That was in the old Academy of Music days, with Christine Nilsson as -_Marguerite_, which she had sung at the revival of the work by the -Paris Grand Opéra. The more impassioned outbursts of the _Faust_ rôle -also were sung with fervid expression by Campanini, so great an -artist, in the best Italian manner, that he had no Italian successor -until Caruso appeared upon the scene. - -Yet, in spite of the _Faust_ of these two Italian artists, Jean de -Reszke remains the ideal _Faust_ of memory. With a personal appearance -distinguished beyond that of any other operatic artist who has been -heard here, an inborn chivalry of deportment that made him a lover -after the heart of every woman, and a refinement of musical expression -that clarified every rôle he undertook, his _Faust_ was the most -finished portrayal of that character in opera that has been heard -here. Jean de Reszke's great distinction was that everything he did -was in perfect taste. Haven't you seen _Faust_ after _Faust_ keep his -hat on while making love to _Marguerite_? Jean de Reszke, a gentleman, -removed his before ever he breathed of romance. Muratore is an -admirable _Faust_, with all the refinements of phrasing and acting -that characterize the best traditions of the Grand Opéra, Paris. - -Great tenors do not, as a rule, arrive in quick succession. In this -country we have had two distinct tenor eras and now are in a third. We -had the era of Italo Campanini, from 1873 until his voice became -impaired, about 1880. Not until eleven years later, 1891, did opera in -America become so closely associated with another tenor, that there -may be said to have begun the era of Jean de Reszke. It lasted until -that artist's voluntary retirement. We are now in the era of Enrico -Caruso, whose repertoire includes _Faust_ in French. - -Christine Nilsson, Adelina Patti, Melba, Eames, Calvé, have been among -the famous _Marguerites_ heard here. Nilsson and Eames may have seemed -possessed of too much natural reserve for the rôle; but Gounod's -librettists made _Marguerite_ more refined than Goethe's _Gretchen_. -Patti acted the part with great simplicity and sang it flawlessly. In -fact her singing of the ballad "Il était un roi de Thulé" (There once -was a king of Thule) was a perfect example of the artistically artless -in song. It seemed to come from her lips merely because it chanced to -be running through her head. Melba's type of beauty was somewhat -mature for the impersonation of the character, but her voice lent -itself beautifully to it. Calvé's _Marguerite_ is recalled as a -logically developed character from first note to last, and as one of -the most original and interesting of _Marguerites_. But Americans -insisted on Calvé's doing nothing but _Carmen_. When she sang in -"Faust" she appeared to them a _Carmen_ masquerading as _Marguerite_. -So back to _Carmen_ she had to go. Sembrich and Farrar are other -_Marguerites_ identified with the Metropolitan Opera House. - -Plançon unquestionably was the finest _Méphistophélès_ in the history -of the opera in America up to the present time--vivid, sonorous, and -satanically polished or fantastical, as the rôle demanded. - -Gounod's librettists, Michel Carré and Jules Barbier, with a true -Gallic gift for practicable stage effect, did not seek to utilize the -whole of Goethe's "Faust" for their book, but contented themselves -with the love story of _Faust_ and _Marguerite_, which also happens to -have been entirely original with the author of the play, since it does -not occur in the legends. But because the opera does not deal with the -whole of "Faust," Germany, where Gounod's work enjoys great -popularity, refuses to accept it under the same title as the play, and -calls it "Margarethe" after the heroine. - -As reconstructed for the Grand Opéra, where it was brought out ten -years after its production at the Théâtre Lyrique, "Faust" develops as -follows: - -There is a brief prelude. A _ff_ on a single note, then mysterious, -chromatic chords, and then the melody which Gounod composed for -Santley. - -Act I. _Faust's_ study. The philosopher is discovered alone, seated at -a table on which an open tome lies before him. His lamp flickers in -its socket. Night is about turning to dawn. - -_Faust_ despairs of solving the riddle of the universe. Aged, his -pursuit of science vain, he seizes a flask of poison, pours it into a -crystal goblet, and is about to drain it, when, day having dawned, the -cheerful song of young women on their way to work arrests him. The -song dies away. Again he raises the goblet, only to pause once more, -as he hears a chorus of labourers, with whose voices those of the -women unite. _Faust_, beside himself at these sounds of joy and youth, -curses life and advancing age, and calls upon Satan to aid him. - -There is a flash of red light and out of it, up through the floor, -rises _Méphistophélès_, garbed as a cavalier, and in vivid red. -Alternately suave, satirical, and demoniacal in bearing, he offers to -_Faust_ wealth and power. The philosopher, however, wants neither, -unless with the gift also is granted youth. "Je veux la jeunesse" -(What I long for is youth). That is easy for his tempter, if the aged -philosopher, with pen dipped in his blood, will but sign away his -soul. _Faust_ hesitates. At a gesture from _Méphistophélès_ the scene -at the back opens and discloses _Marguerite_ seated at her -spinning-wheel, her long blond braid falling down her back. "Ô -Merveille!" (A miracle!) exclaims _Faust_, at once signs the -parchment, and drains to the vision of _Marguerite_ a goblet proffered -him by _Méphistophélès_. The scene fades away, the philosopher's garb -drops off _Faust_. The grey beard and all other marks of old age -vanish. He stands revealed a youthful gallant, eager for adventure, -instead of the disappointed scholar weary of life. There is an -impetuous duet for _Faust_ and _Méphistophélès_: "À moi les plaisirs" -('Tis pleasure I covet). They dash out of the cell-like study in which -_Faust_ vainly has devoted himself to science. - -Act II. Outside of one of the city gates. To the left is an inn, -bearing as a sign a carved image of Bacchus astride a keg. It is -kermis time. There are students, among them _Wagner_, burghers old and -young, soldiers, maidens, and matrons. - -The act opens with a chorus. "Faust" has been given so often that this -chorus probably is accepted by most people as a commonplace. In point -of fact it is an admirable piece of characterization. The groups of -people are effectively differentiated in the score. The toothless -chatter of the old men (in high falsetto) is an especially amusing -detail. In the end the choral groups are deftly united. - -_Valentine_ and _Siebel_ join the kermis throng. The former is -examining a medallion which his sister, _Marguerite_, has given him as -a charm against harm in battle. He sings a cavatina. It is this number -which Gounod composed for Santley. As most if not all the performances -of "Faust" in America, up to the time Grau introduced the custom of -giving opera in the language of the original score, were in Italian, -this cavatina is familiarly known as the "Dio possente" (To thee, O -Father!). In French it is "À toi, Seigneur et Roi des Cieux" (To Thee, -O God, and King of Heaven). Both in the Italian and French, -_Valentine_ prays to Heaven to protect his sister during his absence. -In English, "Even bravest heart may swell," the number relates chiefly -to _Valentine's_ ambitions as a soldier. - -_Wagner_ mounts a table and starts the "Song of the Rat." After a few -lines he is interrupted by the sudden appearance of _Méphistophélès_, -who, after a brief parley, sings "Le veau d'or" (The golden calf), a -cynical dissertation on man's worship of mammon. He reads the hands of -those about him. To _Siebel_ he prophesies that every flower he -touches shall wither. Rejecting the wine proffered him by _Wagner_, he -strikes with his sword the sign of the inn, the keg, astride of which -sits Bacchus. Like a stream of wine fire flows from the keg into the -goblet held under the spout by _Méphistophélès_, who raising the -vessel, pledges the health of _Marguerite_. - -This angers _Valentine_ and leads to the "Scène des épées" (The scene -of the swords). _Valentine_ unsheathes his blade. _Méphistophélès_, -with his sword describes a circle about himself. _Valentine_ makes a -pass at his foe. As the thrust carries his sword into the magic -circle, the blade breaks. He stands in impotent rage, while -_Méphistophélès_ mocks him. At last, realizing who his opponent is, -_Valentine_ grasps his sword by its broken end, and extends the -cruciform hilt toward the red cavalier. The other soldiers follow -their leader's example. _Méphistophélès_, no longer mocking, cowers -before the cross-shaped sword hilts held toward him, and slinks away. -A sonorous chorus, "Puisque tu brises le fer" (Since you have broken -the blade) for _Valentine_ and his followers distinguishes this scene. - -The crowd gathers for the kermis dance--"the waltz from Faust," -familiar the world round, and undulating through the score to the end -of the gay scene, which also concludes the act. While the crowd is -dancing and singing, _Méphistophélès_ enters with _Faust_. -_Marguerite_ approaches. She is on her way from church, prayerbook in -hand. _Siebel_ seeks to join her. But every time the youth steps -toward her he confronts the grinning yet sinister visage of -_Méphistophélès_, who dexterously manages to get in his way. Meanwhile -_Faust_ has joined her. There is a brief colloquy. He offers his arm -and conduct through the crowd. She modestly declines. The episode, -though short, is charmingly melodious. The phrases for _Marguerite_ -can be made to express coyness, yet also show that she is not wholly -displeased with the attention paid her by the handsome stranger. She -goes her way. The dance continues. "Valsons toujours" (Waltz alway!). - -Act III. _Marguerite's_ garden. At the back a wall with a wicket door. -To the left a bower. On the right _Marguerite's_ house, with a bow -window facing the audience. Trees, shrubs, flower beds, etc. - -_Siebel_ enters by the wicket. Stopping at one of the flower beds and -about to pluck a nosegay, he sings the graceful "Faites-lui mes aveux" -(Bear my avowal to her). But when he culls a flower, it shrivels in -his hand, as _Méphistophélès_ had predicted. The boy is much -perturbed. Seeing, however, a little font with holy water suspended by -the wall of the house, he dips his fingers in it. Now the flowers no -longer shrivel as he culls them. He arranges them in a bouquet, which -he lays on the house step, where he hopes _Marguerite_ will see it. He -then leaves. - -_Faust_ enters with _Méphistophélès_, but bids the latter withdraw, as -if he sensed the incongruity of his presence near the home of a maiden -so pure as _Marguerite_. The tempter having gone, _Faust_ proceeds to -apostrophize _Marguerite's_ dwelling in the exquisite romance, "Salut! -demeure chaste et pure." - -[Music] - -_Méphistophélès_ returns. With him he brings a casket of jewels and a -handsome bouquet. With these he replaces _Siebel's_ flowers. The two -men then withdraw into a shadowy recess of the garden to await -_Marguerite's_ return. - -She enters by the wicket. Her thoughts are with the handsome -stranger--above her in station, therefore the more flattering and -fascinating in her eyes--who addressed her at the kermis. Pensively -she seats herself at her spinning-wheel and, while turning it, without -much concentration of mind on her work, sings "Le Roi de Thulé," the -ballad of the King of Thule, her thoughts, however, returning to -_Faust_ before she resumes and finishes the number, which is set in -the simple fashion of a folk-song. - -Approaching the house, and about to enter, she sees the flowers, stops -to admire them, and to bestow a thought of compassion upon _Siebel_ -for his unrequited devotion, then sees and hesitatingly opens the -casket of jewels. Their appeal to her feminine vanity is too great to -permit her to return them at once to the casket. Decking herself out -in them, she regards herself and the sparkling gems in the handglass -that came with them, then bursts into the brilliant "Air des Bijoux" -(Jewel Song): - -[Music] - - Ah! je ris de me voir - Si belle en ce miroir!... - Est-ce toi, Marguerite? - - (Ah! I laugh just to view-- - Marguerite! Is it you?-- - Such a belle in the glass!...) - -one of the most brilliant airs for coloratura soprano, affording the -greatest contrast to the folklike ballad which preceded it, and making -with it one of the most effective scenes in opera for a soprano who -can rise to its demands: the chaste simplicity required for the -ballad, the joyous abandon and faultless execution of elaborate -embellishments involved in the "Air des Bijoux." When well done, the -scene is brilliantly successful; for, added to its own conspicuous -merit, is the fact that, save for the very brief episode in Act II, -this is the first time in two and a half acts that the limpid and -grateful tones of a solo high soprano have fallen upon the ear. - -_Martha_, the neighbour and companion of _Marguerite_, joins her. In -the manner of the average duenna, whose chief duty in opera is to -encourage love affairs, however fraught with peril to her charge, she -is not at all disturbed by the gift of the jewels or by the entrance -upon the scene of _Faust_ and _Méphistophélès_. Nor, when the latter -tells her that her husband has been killed in the wars, does she -hesitate, after a few exclamations of rather forced grief, to seek -consolation on the arm of the flatterer in red, who leads her off into -the garden, leaving _Faust_ with _Marguerite_. During the scene -immediately ensuing the two couples are sometimes in view, sometimes -lost to sight in the garden. The music is a quartet, beginning with -_Faust's_ "Prenez mon bras un moment" (Pray lean upon mine arm). It is -artistically individualized. The couples and each member thereof are -deftly characterized in Gounod's score. - -For a moment _Méphistophélès_ holds the stage alone. Standing by a bed -of flowers in an attitude of benediction, he invokes their subtle -perfume to lull _Marguerite_ into a false sense of security. "Il était -temps!" (It was the hour), begins the soliloquy. For a moment, as it -ends, the flowers glow. _Méphistophélès_ withdraws into the shadows. -_Faust_ and _Marguerite_ appear. _Marguerite_ plucks the petals of a -flower: "He loves me--he loves me not--he loves!" There are two -ravishing duets for the lovers, "Laisse-moi contempler ton visage" -(Let me gaze upon thy beauty), and "Ô nuit d'amour ... ciel radieux!" - -[Music] - -(Oh, night of love! oh, starlit sky!). The music fairly enmeshes the -listener in its enchanting measures. - -[Music] - -_Faust_ and _Marguerite_ part, agreeing to meet on the morrow--"Oui, -demain! des l'aurore!" (Yes, tomorrow! at dawn!). She enters the -house. _Faust_ turns to leave the garden. He is confronted by -_Méphistophélès_, who points to the window. The casement is opened by -_Marguerite_, who believes she is alone. Kneeling in the window, she -gazes out upon the night flooded with moonlight. "Il m'aime; ... Ah! -presse ton retour, cher bien-aimé! Viens!" (He loves me; ah! haste -your return, dearly beloved! Come!). - -With a cry, _Faust_ rushes to the open casement, sinks upon his -knees. _Marguerite_, with an ecstatic exclamation, leans out of the -embrasure and allows him to take her into his arms. Her head rests -upon his shoulder. - -At the wicket is _Méphistophélès_, shaking with laughter. - -Act IV. The first scene in this act takes place in _Marguerite's_ -room. No wonder _Méphistophélès_ laughed when he saw her in _Faust's_ -arms. She has been betrayed and deserted. The faithful _Siebel_, -however, still offers her his love--"Si la bonheur à sourire t'invite" -(When all was young and pleasant, May was blooming)--but _Marguerite_ -still loves the man who betrayed her, and hopes against hope that he -will return. - -This episode is followed by the cathedral scene. _Marguerite_ has -entered the edifice and knelt to pray. But, invisible to her, -_Méphistophélès_ stands beside her and reminds her of her guilt. A -chorus of invisible demons calls to her accusingly. _Méphistophélès_ -foretells her doom. The "Dies iræ," accompanied on the organ, is -heard. _Marguerite's_ voice joins with those of the worshippers. But -_Méphistophélès_, when the chant is ended, calls out that for her, a -lost one, there yawns the abyss. She flees in terror. This is one of -the most significant episodes of the work. - -Now comes a scene in the street, in front of _Marguerite's_ house. The -soldiers return from war and sing their familiar chorus, "Gloire -immortelle" (Glory immortal). _Valentine_, forewarned by _Siebel's_ -troubled mien that all is not well with _Marguerite_, goes into the -house. _Faust_ and _Méphistophélès_ come upon the scene. Facing the -house, and accompanying himself on his guitar, the red gallant sings -an offensive serenade. _Valentine_, aroused by the insult, which he -correctly interprets as aimed at his sister, rushes out. There is a -spirited trio, "Redouble, ô Dieu puissant" (Give double strength, -great God on high). _Valentine_ smashes the guitar with his sword, -then attacks _Faust_, whose sword-thrust, guided by _Méphistophélès_, -mortally wounds _Marguerite's_ brother. _Marguerite_ comes into the -street, throws herself over _Valentine's_ body. With his dying breath -her brother curses her. - -Sometimes the order of the scenes in this act is changed. It may open -with the street scene, where the girls at the fountain hold themselves -aloof from _Marguerite_. Here the brief meeting between the girl and -_Siebel_ takes place. _Marguerite_ then goes into the house; the -soldiers return, etc. The act then ends with the cathedral scene. - -Act V. When Gounod revised "Faust" for the Grand Opéra, Paris, the -traditions of that house demanded a more elaborate ballet than the -dance in the kermis scene afforded. Consequently the authors reached -beyond the love story of _Faust_ and _Marguerite_ into the second part -of Goethe's drama and utilized the legendary revels of Walpurgis Night -(eve of May 1st) on the Brocken, the highest point of the Hartz -mountains. Here _Faust_ meets the courtesans of antiquity--Laïs, -Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Phryne. "Les Nubiennes," "Cléopatra et la -Coupe d'Or" (Cleopatra and the Goblet of Gold), "Les Troyennes" (The -Troyan Women), "Variation," and "Dance de Phryne" are the dances in -this ballet. More frequently than not the scene is omitted. To connect -it with the main story, there comes to _Faust_, in the midst of the -revels, a vision of _Marguerite_. Around her neck he beholds a red -line, "like the cut of an axe." He commands _Méphistophélès_ to take -him to her. - -They find her in prison, condemned to death for killing her child. -There is an impassioned duet for _Faust_ and _Marguerite_. He begs her -to make her escape with him. But her mind is wandering. In snatches of -melody from preceding scenes, she recalls the episode at the kermis, -the night in the garden. She sees _Méphistophélès_, senses his -identity with the arch-fiend. There is a superb trio, in which -_Marguerite_ ecstatically calls upon angels to intervene and save -her--"Anges purs! Anges radieux!" (Angels pure, radiant, bright). - -[Music] - -The voices mount higher and higher, _Marguerite's_ soaring to a -splendid climax. She dies. - -"Condemned!" cries _Méphistophélès_. - -"Saved," chant ethereal voices. - -The rear wall of the prison opens. Angels are seen bearing -_Marguerite_ heavenward. _Faust_ falls on his knees in prayer. -_Méphistophélès_ turns away, "barred by the shining sword of an -archangel." - -During the ten years that elapsed between the productions at the -Théâtre Lyrique and the Grand Opéra, "Faust" had only thirty-seven -performances. Within eight years (1887) after it was introduced to the -Grand Opéra, it had 1000 performances there. From 1901-1910 it was -given nearly 3000 times in Germany. After the score had been declined -by several publishers, it was brought out by Choudens, who paid Gounod -10,000 francs ($2000) for it, and made a fortune out of the venture. -For the English rights the composer is said to have received only £40 -($200) and then only upon the insistence of Chorley, the author of the -English version. - - -ROMÉO ET JULIETTE - -ROMEO AND JULIET - - Opera in five acts, by Gounod; words by Barbier and Carré, - after the tragedy by Shakespeare. Produced Paris, Théâtre - Lyrique, April 27, 1867; January, 1873, taken over by the - Opéra Comique; Grand Opéra, November 28, 1888. London, - Covent Garden, in Italian, July 11, 1867. New York, Academy - of Music, November 15, 1867, with Minnie Hauck as _Juliet_; - Metropolitan Opera House, December 14, 1891, with Eames - (_Juliet_), Jean de Reszke (_Romeo_), Édouard de Reszke - (_Friar Lawrence_). Chicago, December 15, 1916, with - Muratore as _Romeo_ and Galli-Curci as _Juliet_. - - CHARACTERS - - THE DUKE OF VERONA _Bass_ - COUNT PARIS _Baritone_ - COUNT CAPULET _Bass_ - JULIET, his daughter _Soprano_ - GERTRUDE, her nurse _Mezzo-Soprano_ - TYBALT, Capulet's nephew _Tenor_ - ROMEO, a Montague _Tenor_ - MERCUTIO _Baritone_ - BENVOLIO, Romeo's page _Soprano_ - GREGORY, a Capulet retainer _Baritone_ - FRIAR LAWRENCE _Bass_ - - Nobles and ladies of Verona, citizens, soldiers, monks, and - pages. - - _Time_--14th Century. - - _Place_--Verona. - -Having gone to Goethe for "Faust," Gounod's librettists, Barbier and -Carré, went to Shakespeare for "Roméo et Juliette," which, like -"Faust," reached the Paris Grand Opéra by way of the Théâtre Lyrique. -Mme. Miolan-Carvalho, the original _Marguerite_, also created -_Juliette_. - -"Roméo et Juliette" has been esteemed more highly in France than -elsewhere. In America, save for performances in New Orleans, it was -only during the Grau régime at the Metropolitan Opera House, when it -was given in French with casts familiar with the traditions of the -Grand Opéra, that it can be said regularly to have held a place in the -repertoire. Eames is remembered as a singularly beautiful _Juliette_, -vocally and personally; Capoul, Jean de Reszke, and Saléza, as -_Roméos_; Édouard de Reszke as _Frère Laurent_. - -Nicolini, who became Adelina Patti's second husband, sang _Roméo_ at -the Grand Opéra to her _Juliette_. She was then the Marquise de Caux, -her marriage to the Marquis having been brought about by the Empress -Eugénie. But that this marriage was not to last long, and that the -_Romeo_ and _Juliet_ were as much in love with each other in actual -life as on the stage, was revealed one night to a Grand Opéra -audience, when, during the balcony scene, prima donna and tenor--so -the record says--imprinted twenty-nine real kisses on each other's -lips. - -The libretto is in five acts and follows closely, often even to the -text, Shakespeare's tragedy. There is a prologue in which the -characters and chorus briefly rehearse the story that is to unfold -itself. - -Act I. The grand hall in the palace of the Capulets. A fête is in -progress. The chorus sings gay measures. _Tybalt_ speaks to _Paris_ of -_Juliet_, who at that moment appears with her father. _Capulet_ bids -the guests welcome and to be of good cheer--"Soyez les bienvenus, -amis" (Be ye welcome, friends), and "Allons! jeunes gens! Allons! -belles dames!" (Bestir ye, young nobles! And ye, too, fair ladies!). - -_Romeo_, _Mercutio_, _Benvolio_, and half-a-dozen followers come -masked. Despite the deadly feud between the two houses, they, -Montagues, have ventured to come as maskers to the fête of the -Capulets. _Mercutio_ sings of Queen Mab, a number as gossamerlike in -the opera as the monologue is in the play; hardly ever sung as it -should be, because the rôle of _Mercutio_ rarely is assigned to a -baritone capable of doing justice to the airy measures of "Mab, la -reine des mensonges" (Mab, Queen Mab, the fairies' midwife). - -The Montagues withdraw to another part of the palace. _Juliet_ returns -with _Gertrude_, her nurse. Full of high spirits, she sings the -graceful and animated waltz, "Dans ce rêve, qui m'enivre" -[Transcriber's Note: correct title is 'Je veux vivre dans le rêve'] -(Fair is the tender dream of youth). - -[Music] - -The nurse is called away. _Romeo_, wandering in, meets _Juliet_. -Their love, as in the play, is instantaneous. _Romeo_ addresses her in -passionate accents, "Ange adorable" (Angel! adored one). His -addresses, _Juliet's_ replies, make a charming duo. - -Upon the re-entry of _Tybalt_, _Romeo_, who had removed his mask, -again adjusts it. But _Tybalt_ suspects who he is, and from the -utterance of his suspicions, _Juliet_ learns that the handsome youth, -to whom her heart has gone out, is none other than _Romeo_, scion of -the Montagues, the sworn enemies of her house. The fiery _Tybalt_ is -for attacking _Romeo_ and his followers then and there. But old -_Capulet_, respecting the laws of hospitality, orders that the fête -proceed. - -Act II. The garden of the Capulets. The window of _Juliet's_ -apartment, and the balcony, upon which it gives. _Romeo's_ page, -_Stephano_, a character introduced by the librettists, holds a ladder -by which _Romeo_ ascends to the balcony. _Stephano_ leaves, bearing -the ladder with him. - -_Romeo_ sings, "Ah! lève-toi, soleil" (Ah! fairest dawn arise). The -window opens, _Juliet_ comes out upon the balcony. _Romeo_ conceals -himself. From her soliloquy he learns that, although he is a Montague, -she loves him. He discloses his presence. The interchange of pledges -is exquisite. Lest the sweetness of so much love music become too -cloying, the librettists interrupt it with an episode. The Capulet -retainer, _Gregory_, and servants of the house, suspecting that an -intruder is in the garden, for they have seen _Stephano_ speeding -away, search unsuccessfully and depart. - -The nurse calls. _Juliet_ re-enters her apartment. _Romeo_ sings, "Ô -nuit divine" (Oh, night divine). _Juliet_ again steals out upon the -balcony. "Ah! je te l'ai dit, je t'adore!" (Ah, I have told you that I -adore you), sings _Romeo_. There is a beautiful duet, "Ah! ne fuis -pas encore!" (Ah, do not flee again). A brief farewell. The curtain -falls upon the "balcony scene." - -Act III, Part I. _Friar Lawrence's_ cell. Here takes place the wedding -of _Romeo_ and _Juliet_, the good friar hoping that their union may -lead to peace between the two great Veronese houses of Montague and -Capulet. There are in this part of the act _Friar Lawrence's_ prayer, -"Dieu, qui fis l'homme à ton image" (God, who made man in Thine -image); a trio, in which the friar chants the rubric, and the pair -respond; and an effective final quartet for _Juliet_, _Gertrude_, -_Romeo_, and _Friar Lawrence_. - -Part II. A street near _Capulet's_ house. _Stephano_, having vainly -sought _Romeo_, and thinking he still may be in concealment in -_Capulet's_ garden, sings a ditty likely to rouse the temper of the -Capulet household, and bring its retainers into the street, thus -affording _Romeo_ a chance to get away. The ditty is "Que fais-tu, -blanche tourterelle" (Gentle dove, why art thou clinging?). _Gregory_ -and _Stephano_ draw and fight. The scene develops, as in the play. -Friends of the two rival houses appear. _Mercutio_ fights _Tybalt_ and -is slain, and is avenged by _Romeo_, who kills _Tybalt_, _Juliet's_ -kinsman, and, in consequence, is banished from Verona by the _Duke_. - -[Illustration: Photo copyright, 1916, by Victor Georg - -Galli-Curci as Juliette in "Roméo et Juliette"] - -Act IV. It is the room of _Juliet_, to which _Romeo_ has found access, -in order to bid her farewell, before he goes into exile. The lingering -_adieux_, the impassioned accents in which the despair of parting is -expressed--these find eloquent utterance in the music. There is the -duet, "Nuit d'hyménée, Ô douce nuit d'amour" (Night hymeneal, sweetest -night of love). _Romeo_ hears the lark, sure sign of approaching day, -but _Juliet_ protests. "Non, non, ce n'est pas le jour" (No, no! 'Tis -not yet the day). Yet the parting time cannot be put off longer. -_Romeo:_ "Ah! reste! reste encore dans mes bras enlacés" (Ah! rest! -rest once more within mine entwining arms); then both, "Il faut -partir, hélas" (Now we must part, alas). - -Hardly has _Romeo_ gone when _Gertrude_ runs in to warn _Juliet_ that -her father is approaching with _Friar Lawrence_. _Tybalt's_ dying -wish, whispered into old _Capulet's_ ear, was that the marriage -between _Juliet_ and the noble whom _Capulet_ has chosen for her -husband, _Count Paris_, be speeded. _Juliet's_ father comes to bid her -prepare for the marriage. Neither she, the friar, nor the nurse dare -tell _Capulet_ of her secret nuptials with _Romeo_. This gives -significance to the quartet, "Ne crains rien" (I fear no more). -_Capulet_ withdraws, leaving, as he supposes, _Friar Lawrence_ to -explain to _Juliet_ the details of the ceremony. It is then the friar, -in the dramatic, "Buvez donc ce breuvage" (Drink then of this -philtre), gives her the potion, upon drinking which she shall appear -as dead. - -The scene changes to the grand hall of the palace. Guests arrive for -the nuptials. There is occasion for the ballet, so essential for a -production at the Grand Opéra. _Juliet_ drains the vial, falls as if -dead. - -Act V. The tomb of the Capulets. _Romeo_, having heard in his exile -that his beloved is no more, breaks into the tomb. She, recovering -from the effects of the philtre, finds him dying, plunges a dagger -into her breast, and expires with him. - -In the music there is an effective prelude. _Romeo_, on entering the -tomb, sings, "Ô ma femme! ô ma bien aimée" (O wife, dearly beloved). -_Juliet_, not yet aware that _Romeo_ has taken poison, and _Romeo_ -forgetting for the moment that death's cold hand already is reaching -out for him, they sing, "Viens fuyons au bout du monde" (Come, let us -fly to the ends of the earth). Then _Romeo_ begins to feel the effect -of the poison, and tells _Juliet_ what he has done. "Console-toi, -pauvre âme" (Console thyself, sad heart). But _Juliet_ will not live -without him, and while he, in his wandering mind, hears the lark, as -at their last parting, she stabs herself. - - * * * * * - -As "Roméo et Juliette" contains much beautiful music, people may -wonder why it lags so far behind "Faust" in popularity. One reason is -that, in the layout of the libretto the authors deliberately sought to -furnish Gounod with another "Faust," and so challenged comparison. -Even _Stephano_, a character of their creation, was intended to give -the same balance to the cast that _Siebel_ does to that of "Faust." In -a performance of Shakespeare's play it is possible to act the scene of -parting without making it too much the duplication of the balcony -scene, which it appears to be in the opera. The "balcony scene" is an -obvious attempt to create another "garden scene." But in "Faust," what -would be the too long-drawn-out sweetness of too much love music is -overcome, in the most natural manner, by the brilliant "Jewel Song," -and by _Méphistophélès's_ sinister invocation of the flowers. In -"Roméo et Juliette," on the other hand, the interruption afforded by -_Gregory_ and the chorus is too artificial not to be merely -disturbing. - -It should be said again, however, that French audiences regard the -work with far more favour than we do. "In France," says Storck, in his -_Opernbuch_, "the work, perhaps not unjustly, is regarded as Gounod's -best achievement, and has correspondingly numerous performances." - - - - -Ambroise Thomas - - -MIGNON - - Opera in three acts by Ambroise Thomas, words, based on - Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister," by Barbier and Carré. Produced, - Opéra Comique, Paris, November 17, 1866. London, Drury Lane, - July 5, 1870. New York, Academy of Music, November 22, 1871, - with Nilsson, Duval (_Filina_), Mlle. Ronconi (_Frederick_) - and Capoul; Metropolitan Opera House, October 21, 1883, with - Nilsson, Capoul, and Scalchi (_Frederick_). - - CHARACTERS - - MIGNON, stolen in childhood from - an Italian castle _Mezzo-Soprano_ - PHILINE, an actress _Soprano_ - FRÉDÉRIC, a young nobleman _Buffo Tenor or Contralto_ - WILHELM, a student on his travels _Tenor_ - LAERTES, an actor _Tenor_ - LOTHARIO _Bass_ - GIARNO, a gypsy _Bass_ - ANTONIO, a servant _Bass_ - - Townspeople, gypsies, actors and actresses, servants, etc. - - _Time_--Late 18th Century. - - _Place_--Acts I and II, Germany. Act III, Italy. - -Notwithstanding the popularity of two airs in "Mignon"--"Connais-tu le -pays?" and the "Polonaise"--the opera is given here but infrequently. -It is a work of delicate texture; of charm rather than passion; with a -story that is, perhaps, too ingenuous to appeal to the sophisticated -audience of the modern opera house. Moreover the "Connais-tu le pays" -was at one time done to death here, both by concert singers and -amateurs. Italian composers are fortunate in having written music so -difficult technically that none but the most accomplished singers can -risk it. - -The early performances of "Mignon" in this country were in Italian, -and were more successful than the later revivals in French, by which -time the opera had become somewhat passé. From these early impressions -we are accustomed to call _Philine_ by her Italian equivalent of -_Filina_. _Frédéric_, since Trebelli appeared in the rôle in London, -has become a contralto instead of a buffo tenor part. The "Rondo -Gavotte" in Act II, composed for her by Thomas, has since then been a -fixture in the score. She appeared in the rôle at the Metropolitan -Opera House, December 5, 1883, with Nilsson and Capoul. - -Act I. Courtyard of a German inn. Chorus of townspeople and -travellers. _Lothario_, a wandering minstrel, sings, accompanying -himself on his harp, "Fugitif et tremblant" (A lonely wanderer). -_Filina_ and _Laertes_, on the way with their troupe to give a -theatrical performance in a neighbouring castle, appear on a balcony. -_Mignon_ is sleeping on straw in the back of a gypsy cart. _Giarno_, -chief of the gypsy band, rouses her. She refuses to dance. He -threatens her with a stick. _Lothario_ and _Wilhelm_ protect her. -_Mignon_ divides a bouquet of wild flowers between them. - -_Laertes_, who has come down from the balcony, engages _Wilhelm_ in -conversation. _Filina_ joins them. _Wilhelm_ is greatly impressed with -her blonde beauty. He does not protest when _Laertes_ takes from him -the wild flowers he has received from _Mignon_ and hands them to -_Filina_. - -When _Filina_ and _Laertes_ have gone, there is a scene between -_Wilhelm_ and _Mignon_. The girl tells him of dim memories of her -childhood--the land from which she was abducted. It is at this point -she sings "Connais-tu le pays" (Knowest thou the land). _Wilhelm_ -decides to purchase her freedom, and enters the inn with _Giarno_ to -conclude the negotiations. _Lothario_, who is about to wander on, has -been attracted to her, and, before leaving, bids her farewell. They -have the charming duet, "Légères hirondelles" (O swallows, lightly -gliding). There is a scene for _Filina_ and _Frédéric_, a booby, who -is in love with her. _Filina_ is after better game. She is setting her -cap for _Wilhelm_. _Lothario_ wishes to take _Mignon_ with him. But -_Wilhelm_ fears for her safety with the old man, whose mind sometimes -appears to wander. Moreover _Mignon_ ardently desires to remain in the -service of _Wilhelm_ who has freed her from bondage to the gypsies, -and, when _Wilhelm_ declines to let her go with _Lothario_, is -enraptured, until she sees her wild flowers in _Filina's_ hand. For -already she is passionately in love with _Wilhelm_, and jealous when -_Filina_ invites him to attend the theatricals at the castle. -_Wilhelm_ waves adieu to _Filina_, as she drives away. _Lothario_, -pensive, remains seated. _Mignon's_ gaze is directed toward _Wilhelm_. - -Act II. _Filina's_ boudoir at the castle. The actress sings of her -pleasure in these elegant surroundings and of _Wilhelm_. _Laertes_ is -heard without, singing a madrigal to _Filina_, "Belle, ayez pitié de -nous" (Fair one, pity take on us). - -He ushers in _Wilhelm_ and _Mignon_, then withdraws. _Mignon_, -pretending to fall asleep, watches _Wilhelm_ and _Filina_. While -_Wilhelm_ hands to the actress various toilet accessories, they sing a -graceful duet, "Je crois entendre les doux compliments" (Pray, let me -hear now the sweetest of phrases). Meanwhile _Mignon's_ heart is -tormented with jealousy. When _Wilhelm_ and _Filina_ leave the boudoir -the girl dons one of _Filina's_ costumes, seats herself at the mirror -and puts on rouge and other cosmetics, as she has seen _Filina_ do. In -a spirit of abandon she sings a "Styrienne," "Je connais un pauvre -enfant" (A gypsy lad I well do know). She then withdraws into an -adjoining room. _Frédéric_ enters the boudoir in search of _Filina_. -He sings the gavotte, "Me voici dans son boudoir" (Here am I in her -boudoir). _Wilhelm_ comes in, in search of _Mignon_. The men meet. -There is an exchange of jealous accusations. They are about to fight, -when _Mignon_ rushes between them. _Frédéric_ recognizes _Filina's_ -costume on her, and goes off laughing. _Wilhelm_, realizing the -awkward situation that may arise from the girl's following him about, -tells her they must part. "Adieu, Mignon, courage" (Farewell, Mignon, -have courage). She bids him a sad farewell. _Filina_ re-enters. Her -sarcastic references to _Mignon's_ attire wound the girl to the quick. -When _Wilhelm_ leads out the actress on his arm, _Mignon_ exclaims: -"That woman! I loathe her!" - -The second scene of this act is laid in the castle park. _Mignon_, -driven to distraction, is about to throw herself into the lake, when -she hears the strains of a harp. _Lothario_, who has wandered into the -park, is playing. There is an exchange of affection, almost paternal -on his part, almost filial on hers, in their duet, "As-tu souffert? -As-tu pleureé?" (Hast thou known sorrow? Hast thou wept?). _Mignon_ -hears applause and acclaim from the conservatory for _Filina's_ -acting. In jealous rage she cries out that she wishes the building -might be struck by lightning and destroyed by fire; then runs off and -disappears among the trees. _Lothario_ vaguely repeats her words. -"'Fire,' she said! Ah, 'fire! fire!'" Through the trees he wanders off -in the direction of the conservatory, just as its doors are thrown -open and the guests and actors issue forth. - -They have been playing "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and _Filina_, -flushed with success, sings the brilliant "Polonaise," "Je suis -Titania" (Behold Titania, fair and gay). _Mignon_ appears. _Wilhelm_, -who has sadly missed her, greets her with so much joy that _Filina_ -sends her into the conservatory in search of the wild flowers given to -_Wilhelm_ the day before. Soon after _Mignon_ has entered the -conservatory it is seen to be in flames. _Lothario_, obedient to her -jealous wish, has set it on fire. At the risk of his life _Wilhelm_ -rushes into the burning building and reappears with _Mignon's_ -fainting form in his arms. He places her on a grassy bank. Her hand -still holds a bunch of withered flowers. - -Act III. Gallery in an Italian castle, to which _Wilhelm_ has brought -_Mignon_ and _Lothario_. _Mignon_ has been dangerously ill. A boating -chorus is heard from the direction of a lake below. _Lothario_, -standing by the door of _Mignon's_ sick-room, sings a lullaby, "De son -coeur j'ai calmé la fièvre" (I've soothed the throbbing of her -aching heart). _Wilhelm_ tells _Lothario_ that they are in the -Cipriani castle, which he intends to buy for _Mignon_. At the name of -the castle _Lothario_ is strangely agitated. - -_Wilhelm_ has heard _Mignon_ utter his own name in her aberrations -during her illness. He sings, "Elle ne croyait pas" (She does not -know). When she enters the gallery from her sick-room and looks out on -the landscape, she is haunted by memories. There is a duet for -_Mignon_ and _Wilhelm_, "Je suis heureuse, l'air m'enivre" (Now I -rejoice, life reawakens). _Filina's_ voice is heard outside. The girl -is violently agitated. But _Wilhelm_ reassures her. - -In the scenes that follow, _Lothario_, his reason restored by being -again in familiar surroundings, recognizes in the place his own castle -and in _Mignon_ his daughter, whose loss had unsettled his mind and -sent him, in minstrel's disguise, wandering in search of her. The -opera closes with a trio for _Mignon_, _Wilhelm_, and _Lothario_. In -it is heard the refrain of "Connais-tu le pays." - - * * * * * - -"Hamlet," the words by Barbier and Carré, based on Shakespeare's -tragedy, is another opera by Ambroise Thomas. It ranks high in France, -where it was produced at the Grand Opéra, March 9, 1868, with Nilsson -as _Ophelia_ and Faure in the title rôle; but outside of France it -never secured any approach to the popularity that "Mignon" at one time -enjoyed. It was produced in London, in Italian, as "Amleto," Covent -Garden, June 19, 1869, with Nilsson and Santley. In America, where it -was produced in the Academy of Music, March 22, 1872, with Nilsson, -Cary, Brignoli, Barré, and Jamet, it has met the fate of practically -all operas in which the principal character is a baritone--esteem from -musicians, but indifference on the part of the public. It was revived -in 1892 for Lasalle, and by the Chicago Opera Company for Ruffo. - -The opera contains in Act I, a love duet for _Hamlet_ and _Ophelia_, -and the scene between _Hamlet_ and his father's _Ghost_; in Act II, -the scene with the players, with a drinking song for _Hamlet_; in Act -III, the soliloquy, "To be or not to be," and the scene between -_Hamlet_ and the _Queen_; in Act IV, _Ophelia's_ mad scene and suicide -by drowning; in Act V, the scene in the graveyard, with a totally -different ending to the opera from that to the play. _Hamlet_ voices a -touching song to _Ophelia's_ memory; then, stung by the _Ghost's_ -reproachful look, stabs the _King_, as whose successor he is -proclaimed by the people. - -Following is the distribution of voices: _Hamlet_, baritone; -_Claudius_, King of Denmark, bass; _Laertes_, Polonius's son, tenor; -_Ghost_ of the dead King, bass; _Polonius_, bass; _Gertrude_, Queen of -Denmark, Hamlet's mother, mezzo-soprano; and _Ophelia_, Polonius's -daughter, soprano. - - * * * * * - -Ambroise Thomas was born at Metz, August 5, 1811; died at Paris, -February 12, 1896. He studied at the Paris Conservatory, where, in -1832, he won the grand prix de Rome. In 1871 he became director of the -Conservatory, being considered Auber's immediate successor, although -the post was held for a few days by the communist Salvador Daniel, who -was killed in battle, May 23d. - - - - -Georges Bizet - - -CARMEN - - Opera in four acts by Georges Bizet; words by Henri Meilhac - and Ludovic Halévy, founded on the novel by Prosper Mérimée. - Produced, Opéra Comique, Paris, March 3, 1875, the title - rôle being created by Galli-Marié. Her Majesty's Theatre, - London, in Italian, June 22, 1878; same theatre, February 5, - 1879, in English; same theatre, November 8, 1886, in French, - with Galli-Marié. Minnie Hauck, who created _Carmen_, in - London, also created the rôle in America, October 23, 1879, - at the Academy of Music, New York, with Campanini (_Don - José_), Del Puente (_Escamillo_), and Mme. Sinico - (_Micaela_). The first New Orleans _Carmen_, January 14, - 1881, was Mme. Ambré. Calvé made her New York début as - _Carmen_ at the Metropolitan Opera House, December 20, 1893, - with Jean de Reszke (_Don José_), and Eames (_Micaela_). - Bressler-Gianoli, and afterwards Calvé, sang the rôle at the - Manhattan Opera House. Farrar made her first appearance as - _Carmen_ at the Metropolitan Opera House, November 19, - 1914. Campanini, Jean de Reszke, and Caruso are the most - famous _Don Josés_ who have appeared in this country; but - the rôle also has been admirably interpreted by Saléza and - Dalmorès. No singer has approached Emma Eames as _Micaela_; - nor has any interpreter of _Escamillo_ equalled Del Puente, - who had the range and quality of voice and buoyancy of - action which the rôle requires. Galassi, Campanari, Plançon, - and Amato should be mentioned as other interpreters of the - rôle. - - February 13, 1912, Mary Garden appeared as _Carmen_ at the - Metropolitan Opera House, with the Chicago Opera Company. - - "Carmen" is an opera of world-wide popularity, and as highly - esteemed by musicians as by the public. - - CHARACTERS - - DON JOSÉ, a corporal of dragoons _Tenor_ - ESCAMILLO, a toreador _Baritone_ - EL DANCAIRO } smugglers { _Baritone_ - EL REMENDADO } { _Tenor_ - ZUNIGA, a captain _Bass_ - MORALES, an officer _Bass_ - MICAELA, a peasant girl _Soprano_ - FRASQUITA } gypsies, { _Mezzo-Soprano_ - MERCEDES } friends of Carmen { _Mezzo-Soprano_ - CARMEN, a cigarette girl and gypsy _Soprano_ - - Innkeeper, guide, officers, dragoons, boys, cigarette girls, - gypsies, smugglers, etc. - - _Time_--About 1820. - - _Place_--Seville, Spain. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Calvé as Carmen with Sparkes as Frasquita and Braslau as Mercedes] - -Act I. A square in Seville. On the right the gate of a cigarette -factory. At the back, facing the audience, is a practicable bridge -from one side of the stage to the other, and reached from the stage by -a winding staircase on the right beyond the factory gate. The bridge -also is practicable underneath. People from a higher level of the city -can cross it and descend by the stairway to the square. Others can -pass under it. In front, on the left, is a guard-house. Above it three -steps lead to a covered passage. In a rack, close to the door, are the -lances of the dragoons of Almanza, with their little red and yellow -flags. - -_Morales_ and soldiers are near the guard-house. People are coming and -going. There is a brisk chorus, "Sur la place" (O'er this square). -_Micaela_ comes forward, as if looking for someone. - -"And for whom are you looking?" _Morales_ asks of the pretty girl, who -shyly has approached the soldiers lounging outside the guard-house. - -"I am looking for a corporal," she answers. - -"I am one," _Morales_ says, gallantly. - -"But not _the_ one. His name is José." - -The soldiers, scenting amusement in trying to flirt with a pretty -creature, whose innocence is as apparent as her charm, urge her to -remain until _Don José_ comes at change of guard. But, saying she will -return then, she runs away like a frightened deer, past the cigarette -factory, across the square, and down one of the side streets. - -A fascinating little march for fifes and trumpets is heard, at first -in the distance, then gradually nearer. - -The change of guard arrives, preceded by a band of street lads, -imitating the step of the dragoons. After the lads come _Captain -Zuniga_ and _Corporal José_; then dragoons, armed with lances. The -ceremony of changing guard is gone through with, to the accompaniment -of a chorus of gamins and grown-up spectators. It is a lively scene. - -"It must have been Micaela," says _Don José_, when they tell him of -the girl with tresses of fair hair and dress of blue, who was looking -for him. "Nor do I mind saying," he adds, "that I love her." And -indeed, although there are some sprightly girls in the crowd that have -gathered in the square to see the guard changed, he has no eyes for -them, but, straddling a chair out in the open, busies himself trying -to join the links of a small chain that has come apart. - -The bell of the cigarette factory strikes the work hour, and the -cigarette girls push their way through the crowd, stopping to make -eyes at the soldiers and young men, or lingering to laugh and chat, -before passing through the factory gates. - -A shout goes up: - -"Carmen!" - -A girl, dark as a gypsy and lithe as a panther, darts across the -bridge and down the steps into the square, the crowd parting and -making way for her. - -"Love you?" she cries insolently to the men who press around her and -ply her with their attentions. "Perhaps tomorrow. Anyhow not today." -Then, a dangerous fire kindling in her eyes, she sways slowly to and -fro to the rhythm of a "Habanera," singing the while, "L'amour est un -oiseau rebelle," etc. - - "Love is a gypsy boy, 'tis true, - He ever was and ever will be free; - Love you not me, then I love you, - Yet, if I love you, beware of me!" - -[Music] - -Often she glances toward _José_, often dances so close to him that she -almost touches him, and by subtle inflections in her voice seeks to -attract his attention. But he seems unaware of her presence. Indeed -if, thinking of _Micaela_, he has steeled himself against the gypsy, -in whose every glance, step, and song lurks peril, the handsome -dragoon could not be busying himself more obstinately with the broken -chain in his hand. - -"Yet, if I love you, beware of me!" - -Tearing from her bodice a blood-red cassia flower, she flings it at -him point blank. He springs to his feet, as if he would rush at her. -But he meets her look, and stops where he stands. Then, with a toss of -the head and a mocking laugh, she runs into the factory, followed by -the other girls, while the crowd, having had its sport, disperses. - -The librettists have constructed an admirable scene. The composer has -taken full advantage of it. The "Habanera" establishes _Carmen_ in the -minds of the audience--the gypsy girl, passionate yet fickle, quick to -love and quick to tire. Hers the dash of fatalism that flirts with -death. - -At _José's_ feet lies the cassia flower thrown by _Carmen_, the glance -of whose dark eyes had checked him. Hesitatingly, yet as if in spite -of himself, he stoops and picks it up, presses it to his nostrils and -draws in its subtle perfume in a long breath. Then, still as if -involuntarily, or as if a magic spell lies in its odour, he thrusts -the flower under his blouse and over his heart. - -He no more than has concealed it there, when _Micaela_ again enters -the square and hurries to him with joyful exclamations. She brings him -tidings from home, and some money from his mother's savings, with -which to eke out his small pay. They have a charming duet, "Ma mère, -je la vois, je revois mon village" (My home in yonder valley, my -mother, lov'd, again I'll see). - -It is evident that _Micaela's_ coming gives him a welcome change of -thought, and that, although she cannot remain long, her sweet, pure -presence has for the time being lifted the spell the gypsy has cast -over him. For, when _Micaela_ has gone, _José_ grasps the flower under -his blouse, evidently intending to draw it out and cast it away. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by A. Dupont - -Caruso as Don José in "Carmen"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Caruso as Don José in "Carmen"] - -Just then, however, there are cries of terror from the cigarette -factory and, in a moment, the square is filled with screaming girls, -soldiers, and others. From the excited utterances of the cigarette -girls it is learned that there has been a quarrel between _Carmen_ and -another girl, and that _Carmen_ has wounded the latter with a -knife. _Zuniga_ promptly orders _José_ to take two dragoons with him -into the factory and arrest her. None abashed, and smirking, she comes -out with them. When the captain begins questioning her, she answers -with a gay "Tra la la, tra la la," pitching her voice on a higher note -after each question with an indescribable effect of mockery, that -makes her dark beauty the more fascinating. - -Losing patience, the officer orders her hands tied behind her back, -while he makes out the warrant for her imprisonment. The soldiers -having driven away the crowd, _Don José_ is left to guard _Carmen_. - -Pacing up and down the square, he appears to be avoiding her. But she, -as if speaking to herself, or thinking aloud, and casting furtive -glances at him, tells of a handsome young dragoon with whom she has -fallen in love. - -"He is not a captain, nor even a lieutenant--only a corporal. But he -will do what I ask--because he is in love with me!" - -"I?--I love you?" _José_ pauses beside her. - -With a coquettish toss of the head and a significant glance she asks, -"Where is the flower I threw at you? What have you done with it?" -Then, softly, she sings another, alluring melody in typical Spanish -dance measure, a "Seguidilla," "Près des remparts de Séville." - - "Near by the ramparts of Seville, - Is the inn of my friend, Lillas Pastia, - There I'll dance the gay Seguidilla-- - And the dance with my lover I'll share." - -[Music] - -"Carmen!" cries _José_, "you have bewitched me...." - -"Near by the ramparts of Seville.... And the dance with my lover I'll -share!" she murmurs insinuatingly, and at the same time she holds back -her bound wrists toward him. Quickly he undoes the knot, but leaves -the rope about her wrists so that she still appears to be a captive, -when the captain comes from the guard-house with the warrant. He is -followed by the soldiers, and the crowd, drawn by curiosity to see -_Carmen_ led off to prison, again fills the square. - -_José_ places her between two dragoons, and the party starts for the -bridge. When they reach the steps, _Carmen_ quickly draws her hands -free of the rope, shoves the soldiers aside, and, before they know -what has happened, dashes up to the bridge and across it, tossing the -rope down into the square as she disappears from sight, while the -crowd, hindering pursuit by blocking the steps, jeers at the -discomfited soldiers. - -Act II. The tavern of Lillas Pastia. Benches right and left. Towards -the end of a dinner. The table is in confusion. - -_Frasquita_, _Mercedes_, and _Morales_ are with _Carmen_; also other -officers, gypsies, etc. The officers are smoking. Two gypsies in a -corner play the guitar and two others dance. _Carmen_ looks at them. -_Morales_ speaks to her; she does not listen to him, but suddenly -rises and sings, "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" (Ah, when of gay -guitars the sound). - -_Frasquita_ and _Mercedes_ join in the "Tra la la la" of the refrain. -While Carmen clicks the castanets, the dance, in which she and others -have joined the two gypsies, becomes more rapid and violent. With the -last notes _Carmen_ drops on a seat. - -The refrain, "Tra la la la," with its rising inflection, is a most -characteristic and effective bit. - -[Music] - -There are shouts outside, "Long live the torero! Long live Escamillo!" -The famous bullfighter, the victor of the bull ring at Granada, is -approaching. He sings the famous "Couplets du Toréador," a rousing -song with refrain and chorus. "Votre toast je peux vous le rendre" (To -your toast I drink with pleasure) begins the number. The refrain, with -chorus, is "Toréador, en garde" (Toreador, e'er watchful be). - -[Music] - -_Escamillo's_ debonair manner, his glittering uniform, his reputation -for prowess, make him a brilliant and striking figure. He is much -struck with _Carmen_. She is impressed by him. But her fancy still is -for the handsome dragoon, who has been under arrest since he allowed -her to escape, and only that day has been freed. The _Toreador_, -followed by the crowd, which includes _Morales_, departs. - -It is late. The tavern keeper closes the shutters and leaves the room. -_Carmen_, _Frasquita_, and _Mercedes_ are quickly joined by the -smugglers, _El Dancairo_ and _El Remendado_. The men need the aid of -the three girls in wheedling the coast-guard, and possibly others, -into neglect of duty. Their sentiments, "En matière de tromperie," -etc. [Transcriber's Note: Correct lyrics are 'Quand il s'agit de -tromperie'] (When it comes to a matter of cheating ... let women in on -the deal), are expressed in a quintet that is full of spontaneous -merriment--in fact, nowhere in "Carmen," not even in the most dramatic -passages, is the music forced. - -The men want the girls to depart with them at once. _Carmen_ wishes to -await _José_. The men suggest that she win him over to become one of -their band. Not a bad idea, she thinks. They leave it to her to carry -out the plan. - -Even now _José_ is heard singing, as he approaches the tavern, "Halte -là! Qui va là? Dragon d'Alcala!" (Halt there! Who goes there? Dragoon -of Alcala!). He comes in. Soon she has made him jealous by telling him -that she was obliged to dance for _Morales_ and the officers. But now -she will dance for him. - -She begins to dance. His eyes are fastened on her. From the distant -barracks a bugle call is heard. It is the "retreat," the summons to -quarters. The dance, the bugle call, which comes nearer, passes by and -into the distance, the lithe, swaying figure, the wholly obsessed look -of _José_--these are details of a remarkably effective scene. _José_ -starts to obey the summons to quarters. _Carmen_ taunts him with -placing duty above his love for her. He draws from his breast the -flower she gave him, and, showing it to her in proof of his passion, -sings the pathetic air, "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" (The flower -that once to me you gave). - -[Music] - -Despite her lure, he hesitates to become a deserter and follow her to -the mountains. But at that moment _Morales_, thinking to find _Carmen_ -alone, bursts open the tavern door. There is an angry scene between -_Morales_ and _José_. They draw their sabres. The whole band of -smugglers comes in at _Carmen's_ call. _El Dancairo_ and _El -Remandado_ cover _Morales_ with their pistols, and lead him off. - -"And you? Will you now come with us?" asks _Carmen_ of _Don José_. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Calvé as Carmen] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Amato as Escamillo in "Carmen"] - -He, a corporal who has drawn his sabre against an officer, an act of -insubordination for which severe punishment awaits him, is ready now -to follow his temptress to the mountains. - -Act III. A rocky and picturesque spot among rocks on a mountain. At -the rising of the curtain there is complete solitude. After a few -moments a smuggler appears on the summit of a rock, then two, then the -whole band, descending and scrambling down the mass of rocks. Among -them are _Carmen_, _Don José_, _El Dancairo_, _El Remendado_, -_Frasquita_, and _Mercedes_. - -The opening chorus has a peculiarly attractive lilt. - -_Don José_ is unhappy. _Carmen's_ absorbing passion for him has been -of brief duration. A creature of impulse, she is fickle and wayward. -_Don José_, a soldier bred, but now a deserter, is ill at ease among -the smugglers, and finds cause to reproach himself for sacrificing -everything to a fierce and capricious beauty, in whose veins courses -the blood of a lawless race. Yet he still loves her to distraction, -and is insanely jealous of her. She gives him ample cause for -jealousy. It is quite apparent that the impression made upon her by -_Escamillo_, the dashing toreador and victor in many bullfights, is -deepening. _Escamillo_ has been caught in the lure of her dangerous -beauty, but he doesn't annoy her by sulking in her presence, like _Don -José_, but goes on adding to his laurels by winning fresh victories in -the bull ring. - -Now that _Don José_ is more than usually morose, she says, with a -sarcastic inflection in her voice: - -"If you don't like our mode of life here, why don't you leave?" - -"And go far from you! Carmen! If you say that again, it will be your -death!" He half draws his knife from his belt. - -With a shrug of her shoulders _Carmen_ replies: "What matter--I shall -die as fate wills." And, indeed, she plays with fate as with men's -hearts. For whatever else this gypsy may be, she is fearless. - -While _Don José_ wanders moodily about the camp, she joins _Frasquita_ -and _Mercedes_, who are telling their fortunes by cards. The -superstitious creatures are merry because the cards favour them. -_Carmen_ takes the pack and draws. - -"Spades!--A grave!" she mutters darkly, and for a moment it seems as -if she is drawing back from a shadow that has crossed her path. But -the bravado of the fatalist does not long desert her. - -"What matters it?" she calls to the two girls. "If you are to die, try -the cards a hundred times, they will fall the same--spades, a grave!" -Then, glancing in the direction where _Don José_ stood, she adds, in a -low voice, "First I, then he!" - -The "Card Trio," "Mêlons! Coupons!" (Shuffle! Throw!) is a brilliant -passage of the score, broken in upon by _Carmen's_ fatalistic -soliloquy. - -A moment later, when the leader of the smugglers announces that it is -an opportune time to attempt to convey their contraband through the -mountain pass, she is all on the alert and aids in making ready for -the departure. _Don José_ is posted behind a screen of rocks above the -camp, to guard against a surprise from the rear, while the smugglers -make their way through the pass. - -Unseen by him, a guide comes out on the rocks, and, making a gesture -in the direction of the camp, hastily withdraws. Into this wild -passage of nature, where desperate characters but a few moments before -were encamped, and where _Carmen_ had darkly hinted at fate, as -foretold by the stars, there descends _Micaela_, the emblem of -sweetness and purity in this tragedy of the passions. She is seeking -_Don José_, in hopes of reclaiming him. Her romance, "Je dis que rien -ne m'épouvante" (I try not to own that I tremble), is characterized -by Mr. Upton as "the most effective and beautiful number in the whole -work." The introduction for horns is an exquisite passage, and the -expectations it awakens are fully met by the melodious measures of the -romance. - -[Music] - -Having looked about her, and failing to find _Don José_, she -withdraws. Meanwhile _Don José_, from the place where he stands guard, -has caught sight of a man approaching the camp. A shot rings out. It -is _Don José_ who has fired at the man coming up the defile. He is -about to fire again, but the nonchalant manner in which the stranger -comes on, and, waving his hat, calls out, "An inch lower and it would -have been all over with me!" causes him to lower his gun and advance -to meet him. - -"I am Escamillo and I am here to see Carmen," he says gaily. "She had -a lover here, a dragoon, who deserted from his troop for her. She -adored him, but that, I understand, is all over with now. The loves of -Carmen never last long." - -"Slowly, my friend," replies _Don José_. "Before any one can take our -gypsy girls away, he must pay the price." - -"So, so. And what is it?" - -"It is paid with the knife," grimly answers _José_, as he draws his -blade. - -"Ah," laughs the _Toreador_, "then you are the dragoon of whom Carmen -has wearied. I am in luck to have met you so soon." - -He, too, draws. The knives clash, as the men, the one a soldier, the -other a bullfighter, skilfully thrust and parry. But _Don José's_ is -the better weapon, for, as he catches one of _Escamillo's_ thrusts on -his blade, the _Toreador's_ knife snaps short. It would be a fatal -mishap for _Escamillo_, did not at that moment the gypsies and -smugglers, recalled by the shot, hurry in and separate the combatants. -Unruffled by his misadventure, especially as his ardent glances meet -an answering gleam in _Carmen's_ eyes, the _Toreador_ invites the -entire band to the coming bullfight in Seville, in which he is to -figure. With a glad shout they assent. - -"Don't be angry, dragoon," he adds tauntingly. "We may meet again." - -For answer _Don José_ seeks to rush at him, but some of the smugglers -hold him back, while the _Toreador_ leisurely goes his way. - -The smugglers make ready to depart again. One of them, however, spies -_Micaela_. She is led down. _Don José_ is reluctant to comply with her -pleas to go away with her. The fact that _Carmen_ urges him to do what -the girl says only arouses his jealousy. But when at last _Micaela_ -tells him that his mother is dying of a broken heart for him, he makes -ready to go. - -In the distance _Escamillo_ is heard singing: - - "Toreador, on guard e'er be! - Thou shalt read, in her dark eyes, - Hopes of victory. - Her love is the prize!" - -_Carmen_ listens, as if enraptured, and starts to run after him. _Don -José_ with bared knife bars the way; then leaves with _Micaela_. - -Act IV. A square in Seville. At the back the entrance to the arena. It -is the day of the bullfight. The square is animated. Watersellers, -others with oranges, fans, and other articles. Chorus. Ballet. - -Gay the crowd that fills the square outside the arena where the -bullfights are held. It cheers the first strains of music heard as -the festival procession approaches, and it shouts and applauds as the -various divisions go by and pass into the arena: "The Aguacil on -horseback!"--"The chulos with their pretty little flags!"--"Look! The -bandilleros, all clad in green and spangles, and waving the crimson -cloths!"--"The picadors with the pointed lances!"--"The cuadrilla of -toreros!"--"Now! Vivo, vivo! Escamillo!" And a great shout goes up, as -the _Toreador_ enters, with _Carmen_ on his arm. - -There is a brief but beautiful duet for _Escamillo_ and _Carmen_, "Si -tu m'aimes, Carmen" (If you love me, Carmen), before he goes into the -building to make ready for the bullfight, while she waits to be joined -by some of the smugglers and gypsies, whom _Escamillo_ has invited to -be witnesses, with her, of his prowess. - -As the Alcalde crosses the square and enters the arena, and the crowd -pours in after him, one of the gypsy girls from the smugglers' band -whispers to _Carmen_: - -"If you value your life, Carmen, don't stay here. He is lurking in the -crowd and watching you." - -"He?--José?--I am no coward.--I fear no one.--If he is here, we will -have it over with now," she answers, defiantly, motioning to the girl -to pass on into the arena into which the square is rapidly emptying -itself. _Carmen_ lingers until she is the only one left, then, with a -shrug of contempt, turns to enter--but finds herself facing _Don -José_, who has slunk out from one of the side streets to intercept -her. - -"I was told you were here. I was even warned to leave here, because my -life was in danger. If the hour has come, well, so be it. But, live or -die, yours I shall never be again." - -Her speech is abrupt, rapid, but there is no tremor of fear in her -voice. - -_Don José_ is pale and haggard. His eyes are hollow, but they glow -with a dangerous light. His plight has passed from the pitiable to the -desperate stage. - -"Carmen," he says hoarsely, "leave with me. Begin life over again with -me under another sky. I will adore you so, it will make you love me." - -"You never can make me love you again. No one can _make_ me do -anything. Free I was born, free I die." - -The band in the arena strikes up a fanfare. There are loud vivos for -_Escamillo_. _Carmen_ starts to rush for the entrance. Driven to the -fury of despair, his knife drawn, as it had been when he barred her -way in the smugglers' camp, _Don José_ confronts her. He laughs -grimly. - -"The man for whom they are shouting--he is the one for whom you have -deserted me!" - -"Let me pass!" is her defiant answer. - -"That you may tell him how you have spurned me, and laugh with him -over my misery!" - -Again the crowd in the arena shouts: "Victory! Victory! Vivo, vivo, -Escamillo, the toreador of Granada!" - -A cry of triumph escapes _Carmen_. - -"You love him!" hisses _Don José_. - -"Yes, I love him! If I must die for it, I love him! Victory for -Escamillo, victory! I go to the victor of the arena!" - -She makes a dash for the entrance. Somehow she manages to get past the -desperate man who has stood between her and the gates. She reaches the -steps, her foot already touches the landing above them, when he -overtakes her, and madly plunges his knife into her back. With a -shriek heard above the shouts of the crowd within, she staggers, -falls, and rolls lifeless down the steps into the square. - -The doors of the arena swing open. Acclaiming the prowess of -_Escamillo_, out pours the crowd, suddenly to halt, hushed and -horror-stricken, at the body of a woman dead at the foot of the -steps. - -"I am your prisoner," says _Don José_ to an officer. "I killed her." -Then, throwing himself over the body, he cries: - -"Carmen!--Carmen! I love you!--Speak to me!--I adore you!" - - * * * * * - -At its production at the Opéra Comique, "Carmen" was a failure. In -view of the world-wide popularity the work was to achieve, that -failure has become historic. It had, however, one lamentable result. -Bizet, utterly depressed and discouraged, died exactly three months -after the production, and before he could have had so much as an -inkling of the success "Carmen" was to obtain. It was not until four -months after his death that the opera, produced in Vienna, celebrated -its first triumph. Then came Brussels, London, New York. At last, in -1883, "Carmen" was brought back to Paris for what Pierre Berton calls -"the brilliant reparation." But Bizet, mortally wounded in his pride -as an artist, had died disconsolate. The "reparation" was to the -public, not to him. - -Whoever will take the trouble to read extracts from the reviews in the -Paris press of the first performance of "Carmen" will find that the -score of this opera, so full of well-rounded, individual, and -distinctive melodies--ensemble, concerted, and solo--was considered -too Wagnerian. More than one trace of this curious attitude toward an -opera, in which the melodies, or tunes, if you choose so to call them, -crowd upon each other almost as closely as in "Il Trovatore," and -certainly are as numerous as in "Aïda," still can be found in the -article on "Carmen" in the _Dictionnaire des Opéras_, one of the most -unsatisfactory essays in that work. Nor, speaking with the authority -of Berton, who saw the second performance, was the failure due to -defects in the cast. He speaks of Galli-Marié (_Carmen_), Chapuis -(_Micaela_), Lherie (_Don José_), and Bouhy (_Escamillo_), as "equal -to their tasks ... an admirable quartet." - -America has had its _Carmen_ periods. Minnie Hauck established an -individuality in the rôle, which remained potent until the appearance -in this country of Calvé. When Grau wanted to fill the house, all he -had to do was to announce Calvé as _Carmen_. She so dominated the -character with her beauty, charm, _diablerie_, and vocal art that, -after she left the Metropolitan Opera House, it became impossible to -revive the opera there with success, until Farrar made her appearance -in it, November 19, 1914, with Alda as _Micaela_, Caruso as _Don -José_, and Amato as _Escamillo_. - -A season or two before Oscar Hammerstein gave "Carmen" at the -Manhattan Opera House, a French company, which was on its last legs -when it struck New York, appeared in a performance of "Carmen" at the -Casino, and the next day went into bankruptcy. The _Carmen_ was -Bressler-Gianoli. Her interpretation brought out the coarse fibre in -the character, and was so much the opposite of Calvé's, that it was -interesting by contrast. It seemed that had the company been able to -survive, "Carmen" could have been featured in its repertoire, by -reason of Bressler-Gianoli's grasp of the character as Mérimée had -drawn it in his novel, where _Carmen_ is of a much coarser personality -than in the opera. The day after the performance I went to see -Heinrich Conried, then director of the Metropolitan Opera House, and -told him of the impression she had made, but he did not engage her. -The _Carmen_ of Bressler-Gianoli (with Dalmorès, Trentini, Ancona, and -Gilibert) was one of the principal successes of the Manhattan Opera -House. It was first given December 14, 1906, and scored the record for -the season with nineteen performances, "Aïda" coming next with twelve, -and "Rigoletto" with eleven. - -Mary Garden's _Carmen_ is distinctive and highly individualized on the -acting side. It lacks however the lusciousness of voice, the vocal -lure, that a singer must lavish upon the rôle to make it a complete -success. - -One of the curiosities of opera in America was the appearance at the -Metropolitan Opera House, November 25, 1885, of Lilli Lehmann as -_Carmen_. - -A word is due Bizet's authors for the admirable libretto they have -made from Mérimée's novel. The character of _Carmen_ is, of course, -the creation of the novelist. But in his book the _Toreador_ is not -introduced until almost the very end, and is but one of a succession -of lovers whom _Carmen_ has had since she ensnared _Don José_. In the -opera the _Toreador_ is made a principal character, and figures -prominently from the second act on. _Micaela_, so essential for -contrast in the opera, both as regards plot and music, is a creation -of the librettists. But their master-stroke is the placing of the -scene of the murder just outside the arena where the bullfight is in -progress, and in having _Carmen_ killed by _Don José_ at the moment -_Escamillo_ is acclaimed victor by the crowd within. In the book he -slays her on a lonely road outside the city of Cordova the day after -the bullfight. - - -LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES - -THE PEARL FISHERS - -Besides "Carmen," Bizet was the composer of "Les Pêcheurs de Perles" -(The Pearl Fishers) and "Djamileh." - -"Les Pêcheurs de Perles," the words by Carré and Cormon, is in three -acts. It was produced at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, September 29, -1863. London saw it under the title of "Leila," April 22, 1887, at -Covent Garden; as "Pescatori di Perle," May 18, 1899. The New York -production was at the Metropolitan Opera House, January 11, 1896, -with Calvé; and November 13, 1916, with Caruso. The scene is Ceylon, -the period barbaric. - -The first act shows a company of pearl fishers on the coast. They -choose _Zurga_ as chief. He and his friend _Nadir_, in the duet, "Au -fond du temple saint" (In the depths of the temple), recall their -former rivalry for the hand of the beautiful priestess, _Leila_, and -how they swore never to see her again. - -Now approaches a veiled priestess who comes annually to pray for the -success of the pearl fishers. She prays to Brahma. _Nadir_ recognizes -_Leila_. His love for her at once revives. She goes into the temple. -He sings "Je crois entendre encore" (I hear as in a dream). When she -returns and again invokes the aid of Brahma, she manages to convey to -_Nadir_ the knowledge that she has recognized and still loves him. - -In the second act, in a ruined temple, the high priest, _Nourabad_, -warns her, on pain of death, to be faithful to her religious vows. -_Leila_ tells him he need have no fear. She never breaks a promise. -The necklace she wears was given her by a fugitive, whose hiding place -she refused to reveal, although the daggers of his pursuers were -pointed at her heart. She had promised not to betray him. Her solo, -"Comme autrefois," etc. (A fugitive one day), is followed by the -retirement of the priest, and the entrance of _Nadir_. There is an -impassioned love duet, the effect of which is heightened by a raging -storm without: "Ton coeur n'a pas compris" (You have not -understood). _Nourabad_, returning unexpectedly, overhears the lovers, -and summons the people. _Zurga_, as chief and judge, desires to be -merciful for the sake of his friend. But _Nourabad_ tears the veil -from _Leila_. It is the woman _Nadir_ has sworn never to see--the -woman _Zurga_ also loves. Enraged, he passes sentence of death upon -them. - -In the third act, the camp of _Zurga_, _Leila_ expresses her -willingness to die, but pleads for _Nadir_, "Pour moi je ne crains -rien" (I have no fear). _Zurga_ is implacable, until he recognizes the -necklace she wears as one he had given many years before to the girl -who refused when he was a fugitive to deliver him up to his enemies. -The scene changes to the place of execution, where has been erected a -funeral pyre. Just as the guilty lovers are to be led to their death, -a distant glow is seen. _Zurga_ cries out that the camp is on fire. -The people rush away to fight the flames. _Zurga_ tells _Leila_ and -_Nadir_ that he set fire to the camp. He then unfastens their chains -and bids them flee. Terzet: "Ô lumière sainte" (O sacred light). - -From a hiding place _Nourabad_ has witnessed the scene. When the -people return, he denounces _Zurga's_ act in setting fire to the camp -and permitting _Leila_ and _Nadir_ to escape. _Zurga_ is compelled to -mount the pyre. A deep glow indicates that the forest is ablaze. The -people prostrate themselves to Brahma, whose wrath they fear. - -_Leila_ is for soprano, _Nadir_ tenor, _Zurga_ baritone, _Nourabad_ -bass. - -In the performance with Calvé only two acts were given. The rest of -the program consisted of "La Navarraise," by Massenet. - - -DJAMILEH - -"Djamileh," produced at the Opéra Comique, is in one act, words by -Louis Gallet, based on Alfred de Musset's poem, "Namouna." The scene -is Cairo, the time mediæval. - -_Djamileh_, a beautiful slave, is in love with her master, _Prince -Haroun_, a Turkish nobleman, who is tired of her and is about to sell -her. She persuades his secretary, _Splendiano_, who is in love with -her, to aid her in regaining her master's affections. She will marry -_Splendiano_ if she fails. - -Accordingly, with the secretary's aid, when the slave dealer arrives, -she is, in disguise, among the slaves offered to _Haroun_. She dances. -_Haroun_ is entranced, and immediately buys her. When she discloses -her identity, and pleads that her ruse was prompted by her love for -him, he receives her back into his affections. - -_Djamileh_ is for mezzo-soprano, the men's rôles for tenor. Besides -the dance, there are a duet for the men, "Que l'esclave soit brune ou -blonde" (Let the slave be dark or fair); a trio, "Je voyais au loin la -mer s'étendre" (The distant sea have I beheld extending); and the -chorus, "Quelle est cette belle" (Who is the charmer). - - - - -Italian Opera Since Verdi - - -Chief among Italian opera composers of the present day are Puccini, -Mascagni, and Leoncavallo. Others are Giordano, Wolf-Ferrari, -Zandonai, Montemezzi, and Leoni. - -Modern Italian opera differs from Italian opera, old style, largely -through the devotion of the moderns to effects of realism--the Italian -_verismo_, of which we hear so much. These effects of realism are -produced largely by an orchestral accompaniment that constantly adapts -itself descriptively to what is said and done on the stage. At not -infrequent intervals, however, when a strongly emotional situation -demands sustained expression, the restless play of orchestral -depiction and the brief exchange of vocal phrases merge into eloquent -melody for voice with significant instrumental accompaniment. Thus -beautiful vocal melody, fluently sung, remains, in spite of all -tendency toward the much vaunted effect of _verismo_, the heart and -soul, as ever, of Italian opera. - -Much difference, however, exists between the character of the melody -in the modern and the old Italian opera. Speaking, of course, in -general terms, the old style Italian operatic melody is sharply -defined in outline and rhythm, whereas the melody of modern Italian -opera, resting upon a more complicated accompaniment, is subject in a -much greater degree to rhythmic and harmonic changes. Since, however, -that is little more than saying that the later style of Italian opera -is more modern than the older, I will add, what seems to me the most -characteristic difference in their idioms. Italian melody, old style, -derives much of its character from the dotted note, with the -necessarily marked acceleration of the next note, as, for example, in -"Ah! non giunge" ("La Sonnambula"), an air which is typical of the -melodious measures of Italian opera of the first sixty or seventy -years of the last century; and that, too, whether the emotion to be -expressed is ecstasy, as in "Ah! non giunge," above; grief, as in -_Edgardo's_ last aria in "Lucia di Lammermoor,"--"Tu che a Dio -spiegasti l'ali" (Thou has [Transcriber's Note: should be 'hast'] -spread thy wings to Heaven), the spirit of festive greeting as in the -chorus from the previous act of the same opera, or passionate love as -in _Elvira's_ and _Ernani's_ duet; "Ah morir potessi adesso." - -It does not occur as frequently in Rossini as in Bellini and -Donizetti, while Verdi, as he approaches his ripest period, discards -it with growing frequency. I am also aware that the dotted note is -found in abundance in the music of all civilized countries. -Nevertheless it is from its prominence in the melodic phrase, the -impetus imparted by it, and the sharp reiterated rhythmic beat which -it usually calls for, that Italian melody of the last century, up to -about 1870, derives much of its energy, swing, and passion. It is, in -fact, idiomatic. - -Wholly different is the idiom of modern Italian music. It consists of -the sudden stressing of the melody at a vital point by means of the -triolet--the triplet, as we call it. An excellent example is the love -motif for _Nedda_ in "I Pagliacci," by Leoncavallo. - -[Music] - -If the dotted note is peculiarly adapted to the careless rapture with -which the earlier Italian composers lavished melody after melody upon -their scores, the triolet suits the more laboured efforts of the -modern Italian muse. - -Another effect typical of modern Italian opera is the use of the -foreign note--that is, the sudden employment of a note strange to the -key of the composition. This probably is done for the sake of giving -piquancy to a melody that otherwise might be considered commonplace. -_Turiddu's_ drinking song in "Cavalleria Rusticana" is a good example. - -[Music] - -In orderly harmonic progression the first tone in the bass of the -second bar would be F-sharp, instead of F-natural, which is a note -foreign to the key. This example is quoted in Ferdinand Pfohl's -_Modern Opera_, in which he says of the triolet and its use in the -opera of modern Italy, that its peculiarly energetic sweep, powerful -suspense, and quickening, fiery heart-beat lend themselves amazingly -to the art of _verismo_. - - - - -Pietro Mascagni - -(1863- ) - - -Pietro Mascagni was born in Leghorn, Italy, December 7, 1863. His -father was a baker. The elder Mascagni, ambitious for his boy, wanted -him to study law. The son himself preferred music, and studied -surreptitiously. An uncle, who sympathized with his aims, helped him -financially. After the uncle's death a nobleman, Count Florestan, sent -him to the Milan Conservatory. There he came under the instruction and -influence of Ponchielli. - -After two years' study at the conservatory he began a wandering life, -officiating for the next five years as conductor of opera companies, -most of which disbanded unexpectedly and impecuniously. He eked out a -meagre income, being compelled at one time to subsist on a plate of -macaroni a day. His finances were not greatly improved when he settled -in Cerignola, where he directed a school for orchestra players and -taught pianoforte and theory. - -He was married and in most straitened circumstances when he composed -"Cavalleria Rusticana" and sent it off to the publisher Sonzogno, who -had offered a prize for a one-act opera. It received the award. - -May 17, 1890, at the Constanzi Theatre, Rome, it had its first -performance. Before the representation had progressed very far, the -half-filled house was in a state of excitement and enthusiasm -bordering on hysteria. The production of "Cavalleria Rusticana" -remains one of the sensational events in the history of opera. It made -Mascagni famous in a night. Everywhere it was given--and it was given -everywhere--it made the same sensational success. Its vogue was so -great, it "took" so rapidly, that it was said to have infected the -public with "Mascagnitis." - -In "'Cavalleria Rusticana' music and text work in wonderful harmony in -the swift and gloomy tragedy." Nothing Mascagni has composed since has -come within hailing distance of it. The list of his operas is a fairly -long one. Most of them have been complete failures. In America, "Iris" -has, since its production, been the subject of occasional revival. -"Lodoletta," brought out by Gatti-Casazza at the Metropolitan Opera -House in 1918, had the advantage of a cast that included Caruso and -Farrar. "Isabeau" had its first performance in the United States of -America, in Chicago by the Chicago Opera Company under the direction -of Cleofante Campanini in 1917, and was given by the same organization -in New York in 1918. (See p. 625.) - -With Mascagni's opera, "Le Maschere" (The Maskers), which was produced -in 1901, the curious experiment was made of having the first night -occur simultaneously in six Italian cities. It was a failure in all, -save Rome, where it survived for a short time. - -Of the unfortunate results of Mascagni's American visit in 1902 not -much need be said. A "scratch" company was gotten together for him. -With this he gave poor performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, -of "Cavalleria Rusticana," "Zanetto," and "Iris." The tour ended in -lawsuits and failure. "Zanetto," which is orchestrated only for string -band and a harp, was brought out with "Cavalleria Rusticana" in a -double bill, October 8, 1902; "Iris," October 16th. - - -CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA - -RUSTIC CHIVALRY - - Opera, in one act, by Mascagni; words by Giovanni - Targioni-Toggetti and G. Menasci, the libretto being founded - on a story by Giovanni Verga. Produced, Constanzi Theatre, - Rome, May 17, 1890. London, Shaftesbury Theatre, October 19, - 1891. Covent Garden, May 16, 1892. America: Philadelphia, - Grand Opera House, September 9, 1891, under the direction of - Gustav Hinrichs, with Selma Kronold (_Santuzza_), Miss - Campbell (_Lola_), Jeannie Teal (_Lucia_), Guille - (_Turiddu_), Del Puente (_Alfio_). Chicago, September 30, - 1891, with Minnie Hauck as _Santuzza_. New York, October 1, - 1891, at an afternoon "dress rehearsal" at the Casino, under - the direction of Rudolph Aronson, with Laura Bellini - (_Santuzza_), Grace Golden (_Lola_), Helen von Doenhof - (_Lucia_), Charles Bassett (_Turiddu_), William Pruette - (_Alfio_), Gustav Kerker, conductor, Heinrich Conried, stage - manager. Evening of same day, at the Lenox Lyceum, under the - direction of Oscar Hammerstein, with Mme. Janouschoffsky - (_Santuzza_), Mrs. Pemberton Hincks (_Lola_), Mrs. Jennie - Bohner (_Lucia_), Payne Clarke (_Turiddu_), Herman Gerold - (_Alfio_), Adolph Neuendorff, conductor. Metropolitan Opera - House, December 30, 1891, with Eames as _Santuzza_; November - 29, 1893, with Calvé (début) as _Santuzza_. - - CHARACTERS - - TURIDDU, a young soldier _Tenor_ - ALFIO, the village teamster _Baritone_ - LOLA, his wife _Mezzo-Soprano_ - MAMMA LUCIA, Turiddu's mother _Contralto_ - SANTUZZA, a village girl _Soprano_ - - Villagers, peasants, boys. - - _Time_--The present, on Easter day. - - _Place_--A village in Sicily. - -"Cavalleria Rusticana" in its original form is a short story, compact -and tense, by Giovanni Verga. From it was made the stage tragedy, in -which Eleonora Duse displayed her great powers as an actress. It is a -drama of swift action and intense emotion; of passion, betrayal, and -retribution. Much has been made of the rôle played by the "book" in -contributing to the success of the opera. It is a first-rate -libretto--one of the best ever put forth. It inspired the composer to -what so far has remained his only significant achievement. But only in -that respect is it responsible for the success of "Cavalleria -Rusticana" as an opera. The hot blood of the story courses through the -music of Mascagni, who in his score also has quieter passages, that -make the cries of passion the more poignant. Like practically every -enduring success, that of "Cavalleria Rusticana" rests upon merit. -From beginning to end it is an inspiration. In it, in 1890, Mascagni, -at the age of twenty-one, "found himself," and ever since has been -trying, unsuccessfully, to find himself again. - -The prelude contains three passages of significance in the development -of the story. The first of these is the phrase of the despairing -_Santuzza_, in which she cries out to _Turiddu_ that, despite his -betrayal and desertion of her, she still loves and pardons him. The -second is the melody of the duet between _Santuzza_ and _Turiddu_, in -which she implores him to remain with her and not to follow _Lola_ -into the church. The third is the air in Sicilian style, the -"Siciliana," which, as part of the prelude, _Turiddu_ sings behind the -curtain, in the manner of a serenade to _Lola_, "O Lola, bianca come -fior di spino" (O Lola, fair as a smiling flower). - -With the end of the "Siciliana" the curtain rises. It discloses a -public square in a Sicilian village. On one side, in the background, -is a church, on the other _Mamma Lucia's_ wineshop and dwelling. It is -Easter morning. Peasants, men, women, and children cross or move about -the stage. The church bells ring, the church doors swing open, people -enter. A chorus, in which, mingled with gladness over the mild beauty -of the day, there also is the lilt of religious ecstasy, follows. Like -a refrain the women voice and repeat "Gli aranci olezzano sui verdi -margini" (Sweet is the air with the blossoms of oranges). They intone -"La Vergine serena allietasi del Salvator" (The Holy Mother mild, in -ecstasy fondles the child), and sing of "Tempo è si mormori," etc. -(Murmurs of tender song tell of a joyful world). The men, meanwhile, -pay a tribute to the industry and charm of woman. Those who have not -entered the church, go off singing. Their voices die away in the -distance. - -_Santuzza_, sad of mien, approaches _Mamma Lucia's_ house, just as her -false lover's mother comes out. There is a brief colloquy between the -two women. _Santuzza_ asks for _Turiddu_. His mother answers that he -has gone to Francofonte to fetch some wine. _Santuzza_ tells her that -he was seen during the night in the village. The girl's evident -distress touches _Mamma Lucia_. She bids her enter the house. - -"I may not step across your threshold," exclaims _Santuzza_. "I cannot -pass it, I, most unhappy outcast! Excommunicated!" - -_Mamma Lucia_ may have her suspicions of _Santuzza's_ plight. "What of -my son?" she asks. "What have you to tell me?" - -But at that moment the cracking of a whip and the jingling of bells -are heard from off stage. _Alfio_, the teamster, comes upon the scene. -He is accompanied by the villagers. Cheerfully he sings the praises of -a teamster's life, also of _Lola's_, his wife's, beauty. The villagers -join him in chorus, "Il cavallo scalpita" (Gayly moves the tramping -horse). - -_Alfio_ asks _Mamma Lucia_ if she still has on hand some of her fine -old wine. She tells him it has given out. _Turiddu_ has gone away to -buy a fresh supply of it. - -"No," says _Alfio_. "He is here. I saw him this morning standing not -far from my cottage." - -_Mamma Lucia_ is about to express great surprise. _Santuzza_ is quick -to check her. - -[Illustration: Gadski as Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana"] - -_Alfio_ goes his way. A choir in the church intones the "Regina -Coeli." The people in the square join in the "Allelujas." Then they -kneel and, led by _Santuzza's_ voice, sing the Resurrection hymn, -"Inneggiamo, il Signor non è morto" (Let us sing of the Lord now -victorious). The "Allelujas" resound in the church, which all, save -_Mamma Lucia_ and _Santuzza_, enter. - -_Mamma Lucia_ asks the girl why she signalled her to remain silent -when _Alfio_ spoke of _Turiddu's_ presence in the village. "Voi lo -sapete" (Now you shall know), exclaims _Santuzza_, and in one of the -most impassioned numbers of the score, pours into the ears of her -lover's mother the story of her betrayal. Before _Turiddu_ left to -serve his time in the army, he and _Lola_ were in love with each -other. But, tiring of awaiting his return, the fickle _Lola_ married -_Alfio_. _Turiddu_, after he had come back, made love to _Santuzza_ -and betrayed her; now, lured by _Lola_, he has taken advantage of -_Alfio's_ frequent absences, and has gone back to his first love. -_Mamma Lucia_ pities the girl, who begs that she go into church and -pray for her. - -_Turiddu_ comes, a handsome fellow. _Santuzza_ upbraids him for -pretending to have gone away, when instead he has surreptitiously been -visiting _Lola_. It is a scene of vehemence. But when _Turiddu_ -intimates that his life would be in danger were _Alfio_ to know of his -visits to _Lola_, the girl is terrified. "Battimi, insultami, t'amo e -perdono" (Beat me, insult me, I still love and forgive you). - -Such is her mood--despairing, yet relenting. But _Lola's_ voice is -heard off stage. Her song is carefree, a key to her character, which -is fickle and selfish, with a touch of the cruel. "Fior di giaggiolo" -(Bright flower, so glowing) runs her song. Heard off stage, it yet -conveys in its melody, its pauses, and inflections, a quick sketch in -music of the heartless coquette, who, to gratify a whim, has stolen -_Turiddu_ from _Santuzza_. She mocks the girl, then enters the -church. Only a few minutes has she been on the stage, but Mascagni has -let us know all about her. - -A highly dramatic scene, one of the most impassioned outbursts of the -score, occurs at this point. _Turiddu_ turns to follow _Lola_ into the -church. _Santuzza_ begs him to stay. "No, no, Turiddu, rimani, rimani, -ancora--Abbandonarmi dunque tu vuoi?" (No, no, Turiddu! Remain with me -now and forever! Love me again! How can you forsake me?). - -[Music] - -A highly dramatic phrase, already heard in the prelude, occurs at "La -tua Santuzza piange e t'implora" (Lo! here thy Santuzza, weeping, -implores thee). - -_Turiddu_ repulses her. She clings to him. He loosens her hold and -casts her from him to the ground. When she rises, he has followed -_Lola_ into the church. - -But the avenger is nigh. Before _Santuzza_ has time to think, _Alfio_ -comes upon the scene. He is looking for _Lola_. To him in the fewest -possible words, and in the white voice of suppressed passion, -_Santuzza_ tells him that his wife has been unfaithful with _Turiddu_. -In the brevity of its recitatives, the tense summing up in melody of -each dramatic situation as it develops in the inexorably swift -unfolding of the tragic story, lies the strength of "Cavalleria -Rusticana." - -_Santuzza_ and _Alfio_ leave. The square is empty. But the action goes -on in the orchestra. For the intermezzo--the famous intermezzo--which -follows, recapitulates, in its forty-eight bars, what has gone before, -and foreshadows the tragedy that is impending. There is no restating -here of leading motives. The effect is accomplished by means of terse, -vibrant melodic progression. It is melody and yet it is drama. Therein -lies its merit. For no piece of serious music can achieve the -world-wide popularity of this intermezzo and not possess merit. - -[Music] - -Mr. Krehbiel, in _A Second Book of Operas_, gives an instance of its -unexampled appeal to the multitude. A burlesque on this opera was -staged in Vienna. The author of the burlesque thought it would be a -great joke to have the intermezzo played on a hand-organ. Up to that -point the audience had been hilarious. But with the first wheezy tone -of the grinder the people settled down to silent attention, and, when -the end came, burst into applause. Even the hand-organ could not rob -the intermezzo of its charm for the public! - -What is to follow in the opera is quickly accomplished. The people -come out of church. _Turiddu_, in high spirits, because he is with -_Lola_ and because _Santuzza_ no longer is hanging around to reproach -him, invites his friends over to his mother's wineshop. Their glasses -are filled. _Turiddu_ dashes off a drinking song, "Viva, il vino -spumeggiante" (Hail! the ruby wine now flowing). - -The theme of this song will be found quoted on p. 609. - -_Alfio_ joins them. _Turiddu_ offers him wine. He refuses it. The -women leave, taking _Lola_ with them. In a brief exchange of words -_Alfio_ gives the challenge. In Sicilian fashion the two men embrace, -and _Turiddu_, in token of acceptance, bites _Alfio's_ ear. _Alfio_ -goes off in the direction of the place where they are to test their -skill with the stiletto. - -_Turiddu_ calls for _Mamma Lucia_. He is going away, he tells her. At -home the wine cup passes too freely. He must leave. If he should not -come back she must be like a kindly mother to _Santuzza_--"_Santa_, -whom I have promised to lead to the altar." - -"Un bacio, mamma! Un altro bacio!--Addio!" (One kiss, one kiss, my -mother. And yet another. Farewell!) - -He goes. _Mamma Lucia_ wanders aimlessly to the back of the stage. She -is weeping. _Santuzza_ comes on, throws her arms around the poor -woman's neck. People crowd upon the scene. All is suppressed -excitement. There is a murmur of distant voices. A woman is heard -calling from afar: "They have murdered neighbour Turiddu!" - -Several women enter hastily. One of them, the one whose voice was -heard in the distance, repeats, but now in a shriek, "Hanno ammazzato -compare Turiddu!"--(They have murdered neighbour Turiddu!) - -_Santuzza_ falls in a swoon. The fainting form of _Mamma Lucia_ is -supported by some of the women. - -"Cala rapidamente la tela" (The curtain falls rapidly). - -A tragedy of Sicily, hot in the blood, is over. - -When "Cavalleria Rusticana" was produced, no Italian opera had -achieved such a triumph since "Aïda"--a period of nearly twenty years. -It was hoped that Mascagni would prove to be Verdi's successor, a hope -which, needless to say, has not been fulfilled. - -To "Cavalleria Rusticana," however, we owe the succession of short -operas, usually founded on debased and sordid material, in which other -composers have paid Mascagni the doubtful compliment of imitation in -hopes of achieving similar success. Of all these, "Pagliacci," by -Leoncavallo, is the only one that has shared the vogue of the Mascagni -opera. The two make a remarkably effective double bill. - - -L'AMICO FRITZ - -FRIEND FRITZ - - Opera in three acts, by Pietro Mascagni; text by Suaratoni - [Transcriber's Note: later editions have P. Suardon (N. - Daspuro)], from the story by Erckmann-Chatrian. Produced, - Rome, 1891. Philadelphia, by Gustav Hinrichs, June 8, 1892. - New York, Metropolitan Opera House, with Calvé as _Suzel_, - January 10, 1894. - - CHARACTERS - - FRITZ KOBUS, a rich bachelor _Tenor_ - DAVID, a Rabbi _Baritone_ - FREDERICO } friends of Fritz { _Tenor_ - HANEGO } { _Tenor_ - SUZEL, a farmer's daughter _Soprano_ - BEPPE, a gypsy _Soprano_ - CATERINA, a housekeeper _Contralto_ - - _Time_--The present. - - _Place_--Alsace. - -Act I. _Fritz Kobus_, a well-to-do landowner and confirmed bachelor, -receives felicitations on his fortieth birthday. He invites his -friends to dine with him. Among the guests is _Suzel_, his tenant's -daughter, who presents him with a nosegay, and sits beside him. Never -before has he realized her charm. _Rabbi David_, a confirmed -matchmaker, wagers with the protesting _Fritz_ that he will soon be -married. - -Act II. _Friend Fritz_ is visiting _Suzel's_ father. The charming girl -mounts a ladder in the garden, picks cherries, and throws them down to -_Fritz_, who is charmed. When _Rabbi David_ appears and tells him that -he has found a suitable husband for _Suzel_, _Fritz_ cannot help -revealing his own feelings. - -Act III. At home again _Fritz_ finds no peace. _David_ tells him -_Suzel's_ marriage has been decided on. _Fritz_ loses his temper; says -he will forbid the bans. _Suzel_, pale and sad, comes in with a basket -of fruit. When her wedding is mentioned she bursts into tears. That -gives _Fritz_ his chance which he improves. _David_ wins his wager, -one of _Fritz's_ vineyards, which he promptly bestows upon _Suzel_ as -a dowry. - -The duet of the cherries in the second act is the principal musical -number in the opera. - - -IRIS - - Opera in three acts, by Mascagni. Words by Luigi Illica. - Produced, Constanzi Theatre, Rome, November 22, 1898; - revised version, La Scala, Milan, 1899. Philadelphia, - October 14, 1902, and Metropolitan Opera House, New York, - October 16, 1902, under the composer's direction (Marie - Farneti, as _Iris_); Metropolitan Opera House, 1908, with - Eames (_Iris_), Caruso (_Osaka_), Scotti, and Journet; April - 3, 1915, Bori, Botta, and Scotti. - - CHARACTERS - - IL CIECO, the blind man _Bass_ - IRIS, his daughter _Soprano_ - OSAKA _Tenor_ - KYOTO, a _takiomati_ _Baritone_ - - Ragpickers, shopkeepers, geishas, _mousmés_ (laundry girls), - _samurai_, citizens, strolling players, three women - representing Beauty, Death, and the Vampire; a young girl. - - _Time_--Nineteenth century. - - _Place_--Japan. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by White - -Bori as Iris] - -Act I. The home of _Iris_ near the city. The hour is before dawn. The -music depicts the passage from night into day. It rises to a crashing -climax--the instrumentation including tamtams, cymbals, drums, and -bells--while voices reiterate, "Calore! Luce! Amor!" (Warmth! Light! -Love!). In warmth and light there are love and life. A naturalistic -philosophy, to which this opening gives the key, runs through "Iris." - -Fujiyama glows in the early morning light, as _Iris_, who loves only -her blind father, comes to the door of her cottage. She has dreamed -that monsters sought to injure her doll, asleep under a rosebush. With -the coming of the sun the monsters have fled. _Mousmés_ come to the -bank of the stream and sing prettily over their work. - -_Iris_ is young and beautiful. She is desired by _Osaka_, a wealthy -rake. _Kyoto_, keeper of a questionable resort, plots to obtain her -for him. He comes to her cottage with a marionette show. While _Iris_ -is intent upon the performance, three geisha girls, representing -Beauty, Death, and the Vampire, dance about her. They conceal her from -view by spreading their skirts. She is seized and carried off. -_Osaka_, by leaving money for the blind old father, makes the -abduction legal. When _Il Cieco_ returns, he is led to believe that -his daughter has gone voluntarily to the Yoshiwara. In a rage he -starts out to find her. - -Act II. Interior of the "Green House" in the Yoshiwara. _Iris_ -awakens. At first she thinks it is an awakening after death. But death -brings paradise, while she is unhappy. _Osaka_, who has placed jewels -beside her, comes to woo, but vainly seeks to arouse her passions. In -her purity she remains unconscious of the significance of his words -and caresses. His brilliant attire leads her to mistake him for Tor, -the sun god, but he tells her he is Pleasure. That frightens her. For, -as she narrates to him, one day, in the temple, a priest told her that -pleasure and death were one. - -_Osaka_ wearies of her innocence and leaves her. But _Kyoto_, wishing -to lure him back, attires her in transparent garments and places her -upon a balcony. The crowd in the street cries out in amazement over -her beauty. Again _Osaka_ wishes to buy her. She hears her father's -voice. Joyously she makes her presence known to him. He, ignorant of -her abduction and believing her a voluntary inmate of the "Green -House," takes a handful of mud from the street, flings it at her, and -curses her. In terror, she leaps from a window into the sewer below. - -Act III. Ragpickers and scavengers are dragging the sewer before -daylight. In song they mock the moon. A flash of light from the mystic -mountain awakens what is like an answering gleam in the muck. They -discover and drag out the body of _Iris_. They begin to strip her of -her jewels. She shows signs of life. The sordid men and women flee. -The rosy light from Fujiyama spreads over the sky. Warmth and light -come once more. _Iris_ regains consciousness. Spirit voices whisper of -earthly existence and its selfish aspirations typified by the knavery -of _Kyoto_, the lust of _Osaka_, the desire of _Iris's_ father, _Il -Cieco_, for the comforts of life through her ministrations. - -Enough strength comes back to her for her to acclaim the sanctity of -the sun. In its warmth and light--the expression of Nature's love--she -sinks, as if to be absorbed by Nature, into the blossoming field that -spreads about her. Again, as in the beginning, there is the choired -tribute to warmth, light, love--the sun! - -Partly sordid, partly ethereal in its exposition, the significance of -this story has escaped Mascagni, save in the climax of the opening -allegory of the work. Elsewhere he employs instruments associated by -us with Oriental music, but the spirit of the Orient is lacking. In a -score requiring subtlety of invention, skill in instrumentation, and, -in general, the gift for poetic expression in music, these qualities -are not. The scene of the _mousmés_ in the first act with _Iris's_ -song to the flowers of her garden, "In pure stille" ([Transcriber's -Note: translation left blank in original; should probably be 'In pure -droplets']); the vague, yet unmistakable hum of Japanese melody in the -opening of Act II; and her narrative in the scene with _Osaka_ in the -same act, "Un dì al tempio" (One day at the temple)--these, with the -hymn to the sun, are about the only passages that require mention. - - -LODOLETTA - - Opera in three acts, by Mascagni. Words by Gioacchino - Forzano, after Ouida's novel, _Two Little Wooden Shoes_. - Produced, Rome, April 30, 1917. Metropolitan Opera House, - New York, January 12, 1918, with Farrar (later in the - season, Florence Easton) as _Lodoletta_, Caruso (_Flammen_), - Amato (_Giannotto_), and Didur (_Antonio_). - - CHARACTERS - - LODOLETTA _Soprano_ - FLAMMEN _Tenor_ - FRANZ _Bass_ - GIANNOTTO _Baritone_ - ANTONIO _Bass_ - A MAD WOMAN _Mezzo-Soprano_ - VANNARD _Mezzo-Soprano_ - MAUD _Soprano_ - A VOICE _Tenor_ - - A letter carrier, an old violinist. - - _Time_--Second empire. - - _Place_--A Dutch village. - -_Lodoletta_, a young girl, who lives in a little Dutch village, is a -foundling, who has been brought up by old _Antonio_. He discovered her -as an infant in a basket of flowers at the lakeside. When she has -grown up to be sixteen, she is eager for a pair of red wooden shoes, -but _Antonio_ cannot afford to buy them. _Flammen_, a painter from -Paris, offers him a gold piece for a roadside Madonna he owns. -_Antonio_ takes it, and with it buys the shoes for _Lodoletta_. Soon -afterwards the old man is killed by a fall from a tree. _Lodoletta_ is -left alone in the world. - -_Flammen_, who has conceived a deep affection for her, persuades her -to be his model. This makes the villagers regard her with suspicion. -She begs him to go. He returns to Paris, only to find that absence -makes him fonder of the girl than ever. He returns to the village. -_Lodoletta_ has disappeared. His efforts to find her fail. On New -Year's his friends gather at his villa to celebrate, and make him -forget his love affair in gayety. The celebration is at its height, -when _Lodoletta_, who, in her turn, has been searching for _Flammen_, -reaches the garden. She has wandered far and is almost exhausted, but -has found _Flammen's_ house at last. She thinks he is expecting her, -because the villa is so brilliantly illuminated. But, when she looks -through the window upon the gay scene, she falls, cold, exhausted, and -disillusioned, in the snow just as midnight sounds. _Flammen's_ party -of friends depart, singing merrily. As he turns back toward the house -he discovers a pair of little red wooden shoes. They are sadly worn. -But he recognizes them. He looks for _Lodoletta_, only to find her -frozen to death in the snow. - -It may be that "Lodoletta's" success at its production in Rome was -genuine. Whatever acclaim it has received at the Metropolitan Opera -House is due to the fine cast with which it has been presented. There -is little spontaneity in the score. A spirit of youthfulness is -supposed to pervade the first act, but the composer's efforts are so -apparent that the result is childish rather than youthful. Moreover, -as Henry T. Finck writes in the N.Y. _Evening Post_, "Lodoletta" seems -to have revived some of the dramatic inconsistencies of the -old-fashioned kind of Italian opera. For instance, in the last act, -the scene is laid outside _Flammen's_ villa in Paris on New Year's -eve--it is zero weather to all appearances, although there is an -intermittent snowstorm--but _Flammen_ and _Franz_, and later all his -guests, come out without wraps, and stay for quite awhile. Later -_Lodoletta_, well wrapped (though in rags), appears, and is quickly -frozen to death. - -The scene of the first act is laid in the village in April. -_Lodoletta's_ cottage is seen and the shrine with the picture of the -Madonna. It is in order to copy or obtain this that _Flammen_ comes -from Paris. In the background is the tree which _Antonio_ climbs and -from which, while he is plucking blossom-laden branches for the spring -festival, he falls and is killed--a great relief, the character is so -dull. There is much running in and out, and singing by boys and girls -in this act. The music allotted to them is pretty without being -extraordinarily fetching. An interchange of phrases between _Flammen_ -and _Lodoletta_ offers opportunity for high notes to the tenor, but -there is small dramatic significance in the music. - -In the second act the stage setting is the same, except that the -season is autumn. There is a song for _Lodoletta_, and, as in Act I, -episodes for her and the children, who exclaim delightedly when they -see the picture _Flammen_ has been painting, "È Lodoletta viva, com'è -bella" (See! Lodoletta, and so pretty!). But there is little progress -made in this act. Much of it has the effect of repetition. - -In the third act one sees the exterior of _Flammen's_ villa, and -through the open gates of the courtyard Paris in the midst of New -Year's gayety. The merriment within the villa is suggested by music -and silhouetted figures against the windows. Some of the guests dash -out, throw confetti, and indulge in other pranks, which, intended to -be bright and lively, only seem silly. As in the previous acts, the -sustained measures for _Lodoletta_ and for _Flammen_, while intended -to be dramatic, lack that quality--one which cannot be dispensed with -in opera. "The spectacle of _Flammen_, in full evening dress and -without a hat, singing on his doorstep in a snowstorm, would tickle -the funny bone of any but an operatic audience," writes Grenville -Vernon in the N.Y. _Tribune_. - - -ISABEAU - -With Rosa Raisa in the title rôle, the Chicago Opera Company produced -Mascagni's "Isabeau" at the Auditorium, Chicago, November 12, 1918. -The company repeated it at the Lexington Theatre, New York, February -13, 1918, also with Rosa Raisa as _Isabeau_. The opera had its first -performances on any stage at Buenos Aires, June 2, 1911. The libretto, -based upon the story of Lady Godiva, is in three acts, and is the work -of Luigi Illica. The opera has made so little impression that I -restrict myself to giving the story. - -In Illica's version of the Godiva story, the heroine, _Isabeau_, is as -renowned for her aversion to marriage as for her beauty. Her father, -_King Raimondo_, eager to find for her a husband, arranges a -tournament of love, at which she is to award her hand as prize to the -knight who wins her favour. She rejects them all. For this obstinacy -and because she intercedes in a quarrel, _Raimondo_ dooms her to ride -unclad through the town at high noon of the same day. At the urging of -the populace he modifies his sentence, but only so far as to announce -that, while she rides, no one shall remain in the streets or look out -of the windows. The order is disobeyed only by a simpleton, a country -lout named _Folco_. Dazed by _Isabeau's_ beauty, he strews flowers for -her as she comes riding along. For this the people demand that he -suffer the full penalty for violation of the order, which is the loss -of eyesight and life. _Isabeau_, horrified by _Folco's_ act, visits -him in prison. Her revulsion turns to love. She decides to inform her -father that she is ready to marry. But the _Chancellor_ incites the -populace to carry out the death sentence. _Isabeau_ commits suicide. - -When "Isabeau" had its American production in Chicago, more than -twenty-seven years had elapsed since the first performance of -"Cavalleria Rusticana." A long list of operas by Mascagni lies -between. But he still remains a one-opera man, that opera, however, a -masterpiece. - - - - -Ruggiero Leoncavallo - -(1858- ) - - -Leoncavallo, born March 8, 1858, at Naples, is a dramatic composer, a -pianist, and a man of letters. He is the composer of the successful -opera "Pagliacci," has made concert tours as a pianoforte virtuoso, is -his own librettist, and has received the degree of Doctor of Letters -from the University of Bologna. - -He studied at the Naples Conservatory. His first opera, "Tommaso -Chatterton," was a failure, but was successfully revived in 1896, in -Rome. An admirer of Wagner and personally encouraged by him, he wrote -and set to music a trilogy, "Crepusculum" (Twilight): I. "I Medici"; -II. "Gerolamo Savonarola"; III. "Cesare Borgia." The performing rights -to Part I were acquired by the Ricordi publishing house, but, no -preparations being made for its production, he set off again on his -travels as a pianist; officiating also as a répétiteur for opera -singers, among them Maurel, in Paris, where he remained several years. -His friendship with that singer bore unexpected fruit. Despairing of -ever seeing "I Medici" performed, and inspired by the success of -"Cavalleria Rusticana," Leoncavallo wrote and composed "Pagliacci," -and sent it to Ricordi's rival, the music publisher Sonzogno. The -latter accepted "Pagliacci" immediately after reading the libretto. -Maurel then not only threw his influence in favour of the work, but -even offered to create the rôle of _Tonio_; and in that character he -was in the original cast (1892). "I Medici" was now produced (La -Scala, Milan, 1893), but failed of success. Later operas by -Leoncavallo, "La Bohème" (La Fenice Theatre, Venice, 1897) and "Zaza" -(Milan, 1900), fared somewhat better, and the latter is played both in -Italy and Germany. But "Roland of Berlin," commissioned by the German -Emperor and performed December 13, 1904, was a complete failure. In -fact Leoncavallo's name is so identified with "Pagliacci" that, like -Mascagni, he may be called a one-opera composer. - - -PAGLIACCI - -CLOWNS - - Opera in two acts, words and music by Ruggiero Leoncavallo. - Produced, Teatro dal Verme, Milan, May 17, 1892. Grand Opera - House, New York, June 15, 1893, under the direction of - Gustav Hinrichs, with Selma Kronold (_Nedda_), Montegriffo - (_Canio_), and Campanari (_Tonio_). Metropolitan Opera - House, December 11, 1893, with Melba as _Nedda_, De Lucia as - _Canio_, and Ancona as _Tonio_. - - CHARACTERS - - CANIO (in the play _Pagliaccio_), head of a - troupe of strolling players _Tenor_ - NEDDA (in the play _Columbine_), - wife of _Canio_ _Soprano_ - TONIO (in the play _Taddeo_, a clown) _Baritone_ - BEPPE (in the play _Harlequin_) _Tenor_ - SILVIO, a villager _Baritone_ - - Villagers. - - _Time_--The Feast of the Assumption, about 1865-70. - - _Place_--Montalto, in Calabria. - -"Pagliacci" opens with a prologue. There is an instrumental -introduction. Then _Tonio_ pokes his head through the curtains,--"Si -può? Signore, Signori" (By your leave, Ladies and Gentlemen),--comes -out, and sings. The prologue rehearses, or at least hints at, the -story of the opera, and does so in musical phrases, which we shall -hear again as the work progresses--the bustle of the players as they -make ready for the performance; _Canio's_ lament that he must be merry -before his audiences, though his heart be breaking; part of the -love-making music between _Nedda_ and _Silvio_; and the theme of the -intermezzo, to the broad measures of which _Tonio_ sings, "E voi, -piuttosto che le nostre povere gabbane" (Ah, think then, sweet people, -when you behold us clad in our motley). - -[Music] - -The prologue, in spite of ancient prototypes, was a bold stroke on the -part of Leoncavallo, and, as the result proved, a successful one. -Besides its effectiveness in the opera, it has made a good concert -number. Moreover, it is quite unlikely that without it Maurel would -have offered to play _Tonio_ at the production of the work in Milan. - -Act I. The edge of the village of Montalto, Calabria. People are -celebrating the Feast of the Assumption. In the background is the tent -of the strolling players. These players, _Canio_, _Nedda_, _Tonio_, -and _Beppe_, in the costume of their characters in the play they are -to enact, are parading through the village. - -The opening chorus, "Son qua" (They're here), proclaims the innocent -joy with which the village hails the arrival of the players. The -beating of a drum, the blare of a trumpet are heard. The players, -having finished their parade through the village, are returning to -their tent. _Beppe_, in his _Harlequin_ costume, enters leading a -donkey drawing a gaudily painted cart, in which _Nedda_ is reclining. -Behind her, in his _Pagliaccio_ costume, is _Canio_, beating the big -drum and blowing the trumpet. _Tonio_, dressed as _Taddeo_, the clown, -brings up the rear. The scene is full of life and gayety. - -Men, women, and boys, singing sometimes in separate groups, sometimes -together, form the chorus. The rising inflection in their oft-repeated -greeting to _Canio_ as "il principe sei dei Pagliacci" (the prince of -Pagliaccios), adds materially to the lilt of joy in their greeting to -the players whose coming performance they evidently regard as the -climax to the festival. - -_Canio_ addresses the crowd. At seven o'clock the play will begin. -They will witness the troubles of poor _Pagliaccio_, and the vengeance -he wreaked on the _Clown_, a treacherous fellow. 'Twill be a strange -combination of love and of hate. - -Again the crowd acclaims its joy at the prospect of seeing the players -on the stage behind the flaps of the tent. - -_Tonio_ comes forward to help _Nedda_ out of the cart. _Canio_ boxes -his ears, and lifts _Nedda_ down himself. _Tonio_, jeered at by the -women and boys, angrily shakes his fists at the youngsters, and goes -off muttering that _Canio_ will have to pay high for what he has done. -_Beppe_ leads off the donkey with the cart, comes back, and throws -down his whip in front of the tent. A villager asks _Canio_ to drink -at the tavern. _Beppe_ joins them. _Canio_ calls to _Tonio_. Is he -coming with them? _Tonio_ replies that he must stay behind to groom -the donkey. A villager suggests that _Tonio_ is remaining in order to -make love to _Nedda_. _Canio_ takes the intended humour of this sally -rather grimly. He says that in the play, when he interferes with -_Tonio's_ love-making, he lays himself open to a beating. But in real -life--let any one, who would try to rob him of _Nedda's_ love, beware. -The emphasis with which he speaks causes comment. - -"What can he mean?" asks _Nedda_ in an aside. - -"Surely you don't suspect her?" question the villagers of _Canio_. - -Of course not, protests _Canio_, and kisses _Nedda_ on the forehead. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Caruso as Canio in "I Pagliacci"] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Farrar as Nedda in "I Pagliacci"] - -Just then the bagpipers from a neighbouring village are heard -approaching. The musicians, followed by the people of their village, -arrive to join in the festival. All are made welcome, and the -villagers, save a few who are waiting for _Canio_ and _Beppe_, go off -down the road toward the village. The church bells ring. The villagers -sing the pretty chorus, "Din, don--suona vespero" (Ding, dong--the -vespers bell). _Canio_ nods good-bye to _Nedda_. He and _Beppe_ go -toward the village. - -_Nedda_ is alone. _Canio's_ words and manner worry her. "How fierce he -looked and watched me!--Heavens, if he should suspect me!" But the -birds are singing, the birds, whose voices her mother understood. Her -thoughts go back to her childhood. She sings, "Oh! che volo d'augelli" -(Ah, ye beautiful song-birds), which leads up to her vivacious -_ballatella_, "Stridono lassù, liberamente" (Forever flying through -the boundless sky). - -_Tonio_ comes on from behind the theatre. He makes violent love to -_Nedda_. The more passionately the clown pleads, the more she mocks -him, and the more angry he grows. He seeks forcibly to grasp and kiss -her. She backs away from him. Spying the whip where _Beppe_ threw it -down, she seizes it, and with it strikes _Tonio_ across the face. -Infuriated, he threatens, as he leaves her, that he will yet be -avenged on her. - -A man leans over the wall. He calls in a low voice, "Nedda!" - -"Silvio!" she cries. "At this hour ... what madness!" - -He assures her that it is safe for them to meet. He has just left -_Canio_ drinking at the tavern. She cautions him that, if he had been -a few moments earlier, his presence would have been discovered by -_Tonio_. He laughs at the suggestion of danger from a clown. - -_Silvio_ has come to secure the promise of the woman he loves, and who -has pledged her love to him, that she will run away with him from her -husband after the performance that night. She does not consent at -once, not because of any moral scruples, but because she is afraid. -After a little persuasion, however, she yields. The scene reaches its -climax in an impassioned love duet, "E allor perchè, di', tu m'hai -stregato" (Why hast thou taught me Love's magic story). The lovers -prepare to separate, but agree not to do so until after the play, when -they are to meet and elope. - -The jealous and vengeful _Tonio_ has overheard them, and has run to -the tavern to bring back _Canio_. He comes just in time to hear -_Nedda_ call after _Silvio_, who has climbed the wall, "Tonight, love, -and forever I am thine." - -_Canio_, with drawn dagger, makes a rush to overtake and slay the man, -who was with his wife. _Nedda_ places herself between him and the -wall, but he thrusts her violently aside, leaps the wall, and starts -in pursuit. "May Heaven protect him now," prays _Nedda_ for her lover, -while _Tonio_ chuckles. - -The fugitive has been too swift for _Canio_. The latter returns. - -"His name!" he demands of _Nedda_, for he does not know who her lover -is. _Nedda_ refuses to give it. _Silvio_ is safe! What matter what -happens to her. _Canio_ rushes at her to kill her. _Tonio_ and _Beppe_ -restrain him. _Tonio_ whispers to him to wait. _Nedda's_ lover surely -will be at the play. A look, or gesture from her will betray him. Then -_Canio_ can wreak vengeance. _Canio_ thinks well of _Tonio's_ ruse. -_Nedda_ escapes into the theatre. - -It is time to prepare for the performance. _Beppe_ and _Tonio_ retire -to do so. - -_Canio's_ grief over his betrayal by _Nedda_ finds expression in one -of the most famous numbers in modern Italian opera, "Vesti la giubba" -(Now don the motley), with its tragic "Ridi, Pagliaccio" (Laugh thou, -Pagliaccio), as _Canio_ goes toward the tent, and enters it. It is -the old and ever effective story of the buffoon who must laugh, and -make others laugh, while his heart is breaking. - -[Music] - -Act II. The scene is the same as that of the preceding act. _Tonio_ -with the big drum takes his position at the left angle of the theatre. -_Beppe_ places benches for the spectators, who begin to assemble, -while _Tonio_ beats the drum. _Silvio_ arrives and nods to friends. -_Nedda_, dressed as _Columbine_, goes about with a plate and collects -money. As she approaches _Silvio_, she pauses to speak a few words of -warning to him, then goes on, and re-enters the theatre with _Beppe_. -The brisk chorus becomes more insistent that the play begin. Most of -the women are seated. Others stand with the men on slightly rising -ground. - -A bell rings loudly. The curtain of the tent theatre on the stage -rises. The mimic scene represents a small room with two side doors and -a practicable window at the back. _Nedda_, as _Columbine_, is walking -about expectantly and anxiously. Her husband, _Pagliaccio_, has gone -away till morning. _Taddeo_ is at the market. She awaits her lover, -_Arlecchino_ (_Harlequin_). A dainty minuet forms the musical -background. - -A guitar is heard outside. _Columbine_ runs to the window with signs -of love and impatience. _Harlequin_, outside, sings his pretty -serenade to his _Columbine_, "O Colombina, il tenero" (O Columbine, -unbar to me thy lattice high). - -The ditty over, she returns to the front of the mimic stage, seats -herself, back to the door, through which _Tonio_, as _Taddeo_, a -basket on his arm, now enters. He makes exaggerated love to -_Columbine_, who, disgusted with his advances, goes to the window, -opens it, and signals. _Beppe_, as _Harlequin_, enters by the window. -He makes light of _Taddeo_, whom he takes by the ear and turns out of -the room, to the accompaniment of a few kicks. All the while the -minuet has tripped its pretty measure and the mimic audience has found -plenty to amuse it. - -_Harlequin_ has brought a bottle of wine, also a phial with a -sleeping-potion, which she is to give her husband, when opportunity -offers, so that, while he sleeps, she and _Harlequin_ may fly -together. Love appears to prosper, till, suddenly, _Taddeo_ bursts in. -_Columbine's_ husband, _Pagliaccio_, is approaching. He suspects her, -and is stamping with anger. "Pour the philtre in his wine, love!" -admonishes _Harlequin_, and hurriedly gets out through the window. - -_Columbine_ calls after him, just as _Canio_, in the character of -_Pagliaccio_, appears in the door, "Tonight, love, and forever, I am -thine!"--the same words _Canio_ heard his wife call after her lover a -few hours before. - -_Columbine_ parries _Pagliaccio's_ questions. He has returned too -early. He has been drinking. No one was with her, save the harmless -_Taddeo_, who has become alarmed and has sought safety in the closet. -From within, _Taddeo_ expostulates with _Pagliaccio_. His wife is -true, her pious lips would ne'er deceive her husband. The audience -laughs. - -But now it no longer is _Pagliaccio_, it is _Canio_, who calls out -threateningly, not to _Columbine_, but to _Nedda_, "His name!" - -"Pagliaccio! Pagliaccio!" protests _Nedda_, still trying to keep in -the play. "No!" cries out her husband--in a passage dramatically -almost as effective as "Ridi, Pagliaccio!"--"I am _Pagliaccio_ no -more! I am a man again, with anguish deep and human!" The audience -thinks his intensity is wonderful acting--all save _Silvio_, who shows -signs of anxiety. - -"Thou had'st my love," concludes _Canio_, "but now thou hast my hate -and scorn." - -"If you doubt me," argues _Nedda_, "why not let me leave you?" - -"And go to your lover!--His name! Declare it!" - -Still desperately striving to keep in the play, and avert the -inevitable, _Nedda_, as if she were _Columbine_, sings a chic gavotte, -"Suvvia, così terribile" (I never knew, my dear, that you were such a -tragic fellow). - -[Music] - -She ends with a laugh, but stops short, at the fury in _Canio's_ look, -as he takes a knife from the table. - -"His name!" - -"No!"--Save her lover she will, at whatever cost to herself. - -The audience is beginning to suspect that this is no longer acting. -The women draw back frightened, overturning the benches. _Silvio_ is -trying to push his way through to the stage. - -_Nedda_ makes a dash to escape into the audience. _Canio_ pursues and -catches up with her. - -"Take that--and--that!" (He stabs her in the back.) "Di morte negli -spasimi lo dirai" (In the last death agony, thou'lt call his name). - -"Soccorso ... Silvio!" (Help! Help!--Silvio!) - -A voice from the audience cries, "Nedda!" A man has nearly reached the -spot where she lies dead. _Canio_ turns savagely, leaps at him. A -steel blade flashes. _Silvio_ falls dead beside _Nedda_. - -"Gesummaria!" shriek the women; "Ridi _Pagliaccio_!" sob the -instruments of the orchestra. _Canio_ stands stupefied. The knife -falls from his hand: - -"La commedia è finita" (The comedy is ended). - -There are plays and stories in which, as in "Pagliacci," the drama on -a mimic stage suddenly becomes real life, so that the tragedy of the -play changes to the life-tragedy of one or more of the characters. -"Yorick's Love," in which I saw Lawrence Barrett act, and of which I -wrote a review for _Harper's Weekly_, was adapted by William D. -Howells from "Drama Nuevo" by Estébanez, which is at least fifty years -older than "Pagliacci." In it the actor _Yorick_ really murders the -actor, whom in character, he is supposed to kill in the play. In the -plot, as in real life, this actor had won away the love of _Yorick's_ -wife, before whose eyes he is slain by the wronged husband. About -1883, I should say, I wrote a story, "A Performance of Othello," for a -periodical published by students of Columbia University, in which the -player of _Othello_, impelled by jealousy, actually kills his wife, -who is the _Desdemona_, and then, as in the play, slays himself. Yet, -although the _motif_ is an old one, this did not prevent Catulle -Mendès, who himself had been charged with plagiarizing, in "La Femme -de Tabarin," Paul Ferrier's earlier play, "Tabarin," from accusing -Leoncavallo of plagiarizing "Pagliacci" from "La Femme de Tabarin," -and from instituting legal proceedings to enjoin the performance of -the opera in Brussels. Thereupon Leoncavallo, in a letter to his -publisher, stated that during his childhood at Montalto a jealous -player killed his wife after a performance, that his father was the -judge at the criminal's trial--circumstances which so impressed the -occurrence on his mind that he was led to adapt the episode for his -opera. Catulle Mendès accepted the explanation and withdrew his suit. - -There has been some discussion regarding the correct translation of -"Pagliacci." It is best rendered as "Clowns," although it only is -necessary to read in Italian cyclopedias the definition of -_Pagliaccio_ to appreciate Philip Hale's caution that the character is -not a clown in the restricted circus sense. Originally the word, -which is the same as the French _paillasse_, signified a bed of straw, -then was extended to include an upholstered under-mattress, and -finally was applied to the buffoon in the old Italian comedy, whose -costume generally was striped like the ticking or stuff, of which the -covering of a mattress is made. - -The play on the mimic stage in "Pagliacci" is, in fact, one of the -_Harlequin_ comedies that has been acted for centuries by strolling -players in Italy. But for the tragedy that intervenes in the opera, -_Pagliaccio's_ ruse in returning before he was expected, in order to -surprise his wife, _Columbina_, with _Arlecchino_, would have been -punished by his being buffetted about the room and ejected. For "the -reward of _Pagliaccio's_ most adroit stratagems is to be boxed on the -ears and kicked." - -Hence the poignancy of "Ridi, Pagliaccio!" - - - - -Giacomo Puccini - -(1858- ) - - -This composer, born in Lucca, Italy, June 22, 1858, first studied -music in his native place as a private pupil of Angeloni. Later, at -the Royal Conservatory, Milan, he came under the instruction of -Ponchielli, composer of "La Gioconda," whose influence upon modern -Italian opera, both as a preceptor and a composer, is regarded as -greater than that of any other musician. - -Puccini himself is considered the most important figure in the -operatic world of Italy today, the successor of Verdi, if there is -any. For while Mascagni and Leoncavallo each has one sensationally -successful short opera to his credit, neither has shown himself -capable of the sustained effort required to create a score vital -enough to maintain the interest of an audience throughout three or -four acts, a criticism I consider applicable even to Mascagni's -"Lodoletta," notwithstanding its production and repetitions at the -Metropolitan Opera House, New York, which I believe largely due to -unusual conditions produced by the European war. Puccini, on the other -hand, is represented in the repertoire of the modern opera house by -four large works: "Manon Lescaut" (1870), "La Bohème" (1896), "Tosca" -(1900), and "Madama Butterfly" (1904). His early two-act opera, "Le -Villi" (The Willis, Dal Verme Theatre, Milan, 1884), and his three-act -opera, "La Fanciulla del West" (The Girl of the Golden West), 1910, -have been much less successful; his "Edgar" (La Scala, Milan, 1889), -is not heard outside of Italy. And his opera, "La Rondine," has not at -this writing been produced here, and probably will not be until after -the war, the full score being the property of a publishing house in -Vienna, which, because of the war, has not been able to send copies of -it to the people in several countries to whom the performing rights -had been sold. - - -LE VILLI - -"Le Villi" (The Willis), signifying the ghosts of maidens deserted by -their lovers, is the title of a two-act opera by Puccini, words by -Ferdinando Fortuna, produced May 31, 1884, Dal Verme Theatre, Milan, -after it had been rejected in a prize competition at the Milan -Conservatory, but revised by the composer with the aid of Boïto. It is -Puccini's first work for the lyric stage. When produced at the Dal -Verme Theatre, it was in one act, the composer later extending it to -two, in which form it was brought out at the Reggio Theatre, Turin, -December 26, 1884; Metropolitan Opera House, N.Y., December 17, 1908, -with Alda (_Anna_), Bonci (_Robert_), Amato (_Wulf_). - -Of the principal characters _Wulf_ is a mountaineer of the Black -Forest; _Anna_, his daughter; _Robert_, her lover. After the betrothal -feast, _Robert_, obliged to depart upon a journey, swears to _Anna_ -that he will be faithful to her. In the second act, however, we find -him indulging in wild orgies in Mayence and squandering money on an -evil woman. In the second part of this act he returns to the Black -Forest a broken-down man. The Willis dance about him. From _Wulf's_ -hut he hears funeral music. _Anna's_ ghost now is one of the wild -dancers. While he appeals to her, they whirl about him. He falls dead. -The chorus sings "Hosanna" in derision of his belated plea for -forgiveness. - -Most expressive in the score is the wild dance of the Willis, who -"have a character of their own, entirely distinct from that of other -operatic spectres" (Streatfield). The prelude to the second act, -"L'Abbandono," also is effective. Attractive in the first act are the -betrothal scene, a prayer, and a waltz. "Le Villi," however, has not -been a success outside of Italy. - -"Manon Lescaut," on the other hand, has met with success elsewhere. -Between it and "Le Villi" Puccini produced another opera, "Edgar," -Milan, La Scala, 1889, but unknown outside of the composer's native -country. - - -MANON LESCAUT - - Opera in four acts, by Puccini. Produced at Turin, February - 1, 1893. Covent Garden, London, May 14, 1894. Grand Opera - House, Philadelphia, in English, August 29, 1894; Wallack's - Theatre, New York, May 27, 1898, by the Milan Royal Italian - Opera Company of La Scala; Metropolitan Opera House, New - York, January 18, 1907, with Caruso, Cavalieri, and Scotti. - The libretto, founded on Abbé Prévost's novel, is by - Puccini, assisted by a committee of friends. The composer - himself directed the production at the Metropolitan Opera - House. - - CHARACTERS - - MANON LESCAUT _Soprano_ - LESCAUT, sergeant of the King's Guards _Baritone_ - CHEVALIER DES GRIEUX _Tenor_ - GERONTE DE RAVOIR, Treasurer-General _Bass_ - EDMUND, a student _Tenor_ - - _Time_--Second half of eighteenth century. - - _Place_--Amiens, Paris, Havre, Louisiana. - -Act I plays in front of an inn at Amiens. _Edmund_ has a solo with -chorus for students and girls. _Lescaut_, _Geronte_, and _Manon_ -arrive in a diligence. _Lescaut_ is taking his sister to a convent to -complete her education, but finding her to be greatly admired by the -wealthy _Geronte_, is quite willing to play a negative part and let -the old satyr plot with the landlord to abduct _Manon_. _Des Grieux_, -however, has seen her. "Donna non vidi mai simile a questa" (Never did -I behold so fair a maiden), he sings in praise of her beauty. - -[Music] - -With her too it is love at first sight. When she rejoins him, as she -had promised to, they have a love duet. "Vedete! Io son fedele alla -parola mia" (Behold me! I have been faithful to my promise), she -sings. _Edmund_, who has overheard _Geronte's_ plot to abduct _Manon_, -informs _Des Grieux_, who has little trouble in inducing the girl to -elope with him. They drive off in the carriage _Geronte_ had ordered. -_Lescaut_, who has been carousing with the students, hints that, as -_Des Grieux_ is not wealthy and _Manon_ loves luxury, he will soon be -able to persuade her to desert her lover for the rich Treasurer-General. - -Such, indeed, is the case, and in Act II, she is found ensconced in -luxurious apartments in _Geronte's_ house in Paris. But to _Lescaut_, -who prides himself on having brought the business with her wealthy -admirer to a successful conclusion, she complains that "in quelle -trine morbide"--in those silken curtains--there's a chill that freezes -her. "O mia dimora umile, tu mi ritorni innanzi" (My little humble -dwelling, I see you there before me). She left _Des Grieux_ for wealth -and the luxuries it can bring--"Tell me, does not this gown suit me to -perfection?" she asks _Lescaut_--and yet she longs for her handsome -young lover. - -_Geronte_ sends singers to entertain her. They sing a madrigal, "Sulla -vetta tu del monte erri, O Clori" (Speed o'er the summit of the -mountain, gentle Chloe). - -[Music] - -Then a dancing master enters. _Manon_, _Lescaut_, _Geronte_, and old -beaus and abbés, who have come in with _Geronte_, form for the dance, -and a lesson in the minuet begins. - -[Music] - -_Lescaut_ hurries off to inform _Des Grieux_, who has made money in -gambling, where he can find _Manon_. When the lesson is over and all -have gone, her lover appears at the door. At first he reproaches her, -but soon is won by her beauty. There is an impassioned love duet, -"Vieni! Colle tue braccia stringi Manon che t'ama" (Oh, come love! In -your arms enfold Manon, who loves you). - -_Geronte_ surprises them, pretends to approve of their affection, but -really sends for the police. _Lescaut_ urges them to make a -precipitate escape. _Manon_, however, now loath to leave the luxuries -_Geronte_ has lavished on her, insists on gathering up her jewels in -order to take them with her. The delay is fatal. The police arrive. -She is arrested on the charge made by _Geronte_ that she is an -abandoned woman. - -Her sentence is banishment, with other women of loose character, to -the then French possession of Louisiana. The journey to Havre for -embarkation is represented by an intermezzo in the score, and an -extract from Abbé Prévost's story in the libretto. The theme of the -"Intermezzo," a striking composition, is as follows: - -[Music] - -Act III. The scene is laid in a square near the harbour at Havre. _Des -Grieux_ and _Lescaut_ attempt to free _Manon_ from imprisonment, but -are foiled. There is much hubbub. Then the roll is called of the -women, who are to be transported. As they step forward, the crowd -comments upon their looks. This, together with _Des Grieux's_ plea to -the captain of the ship to be taken along with _Manon_, no matter how -lowly the capacity in which he may be required to serve on board, make -a dramatic scene. - -Act IV. "A vast plain on the borders of the territory of New Orleans. -The country is bare and undulating, the horizon is far distant, the -sky is overcast. Night falls." Thus the libretto. The score is a long, -sad duet between _Des Grieux_ and _Manon_. _Manon_ dies of exhaustion. -_Des Grieux_ falls senseless upon her body. - - -LA BOHÈME - -THE BOHEMIANS - - Opera in four acts by Puccini; words by Giuseppe Giacosa and - Luigi Illica, founded on Henri Murger's book, _La Vie de - Bohème_. Produced, Teatro Reggio, Turin, February 1, 1896. - Manchester, England, in English, as "The Bohemians," April - 22, 1897. Covent Garden, London, in English, October 2, - 1897; in Italian, July 1, 1899. San Francisco, March, 1898, - and Wallack's Theatre, New York, May 16, 1898, by a - second-rate travelling organization, which called itself The - Milan Royal Italian Opera Company of La Scala; American - Theatre, New York, in English, by Henry W. Savage's Castle - Square Opera Company, November 20, 1898; Metropolitan Opera - House, New York, in Italian, December 18, 1901. - - CHARACTERS - - RUDOLPH, a poet _Tenor_ - MARCEL, a painter _Baritone_ - COLLINE, a philosopher _Bass_ - SCHAUNARD, a musician _Baritone_ - BENOIT, a landlord _Bass_ - ALCINDORO, a state councillor and - follower of _Musetta_ _Bass_ - PARPIGNOL, an itinerant toy vender _Tenor_ - CUSTOM-HOUSE SERGEANT _Bass_ - MUSETTA, a grisette _Soprano_ - MIMI, a maker of embroidery _Soprano_ - - Students, work girls, citizens, shopkeepers, street venders, - soldiers, waiters, boys, girls, etc. - - _Time_--About 1830. - - _Place_--Latin Quarter, Paris. - -"La Bohème" is considered by many Puccini's finest score. There is -little to choose, however, between it, "Tosca," and "Madama -Butterfly." Each deals successfully with its subject. It chances that, -as "La Bohème" is laid in the Quartier Latin, the students' quarter of -Paris, where gayety and pathos touch elbows, it laughs as well as -weeps. Authors and composers who can tear passion to tatters are more -numerous than those who have the light touch of high comedy. The -latter, a distinguished gift, confers distinction upon many passages -in the score of "La Bohème," which anon sparkles with merriment, anon -is eloquent of love, anon is stressed by despair. - -Act I. The garret in the Latin Quarter, where live the inseparable -quartet--_Rudolph_, poet; _Marcel_, painter; _Colline_, philosopher; -_Schaunard_, musician, who defy hunger with cheerfulness and play -pranks upon the landlord of their meagre lodging, when he importunes -them for his rent. - -When the act opens, _Rudolph_ is at a table writing, and _Marcel_ is -at work on a painting, "The Passage of the Red Sea." He remarks that, -owing to lack of fuel for the garret stove, the Red Sea is rather -cold. - -"Questo mar rosso" (This Red Sea), runs the duet, in the course of -which _Rudolph_ says that he will sacrifice the manuscript of his -tragedy to the needs of the stove. They tear up the first act, throw -it into the stove, and light it. _Colline_ comes in with a bundle of -books he has vainly been attempting to pawn. Another act of the -tragedy goes into the fire, by which they warm themselves, still -hungry. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Farrar as Mimi in "La Bohème"] - -[Illustration: Photo by Hall - -Café Momus Scene, "La Bohème," Act II - -Mimi (Rennyson), Musette (Joel), Rudolph (Sheehan)] - -But relief is nigh. Two boys enter. They bring provisions and fuel. -After them comes _Schaunard_. He tosses money on the table. The -boys leave. In vain _Schaunard_ tries to tell his friends the -ludicrous details of his three-days' musical engagement to an -eccentric Englishman. It is enough for them that it has yielded fuel -and food, and that some money is left over for the immediate future. -Between their noise in stoking the stove and unpacking the provisions, -_Schaunard_ cannot make himself heard. - -_Rudolph_ locks the door. Then all go to the table and pour out wine. -It is Christmas eve. _Schaunard_ suggests that, when they have emptied -their glasses, they repair to their favourite resort, the Café Momus, -and dine. Agreed. Just then there is a knock. It is _Benoit_, their -landlord, for the rent. They let him in and invite him to drink with -them. The sight of the money on the table reassures him. He joins -them. The wine loosens his tongue. He boasts of his conquests of women -at shady resorts. The four friends feign indignation. What! He, a -married man, engaged in such disreputable proceedings! They seize him, -lift him to his feet, and eject him, locking the door after him. - -The money on the table was earned by _Schaunard_, but, according to -their custom, they divide it. Now, off for the Café Momus--that is, -all but _Rudolph_, who will join them soon--when he has finished an -article he has to write for a new journal, the _Beaver_. He stands on -the landing with a lighted candle to aid the others in making their -way down the rickety stairs. - -With little that can be designated as set melody, there nevertheless -has not been a dull moment in the music of these scenes. It has been -brisk, merry and sparkling, in keeping with the careless gayety of the -four dwellers in the garret. - -Re-entering the room, and closing the door after him, _Rudolph_ clears -a space on the table for pens and paper, then sits down to write. -Ideas are slow in coming. Moreover, at that moment, there is a timid -knock at the door. - -"Who's there?" he calls. - -It is a woman's voice that says, hesitatingly, "Excuse me, my candle -has gone out." - -_Rudolph_ runs to the door, and opens it. On the threshold stands a -frail, appealingly attractive young woman. She has in one hand an -extinguished candle, in the other a key. _Rudolph_ bids her come in. -She crosses the threshold. A woman of haunting sweetness in aspect and -manner has entered Bohemia. - -She lights her candle by his, but, as she is about to leave, the -draught again extinguishes it. _Rudolph's_ candle also is blown out, -as he hastens to relight hers. The room is dark, save for the -moonlight that, over the snow-clad roofs of Paris, steals in through -the garret window. _Mimi_ exclaims that she has dropped the key to the -door of her room. They search for it. He finds it but slips it into -his pocket. Guided by _Mimi's_ voice and movements, he approaches. As -she stoops, his hand meets hers. He clasps it. - -"Che gelida manina" (How cold your hand), he exclaims with tender -solicitude. "Let me warm it into life." He then tells her who he is, -in what has become known as the "Racconto di Rodolfo" (Rudolph's -Narrative), which, from the gentle and solicitous phrase, "Che gelida -manina," followed by the proud exclamation, "Sono un poeta" (I am a -poet), leads up to an eloquent avowal of his dreams and fancies. Then -comes the girl's charming "Mi chiamano Mimi" (They call me Mimi), in -which she tells of her work and how the flowers she embroiders for a -living transport her from her narrow room out into the broad fields -and meadows. "Mi chiamano Mimi" is as follows:-- - -[Music] - -Her frailty, which one can see is caused by consumption in its early -stages, makes her beauty the more appealing to _Rudolph_. - -His friends call him from the street below. Their voices draw _Mimi_ -to the window. In the moonlight she appears even lovelier to -_Rudolph_. "O soave fanciulla" (Thou beauteous maiden), he exclaims, -as he takes her to his arms. This is the beginning of the love duet, -which, though it be sung in a garret, is as impassioned as any that, -in opera, has echoed through the corridors of palaces, or the moonlit -colonnades of forests by historic rivers. The theme is quoted here in -the key, in which it occurs, like a premonition, a little earlier in -the act. - -[Music] - -The theme of the love duet is used by the composer several times in -the course of the opera, and always in association with _Mimi_. -Especially in the last act does it recur with poignant effect. - -Act II. A meeting of streets, where they form a square, with shops of -all sorts, and the Café Momus. The square is filled with a happy -Christmas eve crowd. Somewhat aloof from this are _Rudolph_ and -_Mimi_. _Colline_ stands near the shop of a clothes dealer. -_Schaunard_ is haggling with a tinsmith over the price of a horn. -_Marcel_ is chaffing the girls who jostle against him in the crowd. - -There are street venders crying their wares; citizens, students, and -work girls, passing to and fro and calling to each other; people at -the café giving orders--a merry whirl, depicted in the music by -snatches of chorus, bits of recitative, and an instrumental -accompaniment that runs through the scene like a many-coloured thread, -and holds the pattern together. - -_Rudolph_ and _Mimi_ enter a bonnet shop. The animation outside -continues. When the two lovers come out of the shop, _Mimi_ is wearing -a new bonnet trimmed with roses. She looks about. - -"What is it?" _Rudolph_ asks suspiciously. - -"Are you jealous?" asks _Mimi_. - -"The man in love is always jealous." - -_Rudolph's_ friends are at a table outside the café. _Rudolph_ joins -them with _Mimi_. He introduces her to them as one who will make their -party complete, for he "will play the poet, while she's the muse -incarnate." - -_Parpignol_, the toy vender, crosses the square and goes off, followed -by children, whose mothers try to restrain them. The toy vender is -heard crying his wares in the distance. The quartet of Bohemians, now -a quintet through the accession of _Mimi_, order eatables and wine. - -Shopwomen, who are going away, look down one of the streets, and -exclaim over someone whom they see approaching. - -"'Tis Musetta! My, she is gorgeous!--Some stammering old dotard is -with her." - -_Musetta_ and _Marcel_ have loved, quarrelled, and parted. She has -recently put up with the aged but wealthy _Alcindoro de Mittoneaux_, -who, when she comes upon the square, is out of breath trying to keep -up with her. - -Despite _Musetta's_ and _Marcel's_ attempt to appear indifferent to -each other's presence, it is plain that they are not so. _Musetta_ has -a chic waltz song, "Quando me'n vo soletta per la via" (As through the -streets I wander onward merrily), one of the best-known numbers of the -score, which she deliberately sings at _Marcel_, to make him aware, -without arousing her aged gallant's suspicions, that she still loves -him. - -[Music] - -Feigning that a shoe hurts her, she makes the ridiculous _Alcindoro_ -unlatch and remove it, and trot off with it to the cobbler's. She and -_Marcel_ then embrace, and she joins the five friends at their table, -and the expensive supper ordered by _Alcindoro_ is served to them with -their own. - -The military tattoo is heard approaching from the distance. There is -great confusion in the square. A waiter brings the bill for the -Bohemians' order. _Schaunard_ looks in vain for his purse. _Musetta_ -comes to the rescue. "Make one bill of the two orders. The gentleman -who was with me will pay it." - -The patrol enters, headed by a drum major. _Musetta_, being without -her shoe, cannot walk, so _Marcel_ and _Colline_ lift her between them -to their shoulders, and carry her through the crowd, which, sensing -the humour of the situation, gives her an ovation, then swirls around -_Alcindoro_, whose foolish, senile figure, appearing from the -direction of the cobbler's shop with a pair of shoes for _Musetta_, it -greets with jeers. For his gay ladybird has fled with her friends from -the _Quartier_, and left him to pay all the bills. - -Act III. A gate to the city of Paris on the Orleans road. A toll house -at the gate. To the left a tavern, from which, as a signboard hangs -_Marcel's_ picture of the Red Sea. Several plane trees. It is -February. Snow is on the ground. The hour is that of dawn. Scavengers, -milk women, truckmen, peasants with produce, are waiting to be -admitted to the city. Custom-house officers are seated, asleep, around -a brazier. Sounds of revelry are heard from the tavern. These, -together with characteristic phrases, when the gate is opened and -people enter, enliven the first scene. - -Into the small square comes _Mimi_ from the Rue d'Enfer, which leads -from the Latin Quarter. She looks pale, distressed, and frailer than -ever. A cough racks her. Now and then she leans against one of the -bare, gaunt plane trees for support. - -A message from her brings _Marcel_ out of the tavern. He tells her he -finds it more lucrative to paint signboards than pictures. _Musetta_ -gives music lessons. _Rudolph_ is with them. Will not _Mimi_ join -them? She weeps, and tells him that _Rudolph_ is so jealous of her she -fears they must part. When _Rudolph_, having missed _Marcel_, comes -out to look for him, _Mimi_ hides behind a plane tree, from where she -hears her lover tell his friend that he wishes to give her up because -of their frequent quarrels. "Mimi è una civetta" (Mimi is a heartless -creature) is the burden of his song. Her violent coughing reveals her -presence. They decide to part--not angrily, but regretfully: "Addio, -senza rancor" (Farewell, then, I wish you well), sings _Mimi_. - -[Music] - -Meanwhile _Marcel_, who has re-entered the tavern, has caught -_Musetta_ flirting with a stranger. This starts a quarrel, which -brings them out into the street. Thus the music becomes a quartet: -"Addio, dolce svegliare" (Farewell, sweet love), sing _Rudolph_ and -_Mimi_, while _Marcel_ and _Musetta_ upbraid each other. The -temperamental difference between the two women, _Mimi_ gentle and -melancholy, _Musetta_ aggressive and disputatious, and the difference -in the effect upon the two men, are admirably brought out by the -composer. "Viper!" "Toad!" _Marcel_ and _Musetta_ call out to each -other, as they separate; while the frail _Mimi_ sighs, "Ah! that our -winter night might last forever," and she and _Rudolph_ sing, "Our -time for parting's when the roses blow." - -Act IV. The scene is again the attic of the four Bohemians. _Rudolph_ -is longing for _Mimi_, of whom he has heard nothing, _Marcel_ for -_Musetta_, who, having left him, is indulging in one of her gay -intermezzos with one of her wealthy patrons. "Ah, Mimi, tu più" (Ah, -Mimi, fickle-hearted), sings _Rudolph_, as he gazes at the little pink -bonnet he bought her at the milliner's shop Christmas eve. _Schaunard_ -thrusts the water bottle into _Colline's_ hat as if the latter were a -champagne cooler. The four friends seek to forget sorrow and poverty -in assuming mock dignities and then indulging in a frolic about the -attic. When the fun is at its height, the door opens and _Musetta_ -enters. She announces that _Mimi_ is dying and, as a last request, has -asked to be brought back to the attic, where she had been so happy -with _Rudolph_. He rushes out to get her, and supports her feeble and -faltering footsteps to the cot, on which he gently lowers her. - -She coughs; her hands are very cold. _Rudolph_ takes them in his to -warm them. _Musetta_ hands her earrings to _Marcel_, and bids him go -out and sell them quickly, then buy a tonic for the dying girl. There -is no coffee, no wine. _Colline_ takes off his overcoat, and, having -apostrophized it in the "Song of the Coat," goes out to sell it, so as -to be able to replenish the larder. _Musetta_ runs off to get her muff -for _Mimi_, her hands are still so cold. - -_Rudolph_ and the dying girl are now alone. This tragic moment, when -their love revives too late, finds expression, at once passionate and -exquisite, in the music. The phrases "How cold your hand," "They call -me Mimi," from the love scene in the first act, recur like mournful -memories. - -_Mimi_ whispers of incidents from early in their love. "Te lo -rammenti" (Ah! do you remember). - -[Music] - -_Musetta_ and the others return. There are tender touches in the good -offices they would render the dying girl. They are aware before -_Rudolph_ that she is beyond aid. In their faces he reads what has -happened. With a cry, "Mimi! Mimi!" he falls sobbing upon her lifeless -form. _Musetta_ kneels weeping at the foot of the bed. _Schaunard_, -overcome, sinks back into a chair. _Colline_ stands dazed at the -suddenness of the catastrophe. _Marcel_ turns away to hide his -emotion. - -Mi chiamano Mimi! - - -TOSCA - - Opera in three acts by Puccini; words by L. Illica and G. - Giacosa after the drama, "La Tosca," by Sardou. Produced, - Constanzi Theatre, Rome, January 14, 1900; London, Covent - Garden, July 12, 1900. Buenos Aires, June 16, 1900. - Metropolitan Opera House, New York, February 4, 1901, with - Ternina, Cremonini, Scotti, Gilibert (_Sacristan_), and - Dufriche (_Angelotti_). - - CHARACTERS - - FLORIA TOSCA, a celebrated singer _Soprano_ - MARIO CAVARADOSSI, a painter _Tenor_ - BARON SCARPIA, Chief of Police _Baritone_ - CESARE ANGELOTTI _Bass_ - A SACRISTAN _Baritone_ - SPOLETTA, police agent _Tenor_ - SCIARRONE, a gendarme _Bass_ - A GAOLER _Bass_ - A SHEPHERD BOY _Contralto_ - - Roberti, executioner; a cardinal, judge, scribe, officer, - and sergeant, soldiers, police agents, ladies, nobles, - citizens, artisans, etc. - - _Time_--June, 1800. - - _Place_--Rome. - -Three sharp, vigorous chords, denoting the imperious yet sinister and -vindictive character of _Scarpia_--such is the introduction to -"Tosca." - - * * * * * - -Act I. The church of Sant'Andrea della Valle. To the right the -Attavanti chapel; left a scaffolding, dais, and easel. On the easel a -large picture covered by a cloth. Painting accessories. A basket. - -Enter _Angelotti_. He has escaped from prison and is seeking a hiding -place. Looking about, he recognizes a pillar shrine containing an -image of the Virgin, and surmounting a receptacle for holy water. -Beneath the feet of the image he searches for and discovers a key, -unlocks the Attavanti chapel and disappears within it. The _Sacristan_ -comes in. He has a bunch of brushes that he has been cleaning, and -evidently is surprised not to find _Cavaradossi_ at his easel. He -looks into the basket, finds the luncheon in it untouched, and now is -sure he was mistaken in thinking he had seen the painter enter. - -The Angelus is rung. The _Sacristan_ kneels. _Cavaradossi_ enters. He -uncovers the painting--a Mary Magdalen with large blue eyes and masses -of golden hair. The _Sacristan_ recognizes in it the portrait of a -lady who lately has come frequently to the church to worship. The good -man is scandalized at what he considers a sacrilege. _Cavaradossi_, -however, has other things to think of. He compares the face in the -portrait with the features of the woman he loves, the dark-eyed -_Floria Tosca_, famous as a singer. "Recondita armonia di bellezze -diverse" (Strange harmony of contrasts deliciously blending), he -sings. - -Meanwhile the _Sacristan_, engaged in cleaning the brushes in a jug of -water, continues to growl over the sacrilege of putting frivolous -women into religious paintings. Finally, his task with the brushes -over, he points to the basket and asks, "Are you fasting?" "Nothing -for me," says the painter. The _Sacristan_ casts a greedy look at the -basket, as he thinks of the benefit he will derive from the artist's -abstemiousness. The painter goes on with his work. The _Sacristan_ -leaves. - -_Angelotti_, believing no one to be in the church, comes out of his -hiding place. He and _Cavaradossi_ recognize each other. _Angelotti_ -has just escaped from the prison in the castle of Sant'Angelo. The -painter at once offers to help him. Just then, however, _Tosca's_ -voice is heard outside. The painter presses the basket with wine and -viands upon the exhausted fugitive, and urges him back into the -chapel, while from without _Tosca_ calls more insistently, "Mario!" - -Feigning calm, for the meeting with _Angelotti_, who had been -concerned in the abortive uprising to make Rome a republic, has -excited him, _Cavaradossi_ admits _Tosca_. Jealously she insists that -he was whispering with someone, and that she heard footsteps and the -swish of skirts. Her lover reassures her, tries to embrace her. Gently -she reproves him. She cannot let him kiss her before the Madonna until -she has prayed to her image and made an offering. She adorns the -Virgin's figure with flowers she has brought with her, kneels in -prayer, crosses herself and rises. She tells _Cavaradossi_ to await -her at the stage door that night, and they will steal away together to -his villa. He is still distrait. When he replies, absent-mindedly, he -surely will be there, her comment is, "Thou say'st it badly." Then, -beginning the love duet, "Non la sospiri la nostra casetta" (Dost -thou not long for our dovecote secluded), she conjures up for him a -vision of that "sweet, sweet nest in which we love-birds hide." - -For the moment _Cavaradossi_ forgets _Angelotti_; then, however, urges -_Tosca_ to leave him, so that he may continue with his work. She is -vexed and, when she recognizes in the picture of Mary Magdalen the -fair features of the Marchioness Attavanti, she becomes jealous to the -point of rage. But her lover soon soothes her. The episode is -charming. In fact the libretto, following the Sardou play, unfolds, -scene by scene, an always effective drama. - -_Tosca_ having departed, _Cavaradossi_ lets _Angelotti_ out of the -chapel. He is a brother of the Attavanti, of whom _Tosca_ is so -needlessly jealous, and who has concealed a suit of woman's clothing -for him under the altar. They mention _Scarpia_--"A bigoted satyr and -hypocrite, secretly steeped in vice, yet most demonstratively -pious"--the first hint we have in the opera of the relentless -character, whose desire to possess _Tosca_ is the mainspring of the -drama. - -A cannon shot startles them. It is from the direction of the castle -and announces the escape of a prisoner--_Angelotti_. _Cavaradossi_ -suggests the grounds of his villa as a place of concealment from -_Scarpia_ and his police agents, especially the old dried-up well, -from which a secret passage leads to a dark vault. It can be reached -by a rough path just outside the Attavanti chapel. The painter even -offers to guide the fugitive. They leave hastily. - -The _Sacristan_ enters excitedly. He has great news. Word has been -received that Bonaparte has been defeated. The old man now notices, -however, greatly to his surprise, that the painter has gone. Acolytes, -penitents, choristers, and pupils of the chapel crowd in from all -directions. There is to be a "Te Deum" in honour of the victory, and -at evening, in the Farnese palace, a cantata with _Floria Tosca_ as -soloist. It means extra pay for the choristers. They are jubilant. - -_Scarpia_ enters unexpectedly. He stands in a doorway. A sudden hush -falls upon all. For a while they are motionless, as if spellbound. -While preparations are making for the "Te Deum," _Scarpia_ orders -search made in the Attavanti chapel. He finds a fan which, from the -coat-of-arms on it, he recognizes as having been left there by -_Angelotti's_ sister. A police agent also finds a basket. As he comes -out with it, the _Sacristan_ unwittingly exclaims that it is -_Cavaradossi's_, and empty, although the painter had said that he -would eat nothing. It is plain to _Scarpia_, who has also discovered -in the Mary Magdalen of the picture the likeness to the Marchioness -Attavanti, that _Cavaradossi_ had given the basket of provisions to -_Angelotti_, and has been an accomplice in his escape. - -_Tosca_ comes in and quickly approaches the dais. She is greatly -surprised not to find _Cavaradossi_ at work on the picture. _Scarpia_ -dips his fingers in holy water and deferentially extends them to -_Tosca_. Reluctantly she touches them, then crosses herself. _Scarpia_ -insinuatingly compliments her on her religious zeal. She comes to -church to pray, not, like certain frivolous wantons--he points to the -picture--to meet their lovers. He now produces the fan. "Is this a -painter's brush or a mahlstick?" he asks, and adds that he found it on -the easel. Quickly, jealously, _Tosca_ examines it, sees the arms of -the Attavanti. She had come to tell her lover that, because she is -obliged to sing in the cantata she will be unable to meet him that -night. Her reward is this evidence, offered by _Scarpia_, that he has -been carrying on a love affair with another woman, with whom he -probably has gone to the villa. She gives way to an outburst of -jealous rage; then, weeping, leaves the chapel, to the gates of which -_Scarpia_ gallantly escorts her. He beckons to his agent _Spoletta_, -and orders him to trail her and report to him at evening at the -Farnese palace. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Cavalieri as Tosca] - -[Illustration: Photo by Mishkin - -Scotti as Scarpia] - -Church bells are tolling. Intermittently from the castle of -Sant'Angelo comes the boom of the cannon. A Cardinal has entered and -is advancing to the high altar. The "Te Deum" has begun. _Scarpia_ -soliloquizes vindictively: "Va, Tosca! Nel tuo cuor s'annida Scarpia" -(Go, Tosca! There is room in your heart for Scarpia). - -He pauses to bow reverently as the Cardinal passes by. Still -soliloquizing, he exults in his power to send _Cavaradossi_ to -execution, while _Tosca_ he will bring to his own arms. For her, he -exclaims, he would renounce his hopes of heaven; then kneels and -fervently joins in the "Te Deum." - -This finale, with its elaborate apparatus, its complex emotions and -the sinister and dominating figure of _Scarpia_ set against a -brilliant and constantly shifting background, is a stirring and -effective climax to the act. - -Act II. The Farnese Palace. _Scarpia's_ apartments on an upper floor. -A large window overlooks the palace courtyard. _Scarpia_ is seated at -table supping. At intervals he breaks off to reflect. His manner is -anxious. An orchestra is heard from a lower story of the palace, where -Queen Caroline is giving an entertainment in honour of the reported -victory over Bonaparte. They are dancing, while waiting for _Tosca_, -who is to sing in the cantata. _Scarpia_ summons _Sciarrone_ and gives -him a letter, which is to be handed to the singer upon her arrival. - -_Spoletta_ returns from his mission. _Tosca_ was followed to a villa -almost hidden by foliage. She remained but a short time. When she left -it, _Spoletta_ and his men searched the house, but could not find -_Angelotti_. _Scarpia_ is furious, but is appeased when _Spoletta_ -tells him that they discovered _Cavaradossi_, put him in irons, and -have brought him with them. - -Through the open window there is now heard the beginning of the -cantata, showing that _Tosca_ has arrived and is on the floor below, -where are the Queen's reception rooms. Upon _Scarpia's_ order there -are brought in _Cavaradossi_, _Roberti_, the executioner, and a judge -with his clerk. _Cavaradossi's_ manner is indignant, defiant, -_Scarpia's_ at first suave. Now and then _Tosca's_ voice is heard -singing below. Finally _Scarpia_ closes the window, thus shutting out -the music. His questions addressed to _Cavaradossi_ are now put in a -voice more severe. He has just asked, "Once more and for the last -time," where is _Angelotti_, when _Tosca_, evidently alarmed by the -contents of the note received from _Scarpia_, hurries in and, seeing -_Cavaradossi_, fervently embraces him. Under his breath he manages to -warn her against disclosing anything she saw at the villa. - -_Scarpia_ orders that _Cavaradossi_ be removed to an adjoining room -and his deposition there taken. _Tosca_ is not aware that it is the -torture chamber the door to which has closed upon her lover. With -_Tosca_ _Scarpia_ begins his interview quietly, deferentially. He has -deduced from _Spoletta's_ report of her having remained but a short -time at the villa that, instead of discovering the Attavanti with her -lover, as she jealously had suspected, she had found him making plans -to conceal _Angelotti_. In this he has just been confirmed by her -frankly affectionate manner toward _Cavaradossi_. - -At first she answers _Scarpia's_ questions as to the presence of -someone else at the villa lightly; then, when he becomes more -insistent, her replies show irritation, until, turning on her with -"ferocious sternness," he tells her that his agents are attempting to -wring a confession from _Cavaradossi_ by torture. Even at that moment -a groan is heard. _Tosca_ implores mercy for her lover. Yes, if she -will disclose the hiding place of _Angelotti_. Groan after groan -escapes from the torture chamber. _Tosca_, overcome, bursts into -convulsive sobs and sinks back upon a sofa. _Spoletta_ kneels and -mutters a Latin prayer. _Scarpia_ remains cruelly impassive, silent, -until, seeing his opportunity in _Tosca's_ collapse, he steps to the -door and signals to the executioner, _Roberti_, to apply still greater -torture. The air is rent with a prolonged cry of pain. Unable longer -to bear her lover's anguish and, in spite of warnings to say nothing, -which he has called out to her between his spasms, she says hurriedly -and in a stifled voice to _Scarpia_, "The well ... in the garden." - -_Cavaradossi_ is borne in from the torture chamber and deposited on -the sofa. Kneeling beside him _Tosca_ lavishes tears and kisses upon -him. _Sciarrone_, the judge, _Roberti_ and the _Clerk_ go. In -obedience to a sign from _Scarpia_, _Spoletta_ and the agents remain -behind. Still loyal to his friend, _Cavaradossi_, although racked with -pain, asks _Tosca_ if unwittingly in his anguish he has disclosed -aught. She reassures him. - -In a loud and commanding voice _Scarpia_ says to _Spoletta_: "In the -well in the garden--Go _Spoletta_!" - -From _Scarpia's_ words _Cavaradossi_ knows that _Tosca_ has betrayed -_Angelotti's_ hiding place. He tries to repulse her. - -_Sciarrone_ rushes in much perturbed. He brings bad news. The victory -they have been celebrating has turned into defeat. Bonaparte has -triumphed at Marengo. _Cavaradossi_ is roused to enthusiasm by the -tidings. "Tremble, Scarpia, thou butcherly hypocrite," he cries. - -It is his death warrant. At _Scarpia's_ command _Sciarrone_ and the -agents seize him and drag him away to be hanged. - -Quietly seating himself at table, _Scarpia_ invites _Tosca_ to a -chair. Perhaps they can discover a plan by which _Cavaradossi_ may be -saved. He carefully polishes a wineglass with a napkin, fills it with -wine, and pushes it toward her. - -"Your price?" she asks, contemptuously. - -Imperturbably he fills his glass. She is the price that must be paid -for _Cavaradossi's_ life. The horror with which she shrinks from the -proposal, her unfeigned detestation of the man putting it forward, -make her seem the more fascinating to him. There is a sound of distant -drums. It is the escort that will conduct _Cavaradossi_ to the -scaffold. _Scarpia_ has almost finished supper. Imperturbably he peels -an apple and cuts it in quarters, occasionally looking up and scanning -his chosen victim's features. - -Distracted, not knowing whither or to whom to turn, _Tosca_ now utters -the famous "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore, non feci mai male ad anima -viva": - - (Music and love--these have I lived for, - Nor ever have I harmed a living being.... - - In this, my hour of grief and bitter tribulation, - O, Heavenly Father, why hast Thou forsaken me), - -The "Vissi d'arte" justly is considered the most beautiful air in the -repertoire of modern Italian opera. It is to passages of surpassing -eloquence like this that Puccini owes his fame, and his operas are -indebted for their lasting power of appeal. - -Beginning quietly, "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore," - -[Music] - -it works up to the impassioned, heart-rending outburst of grief with -which it comes to an end. - -[Music] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Emma Eames as Tosca] - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Caruso as Mario in "Tosca"] - -A knock at the door. _Spoletta_ comes to announce that _Angelotti_, on -finding himself discovered, swallowed poison. "The other," he adds, -meaning _Cavaradossi_, "awaits your decision." The life of _Tosca's_ -lover is in the hands of the man who has told her how she may save -him. Softly _Scarpia_ asks her, "What say you?" She nods consent; -then, weeping for the shame of it, buries her head in the sofa -cushions. - -_Scarpia_ says it is necessary for a mock execution to be gone through -with, before _Tosca_ and _Cavaradossi_ can flee Rome. He directs -_Spoletta_ that the execution is to be simulated--"as we did in the -case of Palmieri.--You understand." - -"Just like Palmieri," _Spoletta_ repeats with emphasis, and goes. - -_Scarpia_ turns to _Tosca_. "I have kept my promise." She, however, -demands safe conduct for _Cavaradossi_ and herself. _Scarpia_ goes to -his desk to write the paper. With trembling hand _Tosca_, standing at -the table, raises to her lips the wineglass filled for her by -_Scarpia_. As she does so she sees the sharp, pointed knife with which -he peeled and quartered the apple. A rapid glance at the desk assures -her that he still is writing. With infinite caution she reaches out, -secures possession of the knife, conceals it on her person. _Scarpia_ -has finished writing. He folds up the paper, advances toward _Tosca_ -with open arms to embrace her. - -"_Tosca_, at last thou art mine!" - -With a swift stroke of the knife, she stabs him full in the breast. - -"It is thus that _Tosca_ kisses!" - -He staggers, falls. Ineffectually he strives to rise; makes a final -effort; falls backward; dies. - -Glancing back from time to time at _Scarpia's_ corpse, _Tosca_ goes to -the table, where she dips a napkin in water and washes her fingers. -She arranges her hair before a looking-glass, then looks on the desk -for the safe-conduct. Not finding it there, she searches elsewhere for -it, finally discovers it clutched in _Scarpia's_ dead fingers, lifts -his arm, draws out the paper from between the fingers, and lets the -arm fall back stiff and stark, as she hides the paper in her bosom. -For a brief moment she surveys the body, then extinguishes the lights -on the supper table. - -About to leave, she sees one of the candles on the desk still burning. -With a grace of solemnity, she lights with it the other candle, places -one candle to the right, the other to the left of _Scarpia's_ head, -takes down a crucifix from the wall, and, kneeling, places it on the -dead man's breast. There is a roll of distant drums. She rises; steals -out of the room. - -In the opera, as in the play, which was one of Sarah Bernhardt's -triumphs, it is a wonderful scene--one of the greatest in all drama. -Anyone who has seen it adequately acted, knows what it has signified -in the success of the opera, even after giving Puccini credit for -"Vissi d'arte" and an expressive accompaniment to all that transpires -on the stage. - -Act III. A platform of the Castle Sant'Angelo. Left, a casement with a -table, a bench, and a stool. On the table are a lantern, a huge -register book, and writing materials. Suspended on one of the walls -are a crucifix and a votive lamp. Right, a trap door opening on a -flight of steps that lead to the platform from below. The Vatican and -St. Paul's are seen in the distance. The clear sky is studded with -stars. It is just before dawn. The jangle of sheep bells is heard, at -first distant, then nearer. Without, a shepherd sings his lay. A dim, -grey light heralds the approach of dawn. - -The firing party conducting _Cavaradossi_ ascends the steps through -the trap door and is received by a jailer. From a paper handed him by -the sergeant in charge of the picket, the jailer makes entries in the -register, to which the sergeant signs his name, then descends the -steps followed by the picket. A bell strikes. "You have an hour," the -jailer tells _Cavaradossi_. The latter craves the favour of being -permitted to write a letter. It being granted, he begins to write, but -soon loses himself in memories of _Tosca_. "E lucevan le stelle ed -olezzava la terra" (When the stars were brightly shining, and faint -perfumes the air pervaded)--a tenor air of great beauty. - -[Music] - -He buries his face in his hands. _Spoletta_ and the sergeant conduct -_Tosca_ up the steps to the platform, and point out to her where she -will find _Cavaradossi_. A dim light still envelopes the scene as with -mystery. _Tosca_, seeing her lover, rushes up to him and, unable to -speak for sheer emotion, lifts his hands and shows him--herself and -the safe-conduct. - -"At what price?" he asks. - -Swiftly she tells him what _Scarpia_ demanded of her, and how, having -consented, she thwarted him by slaying him with her own hand. Lovingly -he takes her hands in his. "O dolci mani mansuete e pure" (Oh! gentle -hands, so pitiful and tender). Her voice mingles with his in love and -gratitude for deliverance. - -"Amaro sol per te m'era il morire" (The sting of death, I only felt -for thee, love). - -[Music] - -She informs him of the necessity of going through a mock execution. He -must fall naturally and lie perfectly still, as if dead, until she -calls to him. They laugh over the ruse. It will be amusing. The firing -party arrives. The sergeant offers to bandage _Cavaradossi's_ eyes. -The latter declines. He stands with his back to the wall. The soldiers -take aim. _Tosca_ stops her ears with her hands so that she may not -hear the explosion. The officer lowers his sword. The soldiers fire. -_Cavaradossi_ falls. - -"How well he acts it!" exclaims _Tosca_. - -A cloth is thrown over _Cavaradossi_. The firing party marches off. -_Tosca_ cautions her lover not to move yet. The footsteps of the -firing party die away--"Now get up." He does not move. Can he not -hear? She goes nearer to him. "Mario! Up quickly! Away!--Up! up! -Mario!" - -She raises the cloth. To the last _Scarpia_ has tricked her. He had -ordered a real, not a mock execution. Her lover lies at her feet--a -corpse. - -There are cries from below the platform. _Scarpia's_ murder has been -discovered. His myrmidons are hastening to apprehend her. She springs -upon the parapet and throws herself into space. - -[Illustration: Farrar as Tosca] - - -MADAMA BUTTERFLY - -MADAM BUTTERFLY - - Opera in two acts, by Giacomo Puccini, words after the story - of John Luther Long and the drama of David Belasco by L. - Illica and G. Giacosa. English version by Mrs. R.H. Elkin. - Produced unsuccessfully, La Scala, Milan, February 17, - 1904, with Storchio, Zenatello, and De Luca, conductor - Cleofante Campanini. Slightly revised, but with Act II - divided into two distinct parts, at Brescia, May 28, 1904, - with Krusceniski, Zenatello, and Bellati, when it scored a - success. Covent Garden, London, July 10, 1905, with Destinn, - Caruso, and Scotti, conductor Campanini. Washington, D.C., - October, 1906, in English, by the Savage Opera Company, and - by the same company, Garden Theatre, New York, November 12, - 1906, with Elsa Szamozy, Harriet Behne, Joseph F. Sheehan, - and Winifred Goff; Metropolitan Opera House, New York, - February 11, 1907, with Farrar (_Butterfly_), Homer - (_Suzuki_), Caruso (_Pinkerton_), Scotti (_Sharpless_), and - Reiss (_Goro_). - - CHARACTERS - - MADAM BUTTERFLY (Cio-Cio-San) _Soprano_ - SUZUKI (her servant) _Mezzo-Soprano_ - KATE PINKERTON _Mezzo-Soprano_ - B.F. PINKERTON, Lieutenant, U.S.N. _Tenor_ - SHARPLESS (U.S. Consul at Nagasaki) _Baritone_ - GORO (a marriage broker) _Tenor_ - PRINCE YAMADORI _Baritone_ - THE BONZE (_Cio-Cio-San's uncle_) _Bass_ - YAKUSIDE _Baritone_ - THE IMPERIAL COMMISSIONER _Bass_ - THE OFFICIAL REGISTRAR } _Baritone_ - CIO-CIO-SAN'S MOTHER } Members of _Mezzo-Soprano_ - THE AUNT } the Chorus _Mezzo-Soprano_ - THE COUSIN } _Soprano_ - TROUBLE (_Cio-Cio-San's Child_) - - _Cio-Cio-San's_ relations and friends. Servants. - - _Time_--Present day. - - _Place_--Nagasaki. - -[Illustration: Photo by Hall - -"Madame Butterfly," Act I - -(Francis Maclennan, Renée Vivienne, and Thomas Richards)] - -Although "Madama Butterfly" is in two acts, the division of the second -act into two parts by the fall of the curtain, there also being an -instrumental introduction to part second, practically gives the opera -three acts. - -Act I. There is a prelude, based on a Japanese theme. This theme runs -through the greater part of the act. It is employed as a background -and as a connecting link, with the result that it imparts much exotic -tone colour to the scenes. The prelude passes over into the first act -without a break. - -_Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton_, U.S.N., is on the point of contracting a -"Japanese marriage" with _Cio-Cio-San_, whom her friends call -_Butterfly_. At the rise of the curtain _Pinkerton_ is looking over a -little house on a hill facing the harbour. This house he has leased -and is about to occupy with his Japanese wife. _Goro_, the nakodo or -marriage broker, who has arranged the match, also has found the house -for him and is showing him over it, enjoying the American's surprise -at the clever contrivances found in Japanese house construction. Three -Japanese servants are in the house, one of whom is _Suzuki_, -_Butterfly's_ faithful maid. - -_Sharpless_, the American Consul at Nagasaki, arrives. In the chat -which follows between the two men it becomes apparent that _Sharpless_ -looks upon the step _Pinkerton_ is about to take with disfavour. He -argues that what may be a mere matter of pastime to the American Naval -lieutenant, may have been taken seriously by the Japanese girl and, if -so, may prove a matter of life or death with her. _Pinkerton_ on the -other hand laughs off his friend's fears and, having poured out drinks -for both, recklessly pledges his real American wife of the future. -Further discussion is interrupted by the arrival of the bride with her -relatives and friends. - -After greetings have been exchanged, the Consul on conversing with -_Butterfly_ becomes thoroughly convinced that he was correct in -cautioning _Pinkerton_. For he discovers that she is not contemplating -the usual Japanese marriage of arrangement, but, actually being in -love with _Pinkerton_, is taking it with complete seriousness. She has -even gone to the extent, as she confides to _Pinkerton_, of secretly -renouncing her religious faith, the faith of her forefathers, and -embracing his, before entering on her new life with him. This step, -when discovered by her relatives, means that she has cut herself loose -from all her old associations and belongings, and entrusts herself and -her future entirely to her husband. - -Minor officials whose duty it is to see that the marriage contract, -even though it be a "Japanese marriage," is signed with proper -ceremony, arrive. In the midst of drinking and merry-making on the -part of all who have come to the wedding, they are startled by fierce -imprecations from a distance and gradually drawing nearer. A weird -figure, shouting and cursing wildly, appears upon the scene. It is -_Butterfly's_ uncle, the _Bonze_ (Japanese priest). He has discovered -her renunciation of faith, now calls down curses upon her head for it, -and insists that all her relatives, even her immediate family, -renounce her. _Pinkerton_ enraged at the disturbance turns them out of -the house. The air shakes with their imprecations as they depart. -_Butterfly_ is weeping bitterly, but _Pinkerton_ soon is enabled to -comfort her. The act closes with a passionate love scene. - -The Japanese theme, which I have spoken of as forming the introduction -to the act, besides, the background to the greater part of it, in fact -up to the scene with the _Bonze_, never becomes monotonous because it -is interrupted by several other musical episodes. Such are the short -theme to which _Pinkerton_ sings "Tutto è pronto" (All is ready), and -the skippy little theme when _Goro_ tells _Pinkerton_ about those who -will be present at the ceremony. When _Pinkerton_ sings, "The whole -world over, on business or pleasure the Yankee travels," a motif based -on the "Star-Spangled Banner," is heard for the first time. - -In the duet between _Pinkerton_ and _Sharpless_, which _Pinkerton_ -begins with the words, "Amore o grillo" (Love or fancy), _Sharpless's_ -serious argument and its suggestion of the possibility of -_Butterfly's_ genuine love for _Pinkerton_ are well brought out in the -music. When _Butterfly_ and her party arrive, her voice soars above -those of the others to the strains of the same theme which occurs as a -climax to the love duet at the end of the act and which, in the course -of the opera, is heard on other occasions so intimately associated -with herself and her emotions that it may be regarded as a motif, -expressing the love she has conceived for _Pinkerton_. - -Full of feeling is the music of her confession to _Pinkerton_ that she -has renounced the faith of her forefathers, in order to be a fit wife -for the man she loves:--"Ieri son salita" (Hear what I would tell -you). An episode, brief but of great charm, is the chorus "Kami! O -Kami! Let's drink to the newly married couple." Then comes the -interruption of the cheerful scene by the appearance of the _Bonze_, -which forms a dramatic contrast. - -It is customary with Puccini to create "atmosphere" of time and place -through the medium of the early scenes of his operas. It is only -necessary to recall the opening episodes in the first acts of "La -Bohème" and "Tosca." He has done the same thing in "Madam Butterfly," -by the employment of the Japanese theme already referred to, and by -the crowded episodes attending the arrival of _Butterfly_ and the -performance of the ceremony. These episodes are full of action and -colour, and distinctly Japanese in the impression they make. Moreover, -they afford the only opportunity throughout the entire opera to employ -the chorus upon the open stage. It is heard again in the second act, -but only behind the scenes and humming in order to give the effect of -distance. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Farrar as Cio-Cio-San in "Madama Butterfly"] - -The love scene between _Pinkerton_ and _Butterfly_ is extended. From -its beginning, "Viene la sera" (Evening is falling), - -[Music] - -to the end, its interest never flags. It is full of beautiful melody -charged with sentiment and passion, yet varied with lighter passages, -like _Butterfly's_ "I am like the moon's little goddess"; "I used to -think if anyone should want me"; and the exquisite, "Vogliatemi bene" -(Ah, love me a little). There is a beautiful melody for _Pinkerton_, -"Love, what fear holds you trembling." The climax of the love duet is -reached in two impassioned phrases:--"Dolce notte! Quante stelle" -(Night of rapture, stars unnumbered), - -[Music] - -and "Oh! Quanti occhi fisi, attenti" (Oh, kindly heavens). - -[Music] - -Act II. Part I. Three years have elapsed. It is a long time since -_Pinkerton_ has left _Butterfly_ with the promise to return to her -"when the robins nest." When the curtain rises, after an introduction, -in which another Japanese theme is employed, _Suzuki_, although -convinced that _Pinkerton_ has deserted her mistress, is praying for -his return. _Butterfly_ is full of faith and trust. In chiding her -devoted maid for doubting that _Pinkerton_ will return, she draws in -language and song a vivid picture of his home-coming and of their -mutual joy therein:--"Un bel dì vedremo" (Some day he'll come). - -[Music] - -In point of fact, _Pinkerton_ really is returning to Nagasaki, but -with no idea of resuming relations with his Japanese wife. Indeed, -before leaving America he has written to _Sharpless_ asking him to let -_Butterfly_ know that he is married to an American wife, who will -join him in Nagasaki. _Sharpless_ calls upon _Butterfly_, and attempts -to deliver his message, but is unable to do so because of the emotions -aroused in _Butterfly_ by the very sight of a letter from _Pinkerton_. -It throws her into a transport of joy because, unable immediately to -grasp its contents, she believes that in writing he has remembered -her, and must be returning to her. _Sharpless_ endeavours to make the -true situation clear to her, but is interrupted by a visit from -_Yamadori_, a wealthy Japanese suitor, whom _Goro_ urges _Butterfly_ -to marry. For the money left by Pinkerton with his little Japanese -wife has dwindled almost to nothing, and poverty stares her in the -face. But she will not hear of an alliance with _Yamadori_. She -protests that she is already married to _Pinkerton_, and will await -his return. - -When _Yamadori_ has gone, _Sharpless_ makes one more effort to open -her eyes to the truth. They have a duet, "Ora a noi" (Now at last), in -which he again produces the letter, and attempts to persuade her that -Pinkerton has been faithless to her and has forgotten her. Her only -reply is to fetch in her baby boy, born since _Pinkerton's_ departure. -Her argument is, that when the boy's father hears what a fine son is -waiting for him in Japan, he will hasten back. She sings to _Trouble_, -as the little boy is called:--"Sai cos'ebbe cuore" (Do you hear, my -sweet one, what that bad man is saying). _Sharpless_ makes a final -effort to disillusion her, but in vain. If _Pinkerton_ does not come -back, there are two things, she says, she can do--return to her old -life and sing for people, or die. She sings a touching little lullaby -to her baby boy, _Suzuki_ twice interrupting her with the pathetically -voiced exclamation, "Poor Madam Butterfly!" - -A salute of cannon from the harbour announces the arrival of a -man-of-war. Looking through the telescope, _Butterfly_ and _Suzuki_ -discover that it is _Pinkerton's_ ship, the "Abraham Lincoln." Now -_Butterfly_ is convinced that _Sharpless_ is wrong. Her faith is -about to be rewarded. The man she loves is returning to her. The home -must be decorated and made cheerful and attractive to greet him. She -and _Suzuki_ distribute cherry blossoms wherever their effect will be -most charming. The music accompanying this is the enchanting duet of -the flowers, "Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio" (Shake that cherry -tree till every flower). Most effective is the phrase, "Gettiamo a -mani piene mammole e tuberose" (In handfuls let us scatter violets and -white roses.) - -[Music] - -_Butterfly_ adorns herself and the baby boy. Then with her fingers she -pierces three holes in the paper wall of the dwelling. She, _Suzuki_, -and the baby peer through these, watching for _Pinkerton's_ arrival. -Night falls. _Suzuki_ and the boy drop off to sleep. _Butterfly_ -rigid, motionless, waits and watches, her faith still unshaken, for -the return of the man who has forsaken her. The pathos of the scene is -profound; the music, with the hum of voices, borne upon the night from -the distant harbour, exquisite. - -Act II. Part II. When the curtain rises, night has passed, dawn is -breaking. _Suzuki_ and the baby are fast asleep, but _Butterfly_ still -is watching. Again Puccini employs a Japanese melody (the "vigil" -theme). - -[Music] - -When _Suzuki_ awakes, she persuades the poor little "wife" to go -upstairs to rest, which _Butterfly_ does only upon _Suzuki's_ promise -to awaken her as soon as _Pinkerton_ arrives. _Pinkerton_ and -_Sharpless_ appear. _Suzuki_ at first is full of joyful surprise, -which, however, soon gives way to consternation, when she learns the -truth. _Pinkerton_ himself, seeing about him the proofs of -_Butterfly's_ complete loyalty to him, realizes the heartlessness of -his own conduct. There is a dramatic trio for _Pinkerton_, -_Sharpless_, and _Suzuki_. _Pinkerton_, who cannot bear to face the -situation, rushes away, leaving it to _Sharpless_ to settle matters as -best he can. - -_Butterfly_ has become aware that people are below. _Suzuki_ tries to -prevent her coming down, but she appears radiantly happy, for she -expects to find her husband. The pathos of the scene in which she -learns the truth is difficult to describe. But she does not burst into -lamentations. With a gentleness which has been characteristic of her -throughout, she bears the blow. She even expresses the wish to _Kate_, -_Pinkerton's_ real wife, that she may experience all happiness, and -sends word to _Pinkerton_ that, if he will come for his son in half an -hour, he can have him. - -_Sharpless_ and _Mrs. Pinkerton_ withdraw. In a scene of tragic power, -_Butterfly_ mortally wounds herself with her father's sword, the blade -of which bears the inscription, "To die with honour when one can no -longer live with honour," drags herself across the floor to where the -boy is playing with his toys and waving a little American flag, and -expires just as _Pinkerton_ enters to take away the son whom thus she -gives up to him. - -From examples that already have been given of modern Italian opera, it -is clear that "atmosphere," local colour, and character delineation -are typical features of the art of Italy's lyric stage as it -flourishes today. In "Madama Butterfly" we have exotic tone colour to -a degree that has been approached but not equalled by Verdi in "Aïda." -Certain brief scenes in Verdi's opera are Egyptian in tone colour. In -"Madama Butterfly" Japanese themes are used _in extenso_, and although -the thrilling climaxes in the work are distinctively Italian, the -Japanese under-current, dramatic and musical, always is felt. In that -respect compare "Madama Butterfly" with a typical old Italian opera -like "Lucia di Lammermoor" the scene of which is laid in Scotland, but -in which there is nothing Scotch save the costumes--no "atmosphere," -no local colour. These things are taken seriously by modern Italian -composers, who do not ignore melody, yet also appreciate the value of -an eloquent instrumental support to the voice score; whereas the older -Italian opera composers were content to distribute melody with a -lavish hand and took little else into account. - -In character delineation in the opera _Butterfly_ dominates. She is a -sweet, trusting, pathetic little creature--traits expressed in the -music as clearly as in the drama. The sturdy devotion of _Suzuki_ is, -if possible, brought out in an even stronger light in the opera than -in the drama, and _Sharpless_ is admirably drawn. _Pinkerton_, of -course, cannot be made sympathetic. All that can be expected of him is -that he be a tenor, and sing the beautiful music allotted to him in -the first act with tender and passionate expression. - -The use of the "Star-Spangled Banner" motif as a personal theme for -_Pinkerton_, always has had a disagreeable effect upon me, and from -now on should be objected to by all Americans. Some one in authority, -a manager like Gatti-Casazza, or Ricordi & Co.'s American -representatives, should call Puccini's attention to the fact that his -employment of the National Anthem of the United States of America in -"Madama Butterfly" is highly objectionable and might, in time, become -offensive; although no offence was meant by him. - -I "did" the first night of David Belasco's play "Madam Butterfly" for -the New York _Herald_. The production occurred at the Herald Square -Theatre, Broadway and Thirty-fifth Street, New York, March 5, 1900, -with Blanche Bates as _Butterfly_. It was given with "Naughty -Anthony," a farce-comedy also by Belasco, which had been a failure. -The tragedy had been constructed with great rapidity from John Luther -Long's story, but its success was even swifter. At the Duke of York's -Theatre, London, it was seen by Francis Nielsen, stage manager of -Covent Garden, who immediately sent word to Puccini urging him to come -from Milan to London to see a play which, in his hands, might well -become a successful opera. Puccini came at once, with the result that -he created a work which has done its full share toward making the -modern Italian lyric stage as flourishing as all unprejudiced critics -concede it to be. - -The Milan production of "Madama Butterfly" was an utter failure. The -audience hooted, the prima donna was in tears. The only person behind -the scenes not disconcerted was the composer, whose faith in his work -was so soon to be justified. - - -LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST - -(THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST) - - Opera in three acts by Puccini; words by C. Zangarini and G. - Civini, after the play by David Belasco. Produced, - Metropolitan Opera House, New York, December 10, 1910, with - Destinn, Mattfeld, Caruso, Amato, Reiss, Didur, Dinh-Gilly, - Pini-Corsi, and De Segurola. - - CHARACTERS - - MINNIE _Soprano_ - JACK RANCE, sheriff _Baritone_ - DICK JOHNSON (Ramerrez) _Tenor_ - NICK, bartender at the "Polka" _Tenor_ - ASHBY, Wells-Fargo agent _Bass_ - SONORA } _Baritone_ - TRIM } _Tenor_ - SID } _Baritone_ - HANDSOME } Miners _Baritone_ - HARRY } _Tenor_ - JOE } _Tenor_ - HAPPY } _Baritone_ - LARKENS } _Bass_ - BILLY JACKRABBIT, an Indian redskin _Bass_ - WOWKLE, Billy's squaw _Mezzo-Soprano_ - JAKE WALLACE, a travelling camp - minstrel _Baritone_ - JOSÉ CASTRO, a greaser from - Ramerrez's gang _Bass_ - A POSTILLION _Tenor_ - MEN OF THE CAMP - - _Time_--1849-1850, the days of the gold fever. - - _Place_--A mining-camp at the foot of the Cloudy Mountains, - California. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Destinn as Minnie, Caruso as Johnson, and Amato as Jack Rance in "The -Girl of the Golden West"] - -Successful in producing "atmosphere" in "La Bohème," "Tosca," and -"Madama Butterfly," Puccini has utterly failed in his effort to do so -in his "Girl of the Golden West." Based upon an American play, the -scene laid in America and given in America for the first time on any -stage, the opera has not been, the more's the pity, a success. - -In the first act, laid in the "Polka" bar-room, after a scene of -considerable length for the miners (intended, no doubt, to create -"atmosphere") there is an episode between _Rance_ and _Minnie_, in -which it develops that _Rance_ wants to marry her, but that she does -not care for him. _Johnson_ comes in. He and _Minnie_ have met but -once before, but have been strongly attracted to each other. She asks -him to visit her in her cabin, where they will be undisturbed by the -crowd, which has gone off to hunt for Ramerrez, head of a band of -outlaws, reported to be in the vicinity but which soon may be back. - -The scene of the second act is _Minnie's_ cabin, which consists of a -room and loft. After a brief scene for _Billy_ and _Wowkle_, _Minnie_ -comes in. Through night and a blizzard _Johnson_ makes his way up the -mountainside. There is a love scene--then noises outside. People are -approaching. Not wishing to be found with _Johnson_, _Minnie_ forces -him to hide. _Rance_ and others, who are on the trail of _Ramerrez_ -and hope to catch or kill him any moment, come in to warn her that -_Johnson_ is Ramerrez. When they have gone, and _Johnson_ acknowledges -that he is the outlaw, _Minnie_ denounces him and sends him out into -the blizzard. There is a shot. _Johnson_, sorely wounded, staggers -into the cabin. A knock at the door. _Rance's_ voice. With _Minnie's_ -aid the wounded man reaches the loft where he collapses. - -_Rance_ enters, expecting to find _Johnson_. He is almost persuaded by -_Minnie_ that the fugitive is not there, when, through the loose -timbers of the loft, a drop of blood falls on his hand. _Minnie_ -proposes that they play cards--_Johnson_ to live, or she to marry the -sheriff. They play. She cheats, and wins. - -The third act is laid in the forest. _Johnson_, who has recovered and -left _Minnie's_ cabin, is caught, and is to be hung. But at the -critical moment _Minnie_ arrives, and her pleading moves the men to -spare him, in spite of _Rance's_ protests. They leave to begin a new -life elsewhere. - -In the score there is much recitative. It is not interesting in -itself, nor is it made so by the insufficiently varied instrumental -accompaniment. For the action of the play is too vigorous to find -expression by means of the Debussyan manner that predominates in the -orchestra. The most genuinely inspired musical number is _Johnson's_ -solo in the last act, when it seems certain that he is about to be -executed.--"Ch'ella mi creda libero e lontano" (Let her believe that I -have gained my freedom). - - -LA RONDINE - -THE SWALLOW - -The opera begins in Paris during the Second Empire. _Magda_, the -heroine, is a _demi-mondaine_ living under the protection of the rich -banker _Rambaldo_. Satisfied with the luxuries he lavishes upon her, -she longs for true affection, and is unable to stifle the remembrance -of her first love, a poor young student. She meets _Ruggero_, who like -her earlier love, is young and poor, and a student. At Bouilliers, the -rendezvous of the gay life of Paris, _Ruggero_ declares his love for -_Magda_. They leave Paris for Nice, where they hope to lead an idyllic -existence. - -_Ruggero_ looks forward to a life of perfect happiness. He writes to -his parents asking their consent to his marriage with _Magda_. The -reply is that if she is virtuous and honourable, she will be received -with open arms. _Magda_ now considers herself (like _Violetta_ in "La -Traviata") unworthy of _Ruggero's_ love and lest she shall bring -dishonour upon the man she loves, she parts with him. Other principal -rôles are _Lisetta_ and _Prunia_, and there are numerous second parts -requiring first-rate artists. - -In the second act of "La Rondine" is a quartet which, it is said, -Puccini believes will rival that at the end of the third act in "La -Bohème." "I have let my pen run," he is reported to have said, "and no -other method suffices to obtain good results, in my opinion. No matter -what marvellous technical effects may be worked up by lengthy -meditation, I believe in heart in preference to head." - -The opera was produced in March, 1917, in Monte Carlo, and during the -summer of the same year, in Buenos Aires. Puccini intended to compose -it with dialogue as a genuine opéra comique, but finally substituted -recitative. The work is said to approach opéra comique in style. -Reports regarding its success vary. - -After the first Italian performance, San Carlo Theatre, Naples, -February 26, 1918, Puccini, according to report, decided to revise "La -Rondine." Revision, as in the case of "Madama Butterfly," may make a -great success of it. - - -ONE-ACT OPERAS - -Three one-act operas by Puccini have been composed for performance at -one sitting. They are "Suor Angelica" (Sister Angelica), "Il Tabarro" -(The Cloak), and "Gianni Schicchi." The motifs of these operas are -sentiment, tragedy, and humour. - -The scene of "Suor Angelica" is laid within the walls of a mountain -convent, whither she has retired to expiate an unfortunate past. Her -first contact with the outer world is through a visit from an aunt, -who needs her signature to a document. Timidly she asks about the tiny -mite, whom she was constrained to abandon before she entered the -convent. Harshly the aunt replies that the child is dead. _Sister -Angelica_ decides to make an end to her life amid the flowers she -loves. Dying, she appeals for pardon for her act of self-destruction. -The doors of the convent church open, and a dazzling light pours forth -revealing the Virgin Mary on the threshold surrounded by angels, who, -intoning a sweet chorus, bear the poor, penitent, and weary soul to -eternal peace. This little work is entirely for female voices. - -The libretto of "Il Tabarro" is tragic. The great scene is between a -husband and his wife. The husband has killed her lover, whose body he -shows to his unfaithful wife, lifting from the ground the cloak (il -tabarro) under which it is hidden. - -The scene of "Il Tabarro" is laid on the deck of a Seine barge at -sunset, when the day's work is over, and after dark. The husband is -_Michele_, the wife _Giorgetta_, the lover, _Luigi_, and there are two -other bargemen. These latter go off after the day's work. _Luigi_ -lingers in the cabin. He persuades _Giorgetta_ that, when all is quiet -on the barge, and it will be safe for him to return to her, she shall -strike a match as a signal. He then goes. - -_Michele_ has suspected his wife. He reminds her of their early love, -when he sheltered her under his cloak. _Giorgetta_, however, receives -these reminiscences coldly, feigns weariness, and retires to the -cabin. - -It has grown dark. _Michele_ lights his pipe. _Luigi_, thinking it is -_Giorgetta's_ signal, clambers up the side of the barge, where he is -seized and choked to death by _Michele_, who takes his cloak and -covers the corpse with it. - -_Giorgetta_ has heard sounds of a struggle. She comes on deck in -alarm, but is somewhat reassured, when she sees _Michele_ sitting -alone and quietly smoking. Still somewhat nervous, however, she -endeavours to atone for her frigidity toward him, but a short time -before, by "making up" to him, telling him, among other things, that -she well recalls their early love and wishes she could again find -shelter in the folds of his big cloak. For reply, he raises the cloak, -and lets her see _Luigi's_ corpse. - -I have read another synopsis of this plot, in which _Michele_ forces -his wife's face close to that of her dead lover. At the same moment, -one of the other bargemen, whose wife also had betrayed him, returns -brandishing the bloody knife, with which he has slain her. The simpler -version surely is more dramatic than the one of cumulative horrors. - - * * * * * - -When the action of "Gianni Schicchi" opens one _Donati_ has been dead -for two hours. His relations are thinking of the will. A young man of -the house hands it to his mother [Transcriber's Note: should be -'aunt'] but exacts the promise that he shall marry the daughter of -neighbour _Schicchi_. When the will is read, it is found that _Donati_ -has left his all to charity. _Schicchi_ is called in, and consulted. -He plans a ruse. So far only those in the room know of _Donati's_ -demise. The corpse is hidden. _Schicchi_ gets into bed, and, when the -_Doctor_ calls, imitates the dead man's voice and pretends he wants to -sleep. The lawyer is sent for. _Schicchi_ dictates a new will--in -favour of himself, and becomes the heir, in spite of the anger of the -others. - - - - -Riccardo Zandonai - - -FRANCESCA DA RIMINI - -FRANCESCA OF RIMINI - - Opera in four acts, by Riccardo Zandonai; words by Tito - Ricordi, after the drama of the same title by Gabriele - d'Annunzio. English version from Arthur Symons's translation - of the drama. Produced, Reggio Theatre, Turin, February 1, - 1914. Covent Garden Theatre, London, July 16, 1914. - Metropolitan Opera House, New York, December 22, 1916, with - Alda (_Francesca_), Martinelli (_Paolo_), and Amato - (_Giovanni_). - - CHARACTERS - - GIOVANNI, the lame } sons of { _Baritone_ - PAOLO, the beautiful } Malatesta da { _Tenor_ - MALATESTINO, the one-eyed } Verrucchio { _Tenor_ - OSTASIO, son of Guido Minore da Polenta _Baritone_ - SER TOLDO BERARDENGO, a notary _Tenor_ - A JESTER _Bass_ - A BOWMAN _Tenor_ - TOWER WARDEN _Baritone_ - FRANCESCA, daughter of Guido and sister - of Ostasio _Soprano_ - SAMARITANA, sister of Francesca - and Ostasio _Soprano_ - BIANCOFIORE } { _Soprano_ - GARSENDA } women of Francesca { _Soprano_ - ALTICHIARA } { _Mezzo-Soprano_ - DONELLA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - SMARADI, a slave _Contralto_ - - Bowmen, archers, and musicians. - - _Time_--Thirteenth century. - - _Place_--First act, Ravenna, then Rimini. - -A pretentious but not wholly successful score based upon a somewhat -diffuse drama--such is the net impression made by Zandonai's opera -"Francesca da Rimini." The story of Francesca and Paolo is one of the -world's immortal tales of passion, and an opera set to it should be -inspired beyond almost any other. But as W.J. Henderson wrote in the -New York _Sun_ the day after the production of Zandonai's work in New -York, "In all human probability the full measure of 'love insatiable' -was never taken in music but once, and we cannot expect a second -'Tristan und Isolde' so soon." - -Act I. The scene is a court in the house of the Polentani, in Ravenna, -adjacent to a garden, whose bright colours are seen through a pierced -marble screen. A colloquy between _Francesca's_ brother _Ostasio_ and -the notary _Ser Toldo Berardengo_ informs us that for reasons of -state, _Francesca_ is to be married to that one of the three sons of -Malatesta da Verrucchio, who although named _Giovanni_, is known as -_Gianciotto, the Lamester_, because of his deformity and ugliness. As -_Francesca_ surely would refuse to marry _Gianciotto_, a plot has been -formed by which she is introduced to his handsome younger brother -_Paolo_, with whom, under the impression that he is her destined -bridegroom, she falls deeply in love at first sight, a passion that is -fully reciprocated by him, although they have only beheld each other, -and not yet exchanged a word. - -Such is the procedure of the first act. When _Francesca_ and _Paolo_ -behold each other through the marble screen, which divides the court -from the garden, in which _Paolo_ stands amid brightly coloured -flowers, the orchestra intones a phrase which may properly be called -the love motif. - -[Music] - -The act is largely lyric in its musical effect. Much charm is given to -it by the quartette of women who attend upon _Francesca_. Almost at -the outset the composer creates what might be called the necessary -love mood, by a playful scene between _Francesca's_ women and a -strolling jester, who chants for them the story of "Tristan und -Isolde." The setting of the scene is most picturesque. In fact -everything in this act tends to create "atmosphere," and were the rest -of the opera as successful, it would be one of the finest works of its -kind to have come out of modern Italy. - -Act II. The scene is the interior of a round tower in the fortified -castle of the Malatestas. The summit of the tower is crowned with -engines of war and arms. There are heavy cross-bows, ballistas, a -catapult, and other mediæval machinery of battle. The castle is a -stronghold of the Guelfs. In the distance, beyond the city of Rimini, -are seen the battlements of the highest Ghibelline Tower. A narrow -fortified window looks out on the Adriatic. - -Soon after the act opens, an attack takes place. The battle rages. -Amid all this distracting, and therefore futile tumult, occurs the -first meeting between _Francesca_ and _Paolo_, since the marriage into -which she was tricked. Their love is obvious enough. _Paolo_ -despairingly seeks death, to which _Francesca_ also exposes herself by -remaining on the platform of the tower during the combat. The relation -between these two principal characters of the opera is clearly enough -set forth, and the impression made by it would be forcible, were not -attention distracted by the fiercely raging mediæval combat. - -The Malatestas are victorious. The attacking foes are driven off. -_Gianciotto_ comes upon the platform and brings news to _Paolo_ of his -election as Captain of the people and Commune of Florence, for which -city _Paolo_ departs. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Alda as Francesca and Martinelli as Paolo in "Francesca da Rimini"] - -Act III. The scene is the beautiful apartment of _Francesca_, where, -from an old tome, she is reading to her women the story of _Lancelot -and Guenevere_. This episode has somewhat of the same charm as that -which pervaded portions of the first act. Especially is this true, -when to the accompaniment of archaic instruments, the women sing their -measures in praise of spring, "Marzo è giunto, e Febbraio gito se n'è -col ghiado" (March comes, and February goes with the wind today). - -[Music] - -The women dance and sing, until on a whispered word from her slave, -_Francesca_ dismisses them. _Paolo_ has returned. The greeting from -her to him is simple enough: "Benvenuto, signore mio cognato" (Welcome -my lord and kinsman), but the music is charged with deeper -significance. - -[Music] - -Even more pronounced is the meaning in the musical phrase at -Francesca's words, "Paolo, datemi pace" (Paolo, give me peace). - -[Music] - -Together they read the story which _Francesca_ had begun reading to -her women. Their heads come close together over the book. Their white -faces bend over it until their cheeks almost touch; and when in the -ancient love tale, the queen and her lover kiss, _Francesca's_ and -_Paolo's_ lips meet and linger in an ecstasy of passion. - -Act IV. This act is divided into two parts. The scene of the first -part is an octagonal hall of gray stone. A grated door leads to a -subterranean prison. Cries of a prisoner from there have disturbed -Francesca. When she complains of this to the youngest brother of -_Gianciotto_, _Malatestino_, he goes down into the prison and kills -the captive. The introduction to this act is, appropriately enough, -based on an abrupt phrase. - -[Music] - -_Malatestino_ is desperately in love with Francesca, urges his suit -upon her, and even hints that he would go to the length of poisoning -_Gianciotto_. _Francesca_ repulses him. Out of revenge he excites the -jealousy of _Gianciotto_ by arousing his suspicions of _Paolo_ and -_Francesca_, pointing out especially that _Paolo_ has returned from -Florence much sooner than his duties there would justify him in doing. - -The scene of part two is laid in _Francesca's_ chamber. It is night. -Four waxen torches burn in iron candlesticks. _Francesca_ is lying on -the bed. From her sleep she is roused by a wild dream that harm has -come to _Paolo_. Her women try to comfort her. After an exchange of -gentle and affectionate phrases, she dismisses them. - -A light knocking at the door, and _Paolo's_ voice calling, -"Francesca!" She flings open the door and throws herself into the arms -of her lover. There is an interchange of impassioned phrases. Then a -violent shock is heard at the door, followed by the voice of -_Gianciotto_, demanding admission. _Paolo_ spies a trap door in the -floor of the apartment, pulls the bolt, and bids _Francesca_ open the -door of the room for her husband, while he escapes. - -_Gianciotto_ rushes into the room. _Paolo's_ cloak has caught in the -bolt of the trap door. He is still standing head and shoulders above -the level of the floor. Seizing him by the hair, the _Lamester_ forces -him to come up. _Paolo_ unsheathes his dagger. _Gianciotto_ draws his -sword, thrusts at _Paolo_. _Francesca_ throws herself between the two -men, receives the thrust of her husband's sword full in the breast, -and falls into _Paolo's_ arms. Mad with rage, her deformed husband -with another deadly thrust pierces his brother's side. _Paolo_ and -_Francesca_ fall at full length to the floor. With a painful effort, -_Gianciotto_ breaks his bloodstained sword over his knee. - -Where the drama is lyric in character, and where it concentrates upon -the hot-blooded love story, a tradition in the Malatesta family, and -narrated by a Malatesta to Dante, who, as is well known, used it in -his "Inferno," the music is eloquent. Where, however, the action -becomes diffuse, and attention is drawn to subsidiary incidents, as is -far too often the case, interest in the music flags. With great -benefit to the score at least a third of the libretto could be -sacrificed. - - * * * * * - -Riccardo Zandonai was born at Sacco. He studied with Gianferrai and at -the Rossini Conservatory. "Conchita," another opera by him, Milan, -1912, was produced in this country in Chicago and New York in 1913. - - - - -Franco Leoni - - -L'ORACOLO - -THE SAGE - - Opera in one act by Franco Leoni, words by Camillo Zanoni, - adapted from the play, "The Cat and the Cherub," by Chester - Bailey Fernald. Produced, Covent Garden Theatre, London, - June 28, 1905. Metropolitan Opera House, New York, February - 4, 1915, with Scotti, as _Chim-Fen_; Didur, as _Win-She_; - Botta, as _Win-San-Lui_; and Bori, as _Ah-Joe_. - - CHARACTERS - - WIN-SHE, a wise man, called the Sage _Baritone_ - CHIM-FEN, an opium den proprietor _Baritone_ - WIN-SAN-LUI, son of Win-She _Tenor_ - HU-TSIN, a rich merchant _Bass_ - HU-CHI, a child, son of Hu-Tsin - AH-JOE, niece of Hu-Tsin _Soprano_ - HUA-QUI, nurse of Hu-Chi _Contralto_ - - Four opium fiends, a policeman, an opium maniac, a - soothsayer, distant voices, four vendors, Chinese men, - women, and children. - - _Time_--The present. - - _Place_--Chinatown, San Francisco. - -_Chim-Fen_ is about to close up his opium den. A man half crazed by -the drug comes up its steps and slinks away. - -Out of the house of the merchant _Hu-Tsin_ comes _Hua-Qui_, the nurse -of _Hu-Tsin's_ son, _Hu-Chi_. _Chim-Fen_ wants to marry the merchant's -daughter _Ah-Joe_. The nurse is in league with him. She brings him a -fan, upon which _Ah-Joe's_ lover, _San-Lui_, son of the sage, -_Win-She_, has written an avowal of love. _Hua-Qui_ is jealous, -because _Chim-Fen_ is in love with _Ah-Joe_. Her jealousy annoys him. -He threatens her and drives her away. - -Four gamblers, drunk with opium, emerge from the den. _Chim-Fen_ looks -after them with contempt. It is now very early in the morning of New -Year's Day. _Win-She_ comes along. _Chim-Fen_ greets him obsequiously -and is admonished by the sage to mend his vile ways. - -_San-Lui_ sings a serenade to _Ah-Joe_, who comes out on her balcony -to hear him. People pass by, street venders cry their wares. _Ah-Joe_ -withdraws into the house, _San-Lui_ goes his way. When _Hu-Tsin_, the -rich merchant, comes out, he is accosted by _Chim-Fen_, who asks for -the promise of _Ah-Joe's_ hand. _Hu-Tsin_ spurns the proposal. - -A fortune-teller comes upon the scene. _Chim-Fen_ has his fortune -told. "A vile past, a future possessed of the devil. Wash you of your -slime." When _Chim-Fen_ threatens the fortune-teller, the crowd, which -has gathered, hoots him and repeats the words of the fortune-teller -amid howls and jeers. - -_Hu-Tsin_, with _Ah-Joe_, _Hua-Qui_, and the baby boy come into the -street, where _Win-She_, gathering a group of worshippers about him, -bids _San-Lui_ prevent the crowd from creating a disturbance, then, -with all the people kneeling, intones a prayer, from which he finally -passes into a trance. When he comes out of it, he says that he has -seen two souls, one aspiring toward Nirvana, the other engulfed in the -inferno. He also has witnessed the grief of a father at the killing of -a hope. At this _Hu-Tsin_ shows alarm for the safety of _Hu-Chi_, and -the people join in lamentations, but _Win-She_ prophesies, "_Hu-Chi_ -is safe." - -Along comes the procession of the dragon. In watching this _Hua-Qui_ -neglects her charge. Utilizing this opportunity _Chim-Fen_ seizes the -child and carries him off into his cellar. When _Hu-Tsin_ discovers -the loss and has berated the nurse, he offers to give the hand of -_Ah-Joe_ in marriage to the finder of his son. This is just what -_Chim-Fen_ expected. _San-Lui_, however, immediately takes up the -search, in spite of _Ah-Joe's_ protests, for the girl fears that some -harm will come to him. - -_San-Lui_ starts towards _Chim-Fen's_ den. _Hua-Qui_ tries to warn -him, by telling him how the opium dealer deceived her and is seeking -the hand of _Ah-Joe_, in order to obtain _Hu-Tsin's_ money. _San-Lui_, -however, compels _Chim-Fen_ to descend with him to the cellar, where -he finds and is about to rescue _Hu-Chi_, when _Chim-Fen_ kills him -with a hatchet. _San-Lui_ staggers up the steps to the street, calls -_Ah-Joe's_ name, and falls dead. She wails over his body, a crowd -gathers, and _Hu-Tsin_ is horror-stricken to find that the man who has -been slain at his door is _San-Lui_. - -_Win-She_, the father of _San-Lui_, tells the merchant to wait; the -death of _San-Lui_ will be avenged. Immediately _Win-She_ goes over to -the opium den, hears the child's cry in the cellar, finds _Hu-Chi_ and -restores him to his father. He then goes to the door of the opium den, -calls _Chim-Fen_, who comes out, apparently filled with indignation -against the murderer of _Win-She's_ son, whom he says he would like to -throttle with his own hands. From the merchant's house there is heard -every now and then the voice of _Ah-Joe_, who has lost her reason -through grief, and is calling her lover's name. - -The two men seat themselves on a bench near the opium den. _Win-She_ -speaks calmly, quietly, and unperceived by _Chim-Fen_, draws a knife, -and plunges it into the villain's back. _Chim-Fen_ not dying at once, -_Win-She_ quietly winds the man's own pigtail around his neck and -proceeds slowly and gradually to strangle him, meanwhile disclosing -his knowledge of the murder, but without raising his voice, propping -up _Chim-Fen_ against some cases, and speaking so quietly, that a -policeman, who saunters by, thinks two Chinamen are in conversation, -and turns the corner without realizing that anything is wrong. -_Win-She_ now goes his way. _Chim-Fen's_ body falls to the ground. - -It will have been observed that many incidents are crowded into this -one act, but that the main features of the drama, the villainy of -_Chim-Fen_, and the calm clairvoyance of _Win-She_ are never lost -sight of. - -The music consists mainly of descriptive and dramatic phrases, with -but little attempt to give the score definite Chinese colouring. -_Ah-Joe's_ song on her balcony to the silvery dawn is the most tuneful -passage in the opera. Scotti, whose _Chim-Fen_ is a performance of -sinister power, Didur (_Win-She_), and Bori (_Ah-Joe_) were in the -Metropolitan production. - - * * * * * - -Franco Leoni was born at Milan, October 24, 1864. He studied under -Ponchielli at the Conservatory in his native city. Other works by him -are "Rip Van Winkle," "Raggio di Luna," and "Ib and Little -Christina." - - - - -Italo Montemezzi - - -L'AMORE DEI TRE RE - -THE LOVE OF THREE KINGS - - Opera in three acts, by Italo Montemezzi; words by Sem - Benelli, from his tragedy ("tragic poem") of the same title, - English version, by Mrs. R.H. Elkin. Produced, La Scala, - Milan, April 10, 1913; Metropolitan Opera House, New York, - January 2, 1914, with Didur (_Archibaldo_), Amato - (_Manfredo_), Ferrari-Fontana (_Avito_), Bori (_Fiora_). - Covent Garden Theatre, London, May 27, 1914. Théâtre des - Champs Elysées, Paris, April 25, 1914. In the Milan - production Luisa Villani was _Fiora_, and Ferrari-Fontana - _Avito_. - - CHARACTERS - - ARCHIBALDO, King of Altura _Bass_ - MANFREDO, son of Archibaldo _Baritone_ - AVITO, a former prince of Altura _Tenor_ - FLAMINIO, a castle guard _Tenor_ - FIORA, wife of Manfredo _Soprano_ - - A youth, a boy child (voice behind the scenes), a voice - behind the scenes, a handmaiden, a young girl, an old woman, - other people of Altura. - - _Time_--The tenth century. - - _Place_--A remote castle of Italy, forty years after a - Barbarian invasion, led by _Archibaldo_. - -[Illustration: Photo by Mishkin - -Bori and Ferrari-Fontana in "The Love of Three Kings"] - -This opera is justly considered one of the finest products of modern -Italian genius. Based upon a powerful tragedy, by Sem Benelli, one of -the foremost of living playwrights in Italy, it is a combination of -terse, swiftly moving drama with a score which vividly depicts events -progressing fatefully toward an inevitable human cataclysm. While -there is little or no set melody in Montemezzi's score, nevertheless -it is melodious--a succession of musical phrases that clothe the -words, the thought behind them, their significance, their most subtle -suggestion, in the weft and woof of expressive music. It is a mediæval -tapestry, the colours of which have not faded, but still glow with -their original depth and opulence. Of the many scores that have come -out of Italy since the death of Verdi, "L'Amore dei Tre Re" is one of -the most eloquent. - -Act I. The scene is a spacious hall open to a terrace. A lantern -employed as a signal sheds its reddish light dimly through the gloom -before dawn. - -From the left enters _Archibaldo_. He is old with flowing white hair -and beard, and he is blind. He is led in by his guide _Flaminio_, who -is in the dress of the castle guard. As if he saw, the old blind king -points to the door of a chamber across the hall and bids _Flaminio_ -look and tell him if it is quite shut. It is slightly open. -_Archibaldo_ in a low voice orders him to shut it, but make no noise, -then, hastily changing his mind, to leave it as it is. - -In the setting of the scene, in the gloom penetrated only by the glow -of the red lantern, in the costumes of the men, in the actions of the -old king, who cannot see but whose sense of hearing is weirdly acute, -and in the subtle suggestion of suspicion that all is not well, -indicated in his restlessness, the very opening of this opera -immediately casts a spell of the uncanny over the hearer. This is -enhanced by the groping character of the theme which accompanies the -entrance of _Archibaldo_ with his guide, depicting the searching -footsteps of the blind old man. - -[Music] - -There is mention of _Fiora_, the wife of _Archibaldo's_ son, -_Manfredo_, who is in the north, laying siege to an enemy stronghold. -There also is mention of _Avito_, a prince of Altura, to whom _Fiora_ -was betrothed before _Archibaldo_ humbled Italy, but whose marriage to -_Manfredo_, notwithstanding her previous betrothal, was one of the -conditions of peace. Presumably--as is to be gathered from the brief -colloquy--_Archibaldo_ has come into the hall to watch with _Flaminio_ -for the possible return of _Manfredo_, but the restlessness of the old -king, his commands regarding the door opposite, and even certain -inferences to be drawn from what he says, lead to the conclusion that -he suspects his son's wife and _Avito_. It is also clear--subtly -conveyed, without being stated in so many words--that _Flaminio_, -though in the service of _Archibaldo_, is faithful to _Avito_, like -himself a native of the country, which _Archibaldo_ has conquered. - -When _Flaminio_ reminds _Archibaldo_ that _Avito_ was to have wedded -_Fiora_, the blind king bids his guide look out into the valley for -any sign of _Manfredo's_ approach. "Nessuno, mio signore! Tutto è -pace!" is Flaminio's reply. (No one, my lord! All is quiet!) - -[Music] - -_Archibaldo_, recalling his younger years, tells eloquently of his -conquest of Italy, apostrophizing the ravishing beauty of the country, -when it first met his gaze, before he descended the mountains from -which he beheld it. He then bids _Flaminio_ put out the lantern, since -_Manfredo_ comes not. _Flaminio_ obeys then, as there is heard in the -distance the sound of a rustic flute, he urges upon _Archibaldo_ that -they go. It is nearly dawn, the flute appears to have been a signal -which _Flaminio_ understands. He is obviously uneasy, as he leads -_Archibaldo_ out of the hall. - -_Avito_ and _Fiora_ come out of her room. The woman's hair hangs in -disorder around her face, her slender figure is draped in a very fine -ivory-white garment. The very quiet that prevails fills _Avito_ with -apprehension. It is the woman, confident through love, that seeks to -reassure him. "Dammi le labbra, e tanta ti darò di questa pace!" (Give -me thy lips, and I will give thee of this peace). - -[Music] - -For the moment _Avito_ is reassured. There is a brief but passionate -love scene. Then _Avito_ perceives that the lantern has been -extinguished. He is sure someone has been there, and they are spied -upon. Once more _Fiora_ tries to give him confidence. Then she herself -hears someone approaching. _Avito_ escapes from the terrace into the -dim daylight. The door on the left opens and _Archibaldo_ appears -alone. He calls "Fiora! Fiora! Fiora!" - -Concealing every movement from the old man's ears, she endeavours to -glide back to her chamber. But he hears her. - -"I hear thee breathing! Thou'rt breathless and excited! O Fiora, say, -with whom hast thou been speaking?" - -Deliberately she lies to him. She has been speaking to no one. His -keen sense tells him that she lies. For when she sought to escape from -him, he heard her "gliding thro' the shadows like a snowy wing." - -_Flaminio_ comes hurrying in. The gleam of armoured men has been seen -in the distance. _Manfredo_ is returning. His trumpet is sounded. Even -now he is upon the battlement and embraced by his father. Longing for -his wife, _Fiora_, has led him for a time to forsake the siege. -_Fiora_ greets him, but with no more than a semblance of kindness. -With cunning, she taunts _Archibaldo_ by telling _Manfredo_ that she -had come out upon the terrace at dawn to watch for him, the truth of -which assertion _Archibaldo_ can affirm, for he found her there. As -they go to their chamber, the old man, troubled, suspecting, fearing, -thanks God that he is blind. - -Act II. The scene is a circular terrace on the high castle walls. A -single staircase leads up to the battlements. It is afternoon. The sky -is covered with changing, fleeting clouds. Trumpet blasts are heard -from the valley. From the left comes _Manfredo_ with his arms around -_Fiora_. He pleads with her for her love. As a last boon before he -departs he asks her that she will mount the stairway and, as he -departs down the valley, wave to him with her scarf. Sincerely moved -to pity by his plea, a request so simple and yet seemingly meaning so -much to him, she promises that this shall be done. He bids her -farewell, kisses her, and rushes off to lead his men back to the -siege. - -_Fiora_ tries to shake off the sensation of her husband's embrace. She -ascends to the battlemented wall. A handmaid brings her an inlaid -casket, from which she draws forth a long white scarf. The orchestra -graphically depicts the departure of _Manfredo_ at the head of his -cavalcade. - -[Music] - -_Fiora_ sees the horsemen disappear in the valley. As she waves the -veil, her hand drops wearily each time. _Avito_ comes. He tells her it -is to say farewell. At first, still touched by the pity which she has -felt for her husband, _Fiora_ restrains her passionate longing for -her lover, once or twice waves the scarf, tries to do so again, lets -her arms drop, her head droop, then, coming down the steps, falls into -his arms open to receive her, and they kiss each other as if dying of -love. "Come tremi, diletto" (How thou art trembling, beloved!) -whispers Fiora. - -[Music] - -"Guarda in sù! Siamo in cielo!" (Look up! We are in heaven!) responds -_Avito_. - -[Music] - -But the avenger is nigh. He is old, he is blind, but he knows. _Avito_ -is about to throw himself upon him with his drawn dagger, but is -stopped by a gesture from _Flaminio_, who has followed the king. -_Avito_ goes. But _Archibaldo_ has heard his footsteps. The king -orders _Flaminio_ to leave him with _Fiora_. _Flaminio_ bids him -listen to the sound of horses' hoofs in the valley. _Manfredo_ is -returning. _Fiora_ senses that her husband has suddenly missed the -waving of the scarf. _Archibaldo_ orders _Flaminio_ to go meet the -prince. - -The old king bluntly accuses _Fiora_ of having been with her lover. -Cowering on a stone bench that runs around the wall, she denies it. -_Archibaldo_ seizes her. Rearing like a serpent, _Fiora_, losing all -fear, in the almost certainty of death at the hands of the powerful -old man, who holds her, boldly vaunts her lover to him. _Archibaldo_ -demands his name, that he and his son may be avenged upon him. She -refuses to divulge it. He seizes her by the throat, again demands the -name, and when she again refuses to betray her lover, throttles her to -death. _Manfredo_ arrives. Briefly the old man tells him of _Fiora's_ -guilt. Yet _Manfredo_ cannot hate her. He is moved to pity by the -great love of which her heart was capable, though it was not for him. -He goes out slowly, while _Archibaldo_ hoists the slender body of the -dead woman across his chest, and follows him. - -Act III. The crypt of the castle, where _Fiora_ lies upon her bier -with white flowers all about her, and tapers at her head and feet. -Around her, people of her country, young and old, make their moan, -while from within the chapel voices of a choir are heard. - -Out of the darkness comes _Avito_. The others depart in order that he -may be alone with his beloved dead, for he too is of their country, -and they know. "Fiora! Fiora!--È silenzio!" (Fiora! Fiora!--Silence -surrounds us) are his first words, as he gazes upon her. - -[Music: Fiora, Fiora! È silenzio.] - -Then, desperately, he throws himself beside her and presses his lips -on hers. A sudden chill, as of approaching death, passes through him. -He rises, takes a few tottering steps toward the exit. - -Like a shadow, _Manfredo_ approaches. He has come to seize his wife's -lover, whose name his father could not wring from her, but whom at -last they have caught. He recognizes _Avito_. Then it was he whom she -adored. - -"What do you want?" asks _Avito_. "Can you not see that I can scarcely -speak?" - -Scarcely speak? He might as well be dead. Upon _Fiora's_ lips -_Archibaldo_ has spread a virulent poison, knowing well that her lover -would come into the crypt to kiss her, and in that very act would -drain the poison from her lips and die. Thus would they track him. - -With his last breath, _Avito_ tells that she loved him as the life -that they took from her, aye, even more. Despite the avowal, -_Manfredo_ cannot hate him; but rather is he moved to wonder at the -vast love _Fiora_ was capable of bestowing, yet not upon himself. - -_Avito_ is dead. _Manfredo_, too, throws himself upon _Fiora's_ -corpse, and from her lips draws in what remains of the poison, -quivers, while death slowly creeps through his veins, then enters -eternal darkness, as _Archibaldo_ gropes his way into the crypt. - -The blind king approaches the bier, feels a body lying by it, believes -he has caught _Fiora's_ lover, only to find that the corpse is that of -his son. - -Such is the love of three kings;--of _Archibaldo_ for his son, of -_Avito_ for the woman who loved him, of _Manfredo_ for the woman who -loved him not. - -Or, if deeper meaning is looked for in Sem Benelli's powerful tragedy, -the three kings are in love with Italy, represented by _Fiora_, who -hates and scorns the conqueror of her country, _Archibaldo_; coldly -turns aside from _Manfredo_, his son and heir apparent with whose hand -he sought to bribe her; hotly loves, and dies for a prince of her own -people, _Avito_. Tragic is the outcome of the conqueror's effort to -win and rule over an unwilling people. Truly, he is blind. - - * * * * * - -Italo Montemezzi was born in 1875, in Verona. A choral work by him, -"Cantico dei Cantici," was produced at the Milan Conservatory, 1900. -Besides "L'Amore dei Tre Re," he has composed the operas "Giovanni -Gallurese," Turin, 1905, and "Hélléra," Turin, 1909. - - - - -Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari - - -Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice, January 12, 1876, the son of -August Wolf, a German painter, and an Italian mother. At first -self-taught in music, he studied later with Rheinberger in Munich. -From 1902-09 he was director of the conservatory Licio Benedetto -Marcello. He composed, to words by Dante, the oratorio "La Vita -Nuova." His operas, "Le Donne Curiose," "Il Segreto di Susanna," and -"L'Amore Medico," are works of the utmost delicacy. They had not, -however, been able to hold their own on the operatic stage of -English-speaking countries. This may explain the composer's plunge -into so exaggerated, and "manufactured" a blood and thunder work as -"The Jewels of the Madonna." In American opera this has held its own -in the repertoire of the Chicago Opera Company. It has at least some -substance, some approach to passion, even if this appears worked up -when compared with such spontaneous productions as "Cavalleria -Rusticana" and "I Pagliacci," which it obviously seeks to outdo in -sordidness and brutality. - -The failure of Wolf-Ferrari's other operas to hold the stage in -English-speaking countries disappointed many, who regarded him as next -to Puccini, the most promising contemporary Italian composer of opera. -The trouble is that the plots of his librettos are mere sketches, and -his scores delicate to the point of tenuity, so that even with good -casts, they are futile attempts to re-invoke the Spirit of Mozart -behind the mask of a half-suppressed modern orchestra. - - -I GIOJELLI DELLA MADONNA - -(THE JEWELS OF THE MADONNA) - - Opera in three acts by Wolf-Ferrari; plot by the composer, - versification by C. Zangarini and E. Golisciani. Produced in - German (Der Schmuck der Madonna), at the Kurfuersten Oper, - Berlin, December 23, 1911. Covent Garden Theatre, London, - March 30, 1912. Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, January 16, - 1912; Metropolitan Opera House, New York, March 5, 1912, - both the Chicago and New York productions by the Chicago - Opera Company, conducted by Cleofonte Campanini, with - Carolina White, Louis Bérat, Bassi, and Sammares. - - CHARACTERS - - GENNARO, in love with _Maliella_ _Tenor_ - MALIELLA, in love with _Rafaele_ _Soprano_ - RAFAELE, leader of the Camorrists _Baritone_ - CARMELA, _Gennaro's_ mother _Mezzo-Soprano_ - BIASO _Tenor_ - CICCILLO _Tenor_ - STELLA _Soprano_ - CONCETTA _Soprano_ - SERENA _Soprano_ - ROCCO _Bass_ - - Grazia, a dancer; Totonno, vendors, monks, populace. - - _Time_--The present. - - _Place_--Naples. - -Act I. A small square in Naples, near the sea. _Carmela's_ house, -_Gennaro's_ smithy, an inn, and the little hut of _Biaso_, the scribe, -among many other details. "It is the gorgeous afternoon of the -festival of the Madonna, and the square swarms with a noisy crowd, -rejoicing and celebrating the event with that strange mixture of -carnival and superstition so characteristic of Southern Italy." This -describes most aptly the gay, crowded scene, and the character of the -music with which the opera opens. It is quite kaleidoscopic in its -constant shifting of interest. At last many in the crowd follow a -band, which has crossed the square. - -_Gennaro_ in his blacksmith's shop is seen giving the finishing -touches to a candelabra on which he has been working. He places it on -the anvil, as on an altar, kneels before it, and sings a prayer to the -Madonna--"Madonna, con sospiri" (Madonna, tears and sighing). - -_Maliella_ rushes out of the house pursued by _Carmela_. She is a -restless, wilful girl, possessed of the desire to get away from the -restraint of the household and throw herself into the life of the -city, however evil--a potential _Carmen_, from whom opportunity has as -yet been withheld. Striking an attitude of bravado, and in spite of -_Gennaro's_ protests, she voices her rebellious thoughts in the -"Canzone di Cannetella,"--"Diceva Cannetella vedendosi inserata" (Thus -sang poor Cannetella, who yearned and sighed for her freedom). - -A crowd gathers to hear her. From the direction of the sea comes the -chorus of the approaching Camorrists. _Maliella_ and the crowd dance -wildly. When _Carmela_ reappears with a pitcher of water on her head, -the wayward girl is dashing along the quay screaming and laughing. - -_Carmela_ tells her son the brief story of _Maliella_. _Gennaro_ -languished, when an infant. _Carmela_ vowed to the Madonna to seek an -infant girl of sin begotten, and adopt her. "In the open street I -found her, and you recovered." There is a touching duet for mother and -son, in which _Carmela_ bids him go and pray to the Madonna, and -_Gennaro_ asks for her blessing, before he leaves to do so. _Carmela_ -then goes into the house. - -_Maliella_ runs in. The Camorrists, _Rafaele_ in the van, are in -pursuit of her. _Rafaele_, the leader of the band, is a handsome, -flashy blackguard. When he advances to seize and kiss her, she draws a -dagger-like hat pin. Laughing, he throws off his coat, like a -duellist, grasps and holds her tightly. She stabs his hand, making it -bleed, then throws away the skewer. Angry at first, he laughs -disdainfully, then passionately kisses the wound. While the other -Camorrists buy flowers from a passing flower girl and make a carpet of -them, _Rafaele_ picks up the hat pin, kneels before _Maliella_, and -hands it to her. _Maliella_ slowly replaces it in her hair, and then -_Rafaele_, her arms being uplifted, sticks a flower she had previously -refused, on her breast, where she permits it to remain. A few moments -later she plucks it out and throws it away. _Rafaele_ picks it up, and -carefully replaces it in his buttonhole. A little later he goes to the -inn, looks in her direction, and raises his filled glass to her, just -at the moment, when, although her back is toward him, a subtle -influence compels her to turn and look at him. - -Tolling of bells, discharge of mortars, cheers of populace, announce -the approach of the procession of Madonna. While hymns to the Virgin -are chanted, _Rafaele_ pours words of passion into _Maliella's_ ears. -The image of the Virgin, bedecked with sparkling jewels--the jewels of -the Madonna--is borne past. _Rafaele_ asseverates that for the love of -_Maliella_ he would even rob the sacred image of the jewels and bedeck -her with them. The superstitious girl is terrified. - -_Gennaro_, who returns at that moment, warns her against _Rafaele_ as -"the most notorious blackguard in this quarter," at the same time he -orders her into the house. _Rafaele's_ mocking laugh infuriates him. -The men seem about to fight. Just then the procession returns, and -they are obliged to kneel. _Rafaele's_ looks, however, follow -_Maliella_, who is very deliberately moving toward the house, her eyes -constantly turning in the Camorrist's direction. He tosses her the -flower she has previously despised. She picks it up, puts it between -her lips, and flies indoors. - -Act II. The garden of _Carmela's_ house. On the left wall a wooden -staircase. Under this is a gap in the back wall shut in by a railing. -It is late evening. - -_Carmela_, having cleared the table, goes into the house. _Gennaro_ -starts in to warn _Maliella_. She says she will have freedom, rushes -up the staircase to her room, where she is seen putting her things -together, while she hums, "E ndringhete, ndranghete" (I long for mirth -and folly). - -She descends with her bundle and is ready to leave. _Gennaro_ pleads -with her. As if lost in a reverie, with eyes half-closed, she recalls -how _Rafaele_ offered to steal the jewels of the Madonna for her. -_Gennaro_, at first shocked at the sacrilege in the mere suggestion, -appears to yield gradually to a desperate intention. He bars the way -to _Maliella_, locks the gate, and stands facing her. Laughing -derisively, she reascends the stairs. - -Her laugh still ringing in his ears, no longer master of himself, he -goes to a cupboard under the stairs, takes out a box, opens it by the -light of the lamp at the table, selects from its contents several -skeleton keys and files, wraps them in a piece of leather, which he -hides under his coat, takes a look at _Maliella's_ window, crosses -himself, and sneaks out. - -From the direction of the sea a chorus of men's voices is heard. -_Rafaele_ appears at the gate with his Camorrist friends. To the -accompaniment of their mandolins and guitars he sings to _Maliella_ a -lively waltzlike serenade. The girl, in a white wrapper, a light -scarlet shawl over her shoulders descends to the garden. There is a -love duet--"in a torrent of passion," according to the libretto, but -not so torrential in the score:--"T'amo, sì, t'amo" (I love you, I -love you), for _Maliella_; "Stringimi forte" (Cling fast to me) for -_Rafaele_; "Oh! strette ardenti" (Rapture enthralling) for both. She -promises that on the morrow she will join him. Then _Rafaele's_ -comrades signal that someone approaches. - -Left to herself, she sees in the moonlight _Gennaro's_ open tool box. -As if in answer to her presentiment of what it signifies, he appears -with a bundle wrapped in red damask. He is too distracted by his -purpose to question her presence in the garden at so late an hour and -so lightly clad. Throwing back the folds of the damask, he spreads out -on the table, for _Maliella_, the jewels of the Madonna. - -_Maliella_, in an ecstacy, half mystic, half sensual, and seemingly -visioning in _Gennaro_ the image of the man who promised her the -jewels, _Rafaele_, who has set every chord of evil passion in her -nature vibrating--no longer repulses _Gennaro_, but, when, at the foot -of a blossoming orange tree, he seizes her, yields herself to his -embrace;--a scene described in the Italian libretto with a realism -that leaves no doubt as to its meaning. - -Act III. A haunt of the Camorrists on the outskirts of Naples. On the -left wall is a rough fresco of the Madonna, whose image was borne in -procession the previous day. In front of it is a sort of altar. - -The Camorrists gather. They are men and women, all the latter of -doubtful character. There is singing with dancing--the "Apache," the -"Tarantella." _Stella_, _Concetta_, _Serena_, and _Grazia_, the -dancer, are the principal women. They do not anticipate _Maliella's_ -expected arrival with much pleasure. When _Rafaele_ comes in, they ask -him what he admires in her. In his answer, "Non sapete ... di -Maliella" (know you not of Maliella), he tells them her chief charm is -that he will be the first man to whom she has yielded herself. - -In the midst of an uproar of shouting and dancing, while _Rafaele_, -standing on a table, cracks a whip, _Maliella_ rushes in. In an agony -she cries out that, in a trance, she gave herself up to _Gennaro_. The -women laugh derisively at _Rafaele_, who has just sung of her as being -inviolable to all but himself. There is not a touch of mysticism about -_Rafaele_. That she should have confused _Gennaro_ with him, and so -have yielded herself to the young blacksmith, does not appeal to him -at all. For him she is a plucked rose to be left to wither. Furiously -he rejects her, flings her to the ground. The jewels of the Madonna -fall from her cloak. They are readily recognized; for they are -depicted in the rough fresco on the wall. - -_Gennaro_, who has followed her to the haunt of the Camorrists, -enters. He is half mad. _Maliella_, laughing hysterically, flings the -jewels at his feet, shrieking that he stole them for her. The crowd, -as superstitious as it is criminal, recoils from both intruders. The -women fall to their knees. _Rafaele_ curses the girl. At his command, -the band disperses. _Maliella_ goes out to drown herself in the sea. -"Madonna dei dolor! Miserere!" (Madonna of our pain, have pity), prays -_Gennaro_. His thoughts revert to his mother. "Deh non piangere, O -Mamma mia" (Ah! Weep not, beloved mother mine). Among the débris he -finds a knife and plunges it into his heart. - - * * * * * - -"Le Donne Curiose" (Inquisitive Women), words by Luigi Sagana, after a -comedy by Goldoni, was produced at the Hofoper, Munich, November 27, -1903, in German. It was given for the first time in Italian at the -Metropolitan Opera House, New York, January 3, 1912. - -Several Venetian gentlemen, including _Ottavio_, the father of -_Rosaura_, who is betrothed to _Florindo_, have formed a club, to -which women are not admitted. The latter immediately have visions of -forbidden pleasures being indulged in by the men at the club. By -various intrigues the women manage to obtain a set of keys, and enter -the club, only to find the men enjoying themselves harmlessly at -dinner. All ends in laughter and dancing. - -The principal characters are _Ottavio_, a rich Italian (_Bass_); -_Beatrice_, his wife (_Mezzo-Soprano_); _Rosaura_, his daughter -(_Soprano_); _Florindo_, betrothed to _Rosaura_ (_Tenor_); -_Pantalone_, a Venetian merchant (_Buffo-Baritone_); his friends, -_Lelio_ (_Baritone_), and _Leandro_ (_Tenor_); _Colombina_, -_Rosaura's_ maid (_Soprano_); _Eleanora_, wife to _Lelio_ (_Soprano_); -_Arlecchino_; servant to _Pantalone_ (_Buffo-Bass_). There are -servants, gondoliers, and men and women of the populace. The action is -laid in Venice in the middle of the eighteenth century. There are -three acts: - -Act I, in the Friendship Club, and later in Ottavio's home; Act II, in -_Lelio's_ home; Act III, a street in Venice near the Grand Canal, and -later in the club. - -In the music the club's motto, "Bandie xe le Done" (No Women Admitted) -is repeated often enough to pass for a motif. The most melodious vocal -passage is the duet for _Rosaura_ and _Florindo_ in Act II, "Il cor -nel contento" (My heart, how it leaps in rejoicing). In the first -scene of Act III a beautiful effect is produced by the composer's use -of the Venetian barcarolle, "La Biondina in Gondoletta," which often, -in the earlier days of Rossini's Opera, "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," was -introduced by prima donnas in the lesson scene. - -In the Metropolitan production Farrar was _Rosaura_, Jadlowker -_Florindo_, and Scotti _Lelio_. Toscanini conducted. The rôles of -_Colombina_ and _Arlecchino_ (Harlequin) are survivals of old Italian -comedy, which Goldoni still retained in some of his plays. - - * * * * * - -"Il Segreto di Susanna" (The Secret of Suzanne), the scene a -drawing-room in Piedmont, time 1840, is in one act. _Countess Suzanne_ -(_Soprano_) smokes cigarettes. The aroma left by the smoke leads -_Count Gil_ (_Baritone_) to suspect his wife of entertaining a lover. -He discovers her secret--and all is well. The third character, a -servant, _Sante_, is an acting part.--A musical trifle, at the -Hofoper, Munich, November 4, 1909; Metropolitan Opera House, New York, -by the Chicago Opera Company, March 14, 1911, with Carolina White and -Sammarco; Constanzi Theatre, Rome, November 27, 1911. The "book" is by -Enrico Golisciani, from the French. - - * * * * * - -"L'Amore Medico," Metropolitan Opera House, March 25, 1914, is another -typical bit of Wolf-Ferrari musical bric-a-brac--slight, charming, and -quite unable to hold its own in the hurly-burly of modern _verismo_. A -girl is lovesick. Her father, who does not want her ever to leave him, -thinks her ailment physical, and vainly summons four noted physicians. -Then the clever maid brings in the girl's lover disguised as a doctor. -He diagnoses the case as love-hallucination, and suggests as a remedy -a mock marriage, with himself as bridegroom. The father consents, and -an actual marriage takes place. - -The scene of "L'Amore Medico" (Doctor Cupid), words by Golisciani -after Molière's "L'Amour Médecin," is a villa near Paris, about 1665 -(Louis XIV). The characters are _Arnolfo_, a rich, elderly landowner -(_Bass_); _Lucinda_, his daughter (_Soprano_); _Clitandro_, a young -cavalier, (_Tenor_); _Drs. Tomes_ (_Bass_); _Desfonandres_ (_Bass_); -_Macroton_ (_Baritone_); _Bahis_ (_Tenor_); _Lisetta_, _Lucinda's_ -maid (_Soprano_); _Notary_ (_Bass_). There also are servants, peasants -and peasant girls, musicians, dancing girls, etc. The work is in two -acts, the scene of the first the villa garden; of the second a -handsome interior of the villa. The original production, in German, -was at the Dresden Royal Opera House, December 4, 1913. - - - - -Umberto Giordano - - -Umberto Giordano was born at Foggia, August 26, 1867. Paolo Serrão was -his teacher in music at the Naples Conservatory. With a one-act opera, -"Marina," he competed for the Sonzogno prize, which Mascagni won with -"Cavalleria Rusticana." "Marina," however, secured for him a -commission for the three-act opera, "Mala Vita," Rome, 1892. Then -followed the operas which have been noticed above. - - -MADAME SANS-GÊNE - - Opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, words by Renato - Simoni after the play by Victorien Sardou and E. Moreau. - Produced, for the first time on any stage, Metropolitan - Opera House, New York January 25, 1915, with Farrar as - _Catherine_, and Amato as _Napoleon_. - - CHARACTERS - - NAPOLEON BONAPARTE _Baritone_ - LEFEBVRE, sergeant of the National Guards, - later a Marshal of France and Duke - of Danzig _Tenor_ - FOUCHÉ, officer of the National Guards, - later Minister of Police _Baritone_ - COUNT DE NEIPPERG _Tenor_ - VINAIGRE, drummer boy _Tenor_ - DESPRÉAUX, dancing master _Tenor_ - GELSOMINO, page _Baritone_ - LEROY, tailor _Baritone_ - DE BRIGODE, chamberlain _Baritone_ - ROUSTAN, head of the Mamelukes _Baritone_ - CATHERINE HUEBSCHER, "Madame Sans-Gêne," - laundress; later Duchess of Danzig _Soprano_ - TOINETTE } { _Soprano_ - JULIA } laundresses { _Soprano_ - LA ROSSA } { _Soprano_ - QUEEN CAROLINE } sisters of { _Soprano_ - PRINCESS ELISA } NAPOLEON { _Soprano_ - LADY DE BÜLOW, matron of honour to - the Empress _Soprano_ - - _Maturino_, _Constant_ (valet to _Napoleon_), the voice of - the Empress, citizens, shopkeepers, villagers, soldiers, - ladies of the court, officials, diplomats, academicians, - hunters, pages, and two Mamelukes. - - _Time_--August 10, 1792; and September, 1811. - - _Place_--Paris. - -"Madame Sans-Gêne" is an opera that maintains itself in the repertoire -largely because of the play that underlies it. The title rôle is -delightful. It has been among the successes of several clever -actresses, including Ellen Terry, to whose _Catherine_ Henry Irving -was the _Napoleon_. Its creator in the opera was Geraldine Farrar, to -whose vivacity in interesting the character, far more than to the -musical merit of the work itself, is due the fact that the opera has -not dropped out of the repertoire. In point of fact the same -composer's "André Chénier" is of greater musical interest, but the -leading character does not offer the same scope for acting, which -accounts for its having dropped almost entirely out of the repertoire -in America. - -In "Madame Sans-Gêne," _Catherine_ (in the Italian libretto -_Caterina_) is a laundress. The first act opens in her laundry in -Paris during the French Revolution. The nickname of Madame Sans-Gêne, -usually translated Madame Free-and-Easy, is given her because of her -vivacity, originality, straightforwardness in speech, and charm. - -Discharge of cannon and other sounds indicate that fighting is going -on in the streets. Three women employed by _Catherine_ are at work in -the laundry. _Catherine_ comes in from the street. She tells of her -adventures with a lot of rough soldiers. She does this amazingly, but -her experience has cured her of her curiosity to see what is going on -outside. There is a scene between _Catherine_ and _Fouché_, a -time-server, waiting to observe how matters go, before he decides -whether to cast his fortunes with the Royalists or the people. They -gossip about a Corsican officer, who owes _Catherine_ for laundry, but -is so poor he has been obliged to pawn his watch for bread. -Nevertheless, the good-hearted, lively _Madame Sans-Gêne_ continues to -do his laundry work for him, and trusts to the future for the bill. - -_Catherine_ is left alone. Rifle shots are heard. _Count Neipperg_, a -wounded Austrian officer of the Queen's suite, comes in and asks to be -hidden. Although she is of the people, _Catherine_ hides him in her -own room. His pursuers enter. It chances they are led by _Catherine's_ -betrothed, _Sergeant Lefebvre_. For a while _Catherine_ diverts the -squad from its purpose by offering wine. _Lefebvre_ uncorks the -bottle, meanwhile giving a lively description of the sacking of the -Tuilleries. There is a scene of affection between him and _Catherine_. -He notices that his hands are black with powder and, intending to wash -them in _Catherine's_ room, becomes violently suspicious on finding -the door locked. He wrenches the key from her, unlocks the door, -enters the room. _Catherine_, expecting every moment to hear him -despatching the wounded man stops up her ears. _Lefebvre_ comes out -quietly. He tells her the man in her room is dead. As she is not at -all excited, but merely surprised, he knows that he has no cause to -suspect that the wounded man is her lover. He will help her to save -him. _Catherine_ throws herself into his arms. There are sounds of -drums and of marching and shouting in the street. _Lefebvre_ leads out -his squad. - -Like most modern composers who do not possess the gift for sustained -melody, Giordano would make up for it by great skill in the handling -of his orchestra and constant depiction of the varying phases of the -action. There is considerable opportunity for a display of this talent -in the first act of "Madame Sans-Gêne," and the composer has furnished -a musical background, in which the colours are laid on in short, -quick, and crisp strokes. "The Marseillaise" is introduced as soldiers -and mob surge past _Catherine's_ laundry. - -Act II. The drawing-room of the Château de Compiègne. The Empire has -been established. _Lefebvre_ is a Marshal and has been created Duke of -Danzig. _Catherine_ is his duchess. She scandalizes the court with her -frequent breaches of etiquette. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Farrar as Catherine in "Mme. Sans-Gêne"] - -When the act opens _Despréaux_, the dancing master, _Gelsomino_, the -valet, and _Leroy_, the ladies' tailor, are engaged in passing -criticisms upon her. She enters, is as unconventional as ever, and -amusingly awkward, when she tries on the court train, or is being -taught by _Despréaux_ how to deport herself, when she receives the -Emperor's sisters, whom she is expecting. _Lefebvre_ comes in like a -thunder cloud. _Napoleon_, he tells her, has heard how she has -scandalized the court by her conduct and has intimated that he wishes -him to divorce her. There is a charming scene--perhaps the most -melodious in the opera--between the couple who love each other -sincerely. _Neipperg_, who now is Austrian Ambassador, comes upon the -scene to bid his old friends good-bye. _Napoleon_ suspects that there -is an intrigue between him and the Empress, and has had him recalled. -_Fouché_, Minister of Police, announces _Napoleon's_ sisters--_Queen -Carolina_ and _Princess Elisa_. _Catherine's_ court train bothers her. -She is unrestrained in her language. The royal ladies and their suite -at first laugh contemptuously, then as _Catherine_, in her resentment, -recalls to _Carolina_ that _King Murat_, her husband, once was a -waiter in a tavern, the scene becomes one of growing mutual -recrimination, until, to the measures of "The Marseillaise," -_Catherine_ begins to recount her services to _Napoleon's_ army as -_Cantinière_. Enraged, the royal ladies and their suite leave. _De -Brigode_, the court chamberlain, summons _Catherine_ to the presence -of the _Emperor_. Not at all disconcerted, she salutes in military -fashion the men who have remained behind, and follows _De Brigode_. - -Act III. Cabinet of the _Emperor_. There is a brief scene between -_Napoleon_ and his sisters, to whom he announces that there is to be a -hunt at dawn, at which he desires their presence. They withdraw; -_Catherine_ is announced. - -_Napoleon_ brusquely attacks her for her behaviour. She recalls his -own humble origin, tells of her services to the army, and of the wound -in the arm she received on the battlefield, maintains that his sisters -in insulting her also insulted his army, and, as a climax draws out a -bit of yellow paper--a laundry bill he still owes her, for he was the -impecunious young lieutenant mentioned in the first act. With much -chicness she even tells him that, when she delivered his laundry, she -tried to attract his attention, but he was always too absorbed in -study to take notice of her, and make love to her. - -The _Emperor_ is charmed. He kisses the scar left by the wound on her -arm. _Catherine_, bowing, exclaims, "The Emperor owes me nothing -more!" - -_Catherine_ is about to go, _Napoleon_ ordering for her the escort of -an officer, when _Neipperg_ is apprehended, as he is approaching the -_Empress's_ door. Infuriated, _Napoleon_ tears the string of medals -from the Ambassador's breast and appears about to strike him in the -face with it. _Neipperg_ draws his sword. Officers rush in. _Napoleon_ -orders that he be shot ere dawn, and that _Fouché_ and _Lefebvre_ have -charge of the execution. - -Act IV. The scene is the same, but it is far into the night. The -candles are burning low, the fire is dying out, _Catherine_ and -_Lefebvre_ have a brief scene in which they deplore that they are -powerless to prevent _Neipperg's_ execution. _Catherine_ cannot even -inform the _Empress_ and possibly obtain her intervention, for her -door, at _Napoleon's_ command, is guarded by _Roustan_. - -But _Napoleon_, when he comes in, is sufficiently impressed by -_Catherine's_ faith in the _Empress's_ loyalty to put it to the test. -At his direction, she knocks at the _Empress's_ door, and pretending -to be her Matron of Honour, Mme. de Bülow, says, "Majesty, Neipperg is -here." The _Empress_ passes out a letter. "Give this to him--and my -farewell." _Napoleon_ takes the letter, breaks the seal. The letter is -to the _Empress's_ father, the Emperor of Austria, whom she asks to -entertain _Neipperg_ in Vienna as his assiduity troubles her and the -_Emperor_. _Napoleon_ orders _Fouché_ to restore _Neipperg's_ sword -and let him depart. - -"As for your divorce," he says to _Lefebvre_, with a savage look, "My -wish is this"--playfully he tweaks _Catherine_ by the ear. "Hold her -for ever true. Give thanks to heaven for giving her to you." - -Hunting-horns and the chorus of hunters are heard outside. - - -ANDRÉ CHÉNIER - -"André Chénier" was produced at La Scala, Milan, March 23, 1896. It -was given in London, in English, April 26, 1903. Long before that, -November 13, 1896, New York heard it at the Academy of Music, under -Mapleson. It had a single performance, under the management of Oscar -Hammerstein, at the Manhattan Opera House in 1908, and eight years -later was given by, and endured through the season of, the -Boston-National Opera Company, both in Boston and on tour. - -Historical as a character though André Chénier be, Giordano's -librettist, Luigi Illica, has turned his life into fiction. Chénier -was a poet, dreamer, and patriot. Born at Constantinople, he went to -Paris for his education. Later he became a participant in and victim -of the French Revolution. - - CHARACTERS - - ANDRÉ CHÉNIER _Tenor_ - CHARLES GÉRARD _Baritone_ - COUNTESS DE COIGNY _Soprano_ - MADELEINE, her daughter _Soprano_ - BERSI, her maid _Mezzo-Soprano_ - ROUCHER _Bass_ - MATHIEU _Baritone_ - MADELON _Soprano_ - FLÉVILLE _Tenor_ - THE ABBÉ _Tenor_ - SCHMIDT, jailer at St. Lazare _Bass_ - A SPY _Tenor_ - [Transcriber's Note: "Tenor" missing in original] - - Guests at ball, servants, pages, peasants, soldiers of the - Republic, masqueraders, judges, jurymen, prisoners, mob, - etc. - - _Time_--Just prior to and during the French Revolution. - - _Place_--Paris. - -Act I. Ballroom in a château. _Gérard_, a servant, but also a -revolutionist, is secretly in love with _Madeleine_, the _Countess's_ -daughter. Among the guests at a ball is _André Chénier_, a poet with -revolutionary tendencies. _Madeleine_ asks him to improvise a poem on -love. Instead, he sings of the wrongs of the poor. _Gérard_ appears -with a crowd of ragged men and women, but at the _Countess's_ command -servants force the intruders out. _Chénier_ and _Madeleine_, the -latter weary of the routine of fashion, have been attracted to each -other. - -Act II. Café Hottot in Paris, several years later. _Chénier_ has -offended the Revolutionists by denouncing Robespierre. A spy is -watching _Bersi_, _Madeleine's_ old nurse, and sees her hand _Chénier_ -a letter. It is from _Madeleine_. She loves him. She is dogged by -spies, begs him come to her aid, and arranges a meeting. - -Robespierre passes, followed by a mob. _Gérard_, now high in favour, -seeks to possess _Madeleine_, who comes to meet the poet. They are -about to flee, when _Gérard_, notified by the spy, interposes. -_Chénier_ and _Gérard_ fight with swords. _Gérard_ is wounded. The -lovers escape. - -Act III. Revolutionary Tribunal. The crowd sings the "Carmagnole." -_Chénier_ has been captured. _Gérard_ writes the indictment for his -rival. _Madeleine_ pleads for her lover, finally promising to give -herself to _Gérard_ if _Chénier_ is spared. _Gérard_, moved by the -girl's love, agrees to save _Chénier_ if he can. At the trial he -declares that the indictment against _Chénier_ is false. But the mob, -thirsting for more blood, demands the poet's death. - -Act IV. Prison of Lazare at midnight. _Madeleine_ enters to _Chénier_ -with _Gérard_. She has bribed the _jailer_ to allow her to substitute -for another woman prisoner. If she cannot live for her lover, she can, -at least, die with him. Together she and _Chénier_ go to the scaffold. - - * * * * * - -Two other operas by Giordano have been heard in America--"Fedora," -after Sardou, Metropolitan Opera House, December 16, 1906, with -Cavalieri and Caruso; and "Siberia," Manhattan Opera House, February -5, 1908. They have not lasted. - - - - -Modern Italian Opera - - -ERO E LEANDRO - -Opera in three acts by Luigi Mancinelli; libretto by Arrigo Boïto. -First produced in America at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 10, -1899, with the composer conducting and the following cast: _Hero_, -Mme. Eames; _Leandro_, Saléza, and Plançon as _Ariofarno_. - -In the first act the lovers meet at a festival. _Leandro_, victor in -the Aphrodisian games both as a swordsman and cytharist, is crowned by -_Hero_. He sings two odes borrowed from Anacreon. _Ariofarno_, the -archon, loves _Hero_. When he seeks to turn her from her sacred -mission as priestess of Aphrodite she spurns his love. She invokes an -omen from a sea shell, on the altar of the goddess, and hears in it -rushing waters and the surging sea, that will eventually turn her -romance to tragedy. When she kneels before the statue of Apollo and -pleads to know her fate, _Ariofarno_, concealed, answers: "Death." - -The second act takes place in the temple of Aphrodite. The archon -claims that he has been warned by the oracle to reinstate a service in -a town by the sea. He consecrates _Hero_ to the duty of giving warning -of approaching storms, so that the raging waters may be appeased by -priestly ritual. He offers to release her from this task if she will -return his love. When she again spurns him, _Leandro_ attempts to -attack him. For this, the young man is banished to the shores of Asia, -while _Hero_ sadly pledges herself to the new service. - -In the third act _Leandro_ has performed his famous swimming feat. -The lovers sing their ecstasy. Meanwhile a storm arises unobserved. -The trumpet that should have been sounded by _Hero_ is sounded from -the vaults beneath the tower. _Leandro_ throws himself into the -Hellespont while _Ariofarno_ and his priests chide _Hero_ for her -neglect as they discover its cause. A thunderbolt shatters a portion -of the tower wall and _Leandro's_ body is disclosed. _Hero_ falls -dying to the ground, while the archon rages. - - -CONCHITA - - Opera in four acts by Riccardo Zandonai; text by Vaucaire - and Zangarini, based on Pierre Louÿs's "La Femme et le - Pantin" (The Woman and the Puppet). Produced, Milan, 1911. - - CHARACTERS - - CONCHITA _Soprano_ - MATEO _Tenor_ - CONCHITA'S MOTHER _Mezzo-Soprano_ - RUFINA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - ESTELLA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - THE SUPERINTENDENT _Mezzo-Soprano_ - THE INSPECTOR _Bass_ - GARCIA, Dance Hall Proprietor _Bass_ - TONIO, waiter _Bass_ - - Various characters in a cigar factory, a dance hall, and a - street. Distant voices. - - _Time_--The Present. - - _Place_--Seville. - -Act I. In a cigar factory. Among the visitors _Conchita_, one of the -cigar girls, recognizes _Mateo_, a wealthy Spaniard, who rescued her -from the forced attentions of a policeman. She invites _Mateo_ to her -home. The girl's mother, delighted that her daughter has attracted a -wealthy man, goes out to make some purchases. Love scene for _Mateo_ -and _Conchita_. The mother returns, and, unseen by _Conchita_, _Mateo_ -gives her money. When _Mateo_ leaves, and _Conchita_ discovers he has -given her mother money, she is furious and vows never to see _Mateo_ -again, because she thinks he has endeavoured to purchase her love. In -her anger she leaves her home. - -Act II. A dance hall, where _Conchita_ earns a living by her risqué -dances. _Mateo_, who finds her after a long search, is astounded. He -begs her to go away with him. She refuses, and executes a most daring -dance for a group of visitors. _Mateo_, watching her from outside, and -wild with jealousy, breaks through the window. _Conchita_, angry at -first, takes from him the key to a little house he owns and tells him -that, if he comes at midnight, she will open her lattice to him as to -a mysterious lover. - -Act III. A street in Seville. _Mateo_ stands before the house. But -instead of admitting him, when he pleads his love, she turns and -calls, as if to someone within, "Morenito!"--the name of a man he saw -her dancing with at the dance hall. _Mateo_ tries to break into the -house. _Conchita_ taunts him. He staggers away. - -Act IV. _Mateo_ is desperate. _Conchita_ comes to his home and says -she certainly expected him to kill himself for love of her. Enraged, -he seizes her. She tries to stab him. He beats her without mercy. At -last--and it seems about time--_Conchita_ now sees how desperately he -must love her. She declares that she has loved him all the time. He -takes her, radiant, into his arms. - - -CRISTOFORO COLOMBO - - Opera in three acts and an epilogue, by Alberto Franchetti, - text by Luigi Illica. Produced, Genoa, 1892; in revised - version, same year, at La Scala, Milan. Metropolitan Opera - House, Philadelphia, November 20, 1913, with Titta Ruffo. - - CHARACTERS - - CRISTOFORO COLOMBO _Baritone_ - QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN _Soprano_ - DON FERNANDO GUEVARA, Captain of the - Royal Guards _Tenor_ - DON ROLDANO XIMENES, Spanish Knight _Bass_ - MATHEOS, Foreman of the Crew _Tenor_ - ANACOANA, Indian Queen _Mezzo-Soprano_ - IGUAMOTA, her daughter _Soprano_ - BOBADILLA, False Messenger of the - King of Spain _Bass_ - - _Time_--Before, during, and soon after Columbus's voyage of - discovery. - - _Place_--Spain and America. - -In act first, on the square in Salamanca, _Colombo_ learns that the -council has rejected his plans. In the convent of San Stefano _Queen -Isabella_ is praying. _Colombo_ tells her of the council's acts. She -promises him the ships. In act second, on the _Santa Maria_, the -sailors mutiny. At the critical moment _Colombo_ points to a distant -shore. In act three, _Roldano_, an enemy to _Colombo_, has slain an -Indian king. The Indian queen, _Anacoana_, pretends to love her -husband's slayer, hoping for opportunity to avenge his death. But an -Indian uprising is quelled and _Bobadilla_, a false messenger arriving -from Spain, announces that _Colombo_ has been deposed from authority, -and _Roldano_ been made viceroy in his stead. - -The epilogue shows the royal tombs of Spain. _Colombo_--the librettist -here stretching historical license--learning that _Queen Isabella_ has -died and is buried here, expires upon her tomb. - - -CRISPINO E LA COMARE - -(THE COBBLER AND THE FAIRY) - - Opera "Bouffe" in three acts by Luigi and Federico Ricci; - text by Francesco Maria Piave. Produced, Venice, 1850. - - CHARACTERS - - CRISPINO, a cobbler _Baritone_ - ANNETTA, his wife, a ballad singer _Soprano_ - COUNT DEL FIORE _Tenor_ - FABRIZIO, a physician _Bass_ - MIRABOLANO, an apothecary _Tenor_ - DON ASDRUBALE, a miser _Bass_ - LA COMARE, a fairy _Mezzo-Soprano_ - BORTOLO, a mason _Bass_ - LISETTA, ward of DON ASDRUBALE _Soprano_ - - Doctors, Scholars, Citizens. - - _Place_--Venice. - - _Time_--Seventeenth Century. - -Act I. _Crispino_, the cobbler, and _Annetta_, his wife, the ballad -singer, are in sore straits. _Don Asdrubale_, their landlord, who is a -miser, is about to put them out for non-payment of rent, but hints -that if _Annetta_ will respond to his suit he may reconsider. -_Crispino_, in desperation, runs away, and is followed by _Annetta_. -He is about to drown himself in a well when a fairy appears to him. -She predicts that he will be a famous doctor. _Crispino_ and _Annetta_ -rejoice. - -Act II. _Crispino_ nails up a physician's sign. The neighbours rail, -but soon a mason is brought in severely hurt, and, though the doctors -fail to bring him around, _Crispino_ cures him. - -Act III. _Crispino_, overbearing since his good fortune, has built a -fine house. He ignores former friends and even is unkind to _Annetta_. -He even berates the _Fairy_. Suddenly he is in a cavern. The _Fairy's_ -head has turned into a skull. She has become Death. Humbled, he begs -for another glimpse of _Annetta_ and the children. He awakes to find -himself with them and to hear a joyous song from _Annetta_. - - -LORELEY - -Alfred Catalani's "Loreley" was presented by the Chicago Opera Company -for the first time in New York, at the Lexington Theatre, on Thursday -evening, February 13, 1919, with Anna Fitziu, Florence Macbeth, -Virgilio Lazzari, Alessandro Dolci, and Giacomo Rimini. The -librettists are Messrs. D'Ormeville and Zanardini. - -The legendary siren who sits combing her hair on a rock in the -traditional manner, is in this opera the reincarnated spirit of a -young orphan, who has been jilted by her fiancé, _Walter_, Lord of -Oberwessel. When the faithless young man is about to marry another -beautiful maiden, _Anna_, _Loreley_ casts her spell upon him, and -_Anna_, too, is thrown over. _Walter_ follows _Loreley_ to a watery -grave, and _Anna_ dies of grief. - - -FEDORA - - Opera in three acts, by Umberto Giordano; text, after the - Sardou drama, by Colautti. Produced, Milan, 1898. - - CHARACTERS - - PRINCESS FEDORA _Soprano_ - COUNT LORIS _Tenor_ - COUNTESS OLGA _Soprano_ - DE SIRIEX, a diplomat _Baritone_ - GRECH, a police officer _Bass_ - DMITRI, a groom _Contralto_ - CYRIL, a coachman _Baritone_ - BOROV, a doctor _Baritone_ - BARON ROUVEL _Baritone_ - - _Time_--Present. - - _Place_--Paris and Switzerland. - -Act I. Home of _Count Vladimir_, St. Petersburg. While the beautiful -_Princess Fedora_ awaits the coming of her betrothed, _Count -Vladimir_, he is brought in, by _De Siriex_, mortally wounded. -Suspicion for the murder falls upon _Count Loris_. _Fedora_ takes a -Byzantine jewelled cross from her breast and swears by it to avenge -her betrothed. - -Act II. Salon of _Fedora_ in Paris. _Loris_ is entertained by her. She -uses all her arts of fascination in hope of securing proof of his -guilt. He falls desperately in love with her, and she succeeds in -drawing from him a confession of the murder. _Grech_, a police -officer, plans to take _Loris_ after all the guests have left. Then, -however, _Loris_ tells her further that he killed the _Count_ because -he betrayed his young wife and brought about her untimely death. -_Fedora_, who herself has fallen in love with _Loris_, now takes him -into her arms. But the trap is ready to be sprung. She is, however, -able to escape with him. - -Act III. Switzerland. _Loris_ and _Fedora_ are married. _Loris's_ -footsteps, however, are followed by a spy. _Fedora_ learns that -because of _Loris's_ act his brother has been thrown into prison and -has died there. _Loris's_ mother has died of shock. He discovers that -it was _Fedora_ who set the secret service on his track. He is about -to kill her when, in despair, she swallows poison. _Loris_ now pleads -with her to live, but it is too late. She dies in his arms. - - -GERMANIA - - Opera in a prologue, two acts and an epilogue, by Alberto - Franchetti; text by Luigi Illica. Produced, Milan, March 11, - 1902; in this country, January 22, 1910. - - CHARACTERS - - FREDERICK LOEWE, member of the brotherhood _Tenor_ - CARL WORMS, member of the brotherhood _Baritone_ - GIOVANNI PALM, member of the brotherhood _Bass_ - CRISOGONO, member of the brotherhood _Baritone_ - STAPPS, Protestant priest _Bass_ - RICKE, a Nuremberg maiden _Soprano_ - JANE, her sister _Mezzo-Soprano_ - LENA ARMUTH, a peasant woman _Mezzo-Soprano_ - JEBBEL, her nephew _Soprano_ - LUIGI LÜTZOW, an officer _Bass_ - CARLO KÖRNER, an officer _Tenor_ - PETERS, a herdsman _Bass_ - SIGNORA HEDVIGE _Mezzo-Soprano_ - CHIEF OF POLICE _Bass_ - - _Time_--Napoleonic Wars. - - _Place_--Germany. - -Prologue. An Old Mill near Nuremberg. Students under _Palm_ are -shipping out in grain-bags literature directed against the -invader--Napoleon. _Ricke_ tells _Worms_, whose mistress she has been, -that her sweetheart, the poet _Loewe_, will soon return, and that she -must confess to him her guilty secret. _Worms_ dissuades her. _Loewe_ -arrives and is joyously welcomed by his comrades. The police break in, -arrest _Palm_, and take him off to be executed. - -Act I. A Hut in the Black Forest. Seven years are supposed to have -passed. _Loewe_, his aged mother, and _Ricke_ and _Jane_ have found -refuge here from the victorious troops of Napoleon. _Worms_ is thought -to be dead. _Loewe_ is to be married to _Ricke_. But suddenly the -voice of _Worms_ is heard in the forest. _Loewe_ joyously meets his -old friend, who, however, is much disconcerted at the sight of -_Ricke_, and goes away. _Ricke_ flees from her husband, who concludes -that she has fled with _Worms_. - -Act II. Secret Cellar at Koenigsberg. _Worms_ and others plot to -overthrow Napoleon. _Loewe_ challenges _Worms_ to a duel. _Worms_, -penitent, asks _Loewe_ to kill him. But the preparations are stayed by -_Queen Louise_. She declares they should be fighting against Napoleon, -not against each other. - -Epilogue. Battlefield of Leipzig. Napoleon has been defeated. The -great field is strewn with dead and dying. Among the latter, _Ricke_, -still loving _Loewe_, finds him. He asks her to forgive _Worms_, who -lies dead. She forgives the dead man, then lies down beside her dying -husband. Distant view of the retreat of Napoleon's shattered legions. - - - - -Modern French Opera - - - The contemporaries and successors of Bizet wrote many - charming operas that for years have given pleasure to large - audiences. French opera has had generous representation in - New York. Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann," Delibes's - "Lakmé," Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila," Massenet's - "Manon" are among the most distinguished works of this - school. - -"Les Contes d'Hoffmann"; a fanciful opera in four acts; words by MM. -Michel Carré and Jules Barbier; posthumous music by Jacques Offenbach, -produced at the Opéra Comique on February 10, 1881. "Les Contes -d'Hoffmann" had been played thirty years before, on March 31, 1851, at -the Odéon, in the shape of a comedy. Such as it was designed to be, -the work offers an excellent frame for the music, bringing on the -stage in their fantastic form three of the prettiest tales of the -German story-teller, connected with each other in an ingenious -fashion, with the contrasts which present themselves. Lyrical -adaptation therefore appeared quite natural and it was done with much -taste. Offenbach had almost entirely finished its music when death -came to surprise him. At the same time he had not put his score into -orchestral form and it was Ernest Girard who was charged with -finishing this and writing the instrumentation, which it was easy to -perceive at hearing it, Girard being a musician taught differently -from the author of the "Belle Hélène" and "Orphée aux Enfers." It is -right to say that several passages of the Contes d'Hoffmann were -welcome and testify to a real effort by the composer. If to that be -added the interest that the libretto offers and the excellence of an -interpretation entrusted to Mlle. Adèle Isaac (_Stella_, _Olympia_, -_Antonia_), to MM. Talazac (_Hoffmann_), Taskin (_Lindorf_, -_Coppélius_, _Dr. Miracle_), Belhomme (_Crespel_), Grivot (_Andrès_, -_Cochenille_, _Frantz_), Gourdon (_Spalanzani_), Collin (_Wilhelm_), -Mlles. Marguerite Ugalde (_Nicklausse_), Molé (_the nurse_), one will -understand the success which greeted the work. The Contes d'Hoffmann -was reproduced in 1893 at the Renaissance, during the transient -directorship of M. Détroyat, who gave to this theatre the title of -Théâtre Lyrique. - - -LAKMÉ - -Opera in three acts by Delibes; libretto by Gille and Gondinet. - -[Illustration: Photo copyright, 1916, by Victor Georg - -Galli-Curci as Lakmé] - -_Lakmé_ is the daughter of _Nilakantha_, a fanatical Brahmin priest. -While he nurses his hatred of the British invader, his daughter -strolls in her garden, singing duets with her slave _Mallika_. An -English officer, one _Gerald_, breaks through the bambou fence that -surrounds _Nilakantha's_ retreat, in a ruined temple in the depths of -an Indian forest. He courts _Lakmé_ who immediately returns his love. -_Nilakantha_ seeing the broken fence at once suspects an English -invader. In act two the old man disguised as a beggar is armed with a -dagger. _Lakmé_ is disguised as a street singer. Together they search -for the profaner of the sacred spot at a market. It is here that she -sings the famous Bell Song. _Gerald_ recognizes _Lakmé_ as -_Nilakantha_ recognizes the disturber of his peace. A dagger thrust -lays _Gerald_ low. _Lakmé_ and her slave carry him to a hut hidden in -the forest. During his convalescence the time passes pleasantly. The -lovers sing duets and exchange vows of undying love. But _Frederick_, -a brother officer and a slave to duty, informs _Gerald_ that he must -march with his regiment. _Lakmé_ makes the best of the situation by -eating a poisonous flower which brings about her death. - -The story is based by Gondinet and Gille upon "Le Mariage de Loti." -_Ellen_, _Rose_, and _Mrs. Benson_, Englishwomen, hover in the -background of the romance. But their parts are of negligible -importance, and in fact when Miss Van Zandt and a French Company first -gave the opera in London they were omitted altogether, some said -wisely. The opera was first presented in Paris at the Opéra Comique -with Miss Van Zandt. It was first sung in New York by the American -Opera Company at the Academy of Music, March 1, 1886. The first -_Lakmé_ to be heard in New York was Pauline L'Allemand, the second -Adelina Patti, this time in 1890 and at the Metropolitan Opera House. -Mme. Sembrich and Luisa Tetrazzini sang it later. - - -SAMSON ET DALILA - - Opera in three acts and four scenes. Music by Saint-Saëns; - text by Ferdinand Lemaire. Produced: Weimar, December 2, - 1877. - - CHARACTERS - - DALILA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - SAMSON _Tenor_ - HIGH PRIEST OF DAGON _Baritone_ - ABIMELECH, satrap of Gaza _Bass_ - AN OLD HEBREW _Bass_ - THE PHILISTINES' WAR MESSENGER _Tenor_ - - _Place_--Gaza. - - _Time_--1136 B.C. - -Act I. Before the curtain rises we hear of the Philistines at Gaza -forcing the Israelites to work. When the curtain is raised we see in -the background the temple of Dagon, god of the Philistines. With the -lamentations of the Jews is mixed the bitter scorn of _Abimelech_. But -_Samson_ has not yet expressed a hope of conquering. His -drink-inspired songs agitate his fellow countrymen so much that it -now amounts to an insurrection. _Samson_ slays _Abimelech_ with the -sword he has snatched from him and Israel's champion starts out to -complete the work. _Dagon's_ high priest may curse, the Philistines -are not able to offer resistance to the onslaught of the enemy. -Already the Hebrews are rejoicing and gratefully praise God when there -appear the Philistines' most seductive maidens, _Dalila_ at their -head, to do homage to the victorious _Samson_. Of what use is the -warning of an old Hebrew? The memory of the love which she gave him -when "the sun laughed, the spring awoke and kissed the ground," the -sight of her ensnaring beauty, the tempting dances ensnare the -champion anew. - -Act II. The beautiful seductress tarries in the house of her victim. -Yes, her victim. She had never loved the enemy of her country. She -hates him since he left her. And so the exhortation of the high priest -to revenge is not needed. _Samson_ has never yet told her on what his -superhuman strength depends. Now the champion comes, torn by -irresolute reproaches. He is only going to say farewell to her. Her -allurements in vain entice him, he does not disclose his secret. But -he will not suffer her scorn and derision; overcome, he pushes her -into the chamber of love. And there destiny is fulfilled. _Dalila's_ -cry of triumph summons the Philistines. Deprived of his hair, the -betrayed champion is overcome. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by White - -Caruso as Samson in "Samson and Dalila"] - -Act III. In a dungeon the blinded giant languishes. But more -tormenting than the corporal disgrace or the laments of his companions -are the reproaches in his own breast. Now the doors rattle. _Beadles_ -come in to drag him to the Philistines' celebration of their -victory--(change of scene). In _Dagon's_ temple the Philistine people -are rejoicing. Bitter scorn is poured forth on _Samson_ whom the high -priest insultingly invites to sing a love-song to _Dalila_. The false -woman herself mocks the powerless man. But _Samson_ prays to his God. -Only once again may he have strength. And while the intoxication of -the festival seizes on everybody, he lets himself be led between the -two pillars which support the temple. He clasps them. A terrible -crash--the fragments of the temple with a roar bury the Philistine -people and their conqueror. - - -LE ROI D'YS - -Opera by Lalo, produced at the Opéra Comique in 1888, and given in -London in 1901. The story is founded upon a Breton legend. _Margared_ -and _Rozenn_, daughters of the King of Ys, love _Mylio_. But the -warrior has only eyes for _Rozenn_. In revenge _Margared_ betrays her -father's city to _Karnac_, a defeated enemy. To him she gives the keys -of the sluices which stand between the town and the sea. When the town -and all its inhabitants are about to be swept away, the girl in -remorse throws herself into the sea. St. Corentin, patron saint of Ys, -accepts her sacrifice and the sea abates. - - -GRISÉLIDIS - -Massenet's "Grisélidis," a lyric tale in three acts and a prologue, -poem by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand based on the "Mystery" in -free verse by the same authors, produced at the Comédie-Française, -Paris, May 15, 1891, was given for the first time in America, January -19, 1910, at the Manhattan Opera House, New York. The story of the -patient _Griselda_ has been handed down to posterity by Boccaccio in -the Decameron, 10th day, 10th novel, and by Chaucer, who learned it, -he said from Petrarch at Padua, and then put it into the mouth of the -Clerk of Oxenforde. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Mary Garden as Grisélidis] - -The old ballad of "Patient Grissell" begins thus: - - A noble marquess - As he did ride a-hunting, - Hard by a forest side, - A fair and comely maiden, - As she did sit a-spinning, - His gentle eye espied. - - Most fair and lovely - And was of comely grace was she, - Although in simple attire, - She sang most sweetly, - With pleasant voice melodiously, - Which set the lord's heart on fire. - -An English drama, "Patient Grissel," was entered at Stationers' Hall -in 1599. The word "Grizel," the proverbial type of a meek and patient -wife, crept into the English language through this story. Chaucer -wrote: - - No wedded man so hardy be tassaille - His wyves patience, in hope to fynde - Grisildes, for in certain he shall fail. - -Several operas on this subject were written before Massenet's, but the -ballet "Griseldis: Les Cinq Sens" by Adam (Paris, 1848), has another -story. So too has Flotow's comic opera, "Griselda, l'esclave du -Camoens." - -Silvestre and Morand represented _Griselda_ as tempted by _Satan_ in -person that he might win a wager made with the marquis. When the -"Mystery" was given in 1891 the cast included Miss Bartet as -_Griseldis_; Coquelin cadet as _Le Diable_; Silvain as the _Marquis de -Saluce_ and A. Lambert, fils, as _Alain_. It was played at fifty-one -consecutive performances. According to Mr. Destranges, Bizet wrote -music for a "Grisélidis" with a libretto by Sardou, but most of this -was destroyed. Only one air is extant, that is the air sung by Micaela -in "Carmen." According to the same authority Massenet's score lay "En -magasin" for nearly ten years. Thus the music antedated that of -"Thaïs" (1894), "La Navarraise" (1894), "Sapho" (1897), "Cendrillon" -(1899), and it was not performed until 1901. - -"Grisélidis" was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, November 20, -1901, with Lucienne Bréval, Lucien Fugère, Messrs. Maréchal and -Dufranne. André Messager conducted. On November 23, 1901, the opera -drew the largest receipts known thus far in the history of the Opéra -Comique--9538 francs. - -Mr. Philip Hale tells the story of the opera as follows: - -"The scene is in Provence and in the fourteenth century. The _Marquis -of Saluzzo_, strolling about in his domains, met _Griselda_, a -shepherdess, and he loved her at first sight. Her heart was pure; her -hair was ebon black; her eyes shone with celestial light. He married -her and the boy _Loÿs_ was born to them. The happy days came to an -end, for the _Marquis_ was called to the war against the Saracens. -Before he set out, he confided to the prior his grief at leaving -_Griselda_. The prior was a Job's comforter: 'Let my lord look out for -the devil! When husbands are far away, _Satan_ tempts their wives.' -The _Marquis_ protests for he knew the purity of _Griselda_; but as he -protested he heard a mocking laugh, and he saw at the window an -ape-like apparition. It was the devil all in green. The _Marquis_ -would drive him away, but the devil proposed a wager: he bet that he -would tempt _Griselda_ to her fall, while the _Marquis_ was absent. -The _Marquis_ confidently took up the wager, and gave the devil his -ring as a pledge. The devil of these librettists had a wife who nagged -her spouse, and he in revenge sought to make other husbands unhappy. -He began to lay snares for _Griselda_; he appeared in the disguise of -a Byzantine Jew, who came to the castle, leading as a captive, his own -wife, _Fiamina_, and he presented her: 'This slave belongs to the -_Marquis_. He bids you to receive her, to put her in your place, to -serve her, to obey her in all things. Here is his ring.' _Griselda_ -meekly bowed her head. The devil said to himself that _Griselda_ would -now surely seek vengeance on her cruel lord. He brought _Alain_ by a -spell to the castle garden at night--_Alain_, who had so fondly loved -_Griselda_. She met him in an odorous and lonely walk. He threw -himself at her feet and made hot love. _Griselda_ thought of her -husband who had wounded her to the quick, and was about to throw -herself into _Alain's_ arms, when her little child appeared. -_Griselda_ repulsed _Alain_, and the devil in his rage bore away the -boy, _Loÿs_. The devil came again, this time as a corsair, who told -her that the pirate chief was enamoured of her beauty; she would -regain the child if she would only yield; she would see him if she -would go to the vessel. She ran to the ship, but lo! the _Marquis_, -home from the East. And then the devil, in another disguise, spoke -foully of _Griselda's_ behaviour, and the _Marquis_ was about to -believe him, but he saw _Griselda_ and his suspicions faded away. The -devil in the capital of a column declared that _Loÿs_ belonged to him. -Foolish devil, who did not heed the patron saint before whom the -_Marquis_ and _Griselda_ were kneeling. The cross on the altar was -bathed in light; the triptych opened; there, at the feet of St. Agnes, -was little _Loÿs_ asleep. - -"The opera begins with a prologue which is not to be found in the -version played at the Comédie-Française in 1891. The prologue -acquaints us with the hope of the shepherd _Alain_ that he may win -_Griselda_: with the _Marquis_ meeting _Griselda_ as he returns from -the chase, his sudden passion for her, his decision to take the young -peasant as his wife, the despair of _Alain_. This prologue, with a -fine use of themes that are used in the opera as typical, is described -as one of the finest works of Massenet, and even his enemies among the -ultra-moderns admit that the instrumentation is prodigiously skilful -and truly poetic. - -"The first act pictures the oratory of _Griselda_, and ends with the -departure of the _Marquis_. - -"The second act passes before the château, on a terrace adorned with -three orange trees, with the sea glittering in the distance. It is -preceded by an entr'acte of an idyllic nature. It is in this act -that the devil and his wife enter disguised, the former as a slave -merchant, the latter as an odalisque. In this act the devil, up to his -old tricks, orders the flowers to pour madding perfumes into the air -that they may aid in the fall of _Griselda_. And in this act _Alain_ -again woos his beloved, and the devil almost wins his wager. - -"The third act is in _Griselda's_ oratory. At the end, when _Loÿs_ is -discovered at the feet of St. Agnes, the retainers rush in and all -intone the 'Magnificat' and through a window the devil is seen in a -hermitage, wearing cloak and hood. - -"The passages that have excited the warmest praise are the prologue, -_Griselda's_ scene in the first act, 'L'Oiseau qui pars à -tire-d'aile,' and the quiet ending of the act after the tumult of the -departure to the East; in the second act, the prelude, the song, 'Il -partit au printemps,' the invocation, and the duet; in the third act, -a song from the _Marquis_, and the final and mystic scene." - - -THAÏS - -"Thaïs," a lyric comedy in three acts and seven scenes, libretto by M. -Louis Gallet, taken from the novel by M. Anatole France which bears -the same title; music by Massenet; produced at the Opéra on March 16, -1894. It had been, I think, more than sixty years since the Opéra had -applied the designation of "lyric comedy" to a work produced on its -stage, which is a little too exclusively solemn. As a matter of fact -there is no question in Thaïs of one of those powerful and passionate -dramas, rich in incidents and majestic dramatic strokes, or one of -those subjects profoundly pathetic like those of "Les Huguenots," "La -Juive," or "Le Prophète." One could extract from the intimate and -mystic novel of "Thaïs" only a unity and simplicity of action without -circumlocutions or complications, developing between two important -persons and leaving all the others in a sort of discreet shadow, the -latter serving only to emphasize the scenic movement and to give to -the work the necessary life, color, and variety. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Mary Garden as Thaïs] - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Farrar and Amato as Thaïs and Athanaël] - -The librettist had the idea of writing his libretto in prose, rhymed, -if not entirely in blank verse, in a measured prose to which, in a too -long article reviewing it, he gave the name of "poésie mélique." This -explanation left the public indifferent, the essential for them being -that the libretto be good and interesting and that it prove useful to -the musician. The action of "Thaïs" takes place at the end of the -fourth century. The first act shows us in a corner of the Theban plain -on the banks of the Nile a refuge of cenobites. The good fathers are -finishing a modest repast at their common table. One place near them -remains empty, that of their comrade _Athanaël_ (Paphnuce in the -novel) who has gone to Alexandria. Soon he comes back, still greatly -scandalized at the sensation caused in the great city by the presence -of a shameless courtesan, the famous actress and dancer, _Thaïs_, who -seems to have turned the sceptical and light heads of its inhabitants. -Now in his younger days _Athanaël_ had known this _Thaïs_, and in -Alexandria too, which he left to consecrate himself to the Lord and to -take the robe of a religious. - -_Athanaël_ is haunted by the memory of _Thaïs_. He dreams that it -would be a pious and meritorious act to snatch her from her unworthy -profession and from a life of debauchery which dishonours her and of -which she does not even seem to be conscious. He goes to bed and -sleeps under the impress of this thought, which does not cease to -confront him, so much so that he sees her in a dream on the stage of -the theatre of Alexandria, representing the Loves of Venus. He can -refrain no longer and on awaking he goes to find her again, firmly -resolved to do everything to bring about her conversion. - -Arrived at Alexandria, _Athanaël_ meets an old friend, the beau -_Nicias_, to whom he makes himself known and who is the lover of -_Thaïs_ for a day longer because he has purchased her love for a week -which is about to end. _Athanaël_ confides his scheme to _Nicias_ who -receives him like a brother and makes him put on clothes which will -permit him to attend a fête and banquet which he is to give that very -night in honour of _Thaïs_. Soon he finds himself in the presence of -the courtesan who laughs at him at his first words and who engages him -to come to see her at her house if he expects to convert her. He does -not fail to accept this invitation and once in _Thaïs's_ house tells -her to be ashamed of her disorderly life and with eloquent words -reveals to her the heavenly joys and the felicities of religion. -_Thaïs_ is very much impressed; she is on the point of yielding to his -advice when afar off in a song are heard the voices of her companions -in pleasure. Then she repels the monk, who, without being discouraged, -goes away, saying to her: "At thy threshold until daylight I will -await thy coming." - -In fact here we find him at night seated on the front steps of -_Thaïs's_ house. Time has done its work and a few hours have sufficed -for the young woman to be touched by grace. She goes out of her house, -having exchanged her rich garments for a rough woollen dress, finds -the monk, and begs him to lead her to a convent. The conversion is -accomplished. - -But _Athanaël_ has deceived himself. It was not love of God but it was -jealousy that dictated his course without his being aware of it. When -he has returned to the Thebaid after having conducted _Thaïs_ to a -convent and thinks he has found peace again, he perceives with horror -that he loves her madly. His thoughts without ceasing turn to her and -in a new dream, a cruel dream, he seems to see _Thaïs_, sanctified and -purified by remorse and prayer, on the point of dying in the convent -where she took refuge. On awaking, under the impression of this -sinister vision, he hurries to the convent where _Thaïs_ in fact is -near to breathing her last breath. But he does not wish that she die; -and while she, in ecstasy, is only thinking of heaven and of her -purification, he wants to snatch her from death and only talks to her -of his love. The scene is strange and of real power. _Thaïs_ dies at -last and _Athanaël_ falls stricken down beside her. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Farrar as Thaïs] - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Farrar and Amato as Thaïs and Athanaël] - -This subject, half mystic, half psychological, was it really a -favourable one for theatrical action? Was it even treated in such a -way as to mitigate the defects it might present in this connection? We -may doubt it. Nevertheless M. Massenet has written on this libretto of -"Thaïs" a score which, if it does not present the firm unity of those -of "Manon" and of "Werther," certainly does not lack either -inspiration or colour or originality and in which moreover are found -in all their force and all their expansion the astonishing technical -qualities of a master to whom nothing in his art is foreign. All the -music of the first act, which shows us the retreat of the cenobites, -is of a sober and severe colour, with which will be contrasted the -movement and the gracefulness of the scene at the house of _Nicias_. -There should be noted the peaceful chorus of monks, the entrance of -_Athanaël_, the fine phrase which follows his dream: "Toi qui mis la -pitié dans nos âmes," and the very curious effect of the scene where -he goes away again from his companions to return to Alexandria. In the -second act the kind of invocation placed in the mouth of the same -_Athanaël_: "Voilà donc la terrible cité," written on a powerful -rhythm, is followed by a charming quartette, a passage with an -emphasis full of grace and the end of which especially is delightful. -I would indicate again in this act the rapid and kindly dialogue of -_Nicias_ and of _Thaïs_: "Nous nous sommes aimés une longue semaine," -which seems to conceal under its apparent indifference a sort of sting -of melancholy. I pass over the air of _Thaïs_: "Dis-moi que je suis -belle," an air of bravado solely destined to display the finish of a -singer, to which I much prefer the whole scene that follows, which -is only a long duet in which _Athanaël_ tries to convert _Thaïs_. The -severe and stern accents of the monk put in opposition to the raillery -and the voluptuous outbreaks (buoyancy) of the courtesan produce a -striking contrast which the composer has known how to place in relief -with a rare felicity and a real power. The symphonic intermezzo which, -under the name of "Méditation," separates this act from the following, -is nothing but an adorable violin solo, supported by the harps and the -development of which, on the taking up again of the first motif by the -violin, brings about the entrance of an invisible chorus, the effect -of which is purely exquisite. The curtain then rises on the scene in -which _Thaïs_, who has put on a rough woollen dress, goes to seek the -monk to flee with him. Here there is a duet in complete contrast with -the preceding. _Athanaël_ wants _Thaïs_ to destroy and burn whatever -may preserve the memory of her past. She obeys, demanding favour only -for a little statue of Eros: "L'amour est un vertu rare." It is a sort -of invocation to the purity of love, written, if one may say so, in a -sentiment of chaste melancholy and entirely impressed with -gracefulness and poetry. But what should be praised above all is the -final scene, that of the death of _Thaïs_. This scene, truly pathetic -and powerful, has been treated by the composer with a talent of the -first order and an incontestable superiority. There again he knew -wonderfully well how to seize the contrast between the pious thoughts -of _Thaïs_, who at the moment of quitting life begins to perceive -eternal happiness, and the powerless rage of _Athanaël_, who, devoured -by an impious love, reveals to her, without her understanding or -comprehending it, all the ardour of a passion that death alone can -extinguish in him. The touching phrases of _Thaïs_, the despairing -accents of _Athanaël_, interrupted by the desolate chants of the nuns, -companions of the dying woman, provoke in the hearer a poignant and -sincere emotion. That is one of the finest pages we owe to the pen of -M. Massenet. We must point out especially the return of the beautiful -violin phrase which constitutes the foundation of the intermezzo of -the second act. - -The work has been very well played by Mlle. Sybil Sanderson (_Thaïs_), -M. Delmas (_Athanaël_), M. Alvarez (_Nicias_), Mmes. Héglon and Marcy, -and M. Delpouget. - - -MANON - - Opera in five acts by Massenet; words by Henri Meilhac and - Philippe Gille, after the story by Abbé Prévost. Produced - Opéra Comique, Paris, January 19, 1884; Théâtre de la - Monnaie, Brussels, March 15, 1884. In English, by the Carl - Rosa Company, Liverpool, January 17, 1885; and at Drury - Lane, London, May 7, 1885, with Marie Roze, Barton McGuckin, - and Ludwig. In French, Covent Garden, May 14, 1894. Carcano - Theatre, Milan, October 19, 1893. Academy of Music, New - York, December 23, 1885, with Minnie Hauck (_Manon_), - Giannini (_Des Grieux_), and Del Puente (_Lescaut_); - Metropolitan Opera House, January 16, 1895, with Sibyl - Sanderson and Jean de Reszke. - - CHARACTERS - - CHEVALIER DES GRIEUX _Tenor_ - COUNT DES GRIEUX, his father _Bass_ - LESCAUT, of the Royal Guard, - cousin to Manon _Baritone_ - GUILLOT DE MORFONTAINE, Minister of - Finance, an old beau _Bass_ - DE BRÉTIGNY, a nobleman _Baritone_ - MANON _Soprano_ - POUSSETTE, JAVOTTE, ROSETTE, actresses _Sopranos_ - - Students, innkeeper, a sergeant, a soldier, gamblers, - merchants and their wives, croupiers, sharpers, guards, - travellers, ladies, gentlemen, porters, postilions, an - attendant at the Monastery of St. Sulpice, the people. - - _Time_--1821. - - _Place_--Amiens, Paris, Havre. - -Act I. Courtyard of the inn at Amiens. _Guillot_ and _De Brétigny_, -who have just arrived with the actresses _Poussette_, _Javotte_, and -_Rosette_, are shouting for the innkeeper. Townspeople crowd about the -entrance to the inn. They descry a coach approaching. _Lescaut_, who -has alighted from it, enters followed by two guardsmen. Other -travellers appear amid much commotion, amusement, and shouting on the -part of the townspeople. He is awaiting his cousin _Manon_, whom he is -to conduct to a convent school, and who presently appears and gives a -sample of her character, which is a mixture of demureness and -vivacity, of serious affection and meretricious preferment, in her -opening song, "Je suis encore tout étourdie" (A simple maiden fresh -from home), in which she tells how, having left home for the first -time to travel to Amiens, she sometimes wept and sometimes laughed. It -is a chic little song. - -_Lescaut_ goes out to find her luggage. From the balcony of the inn -the old roué _Guillot_ sees her. She is not shocked, but laughs at his -hints that he is rich and can give her whatever she wants. _De -Brétigny_, who, accompanied by the actresses, comes out on the balcony -in search of _Guillot_, also is much struck with her beauty. -_Guillot_, before withdrawing with the others from the balcony, softly -calls down to her that his carriage is at her disposal, if she will -but enter it and await him. _Lescaut_ returns but at the same time his -two guardsmen come after him. They want him to join with them in -gambling and drinking. He pretends to _Manon_ that he is obliged to go -to his armoury for a short time. Before leaving her, however, he warns -her to be careful of her actions. "Regardez-moi bien dans les yeux" -(Now give good heed to what I say). - -Left alone, _Manon_ expresses admiration for the jewels and finery -worn by the actresses. She wishes such gems and dresses might belong -to her. The _Chevalier des Grieux_, young, handsome, ardent, comes -upon the scene. He loves _Manon_ at first sight. Nor does she long -remain unimpressed by the wooing of the _Chevalier_. Beginning with -his words, "If I knew but your name," and her reply, "I am called -Manon," the music soon becomes an impassioned love duet. To him she is -an "enchantress." As for her--"À vous ma vie et mon âme" (To you my -life and my soul). - -_Manon_ sees _Guillot's_ postilion, who has been told by his master to -take his orders from _Manon_. She communicates to _Des Grieux_ that -they will run away to Paris in _Guillot's_ conveyance. "Nous vivrons à -Paris" ('Tis to Paris we go), they shout in glad triumph, and are off. -There is much confusion when the escape is discovered. Ridicule is -heaped upon _Guillot_. For is it not in his carriage, in which the old -roué hoped to find _Manon_ awaiting him, that she has driven off with -her young lover! - -Act II. The apartment of _Des Grieux_ and _Manon_, Rue Vivienne, -Paris. _Des Grieux_ is writing at his desk. Discovering _Manon_ -looking over his shoulder, he reads her what he has written--a letter -to his father extolling her charms and asking permission to marry her. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Caruso as Des Grieux in "Manon"] - -The scene is interrupted by knocking and voices without. The maid -servant announces that two guardsmen demand admission. She whispers to -_Manon_, "One of them loves you--the nobleman, who lives near here." -The pair are _Lescaut_ and _De Brétigny_, the latter masquerading as a -soldier in _Lescaut's_ regiment. _Lescaut_ scents more profit for -himself and for his cousin _Manon_ in a liaison between her and the -wealthy nobleman than in her relations with _Des Grieux_. Purposely he -is gruff and demands "yes" or "no" to his question as to whether or -not _Des Grieux_ intends to marry the girl. _Des Grieux_ shows the -letter he is about to despatch to his father. Apparently everything is -satisfactory. But _De Brétigny_ manages to convey to _Manon_ the -information that the _Chevalier's_ father is incensed at his son's -mode of life, and has arranged to have him carried off that night. If -she will keep quiet about it, he (_De Brétigny_) will provide for her -handsomely and surround her with the wealth and luxury she craves. -She protests that she loves _Des Grieux_--but is careful not to warn -him of the impending abduction. - -_Lescaut_ and the nobleman depart, after _Lescaut_, sly fellow, has -blessed his "children," as he calls _Manon_ and _Des Grieux_. Shortly -afterwards the latter goes out to despatch the letter to his father. -_Manon_, approaching the table, which is laid for supper, sings the -charming air, "Adieu, nôtre petite table" (Farewell, dear little -table). This is followed by the exquisite air with harp accompaniment, -"Le Rève de Manon" (A vision of Manon), which is sung by _Des Grieux_, -who has re-entered and describes her as he saw her in a dream. - -There is a disturbance outside. _Manon_ knows that the men who will -bear away her lover have arrived. She loves _Des Grieux_, but luxury -means more to her than love. An effort is made by her to dissuade the -_Chevalier_ from going outside to see who is there--but it is a -half-hearted attempt. He goes. The noise of a struggle is heard. -_Manon_, "overcome with grief," exclaims, "He has gone." - -Act III. Scene I. The Cours de la Reine, Paris, on the day of a -popular fête. Stalls of traders are among the trees. There is a -pavilion for dancing. After some lively preliminary episodes between -the three actresses and _Guillot_, _De Brétigny_ enters with _Manon_. -She sings a clever "Gavotte." It begins, "Obéissons, quand leur voix -appelle" (List to the voice of Youth when it calleth). - -The _Count des Grieux_, father of the _Chevalier_, comes upon the -scene. From a conversation between him and _De Brétigny_, which -_Manon_ overhears, she learns that the _Chevalier_ is about to enter -the seminary of St. Sulpice and intends to take holy orders. After a -duet between _Manon_ and the _Count_, who retires, the girl enters her -chair, and bids the wondering _Lescaut_ to have her conveyed to the -seminary. - -Scene II. Parlour in the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Nuns and visitors, -who have just attended religious service, are praising the sermon -delivered by _Des Grieux_, who enters a little later attired in the -garb of an abbé. The ladies withdraw, leaving _Des Grieux_ with his -father, who has come in unobserved, and now vainly endeavours to -dissuade his son from taking holy orders. Left alone, _Des Grieux_ -cannot banish _Manon_ from his thoughts. "Ah! fuyez douce image" (Ah! -depart, image fair), he sings, then slowly goes out. - -Almost as if in answer to his soliloquy, the woman whose image he -cannot put away enters the parlour. From the chapel chanting is heard. -Summoned by the porter of the seminary, _Des Grieux_ comes back. He -protests to _Manon_ that she has been faithless and that he shall not -turn from the peace of mind he has sought in religious retreat. - -Gradually, however, he yields to the pleading of the woman he loves. -"N'est-ce plus ma main que cette main presse?... Ah! regarde-moi! -N'est-ce plus Manon?" ("Is it no longer my hand, your own now -presses?... Ah! look upon me! Am I no longer Manon?") The religious -chanting continues, but now only as a background to an impassioned -love duet--"Ah! Viens, Manon, je t'aime!" (Ah, Manon, Manon! I love -thee.) - -Act IV. A fashionable gambling house in Paris. Play is going on. -_Guillot_, _Lescaut_, _Poussette_, _Javotte_, and _Rosette_ are of the -company. Later _Manon_ and _Des Grieux_ come in. _Manon_, who has run -through her lover's money, counsels the _Chevalier_ to stake what he -has left on the game. _Des Grieux_ plays in amazing luck against -_Guillot_ and gathers in winning after winning. "Faites vos jeux, -Messieurs," cry the croupiers, while _Manon_ joyously sings, "Ce bruit -de l'or, ce rire, et ces éclats joyeux" (Music of gold, of laughter, -and clash of joyous sounds). The upshot of it all, however, is that -_Guillot_ accuses the _Chevalier_ of cheating, and after an angry -scene goes out. Very soon afterwards, the police, whom _Guillot_ has -summoned, break in. Upon _Guillot's_ accusation they arrest _Manon_ -and the _Chevalier_. "Ô douleur, l'avenir nous sépare" (Oh despair! -Our lives are divided for ever), sings _Manon_, her accents of grief -being echoed by those of her lover. - -Act V, originally given as a second scene to the fourth act. A lonely -spot on the road to Havre. _Des Grieux_ has been freed through the -intercession of his father. _Manon_, however, with other women of her -class, has been condemned to deportation to the French colony of -Louisiana. _Des Grieux_ and _Lescaut_ are waiting for the prisoners to -pass under an escort of soldiers. _Des Grieux_ hopes to release -_Manon_ by attacking the convoy, but _Lescaut_ restrains him. The -guardsman finds little difficulty in bribing the sergeant to permit -_Manon_, who already is nearly dead from exhaustion, to remain behind -with _Des Grieux_, between whom the rest of the opera is a dolorous -duet, ending in _Manon's_ death. Even while dying her dual nature -asserts itself. Feebly opening her eyes, almost at the last, she -imagines she sees jewels and exclaims, "Oh! what lovely gems!" She -turns to _Des Grieux_: "I love thee! Take thou this kiss. 'Tis my -farewell for ever." It is, of course, this dual nature which makes the -character drawn by Abbé Prévost so interesting. - - * * * * * - -"Manon" by Massenet is one of the popular operas in the modern -repertoire. Its music has charm, and the leading character, in which -Miss Farrar appears with such distinction, is both a good singing and -a good acting rôle, a valuable asset to a prima donna. I have an -autograph letter of Massenet's written, presumably to Sibyl Sanderson, -half an hour before the curtain rose on the _première_ of "Manon," -January 19, 1884. In it he writes that within that brief space of time -they will know whether their hopes are to be confirmed, or their -illusions dissipated. In New York, eleven years later, Miss Sanderson -failed to make any impression in the rôle. - -The beauty of Massenet's score is responsible for the fact that -audiences are not troubled over the legal absurdity in the sentence of -deportation pronounced upon _Manon_ for being a courtesan and a -gambler's accomplice. In the story she also is a thief. - -The last act is original with the librettists. In the story the final -scene is laid in Louisiana (see Puccini's _Manon Lescaut_). The -effective scene in the convent of St. Sulpice was overlooked by -Puccini, as it also was by Scribe, who wrote the libretto for Auber's -"Manon." This latter work survives in the laughing song, "L'Éclat de -Rire," which Patti introduced in the lesson scene in "Il Barbiere di -Siviglia," and which Galli-Curci has revived for the same purpose. - - -LE CID - -"Le Cid"; opera in four acts and ten scenes; the poem by MM. d'Ennery, -Louis Gallet, and Édouard Blau; music by Massenet; produced at the -Opéra on November 30, 1885. The authors of the libretto of "Le Cid" -declared at the start of it that they had been inspired by Guillen de -Castro and by Corneille. The sole masterpiece of Corneille which is -built about a sort of psychological analysis of the character of -_Chimène_ and of the continual conflict of the two feelings which -divide her heart, in fact would not have given them sufficient action; -on the other hand they would not have been able to find in it the -pretext for adornments, for sumptuousness, for the rich stage setting -which the French opera house has been accustomed for two centuries to -offer to its public. - -This is the way the opera is arranged: First act, first scene: at the -house of the _Comte de Gormas_; scene between _Chimène_ and the -_Infanta_. Second scene: entering the cathedral of Burgos. _Rodrigo_ -is armed as a knight by the _King_. The _King_ tells _Don Diego_ that -he names him governor of the _Infanta_. Quarrel of _Don Diego_ and -_Don Gormas_. Scene of _Don Diego_ and _Don Rodrigo_: "Rodrigue, -as-tu du coeur?" Second act, third scene: A street in Burgos at -night. Stanzas by _Rodrigo_: "Percé jusques au fond du coeur." -_Rodrigo_ knocks at the door of _Don Gormas_: "À moi, comte, deux -mots!" Provocation; duel; death of _Don Gormas_. _Chimène_ discovers -that _Rodrigo_ is the slayer of her father. Fourth scene: The public -square in Burgos. A popular festival. Ballet. _Chimène_ arrives to ask -the _King_ for justice. _Don Diego_ defends his son. A Moorish courier -arrives to declare war on the _King_ on the part of his master. The -_King_ orders _Rodrigo_ to go and fight the infidels. Third act, fifth -scene: The chamber of _Chimène_: "Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et -fondez-vous en eau." Scene of _Chimène_ and _Rodrigo_. Sixth scene: -the camp of _Rodrigo_. Seventh scene: _Rodrigo's_ tent. The vision. -St. James appears to him. Eighth scene: the camp. The battle. Defeat -of the Moors. Fourth act, ninth scene: The palace of the Kings at -Granada. _Rodrigo_ is believed to be dead. _Chimène_ mourns for him: -"Éclate ô mon amour, tu n'as plus rien à craindre." Tenth scene: A -courtyard in the palace. _Rodrigo_ comes back as a conqueror. -_Chimène_ forgives him. The end. - - -DON QUICHOTTE - - Opera in five acts by Jules Massenet; text by Henri Cain, - after the play by Jacques Le Lorrain, based on the romance - of Cervantes. Produced, Monte Carlo, 1910. - - CHARACTERS - - LA BELLE DULCINÉE _Contralto_ - DON QUICHOTTE _Bass_ - SANCHO _Baritone_ - PEDRO, burlesquer _Soprano_ - GARCIAS, burlesquer _Soprano_ - RODRIGUEZ _Tenor_ - JUAN _Tenor_ - TWO VALETS _Baritone_ - - TENEBRUN, chief, and other bandits, friends of Dulcinée, and - others. - - _Time_--The Middle Ages. - - _Place_--Spain. - -Act I. Square in front of the house of _Dulcinée_, whose beauty people -praise in song. Into the midst of the throng ride _Don Quichotte_ and -his comical companion, _Sancho_. Night and moonlight. _Don Quichotte_ -serenades _Dulcinée_, arousing the jealousy of _Juan_, a lover of the -professional beauty, who now appears and prevents a duel. She is -amused by the avowals of _Don Quichotte_, and promises to become his -beloved if he will recover a necklace stolen from her by brigands. - -Act II. On the way to the camp of the brigands. Here occurs the fight -with the windmill. - -Act III. Camp of the brigands. _Don Quichotte_ attacks them. _Sancho_ -retreats. The Knight is captured. He expects to be put to death. But -his courage, his grave courtesy, and his love for his _Dulcinée_, -deeply impress the bandits. They free him and give him the necklace. - -Act IV. Fête at _Dulcinée's_. To the astonishment of all _Don -Quichotte_ and _Sancho_ put in their appearance. _Dulcinée_, overjoyed -at the return of the necklace, embraces the Knight. He entreats her to -marry him at once. Touched by his devotion, _Dulcinée_ disillusions -him as to the kind of woman she is. - -Act V. A forest. _Don Quichotte_ is dying. He tells _Sancho_ that he -has given him the island he promised him in their travels; the most -beautiful island in the world--the "Island of Dreams." In his delirium -he sees _Dulcinée_. The lance falls from his hand. The gaunt figure in -its rusty suit of armour--no longer grotesque, but tragic--stiffens in -death. - - -CENDRILLON - -CINDERELLA - - Opera, in four acts, by Massenet, text by Henri Cain. - Produced, Opéra Comique, Paris, May 24, 1899. - - CHARACTERS - - CINDERELLA _Soprano_ - MME. DE LA HALTIÈRE, her stepmother _Mezzo-Soprano_ - NOÉMIE, her stepsister _Soprano_ - DOROTHÉE, her stepsister _Soprano_ - PANDOLFE, her father _Baritone_ - THE PRINCE CHARMING _Soprano_ - THE FAIRY _Soprano_ - THE KING _Baritone_ - DEAN OF THE FACULTY _Baritone_ - MASTER OF CEREMONIES _Tenor_ - PRIME MINISTER _Bass_ - - _Time_--Period of Louis XIII. - - _Place_--France. - -The story follows almost entirely the familiar lines of the fairy -tale. It may differ from some versions in including _Cinderella's_ -father, _Pandolfe_, among the characters. In the third act, -sympathizing with her in her unhappiness with her stepmother and -stepsisters, he plans to take her back to the country. But she goes -away alone, falls asleep under the fairy oak, and in a dream sees the -_Prince_, with whom she has danced at the ball. The fairy reveals them -to each other and they pledge their love. In the fourth act the dream -turns into reality. - -As for the music, it is bright, graceful, and pretty, especially in -the dances, the fairy scenes, and the love scene between _Cinderella_ -and _Prince Charming_. - - -LA NAVARRAISE - -Opera in one act by Massenet; libretto by Jules Claretie and Henri -Cain. It was performed for the first time at Covent Garden, June 20, -1894, by Mme. Calvé and Messrs. Alvarez, Plançon, Gilibert, Bonnard, -and Dufriche. - -The opera is one of other days. Now it is seldom given. There were two -famous _Anitas_--Emma Calvé and Jeanne Gerville-Réache. The -extraordinary success of "Cavalleria Rusticana" no doubt impelled -Massenet to try his hand at a tragic one-act opera, just as "Hänsel -and Gretel" was responsible for his "Cendrillon." It is among the best -of his works. The music is intensely dramatic. It has colour, -vitality. The action is swift and stirring, uninterrupted by -sentimental romanzas. The libretto is based on a short story, "La -Cigarette," written by Jules Claretie and published in the _Figaro -Illustré_ about 1890. Later it gave the title to a collection of short -stories. - -The time is during the last days of the Carlist war. The place is -Spain. _Araquil_, a Biscayan peasant, loves _Anita_ madly, but her -parents frown upon his poverty. No crime seems too great to win his -bride. _General Garrito_, the Spanish chief, has promised a reward to -any man who will deliver up _Zucarraga_, the Carlist. When this -dangerous foe is injured in battle, _Araquil_ poisons the wound and -claims the promised reward. The general pays the sum, but, disgusted, -orders _Araquil_ to be shot. _Anita's_ father consents to the wedding -before the execution. But _Anita_ refuses disdainfully, and _Araquil_ -is killed as he puffs a cigarette. This is Claretie's story. At his -suggestion and for the purposes of opera the parts were changed. -_Araquil_ became _Anita_ and the peasant with the cigarette became _La -Navarraise_. - - -LE JONGLEUR DE NÔTRE DAME - -Opera in three acts by Jules Massenet. Libretto by Maurice Léna. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Mary Garden in "Le Jongleur de Nôtre Dame"] - -The opera was first sung at Monte Carlo, February 18, 1902, when the -part of Jean was taken by Mr. Maréchal, for this miracle play with -music was composed originally for male singers. The only two women in -the cast were represented as angels. The part of _Boniface_ the cook -was created by Mr. Renaud. - -The story was first published by Gaston Paris as "Le Tombeor de Nostre -Dame" in 1874-75 in the review, _Romania_, and later in his "Étude sur -la Poésie Française au Moyen Âge." The story is better known, however, -by Anatole France's version, included in his "Étui de Nacre" (1912). - -A poor juggler after performing in the streets to earn his bread, -begins to think of the future life and enters a monastery. There he -sees the monks paying homage to the Virgin in eloquent prayers. Unable -in his ignorance to imitate their pious learning, _Jean_ decides to -offer homage through the only means in his power. He shuts himself in -the chapel, turns somersaults, and performs his feats in Our Lady's -honour. When the monks searching for _Jean_ rush in and cry -"Sacrilege" at his singing, dancing, and tumbling, the statue of the -Virgin comes to life, smiles, and blesses the poor juggler, who dies -in ecstasy at her feet, while the monks chant the beatitude concerning -the humble. - -Massenet was later persuaded to turn the part of _Jean_ into a -soprano. It is known to New York through Miss Mary Garden. It is said -that the libretto of this opera was handed to Massenet by the postman, -one day, as he was leaving for the country. In the railway carriage, -seeking distraction, he opened the registered package. He was -delighted with the libretto and wrote at once to the author, a teacher -in the university. - - -WERTHER - -Opera in four acts by Jules Massenet with a libretto by Édouard Blau, -Paul Milliet, and G. Hartmann. First performance in New York, April -19, 1894, with Mme. Eames and Sigrid Arnoldson and Jean de Reszke. - -In the first act the bailiff, _Charlotte's_ father, is seen teaching -his youngest children to sing a Christmas carol, while _Charlotte_ -dresses for a ball. Ready before the carriage arrives, she gives the -children their bread and butter as she has done every day since their -mother died. She greets _Werther_, her cousin, who is also invited to -the ball, with a kiss. After they have gone, _Albert_ returns. He has -been away six months. He wonders whether _Charlotte_, his betrothed, -still cares for him and is reassured as to her fidelity by her younger -sister _Sophie_. When _Charlotte_ and _Werther_ return from the ball -_Werther_ declares his love. At that moment the bailiff announces -_Albert's_ return. _Charlotte_ tells _Werther_ that she had promised -to marry him only to please her mother. _Werther_ replies: "If you -keep that promise I shall die." - -Act II takes place three months later. _Charlotte_ and _Albert_ are -man and wife. _Albert_ knows that _Werther_ loves his wife but trusts -him. _Charlotte_ begs _Werther_ not to try to see her again until -Christmas day. - -In Act III _Charlotte_ is at home alone. Her thoughts are with -_Werther_ and she wonders how she could have sent him away. Suddenly -_Werther_ returns and there is a passionate love scene. When _Werther_ -has gone _Albert_ enters, and notices his wife's agitation. A servant -brings a note from _Werther_ saying that he is about to go on a long -journey and asking _Albert_ to lend him his pistols. _Charlotte_ has a -horrible presentiment and hastily follows the servant. - -In Act IV _Charlotte_ finds _Werther_ dying in his apartments. He is -made happy by her confession that she has loved him from the moment -when she first saw him. - - -HÉRODIADE - -Massenet's "Hérodiade," with a libretto by Paul Milliet, had its -first performance in New York at the Manhattan Opera House, November, -1908, with Lina Cavalieri, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Charles Dalmorès, -and Maurice Renaud in the principal rôles. The scene is Jerusalem and -the first act shows _Herod's_ palace. _Salome_ does not know that she -is the daughter of _Herodias_, for she was mysteriously separated from -her mother in childhood. With a caravan of Jewish merchants, who bring -gifts to _Herod_, she comes to Jerusalem in search of her mother. She -tells _Phanuel_, a young philosopher, that she wishes to return to the -_Prophet_ who had been kind to her in the desert. - -As she leaves _Herod_ enters, notices her, and is aroused by her -beauty. He calls upon her to return. But instead _Herodias_ enters -demanding _John's_ head for he has publicly called her Jezebel. -_Herod_ refuses. _John_ appears and continues his denunciation. The -royal couple flee. _Salome_ returns and falls at _John's_ feet -confessing her love. - -_Herod_ in vain seeks to put the thought of _Salome_ from him. -_Herodias_, mad with jealousy, consults the astrologer _Phanuel_ who -tells her that her daughter is her rival. - -In the temple _Herod_ offers his love to _Salome_, who repulses him -crying: "I love another who is mightier than Cæsar, stronger than any -hero." In his fury _Herod_ orders both _Salome_ and _John_, who has -been seized and put in chains, delivered into the hands of the -executioner. _John_ in his dungeon clasps _Salome_ in his arms. - -In the last scene _Salome_ implores _Herodias_ to save _John_, but the -executioner's sword is already bloodstained. _Salome_ snatches a -dagger and rushes upon _Herodias_ who cries in terror, "Have mercy. I -am your mother." "Then take back your blood and my life," cries -_Salome_, turning the weapon upon herself. - - -SAPHO - -Massenet's "Sapho," with a libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, -based on Daudet's famous novel, was a complete failure in New York -when it was sung for three performances in 1909. Its favourable -reception in Paris, where it was produced at the Opéra Comique in -1897, was chiefly due to the vivid impersonation of Emma Calvé. The -story concerns an artist's model who captivates an unsophisticated -young man from the country and wrecks his life in attempting to rise -above her past. - - -CLÉOPÂTRE - -Opera by J. Massenet. Written for Lucy Arbell, the opera was produced -by Raoul Gunsbourg, at Monte Carlo, in his season of 1914-15 with -Marie Kousnezova in the title rôle. The first performance in America -took place in Chicago, at the Auditorium, January 10, 1916, with the -same singer. The first performance in New York was on January 23, -1919, with Miss Mary Garden as the Queen of Egypt and Alfred Maguénat, -who created the rôle at Monte Carlo and in Chicago, as the _Marc -Anthony_. The story is the traditional one. - - -LOUISE - - A musical romance in four acts, libretto and music by - Gustave Charpentier. - - CHARACTERS - - JULIEN _Tenor_ - THE FATHER _Baritone_ - LOUISE _Soprano_ - THE MOTHER _Contralto_ - IRMA _Soprano_ - -The opera was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, February 2, 1900. -The part of _Louise_ was created by Miss Rioton, who then sang for the -first time in an opera house; that of _Julien_ by Maréchal; that of -the father by Fugère, and that of the mother by Mme. Deschamps-Jéhin. - -[Illustration: Photo by Mishkin - -Mary Garden as Louise] - -The story is simple. _Louise_, a working girl, loves _Julien_, an -artist. Her father puts no trust in an artist of irregular life, so -_Louise_ leaves her family. The lovers are happy, but _Louise_ is -remorseful. She grieves for her father and reproaches herself for -ingratitude. Finally she returns home. But free forgiveness does not -make up for the freedom she has lost. Paris the city of pleasure -tempts her again, and again she succumbs. Her family realizes that she -is for ever lost to the home. - -Charpentier himself described his work to F. de Menil. When asked why -he called his opera a musical romance, he replied: "Because in a -romance there are two entirely distinct sides, the drama and the -description, and in my 'Louise' I wish to treat these different sides. -I have a descriptive part, composed of decoration, scenic -surroundings, and a musical atmosphere in which my characters move; -then I have the purely dramatic part, devoted wholly to the action. -This is, therefore, a truly musical romance." When asked whether the -work were naturalistic, realistic, or idealistic, he answered: "I have -a horror of words that end in 'istic.' I am not a man of theories. -'Louise,' as everything that I do, was made by me instinctively. I -leave to others, the dear critics, the care of disengaging the -formulas and the tendencies of the work. I have wished simply to give -on the stage that which I have given in concert; the lyric impression -of the sensations that I reap in our beautiful, fairy-like modern -life. Perhaps I see this as in a fever, but that is my right for the -street intoxicates me. The essential point of the drama is the coming -together, the clashing of two sentiments in the heart of -_Louise_--love, which binds her to her family, to her father, the fear -of leaving suffering behind her, and, on the other hand, the -irresistible longing for liberty, pleasure, happiness, love, the cry -of her being, which demands to live as she wishes. Passion will -conquer because it is served by a prodigious and mysterious auxiliary, -which has little by little breathed its dream into her young -soul--Paris, the voluptuous city, the great city of light, pleasure, -and joy, which calls her irresistibly towards an undaunted future." - - -SALAMMBÔ - -Reyer's "Salammbô" received a gorgeous production at the Metropolitan -Opera House on March 20, 1901, with the following cast: _Salammbô_, -Lucienne Bréval; _Taanach_, Miss Carrie Bridewell; _Mathô_, Albert -Saléza; _Shahabarim_, Mr. Salignac; _Narr'Havas_, Mr. Journet; -_Spendius_, Mr. Sizes; _Giscon_, Mr. Gilibert; _Autharite_, Mr. -Dufriche; _Hamilcar_, Mr. Scotti. Mr. Mancinelli conducted. The -exquisitely painted scenes were copies of the Paris models, and the -costumes were gorgeous. Miss Bréval's radiant Semitic beauty shone in -the title rôle. Flaubert's novel was made into a libretto by Camille -du Locle. History supplied the background for romance in the shape of -the suppression of a mutiny among the mercenaries of the Carthaginians -in the first Punic war. Against this is outlined in bold relief the -story of the rape of the sacred veil of Tanit by the leader of the -revolting mercenaries, his love for _Salammbô_, daughter of the -Carthaginian general; her recovery of the veil, bringing in its train -disaster to her lover and death to both. - -[Illustration: Photo by Histed - -Lucienne Bréval as Salammbô] - - -PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE - - Opera in five acts (12 scenes). Music by Debussy; text by - Maurice Maeterlinck. Produced: Paris, April 30, 1902. New - York, February 19, 1908. - - CHARACTERS - - ARKEL, King of Allemonde _Bass_ - GENOVEVA, mother of Pelléas and Golo _Alto_ - PELLÉAS } King Arkel's { _Tenor_ - GOLO } grandsons { _Baritone_ - MÉLISANDE _Soprano_ - LITTLE YNIOLD, Golo's son by - first marriage _A child's voice_ - A PHYSICIAN _Bass_ - -Act I. Scene I. In a forest. _Golo_ while hunting has lost his way -following a wild boar and come to a place unknown to him. There he -sees a woman sitting by a spring. She acts like a figure in a fairy -tale and behaves like a person stranger to and isolated from the -world. Finally _Golo_ succeeds in inducing _Mélisande_--she at last -tells him her name after being urged--to follow him out of the dark -woods. - -Scene II. A room in the castle. _Genoveva_ is reading to the aged, -almost blind _King Arkel_ a letter which _Golo_ has written to his -half-brother _Pelléas_. From this letter we learn that _Golo_ has -already been married six months to the mysterious _Mélisande_. He has -great love for his wife, about whom, however, he knows no more today -than he did at first in the woods. So he fears that his grandfather, -the _King_, may not forgive him for this union and asks _Pelléas_ to -give him a sign in case the _King_ is ready "to honour the stranger as -his daughter." Otherwise he will steer the keel of his ship to the -most remote land. _King Arkel_ has arrived at that time of life when -the wisdom of experience tends to make one forgiving toward everything -that happens. So he pardons _Golo_ and commissions his grandson -_Pelléas_ to give his brother the sign agreed upon. - -Scene III. Before the castle. The old queen _Genoveva_ seeks to calm -_Mélisande's_ distress at the gloominess of the world into which she -has wandered. _Pelléas_ too is there. He would like to go to see a -distant friend who is ill but fate holds him here. Or rather have not -chains been wound about the twain of which they yet have no -anticipation? - -Act II. Scene IV. A fountain in the park. _Pelléas_ and _Mélisande_ -have arrived at this thickly shaded spot. Is _Mélisande_ a -Melusine-like creature? Water attracts her wonderfully. She bends over -her reflection. Because she cannot reach it, she is tempted to play -with the ring that _Golo_ sent her. It slips from her hand and sinks. - -Scene V. There must have been some peculiar condition attached to the -ring. At the same hour that it fell in the fountain _Golo's_ horse -shied while hunting so that he was hurt and now lies wounded in bed. -_Mélisande_ is taking care of him. She tells _Golo_ that she did not -feel well the day before. She is oppressed by a certain foreboding, -she does not know what it is. _Golo_ seizes her hands to console her -and sees that the ring is missing. Then he drives her out into the -night to look for it. "Sooner would I give away everything I have, my -fortune and goods, rather than have lost the precious ring." _Pelléas_ -will help her. - -Scene VI. Before a grotto in the rocks. _Mélisande_ has deceived -_Golo_ by telling him that the ring has slipped from her hand into the -sea. So _Pelléas_ must now lead her to this grotto in order that she -may know at least the place in which she can claim that she lost the -ring. A dreadful place in which the shudder of death stalks. - -Act III. Scene VII. A tower in the castle. At the window of the tower -_Mélisande_ is standing combing her hair that she has let down. Then -_Pelléas_ comes along the road that winds around under her window. -_Pelléas_ is coming to say farewell. Early the next morning he is -going away. So _Mélisande_ will at least once more reach out her hand -to him that he may press it to his lips. Love weaves a web about the -twain with an ever thicker netting without their noticing it. Their -hands do not touch but as _Mélisande_ leans forward so far her long -hair falls over _Pelléas's_ head and fills the youth with passionate -feelings. Their words become warmer--then _Golo_ comes near and -reproves their "childishness." - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Davis & Sanford Co. - -Mary Garden as Mélisande in "Pelléas and Mélisande"] - -Scene VIII. In the vault under the castle. Like a gloomy menace _Golo_ -leads _Pelléas_ into these underground rooms where the breeze of death -blows. Seized with shuddering they go out. On the terrace at the -entrance to the vault _Golo_ in earnest words warns _Pelléas_ to keep -away from _Mélisande_ and to refrain from confidential conversations -with her. - -Scene IX. Before the castle. In vain _Golo_ has sought to quiet -himself by saying that it was all only childishness. Jealousy devours -his heart. So now he seeks with hypocritical calm his little son -_Yniold_, offspring of his first marriage, to inquire about the -intimacy of _Pelléas_ and _Mélisande_. The child cannot tell him of -anything improper yet _Golo_ feels how it is with the couple. And he -feels that he himself is old, much older than _Pelléas_ and -_Mélisande_. - -Act IV. Scene X. In a room in the castle _Pelléas_ and _Mélisande_ -meet. This evening he must see her. She promises to go in the park to -the old fountain where she formerly lost the ring. It will be their -last meeting. Yet _Mélisande_ does not understand what is driving the -youth away. The old _King Arkel_ enters the room. The aged man has -taken _Mélisande_ to his heart. He feels that the young wife is -unhappy. Now _Golo_ also enters. He can scarcely remain master of his -inner commotion. The sight of his wife, who appears the picture of -innocence, irritates him so much that he finally in a mad rage throws -her on her knees and drags her across the room by her hair. - -Scene XI. By the old spring in the park. There is an oppressive -feeling of disaster in the air. Only little _Yniold_ does not suffer -this gripping burden. It is already growing dark when _Mélisande_ goes -to _Pelléas_. And yet in their farewell, perhaps also on account of -_Golo's_ outburst of anger, the couple clearly see what has caused -their condition. And there comes over them something like the -affirmation of death and the joy of dying. How fate shuts the gates -upon them; like a fate they see _Golo_ coming. They rejoice in the -idea of death. _Pelléas_ falls by _Golo's_ sword, _Mélisande_ flees -from her husband's pursuit into the night. - -Act V. Scene XII. A room in the castle. _Mélisande_ lies stretched out -in bed. _Arkel_, _Golo_, and the physician are conversing softly in -the room. No; _Mélisande_ is not dying from the insignificant wound -_Golo_ has given her. Perhaps her life will be saved. She awakes as if -from dreaming. Everything that has happened is like a dream to her. -Desperately _Golo_ rushes to her couch, begs her pardon, and asks her -for the truth. He is willing to die too but before his death he wants -to know whether she had betrayed him with _Pelléas_. She denies it. -_Golo_ presses her so forcibly and makes her suffer so that she is -near death. Then earthly things fall away from her as if her soul were -already free. It is not possible to bring her back now. The aged -_Arkel_ offers the last services for the dying woman, to make the way -free for her soul escaping from earthly pain and the burden of the -tears of persons left behind. - - -APHRODITE - - A lyric drama in five acts and seven scenes after the story - by Pierre Louÿs. Adapted by Louis de Gramont. Music by - Camille Erlanger. First given at the Opéra Comique, Paris, - March 23, 1906, with Mary Garden as _Chrysis_, Leon Beyle as - _Démétrios_, Gustave Huberdeau as the _Jailor_, Mmes. - Mathieu-Lutz and Demellin as _Myrto_ and _Rhodis_, and - Claire Friche as _Bacchis_. - - CHARACTERS - - DÉMÉTRIOS _Tenor_ - TIMON _Baritone_ - PHILODÈME _Tenor_ - LE GRAND PRÊTRE _Bass_ - CALLIDÈS _Bass_ - LE GEÔLIER _Bass_ - CHRYSIS _Soprano_ - BACCHIS _Mezzo-Soprano_ - MYRTO _Soprano_ - RHODIS _Mezzo-Soprano_ - CHIMARIS _Mezzo-Soprano_ - SÉSO _Soprano_ - -Act I. The wharf at Alexandria. Act II. The temple of Aphrodite. Act -III. At the house of _Bacchis_. Act IV. The studio of _Démétrios_. Act -V. Scene I. The lighthouse; Scene II. The prison; Scene III. The -garden of Hermanubis. - -Act I. The throng moves back and forth on the crowded wharf. There are -young people, courtesans, philosophers, sailors, beggars, -fruit-sellers. _Rhodis_ and _Myrto_ play on their flutes while -_Théano_ dances. _Démétrios_ the sculptor approaches and leans on the -parapet overlooking the sea. The Jewess _Chimaris_, a fortune-teller, -reads his hand. She tells him that she sees past happiness and love in -the future, but that this love will be drowned first in the blood of -one woman, then in that of a second, and finally in his own. -_Chrysis_, a beautiful courtesan, appears on the wharf. _Démétrios_ -wishes to follow her, but she declines his advances. To possess her he -must bring her three gifts, the silver mirror of _Bacchis_, the -courtesan, the ivory comb of _Touni_, wife of the High Priest, and the -pearl necklace clasped around the neck of the statue of the goddess -Aphrodite in the temple. _Démétrios_ is appalled but swears to fulfil -her wishes. She embraces him and disappears. - -In Act II the temple guards and eunuchs perform their sacred offices. -_Démétrios_ enters the temple. He has committed two of the three -crimes. He has stolen the mirror from _Bacchis_ and stabbed Touni to -take her comb. The celebration of the first day of the Aphrodisiacs -begins. Courtesans bring offerings to the goddess. _Rhodis_ and -_Myrto_ bring a caged dove. _Chrysis_ hands the High Priest her -bronze mirror, her copper comb, and her emerald necklace, as -offerings. When the crowd leaves the temple, _Démétrios_ snatches the -necklace from the statue and disappears. - -Act III shows the feast and the bacchanale at the house of _Bacchis_. -The theft of the mirror is discovered. _Corinna_, a slave, is accused -and crucified. _Chrysis_ is inwardly exultant that her wish has been -obeyed. - -In Act IV _Chrysis_ goes to _Démétrios_ to receive the gifts and to -bestow the reward. _Démétrios_, mad with passion, clasps her in his -embrace. The clamour without reminds him of his misdeed. In a fit of -disgust he demands that the beautiful woman shall not hoard her -treasures in secret, but appear in public decked with them, as an -atonement. He sends her away. - -On the island of the lighthouse of Alexandria the crowds discuss the -theft of the mirror and the crucifixion of _Corinna_. _Timon_ -announces the slaying of Touni and the stealing of her comb. _Chrysis_ -appears wrapped in a long mantle. The sacred courtesans and the temple -guards announce the theft of the jewels from the temple. Suddenly -_Chrysis_ appears on the highest balcony of the lighthouse, the stolen -comb in her hair, the mirror in her hand, and the necklace about her -throat. Disclosed in a flash of lightning the crowds think it is the -goddess in person. Soon they realize the truth and _Chrysis_ is seized -and taken to prison. - -The _Jailor_ brings a poisoned goblet to her cell. She -drinks--_Démétrios_ arrives too late, to find her dead. - -Her friends, _Myrto_ and _Rhodis_, bury her body in the Garden of -Hermanubis. - - -L'ATTAQUE DU MOULIN - -THE ATTACK ON THE MILL - -This is a four-act music-drama by Alfred Bruneau, the libretto by -Louis Gallet, based on a story from Zola's "Soirées de Medan." It was -produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, November 23, 1893, and in this -country in 1908. - -The tale is an episode of the Franco-Prussian War. In the first act we -see the betrothal of _Françoise_, daughter of the miller, _Merlier_, -to _Dominique_. The _Town Crier_ announces the declaration of war. - -In the second act the mill is attacked and captured by the Germans. -_Dominique_ is made a prisoner and locked in the mill. _Françoise_ -gets a knife to him. While (in the third act) the girl engages the -attention of the sentinel, _Dominique_ makes his way out of the mill, -kills the sentinel, and escapes. In the fourth act the French, guided -by _Dominique_, return. But just as they enter, with _Dominique_ at -their head, the Germans shoot _Merlier_ before his daughter's eyes. - - * * * * * - -In writing about his theories of the lyric drama, Bruneau, who was -regarded as a promising follower of Wagner, used these words: "It is -music uniting itself intimately to the poetry ... the orchestra -comments upon the inward thoughts of the different characters." -Wagnerian--but also requiring the genius of a Wagner. - - -ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE - -ARIADNE AND BLUE-BEARD - - Opera in three acts, by Paul Dukas; text by Maurice - Maeterlinck. Produced in New York, March 3, 1911. - - CHARACTERS - - BLUE-BEARD _Bass_ - ARIANE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ - THE NURSE _Contralto_ - SÉLYSETTE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Mezzo-Soprano_ - YGRAINE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ - MÉLISANDE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ - BELLANGÈRE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ - ALLAINE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Acting Rôle_ - AN OLD PEASANT _Bass_ - - Peasants and Mob. - - _Time_--Middle Ages. - - _Place_--_Blue-Beard's_ Castle. - -Act I. Hall in _Blue-Beard's_ castle. _Ariane_, sixth wife of -_Blue-Beard_, is warned by voices of the crowd outside that -_Blue-Beard_ has already murdered five wives. _Ariane_ has seven -keys--six of silver and one of gold. When _Ariane_, intent only on -opening the forbidden chamber, throws down the six silver keys, her -_Nurse_ picks them up. With one she unlocks the first door. Instantly -amethysts set in diadems, bracelets, rings, girdles, fall down in a -shower on _Ariane_. And so, to her joy, as door after door swings -open, she is showered with sapphires, pearls, emeralds, rubies, and -diamonds. Now _Ariane_ opens, with the golden key, the seventh door. -Darkness, out of which come the voices of the five lost wives. Here -_Ariane_ is surprised by _Blue-Beard_, who lays hold of her. The -crowd, admitted by the _Nurse_, rush in to kill _Blue-Beard_, but are -told by _Ariane_ that he has not harmed her. - -Act II. A subterranean hall. _Ariane_ descends with the _Nurse_ into -the depths of the blackness on which the seventh door opened. There -she finds the five wives still alive but emaciated and in rags. She -tells them that she has obeyed a higher law than _Blue-Beard's_, and -that outside birds are singing and the sun is shining. A jet of water -extinguishes _Ariane's_ light, but she is not fearful. She leads the -five toward a radiant spot at the end of the vault. She throws herself -against the barred wall. It gives away. The sunlight streams in. -Blinded at first by its brilliance, the five wives finally come out of -the vault and go off singing joyously. - -Act III. Same as Act I. The wives are adorning themselves with the -help of _Ariane_. She urges them to make the best use of their gifts. -_Blue-Beard_ is approaching. The people are lying in wait for him. The -wives watch his capture. Bound and wounded, he is brought in. But to -the astonishment of all _Ariane_ bandages his wounds and the others -help her. Then she cuts the cords and frees him, but herself departs, -although _Blue-Beard_ pleads with her to remain. But when she in turn -implores the five wives to go with her, they decline, and she leaves -them in the castle. - -The allegory in this tale is that five out of six women prefer -captivity (with a man) to freedom without him. The opera has not been -popular in this country. - - -MONNA VANNA - -Henry Février's "Monna Vanna" was first sung in New York in 1914 by -Mary Garden and Lucien Muratore. The opera is based upon Maeterlinck's -play in which _Monna Vanna_ to save the starving Pisans goes to -_Prinzivalle's_ tent clad only in a cloak and her long hair. The -commander of the besieging army does not profit by the bargain, but -treats her with the utmost respect while he discourses eloquently of -his youthful love. The music is as commonplace as that of this -composer's other opera, "Gismonda." - - -GISMONDA - -Opera in four acts by Henri Février with a libretto based on Sardou's -famous play had its first performance in America in Chicago, January -14, 1919, with Miss Mary Garden, Charles Fontaine, Gustave Huberdeau, -Marcel Journet, and other members of the Chicago Opera Company in the -leading rôles. The opera was given on the opening night of the same -organization's season in New York, January 27, 1919, at the Lexington -Theatre with the same cast. - -The story follows that of the play. _Gismonda_, Duchess of Athens, -promises to wed the man who succeeds in rescuing her little son from a -tiger's pit, into which he has been pushed by a conspirator who wishes -to help _Zaccaria Franco_ to seize the Duchy. _Almério_, a young -falconer, kills the beast and saves the child. But the proud though -grateful _Duchess_ will not consider a peasant for her husband. - -If _Almério_ will renounce his claim _Gismonda_ promises to spend a -night at his hut. When she discovers that _Zaccaria_ has followed her -she slays him. _Almério_ takes the guilt for the murder upon himself -but _Gismonda_ makes public confession of her visit to his hut, hands -over the wicked _Grégoras_, who had attempted to murder her little -son, to justice, and proclaims the falconer her lord and husband. - - -MAROUF, THE COBBLER OF CAIRO - -"Marouf" was sung for the first time in America at the Metropolitan -Opera House, December 19, 1917, with Frances Alda, Kathleen Howard, -Léon Rothier, Andrés de Segurola, Thomas Chalmers, and Giuseppe de -Luca as the Cobbler, in the cast. Pierre Monteux conducted. - -_Marouf_ is unhappy at home. His wife, _Fatimah_, is ugly and has a -bad disposition. When she asked for rice cake, sweetened with honey, -and thanks to his friend the pastry cook, _Marouf_ brought her cake -sweetened with cane sugar instead, she flew into a rage and ran to -tell the _Cadi_ that her husband beat her. The credulous _Cadi_ orders -the _Cobbler_ thrashed by the police, in spite of protesting -neighbours. _Marouf_, disgusted, decides to disappear. He joins a -party of passing sailors. A tempest wrecks the ship. He alone is -saved. _Ali_, his friend, whom he has not seen for twenty years and -who has become rich in the meantime, picks him up on the shore and -takes him to the great city of Khaltan, "somewhere between China and -Morocco." _Marouf_ is presented to the townspeople as the richest -merchant in the world who has a wonderful caravan on the way. He is -accepted everywhere and in spite of the doubting _Vizier_ the Sultan -invites him to his palace. Furthermore, he offers him his beautiful -daughter as a bride. For forty days _Marouf_ lives in luxury with the -princess. He empties the treasury of the _Sultan_ who consoles himself -with thoughts of the promised caravan which must soon arrive. At last -the _Princess_ questions _Marouf_ who tells the truth. They decide -upon flight, and the _Princess_ disguises herself as a boy. - -At an oasis in the desert they are sheltered by a poor peasant. -_Marouf_ seeks to repay his hospitality by a turn at his plow. The -implement strikes an iron ring attached to the covering of a -subterranean chamber. The ring also has magic power. When the -_Princess_ rubs it the poor peasant is transformed into a genii, who -offers his services, and discloses a hidden treasure. When the -_Sultan_ and his guards, in pursuit of the fugitives, appear upon the -scene, the sounds of an approaching caravan are also heard in the -distance. The ruler apologizes. _Marouf_ and the _Princess_ triumph. -The doubting _Vizier_ is punished with a hundred lashes. - - * * * * * - -Henri Rabaud, composer of "Marouf," is a Parisian, the son of a -professor of the Conservatoire of which he is also a graduate. - -His second symphony has been played in New York. He has to his credit -a string quartet, other smaller works, and an opera, "La Fille de -Roland," which was given some years ago at the Opéra Comique. "Marouf" -was produced at that theatre in the spring of 1914. M. Rabaud, for -several years conductor at the Grand Opéra and the Opéra Comique, was -called to America in 1918 to be the conductor of the Boston Symphony -Orchestra, succeeding Karl Muck, and Pierre Monteux who filled the -vacancy for a few weeks before M. Rabaud's arrival from France. - - -LE SAUTERIOT - -THE GRASSHOPPER - -"Le Sauteriot" (Grasshopper) by Sylvio Lazzari, with a libretto by -Henri Pierre Roche and Martial Perrier, based on E. de Keyserling's -drama "Sacre de Printemps," is the story of a modern Cinderella, -_Orti_, who lives in Lithuania. She is the natural daughter of -_Mikkel_, whose wife _Anna_, lies dying as the curtain rises. The -doctor gives _Orti_, or _Grasshopper_ as she is known, some medicine -to give the patient if she grows worse. Only ten drops though, because -the remedy is a powerful poison. _Anna's_ old mother, _Trine_, tells -_Orti_ the legend of the mother who prayed that she might die in place -of her baby, and whose prayer was granted. Realizing herself despised -and a drudge, _Orti_ prays to die instead of _Anna_. - -_Grasshopper_ is secretly in love with _Indrik_. But he has no eyes -for her. All his attention is fixed upon _Madda_, _Mikkel's_ youngest -sister. In the second act at a village festival, _Indrik_, who has -quarrelled with _Madda_, fights with his successor in her affections, -_Josef_. _Orti_ rushes in and seizes _Josef's_ hand as he is about to -slay _Hendrik_. She is the heroine of the festival. _Hendrik_ pays -court to her and leads her to believe that he will marry her. When a -few days later she discovers that he has gone back to _Madda_, -_Grasshopper_ commits suicide. - - * * * * * - -M. Lazzari of Paris is by birth a Tyrolean, whose father was an -Italian. But the composer has spent most of his life in Paris. He -entered the Conservatoire at twenty-four, where his teachers were -Guiraud and César Franck. His operas "L'Ensorcelée" and "La Lépreuse" -were first sung in Paris. "Le Sauteriot" would also have had its first -performance there. But the war made it possible for Mr. Campanini to -acquire it for Chicago. It was presented there on the closing day of -the season, January 19, 1918. The Chicago Opera Company gave New York -its first opportunity to hear the work on February 11, 1918, when it -was conducted by the composer. - - -LA REINE FIAMMETTE - -QUEEN FIAMMETTE - - "La Reine Fiammette," by Xavier Leroux, with a libretto - adapted from his play by Catulle Mendès, had its first - performance in America at the Metropolitan Opera House, - January 24, 1919. The cast was as follows: - - CHARACTERS - - ORLANDA _Geraldine Farrar_ - DANIELO _Hipolito Lazaro_ - GIORGIO D'AST _Adamo Didur_ - CARDINAL SFORZA _Léon Rothier_ - PANTASILLE _Flora Perini_ - MOTHER AGRAMENTE _Kathleen Howard_ - VIOLINE _Kittie Beale_ - VIOLETTE _Lenore Sparkes_ - VIOLA _Mary Ellis_ - POMONE _Marie Tiffany_ - MICHELA _Lenore Sparkes_ - ANGIOLETTA _Mary Ellis_ - CHIARINA _Marie Mattfeld_ - TWO BOYS { _Mary Mellish_ - { _Cecil Arden_ - LUC AGNOLO _Mario Laurenti_ - CASTIGLIONE _Angelo Bada_ - CORTEZ _Albert Reiss_ - CESANO _Giordano Paltrinieri_ - VASARI _Pietro Audisio_ - PROSECUTOR _Paolo Ananian_ - TWO NOVICES { _Phillis White_ - { _Veni Warwick_ - -While this was the first operatic performance of Catulle Mendès's -famous work, Charles Dillingham produced the play for the first time -in America at the Hollis Street Theatre, Boston, October 6, 1902, with -Julia Marlowe. Paul Kester made the English adaptation. The late Frank -Worthing appeared as _Danielo_. Others in the cast were Frank Reicher, -Albert Bruning, and Arthur Lawrence. - -The story takes place in Italy of the sixteenth century, in an -imaginary Kingdom of Bologna, whose ruler _Queen Fiammette_, young and -capricious, has chosen as her consort _Giorgio d'Ast_, an adventurer. -It is this very man whom the Papal See has determined to elevate to -the throne in place of the madcap _Orlanda_. But _Cardinal Sforza_ is -not satisfied with the mere dethroning of _Orlanda_. He wishes her to -be assassinated, and goes to Bologna to hatch the plot for her doom. -The _Prince Consort_ agrees to play his part and to involve several -young courtiers in the scheme. It is decided to slay the _Queen_ -during a fête at her palace. - -_Danielo_, a young monk, is chosen to strike the blow. The _Cardinal_ -tells him that after indulging in a passing fancy for his brother, the -_Queen_ has had the youth killed. The monk is only too eager for -revenge. He has been in the habit of meeting a beautiful woman, whose -identity is unknown, at a convent. This is none other than _Fiammette_ -herself who uses the convent for her gallantries. _Danielo_ confides -his mission of vengeance to the fair unknown. But when he recognizes -in the queen the woman he adores he is powerless to carry out his -intention of slaying her. He is arrested by order of the _Cardinal_ -for failing to keep his pact. The _Queen_ signs her abdication and -hopes to fly with her lover, but the _Cardinal_ condemns both to the -headsman's block. - - -LE CHEMINEAU - -THE WAYFARER - -Opera by Xavier Leroux with a libretto by Jean Richepin, performed -for the first time in America at New Orleans in 1911. - -A jovial wayfarer dallies with _Toinette_, one of the pretty girls -working on a farm in Normandy. He loves her and goes his way. In -despair _Toinette_ marries _François_. The wayfarer's child, _Toinet_, -is born. Years later when _François_ has become a hopeless invalid, -_Toinet_ woos _Aline_, the daughter of _Pierre_, a surly neighbour, -who doubting the youth's origin refuses his consent to the match. -Suddenly the wayfarer reappears. _François_ expires, after commending -_Toinette_ to the care of her former lover. But the call of the open -road is too strong. The wayfarer refuses to contemplate domesticity. -Once more he takes his well-worn hat and goes out into the storm. - - -LE VIEIL AIGLE - -THE OLD EAGLE - -Raoul Gunsbourg wrote both the words and the music for his one act -lyric drama, "Le Vieil Aigle" (The Old Eagle), which was first -produced at the Opera House in Monte Carlo, February 13, 1909. The -first performance of the opera in New York was given by the Chicago -Opera Company at the Lexington Theatre with Georges Baklanoff in the -title rôle, supported by Yvonne Gall, Charles Fontaine, and Désiré -Defrère, February 28, 1919. - -The scene of the story is a rocky coast in the Crimea. The time, the -fourteenth century. The _Khan Asvezel Moslain_ informs his son -_Tolak_, who has just returned from a successful campaign against the -Russians, that great preparations have been made to celebrate his -return. But the young man is sad and replies that he only seeks -forgetfulness in death. He asks his father to grant him the dearest -wish of his heart and confesses his love for the _Khan's_ favourite -slave _Zina_. The old man consents to give her to his son, but when -he orders the girl to follow _Tolak_ she refuses to do so. The _Khan_, -wishing to retain his son's love, throws the disobedient slave into -the sea, but as this far from restores harmony between the generations -the old man follows her to her watery grave. - - - - -Modern German and Bohemian Opera - - - Wagner's powerful influence upon German opera produced - countless imitators. For some reason or other it appeared to - be almost impossible for other German composers to - assimilate his ideas and yet impart originality to their - scores. Among those who took his works for a model were - Peter Cornelius, Hermann Goetz, and Carl Goldmark. - - Perhaps the most important contribution to German opera - during the decade that followed Wagner's death was - Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel." Then came Richard Strauss - with his "Feuersnot," "Salome," "Elektra," and "Der - Rosenkavalier." - - The most famous representative of the Bohemian school of - opera, which is closely allied to the German, is Smetana. - - -ST. ELIZABETH - - Operatic version of Liszt's "Legend," made by Artur - Bodanzky, from the book of the oratorio by Otto Roquette. - Sung in English at the Metropolitan Opera House, January 3, - 1918, with the following cast: - - CHARACTERS - - ELIZABETH _Florence Easton_ - LANDGRAVINE SOPHIE _Margarete Matzenauer_ - LANDGRAVE LUDWIG _Clarence Whitehill_ - LANDGRAVE HERMANN _Carl Schlegel_ - A HUNGARIAN MAGNATE _Basil Ruysdael_ - SENESCHAL _Robert Leonhardt_ - - Conductor, _Artur Bodanzky_ - -The dramatic version of Liszt's sacred work once had sixty -performances at Prague. - -Although the score of "Saint Elizabeth" is dedicated to Wagner's -benefactor, Ludwig II. of Bavaria, the Grand Duke Alexander of Weimar -was responsible for the fact that Liszt undertook a setting of a poem -on this subject by Otto Roquette. This poem was inspired by a series -of frescoes by Moritz Schwind at the Wartburg, which tells the story -of _Elizabeth's_ sad life. The daughter of a Hungarian king of the -thirteenth century, she was brought to the Wartburg at the age of four -and betrothed to the boy, _Ludwig_, son of the Landgrave of Thuringia. -The children were reared as brother and sister, and at seventeen -_Elizabeth_ was married to _Ludwig_ who succeeded to the throne. - -A famine came upon the land. _Elizabeth_ impoverished herself by -helping the poor, and incurred the displeasure of her mother-in-law. -Forbidden to give any further aid to the victims of the famine, she -was one day found by her husband carrying a basket. She declared that -it was filled with flowers. When he tore it from her hands a miracle -had happened, and the bread and wine had changed into roses. Then she -confessed her deception which was atoned for by the miracle. The two -after offering a prayer of thanksgiving renew their vows. - -Soon afterwards _Ludwig_ joins a passing procession of crusaders. He -is killed in battle with the Saracens and his wife becomes ruler of -the Wartburg. _Sophie_, her mother-in-law, plots with the _Seneschal_ -and drives _Elizabeth_ out with her children into a storm. She finds -refuge in a hospital she once founded. The remainder of her life is -devoted to assisting the helpless and the poor. The closing scene of -the opera shows her apotheosis. - - -THE BARBER OF BAGDAD - - Opera in two acts. Words and music by Peter Cornelius. - Produced: Weimar, December 15, 1858. - - CHARACTERS - - THE CALIPH _Baritone_ - BABA MUSTAPHA, a cadi _Tenor_ - MARGIANA, his daughter _Soprano_ - BOSTANA, a relative of the cadi _Mezzo-Soprano_ - NUREDDIN _Tenor_ - THE BARBER _Bass_ - -Act I. _Nureddin_ is ill, very ill his servants say. They must know -very little of such youthful illnesses. _Margiana_ calls the invalid -in a dream. _Margiana_ is the medicine that can cure him, _Margiana_, -the marvellously glorious daughter of the mighty cadi, _Baba -Mustapha_. And see how health reanimates _Nureddin's_ limbs, when -_Bostana_, a relative of the cadi, approaches and brings the sweet -news that _Margiana_ will wait for her lover about noon when her -father has gone to prayers in the mosque. But the latter, in order to -appear properly, needs above everything else a barber. And _Bostana_ -appoints--"O knowest thou, revered one, I find for you a learned -one--the greatest of all barbers, _Abdul Hassan Ali Ebn Bekar_. He is -great as a barber, a giant as a talker, swift his razor, a thousand -times quicker his tongue." - -Act II. A magnificent room in the cadi's house. What a stirring, -harmonious picture. _Margiana_, _Bostana_, and the cadi rejoice: "He -comes! he comes! oh, delightful pleasure." Of course the covetous old -cadi is not thinking of young _Nureddin_ but of the rich old _Selim_ -who wants to have _Margiana_ for his wife. A mighty chest full of rich -gifts, so he announces. But the cadi goes off full of dignity to -prayers in the mosque. And now _Nureddin_ comes. How happy the couple -are. But is not that the barber approaching with his love-song? "O -Allah, save us from the flood of his talk"--no, rather save us from -the cadi who suddenly comes back. The screams of a servant, whom he is -punishing with a bastonade by his own hand, announce his arrival. -There is only one escape. Quickly the chest is emptied and _Nureddin_ -gets in. Then the barber with _Nureddin's_ servant. _Abdul Hassan Ali -Ebn Bekar_ leaves no customers in the lurch. He who screamed can only -be _Nureddin_ whom the furious cadi has murdered. _Bostana_ advises -him to drag forth the chest; the cadi opposes. The wild clamour -brings, in crowds, the people of Bagdad who hear rumours of a murder. -Finally the caliph comes too. What is in the chest? _Nureddin's_ -corpse, says the barber; _Margiana's_ dowry, answers the cadi. The -chest is opened. The cadi is right, for _Nureddin_ is not a corpse but -only in a swoon because he was nearly smothered, but he is without -doubt _Margiana's_ dowry and he will become so publicly. A cadi cannot -lightly oppose the wish of a caliph. The barber is seized but is -ordered by the caliph to be taken to his palace to entertain him with -stories. - - -THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - - Opera in four acts; libretto adapted by Victor Widmann from - Shakespeare's comedy. Music by Herman Goetz. - - CHARACTERS - - BAPTISTA _Otto Goritz_ - KATHARINA _Margarete Ober_ - BIANCA _Marie Rappold_ - HORTENSIO _Robert Leonhardt_ - LUCENTIO _Johannes Sembach_ - PETRUCHIO _Clarence Whitehill_ - GRUMIO _Basil Ruysdael_ - A TAILOR _Albert Reiss_ - MAJOR DOMO _Max Bloch_ - HOUSEKEEPER _Marie Mattfeld_ - -This opera was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House in -commemoration of Shakespeare in 1916. It was first sung in Mannheim -in 1874, when it was known as "Die Widerspenstigen Zachmung." Mr. -Bodanzky came to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera House, from that -city, and the New York performance was perhaps the result of a -suggestion made by him. Widmann in his libretto brings into prominence -the wooing of _Bianca_ by rival suitors. This is done to give relief -to _Petruchio's_ blustering and to the exhibitions of temper by the -_Shrew_. The librettist also provides his own introduction which -includes the rival suitors, a chorus of angry servants, interested -women on the balcony, and _Petruchio's_ entrance. The second act -represents _Petruchio's_ tempestuous wooing. In the third _Bianca_ is -courted by _Lucentio_ as a tutor and _Hortensio_ as a musician. The -wedding party returns and _Petruchio_ makes his hasty exit bearing his -sulky bride. Servants and wedding guests provide an opportunity for -chorus music. The tailor is introduced and _Katharina_ is finally -tamed. - - -THE QUEEN OF SHEBA - - Opera in four acts: music by Karl Goldmark; text by G.H. - Mosenthal. Produced: Vienna, March 10, 1875. - - CHARACTERS - - KING SOLOMON _Baritone_ - BAAL HANAU, the palace overseer _Baritone_ - ASSAD _Tenor_ - THE HIGH PRIEST _Bass_ - SULAMITH, his daughter _Tenor_ - THE QUEEN OF SHEBA _Mezzo-Soprano_ - ASTAROTH, her slave _Soprano_ - - _Time_--Tenth Century B.C. - - _Place_--Jerusalem. - -Act I. In _Solomon's_ magnificent palace everybody is preparing for -the reception of the _Queen of Sheba_. But nobody is more delighted -than _Sulamith_, the daughter of the High Priest. _Assad_, who had -gone to meet the foreign queen, returns. Here he comes already into -the hall. But _Assad_, growing pale, draws back before his betrothed. -He confesses to _King Solomon_ that he has not yet seen the _Queen of -Sheba_ but at a certain well a wonderful woman favoured him with her -love and since then his mind has been confused. The King consoles the -young man by telling him that God will permit him to find her again. -Now the queen's train approaches; she greets _Solomon_ and unveils -herself. _Assad_ rushes toward her. What does the young man want of -her? She does not know him. - -Act II. The queen did not want to recognize _Assad_ but the woman in -her is consumed with longing for him. He comes and happy love unites -them. Then the scene changes and shows the interior of the Temple. The -wedding of _Assad_ and _Sulamith_ is about to be solemnized. Then, at -a decisive moment the queen appears, and _Assad_ throws the ring on -the floor and hurries to the queen as if the deceit were making a fool -of him. She has never seen him, she declares a second time. _Assad_, -however, who has offended the Almighty, has incurred the penalty of -death. In the meantime _Solomon_, who is examining the affair, defers -sentence. - -Act III. _Solomon_ is alone with the queen. She has one request to -make of him, that he shall release _Assad_. Why? He is nothing to her -but she wants to see whether the king has regard for his guest. And -_Solomon_ refuses the request of the deceitful woman who, breathing -vengeance, strides out of the palace. But when _Sulamith_ complains, -_Solomon_ consoles her. _Assad_ will shake off the unworthy chains. -Far away on the borders of the desert, she will find peace with -_Assad_. - -Act IV. Again the scene changes. On the border of the desert stands -the asylum of the young women consecrated to God in which _Sulamith_ -has found rest from the deceitful world. _Assad_ staggers hither; a -weary, banished man. And again the _Queen of Sheba_ appears before -him offering him her love. But he flees from the false woman for whom -he had sacrificed _Sulamith_, the noble one. A desert storm arises, -burying _Assad_ in the sand. When the sky becomes clear again -_Sulamith_, taking a walk with her maidens, finds her lover. She -pardons the dying man and points out to him the eternal joys which -they will taste together. - - -THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH - - Opera in three acts, by Carl Goldmark, text by M. Willner, - after the story by Charles Dickens. Produced, Berlin, 1896; - in this country, 1910. - - CHARACTERS - - JOHN _Baritone_ - DOT, his wife _Soprano_ - MAY _Soprano_ - EDWARD PLUMMER _Tenor_ - TACKLETON _Basso_ - THE CRICKET _Soprano_ - - _Time_--Early Part of 19th Century. - - _Place_--An English Village. - -Act I. Room in _John's_ house. Invisible chorus of elves. To the -_Cricket_, the guiding spirit of the house, _Dot_ confides her secret. -She hopes soon to have a child. _May_, a pretty young girl, a -toymaker, is to be married the next day to _Tackleton_, her employer. -She bemoans her fate. She still loves _Edward Plummer_, who -disappeared several years before. After _May's_ departure _John_ -appears with _Edward_, disguised as a sailor, and is not recognized -either by _John_ or the villagers. - -Act II. A garden. _May_ and _Tackleton_ are supping together. _John_ -makes _Tackleton_ jealous of the stranger, _Edward_, who, seeing that -_May_ is only marrying _Tackleton_ because his wealth will save her -old foster-father from want, reveals his identity to _Dot_. -_Tackleton_ now makes _John_ jealous of _Edward_, but _John_ is lulled -to sleep by the _Cricket_, and dreams of himself as a happy father. - -Act III. _May_ resolves to be true to _Edward_. Recognizing him (after -his song, "Hulla, list to the Seas"), they drive off in _Tackleton's_ -carriage. _John_ is told of _Dot's_ secret. Reconciliation, with the -_Cricket_ chirping merrily. There is much pretty music (for instance, -the quintet on the hearth in the second act, and _Edward's_ song), -which, however, has not sufficed to keep the piece in the repertoire -in this country. - - -KÖNIGSKINDER - -KING'S CHILDREN - - Opera by Engelbert Humperdinck with a libretto by Ernst - Rosmer. The first performance on any stage was at the - Metropolitan Opera House, December 28, 1910, with the - following cast: - - DER KÖNIGSSOHN _Herman Jadlowker_ - DIE GANSEMAGD _Geraldine Farrar_ - DER SPIELMANN _Otto Goritz_ - DIE HEXE _Louise Homer_ - DER HOLZHACKER _Adamo Didur_ - DER BESENBINDER _Albert Reiss_ - ZWEI KINDER _Edna Walter and Lotta Engel_ - DER RATSALTESTE _Marcel Reiner_ - DER WIRT _Antonio Pini-Corsi_ - DIE WIRTSTOCHTER _Florence Wickham_ - DER SCHNEIDER _Julius Bayer_ - DIE STALLMAGD _Marie Mattfeld_ - ZWEI TORWACHTER _Ernst Maran and William Hinshaw_ - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Farrar as the Goose Girl in "Königskinder"] - -A king's daughter forced to act as a goose-girl in a forest, by an old -witch who has cast a spell upon her, is discovered and loved by a -king's son. Though she returned his love and would gladly go with him -she finds that she cannot break the spell which holds her a -prisoner in the forest. Leaving the crown at her feet the prince -continues his wanderings. No sooner has he gone than a broom-maker and -a wood-chopper guided by a wandering minstrel come to the witch's hut. -They are ambassadors from the city of Hellabrunn which has been so -long without a sovereign that the people themselves feel sadly in need -of a government. The ambassadors ask the witch who this ruler shall be -and by what signs the people may recognize him. The witch answers that -their ruler will be the first person who enters the gates of the city -after the bells have rung the hour of noon on the following day, which -is the day of the festival of Hella. The minstrel notices the -beautiful goose-girl and recognizes her to be of royal birth. He -breaks the spell of the witch and forces her to give the lovely maiden -into his keeping. He persuades her to break the enchantment and defy -the evil powers by which she has been bound. - -The prince, meanwhile, is at Hellabrunn, acting as a swineherd. The -innkeeper's daughter loves the handsome young man but he proudly -repulses her advances. He dreams of the goose-girl. The innkeeper's -daughter revenges herself by proclaiming him a thief. As he is about -to be led away to prison the bells announce the hour of the festival, -and the gates are thrown open in expectation of the new ruler. Through -the gates comes the goose-girl, wearing her wreath of flowers and -followed by her geese and the minstrel. The lovers embrace. But only -the minstrel and a little child recognize their royal rank. The -townspeople, thinking that their sovereign would appear in royal -regalia, drive the kings' children from the city, burn the witch, and -break the minstrel's leg on a wheel. - -The two lovers lose their way in a forest as the snow falls. They both -die of a poisoned loaf made by the witch. The children of Hellabrunn, -guided by a bird, find them buried under the same tree under which -they had first met. - - -HÄNSEL UND GRETEL - - A fairy opera in three acts. Music by Engelbert Humperdinck. - Book by Adelheid Wette. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Dupont - -Van Dyck and Mattfeld as Hänsel and Gretel] - -The first act represents the hut of a broom-maker. _Hänsel_ is binding -brooms and _Gretel_ is knitting. The children romp, quarrel, and make -up. When their mother, _Gertrude_, enters she is angry to see them -idle, but wishing to strike them, she upsets a pitcher of milk -instead. With all hope of supper banished she sends the children out -into the woods with little baskets to look for strawberries, while she -herself, bemoaning their poverty, sinks exhausted upon a chair and -falls asleep. A riotous song announces the approach of her husband, -drunk as usual. She is about to utter reproaches when she notices that -he has brought sausages, bread and butter, coffee--enough for a feast. -He tells her that he has had good luck at the Kirmes and bids her -prepare supper. When he asks for the children he is horrified to hear -that they have been sent into the woods, for a wicked fairy lives near -the Ilsenstein who entices children to bake them in her oven and -devour them. Both parents rush off in search of _Hänsel_ and _Gretel_. - -The second act takes place near the Ilsenstein. _Hänsel_ has filled -his basket with berries and _Gretel_ has made a wreath with which her -brother crowns her. Before they realise what they are doing the -children eat all the berries. Then they see that it is both too dark -to look for any more or to find their way home. _Gretel_ weeps with -fear. _Hänsel_ comforts her. They grow sleepy. The sandman sprinkles -sand into their eyes, but before going to sleep the children are -careful not to forget their evening prayer. Fourteen guardian angels -are seen descending the heavenly ladder to protect them. - -Morning comes with the third act. The dew fairy sprinkles dew on the -children. Suddenly they notice a little house made of cake and sugar. -They start to break off little bits when a voice cries out from within -and the witch opens the door. She throws a rope around _Hänsel's_ -throat, urging them both to enter. Frightened, they try to escape, but -after binding them with a magic spell she imprisons _Hänsel_ in a -kennel, [Transcriber's Note: missing 'and'] she forces _Gretel_ to go -into the house. - -When she believes _Hänsel_ to be asleep she turns her attention to the -oven, then rides around the house on her broom-stick. When she alights -she orders _Hänsel_ to show her his finger. But it is still thin and -the witch orders more food for him. While she turns her back, -_Gretel_, seizing the juniper bough, speaks the magic words and breaks -her brother's enchantment. Then the witch tells _Gretel_ to get into -the oven and see if the honey cakes are done. But _Gretel_ pretends to -be stupid and asks her to show her how to get in. Together the -children push the old witch into the oven and slam the door. The oven -soon falls to pieces. The children then see a row of boys and girls -standing stiffly against the house. _Gretel_ breaks the spell for them -as she had done for _Hänsel_. There is general rejoicing. _Gertrude_ -and _Peter_ now appear, the old witch is pulled out of the ruined oven -as gigantic honey cake and everyone on the stage joins in a hymn of -thanksgiving. - - -THE GOLDEN CROSS - - Opera in two acts. Music by Brüll; text by H. Mosenthal, - after the French. Produced: Berlin, December 22, 1875. - - CHARACTERS - - GONTRAN DE L'ANERY, a young nobleman _Tenor_ - COLAS, an innkeeper _Baritone_ - CHRISTINE, his sister _Soprano_ - THÉRÈSE, his bride _Soprano_ - BOMBARDON, a sergeant _Bass_ - - _Time_--1812. - - _Place_--Melun, near Paris. - -Act I. The town of Melun is suffering heavily from the great campaign -which Napoleon is undertaking against Russia in 1812, so many of the -young men must take the field. Among the hardest hit are _Thérèse_ and -_Christine_, the first a bride, the other a beloved sister. Their -_Colas_ has been taken away; if he can find no substitute he must go -to the war. _Sergeant Bombardon_, who is to take away the drafted men, -is already in town with his soldiers. At the same time as the -sergeant, a young nobleman, _Gontran de l'Anery_, arrives. He hears -that _Christine_ has promised her hand to the man who goes to war in -place of her brother. She will give him a golden cross and when he -brings it back will be his bride. But no one has the desire to expose -himself to the hazards of war. Then _Gontran_, seized by a violent -love, decides to take _Colas'_ place. Through the sergeant he sends -for the cross. _Christine_ does not know who has offered himself for -her brother. - -Act II. Three years have passed. In the house of the innkeeper -_Colas_, now as brave as before, having been wounded in battle with -the invading enemy, _Captain Gontran_ finds himself received as a -severely wounded person. He loves his nurse _Christine_ with all his -heart and she also is attached to him. He even has a claim upon her as -having been once a substitute for her brother, but he will not force -her affections, and besides, he no longer has "the golden cross." -_Christine_ too dares not follow her inclinations for, as _Gontran_ -tells her that it was he who went to the war, she would offend him -very much if she, true to her oath, should ask for the cross. This -also reappears. A cripple, in whom one would scarcely recognize the -former stalwart _Sergeant Bombardon_, is the bearer. _Christine's_ -heart nearly breaks, but she does not hesitate to keep her word. But -no! _Bombardon_ is not an impostor. He got the cross from a dying man. -Yet, who is this? Dare he trust his eyes? The man whom he believed -dead comes out of the house. It is _Gontran_. What happiness for the -two lovers! - - -VERSIEGELT - -SEALED IN - - Opera in one act after Raupach. Music by Blech. Words by - Richard Batka and Pordes-Milo. Produced: Hamburg, November - 4, 1908. - - CHARACTERS - - BRAUN, a burgomaster _Baritone_ - ELSE, his daughter _Soprano_ - FRAU GERTRUD, a young widow _Mezzo-Soprano_ - FRAU WILLMERS _Alto_ - BERTEL, her son, a court clerk _Tenor_ - LAMPE, a bailiff _Bass_ - - _Time_--1830. - - _Place_--A small German town. - -In the centre of the whole scene stands a sideboard. This same -sideboard belongs to _Frau Willmers_ who now comes running to the -apartment of the pretty young widow, _Gertrud_, with every sign of -agitation, to tell her that the bailiff, _Lampe_, intends to seize her -sideboard, an old and valuable heirloom. The burgomaster bears her ill -will because her son _Bertel_ has been casting eyes at his daughter -_Else_, and now takes occasion to inflict on her this disgrace. To -escape this she begs her lodger the favour of taking in the sideboard -for her. _Frau Gertrud_ is very willing. She has a grudge against the -burgomaster. He used to call on her almost every day, and _Frau -Gertrud_ allowed herself to hope that sometime she would become the -_Frau_ burgomistress. Nevertheless, she would very willingly -accelerate his decision. Scarcely is the sideboard, with the help of a -neighbour, happily installed at _Frau Gertrud's_ than _Bertel_, _Frau -Willmers'_ son and the burgomaster's daughter _Else_ enter. They have -made every effort to make the burgomaster kindly disposed but it was -in vain. But as the couple have decided not to give up each other, -they have come to _Frau Gertrud_ to beg her influence with the -burgomaster. When she thus receives confirmation of her suspicion of -the burgomaster's liking for her, she naturally is not averse to the -rôle of matchmaker. Out of her beautiful dreams of the future the -young woman, left alone by her neighbours, is aroused by a knock. But -it is not the burgomaster, whom she secretly expected, but the -bailiff, _Lampe_. Loquacious, conceited, and intrusive, he begins by -telling her all his merits and his skill, brings greetings to the -widow, as the burgomaster has commissioned him. The sideboard seems to -him very suspicious. So now he will go only to _Frau Willmers'_ to -convince himself whether his suspicion is well founded. As soon as he -has gone the burgomaster comes. He also makes use of evasions and then -confides to his gentle friend the anxieties of a father. It grieves -him very much that his _Else_ loves this _Bertel_, son of his -bitterest enemy, who is now dead. _Frau Gertrud_, however, interests -her self bravely in favour of her protégés. Her remark that the -burgomaster surely has not a heart of stone, brings him nearer to -realizing his own condition. Instead of the children he now talks of -himself. First he is seeking for a sign that she means well by him -with her advice. Soon she has led him so far that he confesses his -love for her and begs a kiss. The twilight that has begun favours the -idyll. Then again comes the trouble-maker _Lampe_. Nothing worse can -happen to the couple than to be discovered by this gossiper. So the -burgomaster must hide in order to save his own and _Frau Gertrud's_ -reputation. But where? There is nothing better than the empty -sideboard. Scarcely has the somewhat corpulent burgomaster fortunately -concealed himself in it than _Lampe_ enters the apartment and, "In the -name of the authorities" seals up the sideboard. Unfortunately the -burgomaster in his hiding place finds himself not so quiet as caution -demanded. The sound does not escape _Lampe_ and his evil thoughts -scent here something very improper. Surely there is a lover concealed -in the sideboard, and he goes away with the malicious idea of finding -the burgomaster to tell him that _Frau Gertrud_ is not the right sort -of woman for him. But _Frau Gertrud_ is sure of her point and, as -_Bertel_ and _Else_ also come in with _Frau Willmers_, a plot is soon -concocted by the four so that the happiness of everybody will result -from this favourable accident. The two women leave the young couple -alone so that through a put-up game on the father everything will be -obtained. _Else_ plays the lovesick girl, _Bertel_ on the other hand -the virtuous one whose respect for the burgomaster knows no bounds. So -he refuses to accept _Else's_ love against the will of her father and -she, desperate, wants to run away when a voice proceeds from the -sideboard. Now the father and burgomaster must humbly beg of his clerk -that he take upon himself the offence of breaking the seal and letting -him out of the sideboard. Naturally, the first takes place after -_Else_ has dictated the marriage contract. The burgomaster, who at all -hazards must get out before _Lampe_ comes back, consents to -everything. _Bertel_ employs his profession in writing out the whole -contract and through a peephole in the sideboard the burgomaster has -to sign it before the door is finally opened to him. But he makes his -terms. In place of himself, _Bertel_ and _Else_ must enter the -sideboard. Naturally they do not hesitate long and they are for the -first time together undisturbed within it. The burgomaster has -concealed himself in the next room when the two women come back with a -gay company. (The following very indelicate passage, which endangers -all the sympathy of the audience for _Frau Gertrud_, might easily be -cut out.) _Frau Gertrud_ has brought people from a nearby shooters' -festival to show them the trapped burgomaster, evidently because she -believes her scheme more assured thus. All the greater is the -astonishment when the young couple step out of the opened sideboard. -But the burgomaster all of a sudden appears in the background. Then -_Frau Gertrud_ cleverly takes everything on herself. She had shut up -the young couple in it and had spread the report that the burgomaster -was concealed in it in order that he might be affected by it and could -no longer oppose the union of the two young people. Surely everything -is solved satisfactorily when _Lampe_ arrives with every sign of -agitation. He has not found the burgomaster, and _Else_ and the clerk -of the court have disappeared. The burgomaster must certainly have -been murdered by the clerk. _Lampe_ rages so long in the excessive -indignation of his official power that he himself is shut up in the -sideboard and the others, now undisturbed, seal their compact and -reseal it. - - -DER TROMPETER VON SÄKKINGEN - -THE TRUMPETER OF SÄKKINGEN - - Opera in three acts and a Prologue; music by Viktor E. - Nessler; text by Rudolf Bunge after Viktor von Scheffel's - poem with the same title. Produced: Leipzig, May 4, 1884. - - CHARACTERS - - WERNER KIRCHHOFER _Baritone_ - KONRADIN, a peasant _Bass_ - THE STEWART _Tenor_ - THE RECTOR _Bass_ - BARON VON SCHÖNAU _Bass_ - MARIA, his daughter _Soprano_ - COUNT VON WILDENSTEIN _Bass_ - HIS DIVORCED WIFE _Alto_ - DAMIAN, Count von Wildenstein's son _Tenor_ - -Prologue. In the Heidelberg palace courtyard there is a merry company -of students and peasants gathered in a drinking bout. The enthusiasm -for "Old Heidelberg the fine" and for the gay life of a cavalier takes -on such a noisy expression that the steward of the _Rector's_ wife -orders them to be quiet. _Werner Kirchhofer_, a law student, leaps on -a table, the peasant _Konradin_ lends him his trumpet and now there -echoes forth the sweet song "which once the Palsgrave Friedrich sang" -in honour of the "Palsgravin, the most beautiful of women." But the -_Rector_ and the Senate entertain other views of the nightly noise of -trumpets and the entire body of students is expelled. So they all seek -to become cavaliers. - -Act I. In Säkkingen a great festival is being held, Fridolin's day. -Peasants from the suburbs have come to town for it. There is a -suspicious agitation among them. _Konradin_ who is now in the service -of the state has his hands full keeping order. What happiness when he -sees his old comrade _Werner_. But now as _Maria_, daughter of the -_Baron von Schönau_; together with her haughty aunt, the divorced wife -of _Count von Wildenstein_, arrive at the church, insurrection breaks -out. Who knows what the peasants would not have done to the ladies had -not _Werner_ as knightly protector sprung between them. Love at first -sight seized the two young people. (Change of scene.) Above in Schönau -castle the old baron is again tormented by chills. Serving as a means -of lessening his pain comes a letter from his brother-in-law, _Count -von Wildenstein_, who announces that he is coming to visit him. He has -a son, _Damian_, who would be just the right husband for _Schönau's_ -daughter _Maria_. Moreover that would be an opportunity to bring about -a reconciliation between the count and his divorced wife, none other -than _Maria's_ aunt. The marriage was dissolved and their son was once -stolen by gypsies. _Damian_ is a son of the second wife of _Count von -Wildenstein_, who is dead. Out of his pleasant thoughts about his -future son-in-law and protector of the castle in these evil days the -_Baron_ is frightened by the reports of his women about the uprising -of the peasants. In the praise that _Maria_ gives to the brave -trumpeter is echoed his playing from the Rhine to here. That stirs the -old baron like an elixir of youth in his bones. The trumpeter is -summoned and a look in _Maria's_ love-warmed eyes is enough for him to -accept the Baron's offer to become trumpeter of the castle. Of course -the proximity of the young people will not please the aunt. - -Act II. That they love each other both already long know but the -acknowledgment nevertheless would be very beautiful. But the old aunt -is always at hand especially at the music lessons which _Werner_ gives -to the young woman. A real piece of luck that _Konradin_ is coming -today to the castle to bring wine for the May festival. He knows how -to arrange it so that the old woman must go to the wine cellar. Now it -is all over with pride. _Maria_ lies in the arms of the humble -trumpeter. Unfortunately, the old aunt comes back. She is not moved by -their prayers, but tells all about it to the excited Baron. Nothing -helps, the trumpeter must leave the house. _Maria's_ bridegroom is -already chosen. At today's May festival he will take part. _Damian_ is -certainly stupid enough but that does not help the lovers. "Would to -God that it had not been so beautiful, would to God it had not been!" - -Act III. But _Damian_ is not only stupid, he is also a miserable -coward. That is shown as it now behooves him to defend _Baron von -Schönau's_ castle against the revolted peasants. The knights there -would have been lost had not relief suddenly come. It is _Werner_ who -arrives with a troop of country people. _Maria_ flees to her lover's -arms. But alas, he is wounded in the arm. And what is that? That mole? -The old _Countess Wildenstein_ recognizes in the trumpeter her son, -whom the gypsies once stole. Now naturally there is nothing in the way -of the union. Now "young _Werner_ is the happiest man" and who can -deny that "Love and trumpet sounds are very useful, good things." - - -DER EVANGELIMANN - -THE EVANGELIST - - Music-drama in two acts by Wilhelm Kienzl; text by the - composer after a tale by L.F. Meissner. Produced: Berlin, - May 4, 1895. - - CHARACTERS - - FRIEDRICH ENGEL _Bass_ - MARTHA, his niece _Soprano_ - MAGDALENA, her friend _Alto_ - JOHANNES FREUDHOFER, teacher at - St. Othmar's _Baritone_ - MATTHIAS FREUDHOFER, his brother, - actuary in a monastery _Tenor_ - ZITTERBART, a tailor and other artisans _Tenor_ - -Act I. The feelings in the breast of _Johannes Freudhofer_, the -teacher, do not correspond to the peaceful spectacle of the monastery -of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Othmar. He is filled with a savage -jealousy of his own brother, _Matthias_, who is actuary in the -monastery, because he sees that the affections of _Martha_, the -beautiful niece of _Engel_, the steward of the monastery, are denied -him. He thinks to injure his brother when he betrays the latter's love -to the haughty steward. And the latter actually dismisses _Matthias_ -from his office. But with this _Johannes_ has not attained his object. -For he himself can spy on them and see the two plighting eternal -faithfulness on his secret departure. So the treacherous man resolved -upon the complete ruin of the lovers. He sets fire to the monastery. -_Matthias_, who is tarrying in the arbour beside his sweetheart -hurries out to get help, but is seized by the other as the incendiary -out of revenge. - -Act II. Thirty years have elapsed. In the courtyard of a house in -Vienna, _Magdalena_ meets an evangelist in whom she recognizes -_Matthias_, the friend of her youth. She herself is here caring for -_Johannes_ who is ill. How has _Matthias_ become an evangelist? He -tells her his sad history. He had been sentenced to prison for twenty -years. When he had finished his punishment he learned that his -sweetheart _Martha_ out of grief had sought death in the water. Then -he had become a wandering, singing preacher. - -Second Part. In the sitting-room, _Johannes_ lies ill. But more than -pain disturbs his mind. Then he hears outside the voice of the -evangelist. _Magdalena_ must call him in. Without recognizing him -_Johannes_ tells his brother of the infamous action through which he -had ruined the other's life. And _Matthias_ not only preaches love but -practices it too. He forgives his brother who now can die in peace. - - -DER KUHREIGEN - -RANZ DES VACHES - - Music-drama in three acts; music by Wilhelm Kienzl; poem by - Richard Batka. - - CHARACTERS - - THE KING _Bass_ - MARQUIS MASSIMELLE, commandant _Bass_ - BLANCHEFLEUR, his wife _Soprano_ - CLEO, their lady at court _Mezzo-Soprano_ - CAPTAIN BRAYOLE _Tenor_ - PRIMUS THALLUS _Tenor_ - DURSEL (_Bass_) and under officers - in a Swiss regiment - FAVART, under-officer of Chasseurs _Baritone_ - DORIS, daughter of the keeper of a - canteen in the St. Honoré barracks _Soprano_ - - _Time_--1792-3. - - _Place_--Paris and Versailles. - -Act I. Barracks of St. Honoré. Under penalty of death the Swiss -soldiers have been forbidden to sing their native songs especially -the Kuhreigen or "Ranz des Vaches," because songs of their native land -always awakened homesickness and had led to desertions. But a quarrel -between _Primus Thallus_, of the Swiss, and _Favart_, of the -Chasseurs, excites the Swiss and they sing "In the fort at Strassburg" -(Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz) the song of the Swiss who became a -deserter through homesickness, the song which was forbidden by such a -severe decree, especially because it introduced the Kuhreigen or "Ranz -des Vaches." Then _Favart_ believed the moment had come to be able to -avenge himself. He quickly called an officer to hear the forbidden -song. The officer first wants to arrest all the Swiss, but _Primus -Thallus_ takes all the blame on himself; he is glad to prevent the -others being imprisoned. - -Act II. In the King's bedroom at Versailles the ceremony of the royal -levee is taking place. This medley of laughable ceremonial and the -practice of the highest refinement makes a sharp contrast with the -wild ferment and discontent among the people, of which, however, no -one hears anything in these rooms and will know nothing. So the -commandant _Massimelle_ is among those waiting because he has to lay -before the _King_ the death sentence on the unsubdued Swiss. Naturally -the _King_ thinks nothing about bringing an obsolete law into force -again, and leaves the decision to _Massimelle's_ wife, _Blanchefleur_. -She begs _Thallus's_ life for herself and wants to learn the fellow -manners in her service. Silly as are the thoughts of this whole -company, so also are those of _Blanchefleur_. Through a whim she has -obtained the release of the young Swiss, now she wants as a reward to -have diversion with him. The high authorities already are glad to play -shepherds and shepherdesses; what would happen if they could have a -real Swiss as a shepherd! _Cleo_, the court lady, is perfectly -delighted with the idea and awaits with enjoyment the play in which -_Primus Thallus_ shall appear with _Blanchefleur_. But the play takes -a serious turn, _Primus Thallus_ sees no joke in the thing. To him, -_Blanchefleur_ appears as the image of his dreams, and yet he knows -that this dream never can be a reality, at least not for a man to -whom, as to this Swiss, love is not merely a form of amusement in -life. So _Blanchefleur_ has to give up her shepherd's dream and let -_Primus Thallus_ withdraw. - -Act III. The earnest man is very quickly drawn in. In the ruined -dining-hall of the palace of _Massimelle_, the sans-culottes are -lodged. _Favart_, under whose direction the castle has been stormed, -is vexed at his report for which _Doris_, his sweetheart, and the -others with their wild drinking and quarrelling scarcely leave him the -possibility. By chance the half-drunken men discover a secret door. -They go down into the passage and drag out _Blanchefleur_ who had -concealed herself there. _Favart_ wants her to play for the men, but -he cannot prevail upon her to do it. With her graceful, distinguished -air she refuses to have anything to do with the dirty, uncivilized men -and smilingly allows herself to be condemned to death and led away to -the frightful prison of the Temple. Hardly has she gone than _Primus -Thallus_ enters. He has been promoted by the Directory to be a captain -as a reward because he has often been threatened with death by the -royalists. His great courage certainly makes an impression on these -savage troops, but as _Massimelle_ outside is being led to the -scaffold and he learns of the arrest of _Blanchefleur_ only one -thought rules him--to save the beautiful woman. - -The scene changes to the underground prison of the Temple. One can -hardly recognize the figure of _Primus Thallus_ who presents himself -here, but one must admit of these aristocrats that while they know how -to live laughingly they also know how to die with a smile. While -without the guillotine is fulfilling its awful task uninterruptedly, -they are dancing and playing here underneath as though these were -still the gayest days of the _King's_ delights at Versailles. In vain -_Primus Thallus_ uses all his eloquence to persuade _Blanchefleur_ to -flee or to give him her hand because then he could obtain a pardon. -She has only one reward for his faithfulness: a dance. Then when her -name is called she dances with a light minuet step to the scaffold. - - -LOBETANZ - - Opera in three acts; music by Ludwig Thuille; text by Otto - Julius Bierbaum. Produced: Carlsruhe, February 6, 1898. - - CHARACTERS - - LOBETANZ _Tenor_ - THE PRINCESS _Mezzo-Soprano_ - THE KING _Bass_ - THE FORESTER, the executioner, - the judge _Speaking parts_ - A TRAVELLING STUDENT _Tenor_ - -Act I. This play takes place somewhere and somewhen but begins in a -blooming garden in spring. And the most fragrant flowers in the garden -are the lovely girls that play in it. Take care, _Lobetanz_; take -care! Now that you have leaped over the wall into the garden, still -take care! You are a travelling singer, your clothes are tattered; but -you are a magnificent fellow and sing as only a bird can sing or a -fellow who knows nothing about the illness of the _Princess_. What is -the matter with her then? She no longer laughs as she once did, her -cheeks are pale, she no longer sings but sighs. "Alas!" Oh, the -maidens know what is the matter with her but no one asks the maidens. -The poet-laureate today at the festival of the Early Rose Day will -announce what is the matter with the child of the _King_. And the -_King_ is coming, the _Princess_ and the people. And the poets proudly -strut in and make known their wisdom. But that does not help. Now the -sound of a violin is heard. How the _Princess_ listens and now the -player comes before her and fiddles and sings and the maid revives. -Roses bloom on her cheeks; her eyes shine in looking at the violinist -who is singing of the morning in May when they kissed each other, -innocently dear, and played "bridegroom and bride." You must flee, -_Lobetanz_, flee; that is magic with which you are subduing the child -of the _King_. - -Act II. Spring has awakened your heart, you happy singer, and has -brought to life what was asleep deep within you. Now you may dream of -what will be. And see, she comes to you, the sick _Princess_, to be -restored to health by you. And she sits there by you in the branch of -a linden tree. But alas, alas! The _King_ and his hunting train are -suddenly there and all things have an end. - -Act III. In a dungeon sits the bird once so gay. For "dead, dead, dead -must he be and so slip with hurrahs into the infernal abode." And they -lead you to the gallows and tell you your sentence. And the _King_ and -the people, the envious singers and the _Princess_ sick unto death on -her bier are all there. Now choose your last present, you poor gallows -bird. So let me once more sing. And, "see, Oh see, how the delicate -face is covered with a rosy glow." He is singing her back to life, the -lovely _Princess_, until finally she flees to his arms: "Thou art -mine!" Now leave the gallows, there is a wedding today. "A great -magician is _Lobetanz_, let the couple only look, the gallows shine -with luck and lustre; spring has done wonders." - - -DER CORREGIDOR - -THE MAGISTRATE - - Opera in four acts; music by Hugo Wolf; text by Rosa - Mayreder-Obermayer. Produced: Mannheim, June 7, 1896. - - CHARACTERS - - THE CORREGIDOR (magistrate) _Tenor_ - DOÑA MERCEDES, his wife _Soprano_ - REPELA, his valet _Bass_ - TIO LUCAS, a miller _Baritone_ - FRASQUITA, his wife _Mezzo-Soprano_ - JUAN LOPEZ, the alcalde _Bass_ - PEDRO, his secretary _Tenor_ - MANUELA, a maid _Mezzo-Soprano_ - TONUELO, a court messenger _Bass_ - -Act I. The miller, _Tio Lucas_, is living a happy life with his -beautiful wife, _Frasquita_. Her love is so true that jealousy, to -which he is inclined, cannot thrive. Jealous? Yes, he has a bump of -jealousy. True, the _Corregidor_, who eagerly concerns him about the -miller's pretty wife, has one too. But no matter, he is a high, very -influential functionary. Meanwhile _Frasquita_ loves her _Tio Lucas_ -so truly that she can even allow herself a dance with the -_Corregidor_. Perhaps she will cure him so, perhaps she will obtain in -addition the wished-for official place for her nephew. The -_Corregidor_ too does not keep her waiting long and _Frasquita_ makes -him so much in love with her that he becomes very impetuous. Thereupon -he loses his balance and the worthy official falls in the dust, out of -which the miller, without suspecting anything, raises him up. But the -_Corregidor_ swears revenge. - -Act II. The opportunity for this comes very quickly. As the miller one -evening is sitting with his wife in their cozy room, there comes a -knock at the door. It is the drunken court messenger, _Tonuelo_, who -produces a warrant of arrest. _Tio Lucas_ must follow him without -delay to the alcalde who has lent himself as a willing instrument to -the _Corregidor_. _Frasquita_ is trying to calm her anxiety with a -song when outside there is a cry for help. She opens the door and -before it stands the _Corregidor_ dripping with water. He had fallen -in the brook. Now he begs admission from _Frasquita_ who is raging -with anger. He has also brought with him the appointment of the -nephew. But the angry woman will pay no attention and sends the -_Corregidor_ away from her threshold. Then he falls in a swoon. His -own servant now comes along. _Frasquita_ admits both of them to the -house and herself goes into town to look for her _Tio Lucas_. When the -_Corregidor_, awakened out of his swoon, hears this, full of anxiety, -he sends his valet after her; he himself, however, hangs his wet -clothes before the fire and goes to bed in the miller's bedroom. - -(Change of scene.) In the meantime _Tio Lucas_ has drunk under the -table the alcalde and his fine comrades and seizes the occasion to -flee. - -Act III. In the darkness of the night, _Tio Lucas_ and _Frasquita_ -pass by without seeing each other. The miller comes to his mill. -(Change of scene.) Everything is open. In the dust lies the -appointment of the nephew; before the fire hang the _Corregidor's_ -clothes. A frightful suspicion arises in _Tio Lucas's_ mind which -becomes certainty when through the keyhole he sees the _Corregidor_ in -his own bed. He is already groping for his rifle to shoot the seducer -and the faithless woman when another thought strikes him. The -_Corregidor_ also has a wife, a beautiful wife. Here the -_Corregidor's_ clothes are hanging. He quickly slips into them and -goes back to town. In the meantime the _Corregidor_ has awakened. He -wants to go back home now. But he does not find his clothes and so he -crawls into those of the miller. Thus he is almost arrested by the -alcalde who now enters with his companions and _Frasquita_. When the -misunderstanding is cleared up, they all go with different feelings -into the town after the miller. - -Act IV. Now comes the explanation and the punishment of the -_Corregidor_, at least in so far as he receives a sound thrashing and -becomes really humbled. In reality the miller also has not yet had his -"revenge," but he is recognized and likewise is beaten blue. That he -must suffer in reparation for his doubt of the faithful _Frasquita_, -and he hears it willingly for they have now come to a good -understanding about everything. - - - - -Richard Strauss - - -Richard Strauss was born at Munich, June 11, 1864. His father, Franz -Strauss, was a distinguished horn player in the Royal Opera orchestra. -From him Richard received rigid instruction in music. His teacher in -composition was the orchestral conductor, W. Meyer. At school he wrote -music on the margins of his books. He was so young at the first public -performance of a work by him, that when he appeared and bowed in -response to the applause, someone asked, "What has that boy to do with -it?" "Nothing, except that he composed it," was the reply. - -Strauss is best known as the composer of many beautiful songs and of -the orchestral works _Tod und Verklaerung_ (Death and Transfiguration), -and _Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streiche_ (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry -Pranks). The latter is a veritable _tour de force_ of orchestral -scoring and a test of the virtuosity of a modern orchestra. _Thus -Spake Zarathustra_, _Don Quixote_, and _Ein Heldenleben_ (A Hero's -Life) are other well-known orchestral works by him. They are of large -proportions. To the symphony, and the symphonic poem, Strauss has -added the tone poem as a form of instrumental music even freer in its -development than the symphonic poem, which was Liszt's legacy to -music. - - -FEUERSNOT - -FIRE FAMINE - - Opera in one act. Music by Richard Strauss; text by Ernst - von Wolzogen. Produced: Dresden, November 21, 1901. - - CHARACTERS - - SCHWEIKER VON GUNDELFINGEN, keeper of - the castle _Tenor_ - ORTOLF SENTLINGER, burgomaster _Bass_ - DIEMUT, his daughter _Soprano_ - KUNRAD, the leveller _Baritone_ - - _Time_--13th Century. - - _Place_--Munich. - -The action takes place in Munich on the day of the winter solstice in -olden times. At the time of the representation the twelfth century has -just passed. A big crowd of children, followed by grown-ups, is going -in whimsical wantonness from house to house to collect wood for the -solstitial fire ("Subendfeuer"). After they have collected rich booty -at the burgomaster's they go over to the house opposite. It appears -strangely gloomy. Shutters and doors are closed as though it were -empty. Yet a short time ago young _Herr Kunrad_ lived there. It is his -legal inheritance and property, a legacy from his ancestor who was an -"excellent sorcerer" and now taken possession of after a long absence. -Nevertheless, the superstition of the masses had been much concerned -with the house. The most reasonable was that its occupant was a -strange fellow, the majority thought him a gloomy magician. In reality -the young man sat in the house poring over books. The noise of the -children calls him forth. When he hears that it is the solstice, the -great festival of his profession, an agitation seizes him in which he -tells the children to take away all the wood from his house. This -destruction stirs the townsmen but _Kunrad_ is so struck at sight of -_Diemut_, who seems to him like a revelation of life, that he dashes -through the townsmen and kisses the girl on the mouth. The agitation -of the townsmen is silenced sooner than _Diemut's_ who plans revenge -for this outrage. - -Now the townsmen are all out of doors on account of the solstitial -holiday. But in _Kunrad's_ heart the promptings of love are blazing -like a fire. A mad longing for _Diemut_ seizes him, and as she now -appears on her balcony he begs for her love with warm words. The spark -has also been well kindled in her heart, but still she only thinks of -revenge. So she lures him toward the side street where the order -basket still stands on the ground. _Kunrad_ steps into it and _Diemut_ -hauls him upward. But halfway up she lets him hang suspended. So -_Kunrad_ becomes a laughing-stock for the townsmen returning home. -Then a fearful rage seizes upon him; he makes use of his magic art: -"May an ice-cold everlasting night surround you because you have -laughed at the might of love." Every light is extinguished and a deep -darkness covers the town and its inhabitants. Now _Kunrad_ from the -balcony, addresses the townsmen, furious with rage in a speech filled -with personal references whose basic idea is that the people always -recognize and follow their great masters. So they have sadly mistaken -his purpose and the maid whom he had chosen had mocked him. For -punishment their light is now extinguished. Let all the warmth leave -the women, all the light of love depart from ardent young maidens, -until the fire burns anew. Now the tables are turned. All recognize in -_Kunrad_ a great man. In their self-reproaches are mingled complaints -about the darkness and an imploring cry to _Diemut_ by her love to -make an end of the lack of fire. But _Diemut_ in the meantime has -changed her mind; love in her too gets the upper hand as the sudden -rekindling of every light makes known. - - -GUNTRAM - - Music-drama in three acts: music and words by Richard - Strauss. Produced: Weimar, May 10, 1894. - - CHARACTERS - - THE OLD DUKE _Bass_ - FREIHILD, his daughter _Soprano_ - DUKE ROBERT, her betrothed _Baritone_ - GUNTRAM, a singer _Tenor_ - FRIEDHOLD, a singer _Bass_ - THE DUKE'S CLOWN _Tenor_ - - _Time_--Thirteenth Century. - - _Place_--A German duchy. - -Act I. _Guntram_ has been brought up to manhood as pupil of the -religious knightly Band of the Good. This band has set for itself the -realization of the Christian idea of love for the soul. The brotherly -union of all men, who shall be brought through love to world peace is -the aim of the band, the noble art of song its means of obtaining -recruits. _Guntram_ seems to his teacher _Friedhold_ ready for the -great work and so he is assigned to a difficult task. The _Old Duke_ -has given the hand of his daughter _Freihild_, and also his estate, to -_Duke Robert_. The latter, the only one of the powerful tyrants left, -through his oppression had so stirred up the peaceful people that they -rose against his rule. Then he had put down the rising cruelly and had -burdened the unfortunate people so heavily that they were thinking of -leaving their homes. _Freihild_ most deeply sympathizes with the -people and had given her hand to the _Duke_ only unwillingly, and she -seeks in the happiness of the people consolation for her loveless -life. But the _Duke_ has forbidden her this work of love and she seeks -release from life in a voluntary death in the waters of the lake. -_Guntram_ rescues her. The _Old Duke_, out of gratitude for saving his -daughter, promises pardon to the rebels and invites the singer to the -feast that is to be given in the ducal palace in celebration of the -putting down of the rebellion. - -Act II. At the festive banquet _Guntram_, relying upon the power of -the thought of love as presented by him, will make use of the occasion -to win the _Duke's_ heart for peace. The _Duke_, whose _clown_ has -just irritated him, in a rage interrupts _Guntram_. But the latter is -protected by the vassals all of whom at heart are angry at the cruel -ruler. When a messenger brings news of a new revolt, a vote is taken -and they all decide for war. Then _Guntram_ reminds them anew of peace -in inspired songs. In a rage the _Duke_ scorns him as a rebel, -assaults him and, after a brief wrestle, _Guntram_ strikes down the -tyrant. Then the _Old Duke_ has him thrown into a dungeon and goes off -with the vassals to put down the rebellion again. But _Freihild_, -whose heart is inflamed with love for the bold, noble singer, -conspires with the _clown_ to save him and flee with him. - -Act III. In the gloomy dungeon in which _Guntram_ is awaiting his -punishment, the young hero has plenty of leisure to meditate on his -deeds and their motives. The Band of the Good has sent _Friedhold_ to -him in order that he may ask of him an account of his sinful deed. For -such an act is considered as murder in every case. _Guntram_ feels -that he is not guilty in the opinion of the Band but is self-convicted -in the opinion of the highest humanity. For he cannot conceal from -himself that the passionate love for _Freihild_, wife of the _Duke_, -which burns in his heart, led him to his deed. Therefore, he can -certainly reject the reproach of the Band, but he charges himself with -renunciation as expiation for his deed. He has taught himself that -true freedom cannot be attained unless it is acquired by one's own -power and victory over one's self. So the Band of the Good is caught -in an error and _Guntram_ renounces his connection with them. But -_Freihild_, who has succeeded to the duchy since the _Old Duke_ has -fallen on the field, he refers to the godly message which calls her to -promote the happiness of the people. In this noble task she will find -indemnification for the personal sacrifice of her lost love. The -singer withdraws thence into solitude. - - -SALOME - - Opera in one act by Richard Strauss; words after Oscar - Wilde's poem of the same title, translated into German by - Hedwig Lachmann. Produced at the Court Opera, Dresden, - December 9, 1905. Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1907, - with Olive Fremstad; Manhattan Opera House, New York, with - Mary Garden. - - CHARACTERS - - HEROD ANTIPAS, Tetrarch of Judea _Tenor_ - HERODIAS, wife of Herod _Mezzo-Soprano_ - SALOME, daughter of Herodias _Soprano_ - JOKANAAN (John the Baptist) _Baritone_ - NARRABOTH, a young Syrian, Captain of - the Guard _Tenor_ - A PAGE _Alto_ - - A young Roman, the executioner, five Jews, two Nazarenes, - two soldiers, a Cappadocian and a slave. - - _Time_--About 30 A.D. - - _Place_--The great terrace in the palace of Herod at - Tiberias, Galilee, the capital of his kingdom. - -On the great terrace of _Herod's_ palace, off the banquet hall, is his -body-guard. The ardent looks of the young captain, _Narraboth_, a -Syrian, are directed toward the banquet hall where _Salome_ is seated. -In vain the _Page_, who is aware of the neurotic taint in the woman, -warns him. The young captain is consumed with ardent desires. - -The night is sultry. The soldiers' talk is interrupted by the sounds -from the hall. Suddenly there is heard a loud and deep voice, as from -a tomb. Dread seizes even upon the rough soldiers. He who calls is a -madman according to some, a prophet according to others, in either -case, a man of indomitable courage who with terrifying directness of -speech brings the ruling powers face to face with their sins and bids -them repent. This is _Jokanaan_. His voice sounds so reverberant -because it issues from the gloomy cistern in which he is held a -captive. - -Suddenly _Salome_, in great commotion, steps out on the terrace. The -greedy looks with which the _Herod_, her stepfather, has regarded her, -as well as the talk and noisy disputes of the gluttons and degenerates -within have driven her out. In her stirs the sinful blood of her -mother, who, in order that she might marry _Herod_, slew her husband. -Depraved surroundings, a court at which the satiating of all desires -is the main theme of the day, have poisoned her thoughts. She seeks -new pleasures, as yet untasted enjoyments. Now, as she hears the voice -of the _Prophet_, there arises in her the lust to see this man, whom -she has heard her mother curse, because he has stigmatized her shame, -and whom she knows the Tetrarch fears, although a captive. What she -desires is strictly forbidden, but _Narraboth_ cannot resist her -blandishments. The strange, gloomy figure of the _Jokanaan_, -fantastically noble in the rags of his captivity, stirs _Salome's_ -morbid desires. Her abandoned arts are brought into full play in her -efforts to tempt him, but with the sole result that he bids her do -penance. This but adds fuel to the flame. When _Narraboth_, in despair -over her actions, kills himself on his own sword, she does not so much -as notice it. Appalled by the wickedness of the young woman, the -_Prophet_ warns her to seek for the only one in whom she can find -redemption, the Man of Galilee. But realizing that his words fall on -deaf ears, he curses her, and retreats into his cistern. - -[Illustration: Copyright photo by Mishkin - -Mary Garden as Salome] - -_Herod_, _Herodias_, and their suite come out on the terrace. _Herod_ -is suffering under the weight of his crimes, but the infamous -_Herodias_ is as cold as a serpent. _Herod's_ sinful desire for his -stepdaughter is the only thing that can stir his blood. But _Salome_ -is weary and indifferent; _Herodias_ full of bitter scorn for him and -for her daughter. Against the _Prophet_, whose voice terrifies the -abandoned gatherings at table, her hatred is fierce. But _Herod_ -stands in mysterious awe of the _Prophet_. It is almost because of his -dread of the future, which _Jokanaan_ proclaims so terribly, that -_Herod_ asks as a diversion for _Salome's_ dance in order that life -may flow warm again in his chilled veins. _Salome_ demurs, until he -swears that he will grant any request she may make of him. She then -executes the "Dance of the Seven Veils," casting one veil after -another from her. _Herod_ asks what her reward shall be. In part -prompted by _Herodias_, but also by her own mad desire to have -vengeance for her rejected passion, she demands the head of the -_Prophet_. _Herod_ offers her everything else he can name that is most -precious, but _Salome_ refuses to release him from his promise. The -executioner descends into the cistern. _Jokanaan_ is slain and his -severed head presented to _Salome_ upon a silver charger. Alive he -refused her his lips. Now, in a frenzy of lust, she presses hers upon -them. Even _Herod_ shudders, and turns from her revolted. "Kill that -woman!" he commands his guards, who crush her under their shields. - -Regarding the score of "Salome," Strauss himself remarked that he had -paid no consideration whatever to the singers. There is a passage for -quarrelling Jews that is amusing; and, for a brief spell, in the -passage in which _Salome_ gives vent to her lust for _Jokanaan_, the -music is molten fire. But considered as a whole, the singers are like -actors, who intone instead of speaking. Whatever the drama suggests, -whatever is said or done upon the stage--a word, a look, a gesture--is -minutely and realistically set forth in the orchestra, which should -consist of a hundred and twelve pieces. The real musical climax is -"The Dance of the Seven Veils," a superb orchestral composition. - -Strauss calls the work a drama. As many as forty motifs have been -enumerated in it. But they lack the compact, pregnant qualities of the -motifs in the Wagner music-dramas which are so individual, so -melodically eloquent that their significance is readily recognized not -only when they are first heard, but also when they recur. -Nevertheless, the "Salome" of Richard Strauss is an effective work--so -effective in the setting forth of its offensive theme that it was -banished from the Metropolitan Opera House, although Olive Fremstad -lavished her art upon the title rôle; nor have the personal -fascination and histrionic gifts of Mary Garden been able to keep it -alive. - -At the Metropolitan Opera House, then under the direction of Heinrich -Conried, it was heard at a full-dress rehearsal, which I attended, and -at one performance. It was then withdrawn, practically on command of -the board of directors of the opera company, although the initial -impulse is said to have come from a woman who sensed the brutality of -the work under its mask of "culture." - - -ELEKTRA - - Opera in one act by Richard Strauss; words by Hugo von - Hofmannsthal. Produced: Dresden, January 25, 1909. Manhattan - Opera House, New York, in a French version by Henry - Gauthier-Villars, and with Mazarin as _Elektra_. - - CHARACTERS - - CLYTEMNESTRA, wife of _Aegisthus_ _Mezzo-Soprano_ - ELEKTRA } her daughters by the { _Soprano_ - CHRYSOTHEMIS } murdered king Agamemnon { _Soprano_ - AEGISTHUS _Tenor_ - ORESTES _Baritone_ - - Preceptor of _Orestes_, a confidant, a train bearer, an - overseer of servants, five serving women, other servants, - both men and women, old and young. - - _Time_--Antiquity. - - _Place_--Mycenae. - -Storck, in his _Opera Book_, has this to say of Von Hofmannsthal's -libretto: "The powerful subject of the ancient myth is here dragged -down from the lofty realm of tragedy, to which Sophocles raised it, to -that of the pathologically perverse. With a gloomy logic the strain of -blood-madness and unbridled lust is exploited by the poet so that the -overwhelming effect of its consequences becomes comprehensible. None -the less, there is the fact, of no little importance, that through its -treatment from this point of view, a classical work has been dragged -from its pedestal." - -The inner court of the palace in Mycenae is the scene of the drama. -Since _Clytemnestra_, in league with her paramour, _Aegisthus_, has -compassed the murder of her husband, _Agamemnon_, her daughter -_Elektra_ lives only with the thought of vengeance. She exists like a -wild beast, banished from the society of human beings, a butt of -ridicule to the servants, a horror to all, only desirous of the blood -of her mother and _Aegisthus_ in atonement for that of her father. The -murderers too have no rest. Fear haunts them. - -_Elektra's_ sister, _Chrysothemis_, is entirely unlike her. She craves -marriage. But it is in a disordered way that her desire for husband -and child is expressed. _Clytemnestra_ also is morbidly ill. Deeply -she deplores her misdeed, but for this very reason has completely -surrendered herself to the unworthy _Aegisthus_. So frightfully do her -dreams torment her that she even comes to seek help from the hated -Elektra in her hovel in the inner court. It is the latter's first -triumph in all her years of suffering. But it is short-lived, for -_Clytemnestra_ mocks her with the news that _Orestes_ has died in a -distant land. A terrible blow this for _Elektra_, who had hoped that -_Orestes_ would return and wreak vengeance on the queen and -_Aegisthus_. Now the daughters must be the instruments of vengeance. -And as _Chrysothemis_, shocked, recoils from the task, _Elektra_ -determines to complete it alone. She digs up in the courtyard the very -axe with which her father was slain and which she had buried in order -to give it to her brother on his return. - -But the message regarding the death of _Orestes_ was false. It was -disseminated by her brother in order to allay the fears of the -murderers of his father and put them off their guard. The stranger, -who now enters the court, and at first cannot believe that the -half-demented woman in rags is his sister, finally is recognized by -her as _Orestes_, and receives from her the axe. He enters the palace, -slays _Clytemnestra_ and, upon the return of _Aegisthus_, pursues him -from room to room and kills him. _Elektra_, her thirst for vengeance -satisfied, under the spell of a blood-madness, dances, beginning -weirdly, increasing to frenzy, and ending in her collapse, dead, upon -the ground, where, since her father's death, she had grovelled waiting -for the avenger. - -As in "Salome," so in "Elektra" there is a weft and woof of leading -motifs which, lacking the compactness, firmness, and unmistakable -_raisons d'être_ of the leading motives in the Wagner music-dramas, -crawl, twist, and wind themselves in spineless convolutions about the -characters and the action of the piece. In "Salome" the score worked -up to one set climax, the "Dance of the Seven Veils." In "Elektra" -there also is a set composition. It is a summing up of emotions, in -one eloquent burst of song, which occurs when _Elektra_ recognizes -_Orestes_. It may be because it came in the midst of so much cacophony -that its effect was enhanced. But at the production of the work in the -Manhattan Opera House, it seemed to me not only one of Strauss's most -spontaneous lyrical outgivings, but also one of the most beautiful I -had ever heard. Several times every year since then, I have been -impelled to go to the pianoforte and play it over, although forced to -the unsatisfactory makeshift of playing-in the voice part with what -already was a pianoforte transcription of the orchestral -accompaniment. - -Mme. Schumann-Heink, the _Clytemnestra_ of the original production in -Dresden, said: "I will never sing the rôle again. It was frightful. We -were a set of mad women.... There is nothing beyond 'Elektra.' We have -lived and reached the furthest boundary in dramatic writing for the -voice with Wagner. But Richard Strauss goes beyond him. His singing -voices are lost. We have come to a full stop. I believe Strauss -himself sees it."--And, indeed, in his next opera, "Der -Rosenkavalier," the composer shows far more consideration for the -voice, and has produced a score in which the melodious elements are -many. - - -DER ROSENKAVALIER - -THE KNIGHT OF THE ROSE - - Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss; words by Hugo von - Hofmannsthal. Produced: Royal Opera House, Dresden, January - 26, 1911; Covent Garden, London, January 1, 1913; - Metropolitan Opera House, New York, by Gatti-Casazza, - December 9, 1913, with Hempel (_Princess Werdenberg_), Ober - (_Octavian_), Anna Case (_Sophie_), Fornia (_Marianne_), - Mattfeld (_Annina_), Goritz (_Lerchenan_), Weil (_Faninal_), - and Reiss (_Valzacchi_). - - CHARACTERS - - BARON OCHS of Lerchenan _Bass_ - VON FANINAL, a wealthy parvenu, - recently ennobled _Baritone_ - VALZACCHI, an intriguer _Tenor_ - OCTAVIAN, Count Rofrano, known as - "Quin-Quin" _Mezzo-Soprano_ - PRINCESS VON WERDENBERG _Soprano_ - SOPHIE, daughter of _Faninal_ _Soprano_ - MARIANNE, duenna of _Sophie_ _Soprano_ - ANNINA, companion of _Valzacchi_ _Alto_ - - A singer (_tenor_), a flutist, a notary, commissary of - police, four lackeys of _Faninal_, a master of ceremonies, - an innkeeper, a milliner, a noble widow and three noble - orphans, a hairdresser and his assistants, four waiters, - musicians, guests, two watchmen, kitchen maids and several - apparitions. - - _Time_--Eighteenth century during the reign of Maria - Theresa. - - _Place_--Vienna. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Hempel as the Princess and Ober as Octavian in "Der Rosenkavalier"] - -With the exception of Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel," "Der -Rosenkavalier," by Richard Strauss, is the only opera that has come -out of Germany since the death of Wagner, which has appeared to secure -a definite hold upon the repertoire. Up to the season of 1917-18, when -it was taken out of the repertoire on account of the war in Europe, -it had been given twenty-two times at the Metropolitan Opera House, -since its production there late in 1913. - -The work is called a "comedy for music," which is mentioned here -simply as a fact, since it makes not the slightest difference to the -public what the composer of an opera chooses to call it, the proof of -an opera being in the hearing just as the proof of a pudding always is -in the eating. So far it is the one opera by Richard Strauss which, -after being heralded as a sensation, has not disappeared through -indifference. - -To those who know both works, the libretto of "Der Rosenkavalier" -which has been violently attacked, goes no further in suggestiveness -than that of "Le Nozze di Figaro." But it is very long, and -unquestionably the opera would gain by condensation, although the -score is a treasure house of orchestration, a virtuosity in the choice -of instruments and manner of using them which amounts to inspiration. -An examination of the full orchestral score shows that 114 instruments -are required, seventeen of them for an orchestra on the stage. The -composer demands for his main orchestra 32 violins, 12 violas, 10 -violoncellos, 8 double basses, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 bass -clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 2 -harps, glockenspiel, triangle, bell, castanets, tympani, side and bass -drums, cymbals, celeste, and rattle. A small orchestra for the stage -also requires 1 oboe, 1 flute, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons, 1 -trumpet, 1 drum, harmonium, piano, and string quintet. - -"Der Rosenkavalier" also contains melodious phrases in number and -variety, which rarely permit the bearer's interest to flag. Waltz -themes abound. They are in the manner of Johann Strauss and Lanner. It -is true that these composers flourished much later than the rococo -period in which the opera is laid, but just as it makes no difference -what a composer calls an opera, so it makes no difference whether he -indulges in anachronisms or not. Gavottes, etc., would have been more -in keeping with the period, but the waltz themes served Strauss's -purpose far better and are introduced with infinite charm. They give -the work that subtle thing called atmosphere, and play their part in -making passages, like the finale to the second act, the most -significant music for the stage of opera that has been penned in the -composer's country since Wagner. They also abound in the scene between -_Octavian_ and _Lerchenan_ in the third act. - -Act I. Room in the _Princess von Werdenberg's_ palace. Morning. The -curtain rises after an impassioned orchestral introduction which is -supposed to depict _risqué_ incidents of the previous night suggested -by the stage directions. These directions were not followed in the -production made at the Metropolitan Opera House. Not only did their -disregard show respect for the audience's sense of decency, it in no -way interfered with the success of the work as a comedy set to music. - -_Octavian_, a handsome youth, is taking a passionate leave of the -_Princess_, whose husband, a Field Marshal, is away on military duty. -_Octavian_ is loath to go, the _Princess_, equally loather to have him -depart. For the _Princess_ cannot conceal from herself that in spite -of _Octavian's_ present love for her, the disparity in their ages soon -will cause him to look to women younger than herself for love. - -There is a commotion beyond the door of the _Princess's_ suite of -rooms. One of her relatives, the vulgar _Baron Ochs von Lerchenan_, -wishes to see her. The servants remonstrate with him that the hour is -much too early, but he forces his way in. Taking alarm, and in order -to spare the _Princess_ the scandal of having him discovered with her, -_Octavian_ escapes into an inner room where he disguises himself in -the attire of a chambermaid, a rôle which his youthful, beardless -beauty enables him to carry out to perfection. - -_Von Lerchenan_ has come to inquire of the _Princess_ if, as she -promised, she has sent a Knight of the Rose with an offer of his hand -to _Sophie_, daughter of the wealthy, recently ennobled _Herr von -Faninal_. A Knight of the Rose was chosen at that period as a suitor -by proxy to bear a silver rose, as a symbol of love and fidelity, to -the lady of his principal's choice. Unfortunately the _Princess's_ -passion for _Octavian_ has entirely diverted her thoughts from -_Lerchenan's_ commission. He, however, consoles himself by flirting -with the pretty chambermaid, _Octavian_, whose assumed coyness, -coupled with slyly demure advances, charms him. Before this, however, -he has lost his temper, because he has been unable to engage the -_Princess's_ attention amid the distractions provided by her morning -levee, at which she receives various petitioners--a singer, -_Valzacchi_, and _Annina_, who are Italian intriguers, three noble -orphans, and others. This levee, together with the love intrigues and -the looseness of manners and morals indicated by the plot, is supposed -in a general way to give to the piece the tone of the rococo period in -which the story is laid. The scene is a lively one. - -_Lerchenan_ is appeased not only by the charms of the supposed -chambermaid, who waits on the _Princess_ and her relative at -breakfast, but also because he is so eager to make a rendezvous with -her. _Octavian_ in his disguise understands so well how to lead -_Lerchenan_ on without granting his request, that he forgets the cause -of his annoyance. Moreover the _Princess_ promises that she presently -will despatch a Knight of the Rose to the daughter of the wealthy -_Faninal_ whose wealth, of course, is what attracts _Lerchenan_. The -_Princess_ chooses _Octavian_ to be the Knight of the Rose. Later she -regrets her choice. For after the handsome youth has departed on his -mission, and she is left alone, she looks at herself in the glass. -She is approaching middle age, and although she still is a handsome -woman, her fear that she may lose _Octavian_, to some younger member -of her sex, cannot be banished from her thoughts. - -Act II. Salon in the house of _Herr von Faninal_. This lately ennobled -_nouveau rich_ considers it a great distinction that the _Baron von -Lerchenan_, a member of the old nobility, should apply for the hand of -his daughter. That the _Baron_ only does it to mend his broken -fortunes does not worry him, although his daughter _Sophie_ is a sweet -and modest girl. Inexperienced, she awaits her suitor in great -agitation. Then his proxy, _Octavian_, comes with the silver rose to -make the preliminary arrangements for his "cousin," _Baron von -Lerchenan_. _Octavian_ is smitten with the charms of the girl. She, -too, is at once attracted to the handsome young cavalier. So their -conversation imperceptibly has drifted into an intimate tone when the -real suitor enters. His brutal frankness in letting _Sophie_ -comprehend that he is condescending in courting her, and his rude -manners thoroughly repel the girl. _Octavian_ meanwhile is boiling -with rage and jealousy. The girl's aversion to the _Baron_ increases. -The two men are on the point of an outbreak, when _Lerchenan_ is -called by a notary into an adjoining room where the marriage contract -is to be drawn up. _Sophie_ is shocked at what she has just -experienced. Never will it be possible for her to marry the detested -_Baron_, especially since she has met the gallant _Octavian_. The two -are quick in agreeing. _Sophie_ sinks into his arms. - -At that moment there rush out from behind the two large chimney pieces -that adorn the room, the intriguers, _Valzacchi_ and his companion -_Annina_, whom _Lerchenan_ has employed as spies. Their cries bring -the _Baron_ from the next room. The staff of servants rushes in. -_Octavian_ tells the _Baron_ of _Sophie's_ antipathy, and adds taunt -to taunt, until, however reluctant to fight, the _Baron_ is forced to -draw his sword. In the encounter _Octavian_ lightly "pinks" him. The -_Baron_, a coward at heart, raises a frightful outcry. There ensues -the greatest commotion, due to the mix-up of the servants, the doctor, -and the rage of _Faninal_, who orders _Sophie_ to a convent when she -positively refuses to give her hand to _Lerchenan_. The latter, -meanwhile, rapidly recovers when his wound has been dressed and he has -drunk some of _Faninal's_ good wine. - -_Octavian_ is determined to win _Sophie_. For that purpose he decides -to make use of the two intriguers, who are so disgusted by the -niggardly pay given them by the _Baron_, that they readily fall in -with the plans of the brilliant young cavalier. After the crowd has -dispersed and the _Baron_ is alone for a moment, _Annina_ approaches -and hands him a note. In this the _Princess's_ chambermaid promises -him a rendezvous. _Lerchenan_ is delighted over the new conquest he -believes himself to have made. - -Act III. A room in an inn near Vienna. With the help of _Valzacchi_ -and _Annina_, who are now in the service both of the _Baron_ and of -_Octavian_, but are more prone to further the latter's plans because -he pays them better, _Octavian_ has hired a room in an inn. This room -is fitted up with trapdoors, blind windows and the like. Here, at the -suggestion of the intriguers, who have the run of the place and know -to what uses the trick room can be put, _Lerchenan_ has made his -rendezvous for the evening with the pretty chambermaid. _Octavian_, in -his girl's clothes, is early at the place. - -Between the _Baron_ and the disguised _Octavian_, as soon as they are -alone, a rude scene of courtship develops. _Octavian_ is able to hold -him off skilfully, and gradually there is unfolded the mad web of -intrigue in which the _Baron_ is caught. Strange figures appear at the -windows. _Lerchenan_, ignorant, superstitious, thinks he sees ghosts. -Suddenly what was supposed to be a blind window, bursts open, and a -woman dressed in mourning rushes in. It is the disguised intriguante, -_Annina_, who claims to be the deserted wife of _Lerchenan_. Innkeeper -and servants hurry in. The clamour and confusion become more and more -frantic. Finally the _Baron_ himself calls for the police, without -thinking what a "give away" it may be for himself. When the Commissary -of Police arrives, to save his face, he gives out that his companion, -the supposed chambermaid, is his affianced, _Sophie von Faninal_. -That, however, only adds to the confusion, for _Octavian's_ -accomplices have sought out _Faninal_ and invited him on behalf of the -_Baron_ to come to the inn. In his amazement the _Baron_ knows of no -other way out of the dilemma save to act as if he did not know -_Faninal_ at all, whereupon the latter, naturally, is greatly angered. -When the confusion is at its height the _Princess_ suddenly appears. A -lackey of the _Baron_, seeing his master in such difficulties, has run -to her to ask for her powerful protection. She quickly takes in the -whole situation; and however bitterly _Octavian's_ disaffection -grieves her, she is a clever enough woman of the world to recognize -that the time for her to give him up has come. The threads now quickly -disentangle themselves. The _Baron_ leaves, _Octavian_ and _Sophie_ -are forgiven, and _Herr von Faninal_ feels himself fully compensated -for all he has been through, because he is to be driven home beside -the _Princess_ in her carriage. - - -ARIADNE AUF NAXOS - -ARIADNE ON NAXOS - - Opera in one act; by Richard Strauss; words by Hugo von - Hofmannsthal. To follow Molière's Comedy, "Le Bourgeois - Gentilhomme." - - CHARACTERS - - ARIADNE _Soprano_ - BACCHUS _Tenor_ - NAIAD _Soprano_ - DRYAD _Alto_ - ECHO _Soprano_ - ZERBINETTA _Soprano_ - ARLECCHINO } Characters in _Baritone_ - SCARAMUCCIO } old Italian _Tenor_ - TRUFFALDIN } comedy _Bass_ - BRIGHELLA _Tenor_ - - _Time_--Antiquity. - - _Place_--The Island of Naxos. - - NOTE: On the stage there are present, as spectators of the - opera, _Jourdain_, _Marquise Dorimène_ and _Count Dorantes_, - characters from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme." - -The peculiar relationship of this opera to Molière's comedy is easily -explained, although the scheme is a curious one. In "Le Bourgeois -Gentilhomme," Molière has _Jourdain_, the commoner, who in his folly -strives to imitate the nobility, engage an entire ballet troupe for a -private performance at his house. The opera, "Ariadne auf Naxos," is -supposed to take the place of this ballet. Besides the opera, Richard -Strauss has composed eleven incidental musical members for the two -acts of the comedy, to which the opera is added as an independent -third act. - -Into the representation there enters another factor, which is liable -to cause confusion, unless it is understood by the spectator. Besides -the opera, _Jourdain_ has engaged a troupe of buffoons to give a -performance of the old Italian Harlequin (Arlecchino) comedy. Having -paid for both, he insists that both shall take place, with the result -that, while the opera is in progress, the comedians dash on the stage, -go through their act, and dash off again. - -The adapter of Molière's work to Strauss's purpose has omitted the -entire passage of the love scene between _Cléonte_ and _Lucille_, -_Jourdain's_ daughter, so that the two acts of the comedy concern -themselves mainly with _Jourdain's_ folly--his scenes with the music -teacher, the dancing master, the fencing master, the philosopher, and -the tailor. They also show how the intriguing _Count Dorantes_ makes -use of _Jourdain's_ stupidity, borrowing a large sum of money from -him, and persuading him that he can win the favour of the _Marquise_ -with costly presents and by arranging in her honour the fête at which -the opera is given. At the same time the sly _Dorantes_ represents -everything to the _Marquise_ as if he himself had contrived and paid -for the gifts and the fête in her honour. The _Marquise_ goes to -_Jourdain's_ house to the banquet and celebration, as a climax to -which the opera "Ariadne auf Naxos" is presented. The opera therefore -follows the adaptation of "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme." - -On a desert island lies _Ariadne_ asleep before a cave. _Naiad_, -_Echo_ and _Dryad_ are singing. _Ariadne_, on awaking, bewails the lot -of the forsaken one. In her grief she feels herself near death. Then -the old comedy figures come whirling in. In her desire for death -_Ariadne_ does not notice them. _Zerbinetta_ sings and dances with her -four _Harlequins_. This is their idea of life--to enjoy things -lightly. When they have disappeared, _Naiad_, _Dryad_, and _Echo_ come -back and announce the arrival of a youthful god. _Bacchus_ approaches -the island. From afar he sings. _Ariadne_ hopes it is Death coming to -release her. She longs for him, sinks into his arms. They are the arms -of love. - - -DIE VERKAUFTE BRAUT - -THE BARTERED BRIDE - - Opera in three acts; music by Friedrich Smetana, Czech, text - by R. Sabina. Produced in Czech, May 30, 1866, at Prague; in - German, April 2, 1893, in Vienna. - - CHARACTERS - - KRUSCHINA, a peasant _Baritone_ - KATRINKA, his wife _Soprano_ - MARIE, their daughter _Soprano_ - MICHA, a landlord _Bass_ - AGNES, his wife _Mezzo-Soprano_ - WENZEL, their son _Tenor_ - HANS, MICHA'S son by a first marriage _Tenor_ - KEZAL, a marriage broker _Bass_ - SPRINGER, manager of a troop of artists _Tenor_ - ESMERALDA, a danseuse _Soprano_ - MUFF, a comedian _Tenor_ - -Act I. It is the anniversary of the consecration of the village -church. _Marie_, daughter of the rich peasant _Kruschina_, is not -happy for she must today accept a suitor picked out for her by her -parents and she only loves _Hans_ although she does not know his -antecedents. _Hans_ consoles her. He will always be true to her and he -comes from a good family, only a wicked stepmother has robbed him of -his father's love. So she must be of good cheer. Then _Marie's_ -parents arrive with the marriage broker, _Kezal_. The latter wants to -complete arrangements for the marriage of _Marie_ and _Wenzel_, the -rich son of the peasant _Micha_. When _Marie's_ father has given his -consent to this union, the go-between considers _Marie's_ opposition -as a trifle which, he tells _Micha_ outside in the inn, can be easily -remedied. - -Act II. But with what eyes has _Kezal_ looked upon _Wenzel_ that he -praises his excellences so loudly? At any rate not with those of a -young woman. Can _Kruschina's Marie_ love this stutterer and coxcomb? -Never! Fortunately for her, he does not know her; and so the clever -girl is able to deceive him. She speaks disparagingly to him of -_Kruschina's Marie_ who loves another and whom therefore he should not -allow himself to marry. The puzzled _Wenzel_, enamoured, runs after -the laughing girl. On this _Hans_ comes in with _Kezal_. The latter is -telling his companion to give up his love affair. He offers him first -a hundred and finally three hundred florins if he will do so. At last -_Hans_ consents but only on condition that _Marie_ shall marry none -other than the son of _Micha's_ wife. _Kezal_ is content with that as -he understands it. He goes away to get witnesses and everybody is -provoked at the light heart with which _Hans_ has sold his bride. - -Act III. In the meantime, _Wenzel_ has fallen in love with _Esmeralda_ -the danseuse in a troop of acrobats. In his infatuation he allows -himself to be induced to act in place of a drunken comedian. His -parents and _Kezal_ surprise him while practising his dance. They are -very much astonished when he absolutely refuses to marry _Kruschina's -Marie_. But the matter would have been entirely different had he -recognized her to be the lovely maiden of earlier in the day. _Marie_ -herself, out of revolt and grief at the fact that her lover has so -lightly prized her heart, is ready for everything. Then _Hans_ rushes -in, freely expressing his supercilious feelings. All stand astounded -until _Micha_ recognizes in _Hans_ his own long missing son by his -first marriage. That _Hans_ now signs the contract as the happy -husband of _Marie_ is the joyful end of this merry opera. - - - - -Russian Opera - - - Too little is known of Russian opera in this country. It is - true that Tschaikowsky's "Pique-Dame," Rubinstein's "Nero," - Moussorgsky's "Boris Godounoff," Borodin's "Prince Igor," - Rimsky-Korsakoff's fascinating "Coq d'Or" have been - performed here; while one act of Serge Rachmaninoff's "Miser - Knight" was given by Henry Russell at the Boston Opera House - with that excellent artist George Baklanoff in the title - rôle. But according to Mr. Rachmaninoff thirteen operas of - Rimsky-Korsakoff still await an American production and this - represents the work of only one composer. Who will undertake - the further education of the American public in this - respect? - - -RUSSLAN AND LUDMILLA - -Michael Ivanovich Glinka's second opera is based upon one of Pushkin's -earliest poems. The poet had hardly agreed to prepare a dramatic -version of his fairy tale for the composer when he was killed in a -duel incurred owing to the supposed infidelity of his wife. As a -result of his untimely end, Glinka employed the services of no less -than five different librettists. This, of course, weakened the story. - -The opera opens with an entertainment held by the Grand Duke of Kieff -in honour of his daughter _Ludmilla's_ suitors. Of the three, -_Russlan_, a knight, _Ratmir_, an Oriental poet, and _Farlaf_, a -blustering coward. _Russlan_ is the favoured one. A thunderclap -followed by sudden darkness interrupts the festivities. When this is -over, _Ludmilla_ has disappeared. Her father, _Svietosar_, promises -her hand in marriage to anyone who will rescue her. - -The second act takes place in the cave of _Finn_, the wizard, to whom -_Russlan_ has come for advice. The knight hears that the abduction is -the work of _Tchernomor_ the dwarf. _Finn_ warns him against the -interference of _Naina_, a wicked fairy. He then starts out on his -search. The next scene shows _Farlaf_ in consultation with _Naina_. -The fairy advises him to neglect _Ludmilla_ until she is found by -_Russlan_, then to carry her off again. The next scene shows _Russlan_ -on a battlefield. In spite of the mist he finds a lance and shield. -When the atmosphere grows clearer he discovers a gigantic head, which -by its terrific breathing creates a storm. _Russlan_ subdues the head -with a stroke of his lance. Under it is the magic sword which will -make him victorious over _Tchernomor_. The head then explains that its -condition is due to its brother, the dwarf, and reveals to _Russlan_ -the means to be made of the sword. - -In the third act, at the enchanted palace of _Naina_, _Gorislava_, who -loves _Ratmir_ appears. When the object of her passion appears he -slights her for a siren of _Naina's_ court. _Russlan_, too, is -imperilled by the sirens, but he is saved from their fascination by -_Finn_. - -The fourth act takes place in the dwelling of _Tchernomor_. -_Ludmilla_, in despair, refuses to be consoled by any distraction. She -finally falls asleep, only to be awakened by _Tchernomor_ and his -train. The arrival of _Russlan_ interrupts the ensuing ballet. Forcing -_Ludmilla_ into a trance, _Tchernomor_ meets _Russlan_ in single -combat. The knight is victorious, but unable to awaken _Ludmilla_ from -her sleep. He carries her off. - -In the fifth act, _Russlan_ with a magic ring, the gift of _Finn_, -breaks _Tchernomor's_ spell and restores _Ludmilla_ to consciousness. - - -PRINCE IGOR - -Opera in four acts and a prologue by Borodin. Libretto suggested by -Stassoff, written by the composer. - -The prologue takes place in the market-place of Poultivle where -_Igor_, Prince of Seversk lives. Although implored to postpone his -departure because of an eclipse of the sun, which his people regard as -an evil omen, _Igor_ with his son _Vladimir Igoreivitch_ departs to -pursue the Polovtsy, an Oriental tribe, driven to the plains of the -Don by _Prince Sviatoslav_ of Kiev. _Prince Galitzky_, _Igor's_ -brother, remains to govern Poultivle and watch over the _Princess -Yaroslavna_. The first scene of the first act shows _Galitzky_ a -traitor, endeavouring to win the populace to his side with the help of -_Eroshka_ and _Skoula_, two deserters from _Igor's_ army. In the -second scene of this act young girls complain to _Yaroslavna_ about -the abduction of one of their companions. They ask her protection -against _Galitzky_. _Yaroslavna_ has a scene with her brother and -orders him from her presence. News is brought that _Igor's_ army has -been defeated, that he and the young prince are prisoners, and that -the enemy is marching upon Poultivle. The loyal Boyards swear to -defend their princess. - -The second and third acts take place in the camp of the Polovtsy. -Young _Vladimir_ has fallen in love with _Khan Konchak's_ beautiful -daughter, _Konchakovna_. He serenades her in her tent. His father -laments his captivity. _Ovlour_, a soldier of the enemy, offers to -help him escape, but _Igor_ refuses to repay the _Khan's_ chivalrous -conduct in that manner. In the second act the _Khan_ gives a banquet -in honour of his captive. Oriental dances and choruses are introduced. - -[Illustration: Photo by Mishkin - -Scene from the Ballet in "Prince Igor" (with Rosina Galli)] - -In the third act the victorious Polovstians return with prisoners from -Poultivle. _Igor_ consents to escape. _Konchakovna_ learns of the -secret preparations for flight which _Ovlour_ arranges by giving the -army a liberal allowance of wine. After a wild orgy the soldiers fall -asleep. When _Igor_ gives the signal for flight, _Konchakovna_ throws -herself upon young _Vladimir_ and holds him until his father has -disappeared. The soldiers rush to kill him as in revenge for _Igor's_ -escape, but the _Khan_ is content to let him remain as his daughter's -husband. - -In the last act the lamenting _Yaroslavna_ is cheered by the return of -her husband, and together they enter the Kremlin at Poultivle. - -Borodin, who divided his life between science and music, wrote his -opera piece by piece. Rimsky-Korsakoff wrote that he often found him -working in his laboratory that communicated directly with his house. -"When he was seated before his retorts, which were filled with -colourless gases of some kind, forcing them by means of tubes from one -vessel to another, I used to tell him that he was spending his time in -pouring water into a sieve. As soon as he was free he would take me to -his living-rooms and there we occupied ourselves with music and -conversation, in the midst of which Borodin would rush off to the -laboratory to make sure that nothing was burning or boiling over, -making the corridor ring as he went with some extraordinary passage of -ninths or seconds. Then back again for more music and talk." - -Borodin, himself, wrote: "In winter I can only compose when I am too -unwell to give my lectures. So my friends, reversing the usual custom, -never say to me, 'I hope you are well' but 'I do hope you are ill.' At -Christmas I had influenza, so I stayed at home and wrote the -Thanksgiving Chorus in the last act of 'Igor.'" - -He never finished his opera. It was completed by Rimsky-Korsakoff and -his pupil Glazounoff, and three years after his death received its -first performance. Borodin never wrote down the overture, but -Glazounoff heard him play it so frequently that it was an easy matter -for him to orchestrate it according to Borodin's wishes. The composer -left this note about his opera: "It is curious to see how all the -members of our set agree in praise of my work. While controversy rages -amongst us on every other subject, all, so far, are pleased with -'Igor.' Moussorgsky, the ultra-realist, the innovating lyrico-dramatist, -Cui, our master, Balakireff, so severe as regards form and tradition, -Vladimir Stassoff himself, our valiant champion of everything that -bears the stamp of novelty or greatness." - - -BORIS GODOUNOFF - - Opera in four acts and eight scenes; libretto taken from the - dramatic scenes of Pushkin which bear this title; music by - Moussorgsky; produced at the theatre Marie in Petrograd in - 1874. - - CHARACTERS - - BORIS GODOUNOFF _Baritone_ - FEODOR _Mezzo-Soprano_ - XENIA _Soprano_ - THE OLD NURSE _Contralto_ - PRINCE SHOUISKY _Tenor_ - ANDREY STCHELAKOV, clerk of the Douma _Baritone_ - PIMEN, monk and chronicler _Bass_ - THE PRETENDER DIMITRI, called _Gregory_ _Tenor_ - MARINA _Soprano_ - RANGONI, a Jesuit in disguise _Bass_ - VARLAAM _Bass_ - MISSAIL _Tenor_ - THE HOSTESS _Mezzo-Soprano_ - NIKITIN (_Michael_), constable _Bass_ - - _Time_--1598-1605. - - _Place_--Russia. - -[Illustration: Photo by White - -Anna Case as Feodor, Didur as Boris, and Sparkes as Xenia, in "Boris -Godounoff"] - -The subject brings to the stage one of the most curious episodes of -the history of Russia in the seventeenth century. A privy councillor -of the _Czar Feodor_, son of Ivan, named _Boris Godounoff_, has caused -to be assassinated the young _Dimitri_, brother of the emperor and his -only heir. On the death of _Feodor_, _Boris_, who has committed his -crime with the sole object of seizing power, causes himself to be -acclaimed by the people and ascends the throne. But about the same -time, a young monk named Grischka escapes from his convent, discards -his habit, and goes to Poland where he passes as the dead czarevitch -_Dimitri_. The Polish government receives him all the more cordially -as it understands all the advantage such an event might afford it. -Soon the pretended _Dimitri_, who has married the daughter of one of -the most powerful magnates, puts himself at the head of the Polish -army and marches with it against Russia. Just at this moment they hear -of the death of _Boris_, and the false _Dimitri_, taking advantage of -the circumstances, in turn usurps power which he is destined not to -keep very long. - -Such is the poetical drama, the arrangement of which is a little -inconsistent from the scenic point of view, and which a historian of -Russian music, himself a musician, M. César Cui, treats in these -words: "There is no question here of a subject of which the different -parts, combined in such a way as to present a necessary sequence of -events, one flowing from the other, correspond in their totality to -the ideas of a strict dramatic unity. Each scene in it is independent; -the rôles, for the greater part, are transitory. The episodes that we -see follow each other necessarily have a certain connection; they all -relate more or less to a general fact, to a common action; but the -opera would not suffer from a rearrangement of the scenes nor even -from a substitution of certain secondary episodes by others. This -depends on the fact that 'Boris Godounoff' properly speaking is -neither a drama nor an opera, but rather a musical chronicle after the -manner of the historical dramas of Shakespeare. Each of the acts, -taken separately, awakens a real interest which, however, is not -caused by what goes before and which stops brusquely without -connection with the scene which is going to follow." Let us add that -some of these scenes are written entirely in prose while others are in -verse and we will have a general idea of the make-up of the libretto -of "Boris Godounoff," which moreover offered the composer a series of -scenes very favourable to music. - -The score of Moussorgsky is uneven, like his talents, but nevertheless -remains very interesting and indicative of a distinct personality. -Although the composer was not much of a symphonist and rather -indifferently understood how to manage the resources of the orchestra, -although his harmony is sometimes strange and rude and his modulation -incorrect and excessive, he had at least a lavishness of inspiration, -the abundance and zest of which are calculated to cause astonishment. -He is a musician perhaps of more instinct than of knowledge, who goes -straight ahead without bothering himself about obstacles and who -sometimes trips while on his way but who nevertheless reaches his -object, sometimes even going beyond it by his strength of audacity. - -Not much of a symphonist, as I have said, Moussorgsky did not even -take the trouble to write an overture and some entr'actes. But certain -pages of his score are not the less remarkable for their accent, their -colour, and their scenic effect, and especially for the national -feeling which from a musical point of view flows from them. Under this -head we would point out in the first act the great military scene, -which is of superb brilliance, and the chorus of begging monks; in the -second, the entire scene of the inn, in which the dramatic intensity -does not lessen for a second and which presents an astonishing variety -of rhythm and colour; then, in the third, the chorus of female -attendants, sung on a Cracovian woman's air, the song of _Marina_ in -the style of a mazurka, and a great Polish dance full of go and -warmth; finally the whole episode of the death of _Boris_, which has a -really gripping effect. These are enough, in spite of the inequalities -and defects of the work, to cause regret for the death of an artist -endowed with a very individual style, whose instruction had been -doubtless incomplete, but who nevertheless seemed called to have a -brilliant future. - - -EUGEN ONEGIN - - Opera in three acts; music by Peter Ilitsch Tschaikowsky; - text after Pushkin's tale by Modeste Tschaikowsky, the - composer's brother; German text by von A. Bernhard. Produced - at Moscow, March, 1879. - - CHARACTERS - - LARINA, who owns an estate _Mezzo-Soprano_ - TATIANA } her daughters { _Soprano_ - OLGA } { _Alto_ - FILIPIEVNA, a waitress _Mezzo-Soprano_ - EUGEN ONEGIN _Baritone_ - LENSKI _Tenor_ - PRINCE GREMIN _Baritone_ - A CAPTAIN _Bass_ - SARETSKY _Bass_ - TRIQUET, a Frenchman _Tenor_ - -As the characterization of the opera as "lyrical scenes" shows, the -poet offers no substantial work, but follows closely, often even word -for word, Pushkin's epic tale, with which one must be fully -acquainted--as is the case with everybody in Russia--in order to be -able to follow the opera properly. - -Act I. _Eugen Onegin_ has been called from a wild life of pleasure to -his sick uncle, of whose property he takes possession after the -uncle's sudden death. He has brought with him from the big city a -profound satiety of all enjoyments and a deep contempt for the society -of mankind in his solitary country seat. Here, however, he forms a -friendship for a young fanatic, the poet _Lenski_. Through him he is -introduced to _Larina_, a woman who owns an estate. Her two daughters, -_Olga_ and _Tatiana_, correspond to the double nature of their mother, -whose youth was a period of sentimentality in which she allowed -herself to be affected like others by Richardson's novels, raved over -Grandison, and followed the wild adventures of Lovelace with anxious -thrills. Life later had made her rational, altogether too rational and -insipid. _Olga_ now has become a cheerful, superficial, pleasureful -silly young girl; _Tatiana_, a dreamer whose melancholy is increasing -through reading books which her mother had once used. _Lenski_ is -betrothed to _Olga_. _Tatiana_ recognizes at her first sight of -_Onegin_ the realization of her dreams. Her heart goes out to meet him -and in her enthusiasm she reveals all her feelings in a letter to him. -_Onegin_ is deeply stirred by this love; a feeling of confidence in -mankind that he had not known for such a long time awakens in him. But -he knows himself too well. He knows that every faculty as a husband is -departing from him. And now he considers it his duty not to disappoint -this maiden soul, to be frank. He refuses her love. He takes the blame -on himself, but he would not have been the worldly wise man if his -superiority to the simple country child had not been emphasized -chiefly on this account. But _Tatiana_ only listens to the refusal; -she is very unhappy. _Onegin_ remains her ideal, who now will be still -more solitary, in spite of it. - -Act II. _Tatiana's_ name-day is being celebrated with a big ball. -_Onegin_ goes there on _Lenski's_ invitation. The stupid company with -their narrow views about him vex him so much that he seeks to revenge -himself on _Lenski_ for it, for which he begins courting _Olga_. -_Lenski_ takes the jest in earnest; it comes to a quarrel between the -friends. _Lenski_ rushes out and sends _Onegin_ a challenge. Social -considerations force _Onegin_ to accept the challenge; a duelling -fanatic landlord, _Saretsky_ stirs _Lenski's_ anger so severely that a -reconciliation is not possible. This part in Pushkin's work is the -keenest satire, an extraordinarily efficacious mockery of the whole -subject of duelling. There is derision on _Onegin's_ side, too, for he -chooses as his second his coachman Gillot. But the duel was terribly -in earnest; _Lenski_ falls shot through by his opponent's bullet. -(This scene recalls a sad experience of the poet himself; for he -himself fell in a duel by the bullet of a supercilious courtier, Georg -d'Anthès-Heckeren, who died in Alsace in 1895.) - -Act III. Twenty-six years later. _Onegin_ has restlessly wandered over -the world. Now he is in St. Petersburg at a ball given by _Prince -Gremin_. There, if he sees aright, Princess Gremina, that accomplished -woman of the world is "his" _Tatiana_. Now his passion is aroused in -all its strength. He must win her. _Tatiana_ does not love him with -the same ardour as before. When she upbraids _Onegin_ that he loves -her only because she has now become a brilliant woman of the world it -is only a means of deceiving herself and her impetuous adorer as to -her real feelings. But finally her true feeling is revealed. She tells -_Onegin_ that she loves him as before. But at the same time she -explains that she will remain true to her duty as a wife. -Broken-hearted _Onegin_ leaves her. - - -PIQUE-DAME - -THE QUEEN OF SPADES - -The libretto of Tschaikowsky's "Pique-Dame" was first prepared by the -composer's brother Modeste for a musician who later refused to use it. -Tschaikowsky wrote it in six weeks, during a stay in Florence. The -libretto is that of the well-known story by Pushkin. _Herman_, the -hero, a passionate gambler, loves _Lisa_, whom he met while walking in -the summer garden in St. Petersburg. He learns that she is the -granddaughter of "the belle of St. Petersburg," famous in her old age -as the luckiest of card players. So strange is the old lady's -appearance that she has been named "The Queen of Spades." The two -women exert conflicting influences over _Herman_. He loves _Lisa_, -while the old woman awakens his gambling impulses. It is said that the -old _Countess's_ success at the card table is based upon her secret -knowledge of a combination of three cards. _Herman_ is bent upon -learning the secret. Although _Lisa_ loves _Herman_ she engages -herself to _Prince Yeletsky_. With the hope of forcing the old woman -to reveal her secret, he hides in her bedroom one night. When she sees -him the shock kills her, and _Herman_ learns nothing. Half-crazed with -remorse _Herman_ is haunted by the old _Countess's_ ghost. The -apparition shows him the three cards. - -When he goes to her house the night after her funeral and plays -against _Prince Yeletsky_, he wins twice by the cards shown him by the -ghost. He stakes everything he possesses on the third card but he -turns up, not the expected card, but the queen of spades herself. At -the same instant he sees a vision of the _Countess_, triumphant and -smiling. Desperate, _Herman_ ends his life. - -Tschaikowsky enjoyed his work on this opera. He wrote as follows to -the Grand Duke Constantine: "I composed this opera with extraordinary -joy and fervour, and experienced so vividly in myself all that happens -in the tale, that at one time I was actually afraid of the spectre of -the Queen of Spades. I can only hope that all my creative fervour, my -agitation, and my enthusiasm will find an echo in the heart of my -audiences." First performed at St. Petersburg in 1890, this opera soon -rivalled "Eugen Onegin" in popularity. - - -LE COQ D'OR - -THE GOLDEN COCK - - Opera pantomime in three acts with prologue and epilogue. - Produced in May, 1910, at Zimin's Private Theatre, Moscow. - Music by Rimsky-Korsakoff. - - CHARACTERS - - KING DODON _Baritone_ - PRINCE GUIDON _Tenor_ - PRINCE AFRON _Baritone_ - VOEVODA POLKAN (the General) _Baritone_ - AMELFA (the royal housekeeper) _Contralto_ - THE ASTROLOGER _Tenor_ - THE QUEEN OF SHEMAKHAN _Soprano_ - THE GOLDEN COCK _Soprano_ - -"Le Coq D'Or" was Rimsky-Korsakoff's last opera. The censor refused to -sanction its performance during the composer's lifetime and his -difficulties with the authorities in this matter are supposed to have -hastened his death. When the work was given in Petrograd it was -thought to be over-taxing for the singers who are obliged to dance, or -for the dancers who are obliged to sing. M. Fokine ingeniously devised -the plan of having all the singers seated at each side of the stage, -while the dancers interpreted, in pantomime, what was sung. In spite -of the protests made by the composer's family, this was done in Paris, -London, and New York. - -The opera is composed to a libretto, by V. Bielsky, based upon a -well-known poem by Pushkin. In a preface to the book the author says: -"The purely human nature of Pushkin's 'Golden Cock'--that instructive -tragicomedy of the unhappy consequences following upon mortal passions -and weaknesses--permits us to place the plot in any region and in any -period." - -_King Dodon_, lazy and gluttonous, is oppressed by the cares of state. -Warlike neighbours harass him with their attacks. Holding council in -the hall of his palace with his Boyards, he asks the advice first of -one son, then the other. But the wise old _General_ disagrees with the -solutions suggested by the young princes. Soon the entire assembly is -in an uproar. The astrologer then appears and offers the _King_ a -golden cock. The bird has the power to foretell events, and in case of -danger will give warning. The _King_ is overjoyed. From a spire in the -capital the bird sends out various messages. At its bidding citizens -now rush for their weapons, now continue peaceful occupations. -_Dodon's_ bed is brought upon the stage, and the monarch relieved of -all responsibility goes to sleep, after having been tucked in by the -royal housekeeper. Suddenly the cock sounds the war alarm. The rudely -awakened sovereign first sends his sons, then goes himself. _Dodon's_ -army fares ill. In the second act, the moonlight in a narrow pass -reveals the bodies of his two sons. At dawn, _Dodon_ notices a tent -under the hillside. The _King_ thinks it is the tent of the enemy -leader, but to his astonishment, a beautiful woman emerges. The lovely -_Queen_ lures on the aged _Dodon_, mocks at his voice, and forces him -to dance, until he falls exhausted to the ground. Finally she agrees -to become his bride. - -The third act shows the populace preparing to welcome _Dodon_, There -is a wonderful procession led by _Dodon_ and the _Queen_, followed by -a grotesque train of giants and dwarfs. Soon the _Queen_ is bored. The -astrologer returns, claiming a reward for his magic bird. He demands -the _Queen_. _Dodon_ kills the astrologer by a blow on the head with -his sceptre, but this does not improve his position with his bride. -With an ominous cry, the bird flies towards the _King_ and fells him -with one blow from his beak. A thunderclap is followed by darkness. -When light returns both _Queen_ and cock have disappeared. The people -lament the death of the _King_. In the epilogue the resuscitated -astrologer announces that the story is only a fairy tale and that in -_Dodon's_ kingdom only the _Queen_ and himself are mortals. - - -MANRU - - Opera in three acts. Music by Ignace Jan Paderewski. Book by - Alfred Nossig. The first performance in New York was on - February 14, 1902, at the Metropolitan Opera House. Mr. - Damrosch conducted. The cast included Mme. Sembrich, Mme. - Homer, Miss Fritzi Scheff, Alexander van Bandrowski, Mr. - Mühlmann, Mr. Blass, Mr. Bispham. - -The opera had its first performance on any stage at the Court Theatre, -Dresden, May 29, 1901. Before being sung in New York it was heard in -Cracow, Lemberg, Zurich, and Cologne. - -The scene is laid among the Tatra mountains, between Galicia and -Hungary. The story illustrates the gypsy's wanderlust. The plot is -borrowed from a Polish romance. _Manru_ has won the love of a Galician -girl, _Ulana_, and married her gypsy fashion. After a time she returns -to her native village among the Tatra mountains, seeking her mother's -help and forgiveness. But her mother curses her, and she is the object -of the villagers' scorn. They taunt her with a song which celebrates -the inconstancy of all gypsies under the spell of the full moon. As -she has already noticed signs of uneasiness in her husband, _Ulana_ -seeks the help of _Urok_, a dwarf, who loves her and who is said to be -a sorcerer. He gives her a magic draught by means of which she wins -back _Manru_ for a time. Alone in the mountains, however, the -influence of the moon, the charm of gypsy music, and the fascinations -of a gypsy girl are too strong for him. He rejoins his companions. -_Oros_, the gypsy chief, himself in love with the maiden of _Manru's_ -fancy, opposes her reinstatement in the band. But through the -influence of _Jagu_, a gypsy fiddler, his wishes are overruled and -_Manru_ is made chief in _Oros's_ place. The deposed chief revenges -himself by hurling his successful rival down a precipice, a second -after the distraught _Ulana_ has thrown herself into a mountain lake. - - - - -American Opera - - - No really distinguished achievement has as yet been reached - in the world of American opera. Various reasons are given - for the delinquency. Some say that American composers are - without that sense of the theatre so apparent in the - composers of the modern Italian school. But whatever the - reasons, the fact remains inalterably true. - - The Metropolitan has housed several worthy efforts. Two of - the most successful were Mr. Parker's "Mona" and Mr. - Damrosch's "Cyrano de Bergerac." After much fulsome praise - had been bestowed upon both, however, these operas were - promptly shelved. Others have taken their place. But the - writer of a truly great American opera has yet to make his - appearance. - - -THE SACRIFICE - -Opera in three acts by Frederick Shepherd Converse. - -Mr. Converse wrote his own libretto. The lyrics are by John Macy. The -story takes place in southern California in 1846. Americans are -guarding the Anaya mansion, and the American officer, _Burton_, a -baritone, is in love with _Chonita_, the beauty of the household. -_Chonita_ has an old Indian servant, _Tomasa_, who hates the -Americans, yet seems to realize that they will conquer. _Chonita_, -praying in the Mission Church desecrated by the invaders, is told by -_Burton_ that he has killed a Mexican. Her questions reveal that -_Bernal_ is the dead man. But _Bernal_ is wounded, not dead, and he -comes into the church. _Burton_ again assures _Chonita_ of his love -and promises to do for her all that a man can do. "You wretched devil, -'tis I she loves," cries _Bernal_, and he rushes at _Burton_ with a -dagger. _Chonita_ throws herself between the two, and is accidentally -wounded by the American's sword. _Bernal_ is held a prisoner. - -In the third act, _Chonita_ is in bed apparently dying. If she could -only have her lover she would live, she sings; despair is killing her. -_Padre Gabriel_ brings her consolation, and sets a trap for the -Americans. _Burton_ brings _Bernal_ that he may sing a love duet with -_Chonita_. She pleads for _Bernal's_ freedom. "He is not a spy." -_Burton_ stands between love and duty. To give _Chonita_ happiness he -is willing to die. The Americans are suddenly attacked and _Burton_, -throwing down his sword, is killed by Mexican rescuers. _Tomasa_ looks -at _Burton's_ corpse and sums up the whole tragedy: "'Tis true as -ever. Love brings life and death." - - -THE PIPE OF DESIRE - -Opera in one act by Frederick Shepherd Converse. Poem by George -Edwards Barton. - -The scene takes place in a wood during the first day of spring. Elves -flit to and fro performing sundry occupations. One scatters seeds to -the winds. Others remove dead leaves from flowers. They sing of the -awakening of Nature from her sleep through the winter. _Iolan_, a -peasant, is heard singing in the distance. The elves although -reproached by the _Old One_ desire to show themselves to him. _Iolan_ -tells them that he is to wed _Naoia_ tomorrow, and bids them come to -the wedding. The _Old One_ reminds them that it is forbidden to show -themselves to man, and adds that no good can come of it. _Iolan_ -laughs at the _Old One_ and his Pipe. The _Old One_ plays for the -elves to dance, but with misgivings. _Iolan_ still defies the power of -the Pipe. The elves demand that the _Old One_ make him dance and -respect its power. When he cannot resist the music, he snatches the -Pipe and breaks the cord which holds it. The _Old One_ tells him that -it is the Pipe God gave to Lilith, who played it to Adam in Eden, and -that the mortal who now plays the Pipe without understanding its -secret will die when it becomes known to him. _Iolan_, however, puts -the Pipe to his lips. At first only discordant sound, later beautiful -music is his reward. _Iolan_ sees a vision of what he most desires. He -is rich. He owns horses, goats, and wine. _Naoia_, his wife, comes to -him through roses. His children play about the door of their home. He -calls on _Naoia_ to come to him. She comes to him, bleeding. Because -he played the Pipe misfortune has come to her. She dies and _Iolan_ -soon follows her, while the sorrowing elves proclaim that they who die -for love have accomplished their life. - - -SHANEWIS, OR THE ROBIN WOMAN - - An American opera in two parts; book by Nelle Richmond - Eberhardt; music by Charles Wakefield Cadman. Produced at - the Metropolitan Opera House, March 23, 1918, with the - following cast: - - SHANEWIS _Sophie Braslau_ - MRS. EVERTON _Kathleen Howard_ - AMY EVERTON _Marie Sundelius_ - LIONEL _Paul Althouse_ - PHILIP _Thomas Chalmers_ - -An Indian girl, whose voice has been elaborately cultivated, falls in -love with the son of her benefactress. The young man is already -betrothed to _Mrs. Everton's_ daughter. An Indian suitor offers -_Shanewis_ a bow and poisoned arrow which she rejects. When he -discovers that his rival has left _Shanewis_ in ignorance of his -previous betrothal he shoots the gay deceiver, and finishes both the -youth and the opera. - - -THE TEMPLE DANCER - - Opera in one act in English by John Adam Hugo. Libretto by - Jutta Bell-Ranske. Performed for the first time on any stage - at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 12, 1919, with - Florence Easton, Morgan Kingston, and Carl Schlegel. - - CHARACTERS - - TEMPLE DANCER _Soprano_ - GUARD _Tenor_ - YOGA _Bass_ - -The leading dancer of the Temple of Mahadeo has fallen in love with a -youth who is not of her faith. Through her lover's suffering she -realizes the unjust and immoral demands made upon the temple dancers -whose beauty is sold to passers-by in order that jewels may be bought -for Mahadeo. The opera opens with a ceremony in the temple. The great -Mahadeo sits blazing in jewels. _The Dancer_ enters. She has decided -to take the jewels for her lover, who is in want. She considers that -the jewels bought with the price of her beauty are hers, by right. She -pleads for a sign from the god, but as her prayer remains unanswered -she threatens the temple. The returning temple guard, hearing her -imprecations, threatens her with death. To protect herself, she takes -the snake from Mahadeo and winds it around her. She begs to be -permitted to pray before being slain, and in a seductive dance, that -interprets her prayer, fascinates the guard. He promises her his -protection and she pretends to return his passion. In a love scene he -loosens the bands of her outer robe, which falls off. A letter to her -lover tells of her plan to meet him with the stolen jewels. The guard, -enraged, prepares to torture her. But she dances again, and as a last -prayer begs for a drop of water. When the guard brings her the water -she poisons it and persuades him to drink to her courage in facing -death. He drinks and dies cursing her, her laughter, and her mocking -dance. As he dies the dancer calls down curses upon the temple. A -thunderstorm is the answer. Lightning shatters the walls and as the -dancer puts out her hand to take the jewels of the god it strikes her -and she falls dead beside the guard. The priests, returning, see the -bodies of guard and dancer and call upon the gods for protection. The -opera closes with the singing of the hymn of redemption, which -implores forgiveness for the erring spirits of the dead. - - -THE LEGEND - -A lyric tragedy in one act in English by Joseph Breil, with a libretto -by Jacques Byrne. Produced for the first time on any stage at the -Metropolitan Opera House, March 12, 1919, with Rosa Ponselle, Kathleen -Howard, Paul Althouse, and Louis d'Angelo. - -_Count Stackareff_, an impoverished nobleman, lives with his daughter, -_Carmelita_, at his hunting lodge in Muscovadia, a mythical country in -the Balkans. In order to make his living, he leads a double life. By -day he is a courtly nobleman, and by night a bloodthirsty bandit, -_Black Lorenzo_. No one but his daughter knows his secret, and she is -in constant fear of his discovery for there is a price upon his head. -The story opens on a stormy night. _Stackareff_ tells his daughter -that he has captured a wealthy merchant, and is holding him for a -large ransom. He expects the ransom to arrive by messenger at any -moment. If it does not come _Stackareff_ intends to kill the prisoner. -_Carmelita_ not only fears for the safety of her father, but that her -lover _Stephen Pauloff_, whom she met in Vienna, will find out that -she is the daughter of such a rogue, and cast her off. She prays -before the statue of the Virgin that the young man will not discover -her father's double life. _Marta_, an old servant, enters and tells -_Carmelita_ that she has seen _Stephen_ in the woods. He has told her -that he will soon come to see his sweetheart. _Carmelita_ rejoices but -_Marta_ warns her of the legend that on this night the Evil One walks -abroad and knocks at doors. He who opens the door dies within a year. - -_Carmelita_ scoffs and asks _Marta_ to tell her fortune with the -cards. The ace of spades, the death card, presents itself at every -cutting. _Marta_ refuses to explain its significance and leaves her -young mistress bewildered. The storm increases. There are two knocks. -Thinking it is _Stephen_, _Carmelita_ opens the door. No one is there. -She is terrified. Later _Stephen_ arrives. In his arms she for the -moment forgets her fears, but they are soon renewed when her lover -tells her that he has been sent to take the murderous bandit, _Black -Lorenzo_, dead or alive. _Carmelita_ makes the young man swear before -the Virgin that he will never desert her. Then she prepares to elope -with him. - -_Stackareff_ enters, expecting to find the messenger. He is -apprehensive when he sees a soldier at his fireside. _Carmelita's_ -assurance that _Stephen_ is her lover calms his fear. But _Stephen_ in -answer to _Stackareff's_ questions tells him that he is after _Black -Lorenzo_. Again the knocks are heard. _Stackareff_, after shouting at -_Stephen_ that he is his man, escapes through the door. When the young -soldier resists her prayers to desist from pursuing the murderer -_Carmelita_ stabs him. Two soldiers bring in the mortally wounded body -of her father. Realizing that _Carmelita_ has killed their captain -they fire upon her. Their shot rings out through the music of the -finale. - - -NATOMAH - - Opera in three acts by Victor Herbert. First performance on - any stage at the Metropolitan Opera House, Philadelphia, - February 23, 1911, with Miss Mary Garden, Miss Lillian - Grenville, Mr. Huberdeau, Mr. Dufranne, Mr. Sammarco, Mr. - Preisch, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Nicolay, Mr. McCormack. - - CHARACTERS - - DON FRANCISCO DE LA GUERRA, a noble Spaniard - of the old régime _Bass_ - FATHER PERALTA, Padre of the Mission Church _Bass_ - JUAN BAPTISTA ALVARADO, a young Spaniard _Baritone_ - JOSÉ CASTRO, a half-breed _Baritone_ - PICO } bravos, comrades of Castro _Tenor_ - KAGAMA } _Bass_ - PAUL MERRILL, Lieut. on the U.S. - Brig _Liberty_ _Tenor_ - BARBARA DE LA GUERRA, daughter of - Don Francisco _Soprano_ - NATOMAH, an Indian girl _Soprano_ - -The time is 1820, under the Spanish régime. The scene of Act I is laid -on the Island of Santa Cruz, two hours' sail from the mainland. Act II -takes place in the plaza of the town of Santa Barbara on the mainland, -in front of the Mission Church. Act III represents the interior of the -Mission Church. - -At the beginning of the opera _Don Francisco_ is awaiting the return -from a convent of his only child, _Barbara_. His reverie is -interrupted by the arrival of _Alvarado_ and his comrades _Castro_, -_Pico_, and _Kagama_. _Alvarado_ wishes to marry his cousin _Barbara_ -in order to gain possession of the estates left to her by her mother. -_Castro_ is a half-breed. _Pico_ and _Kagama_ are vaqueros and -hunters. All three have come to the island ostensibly for a wild-boar -hunt, but _Alvarado_ has timed his arrival with the return of his -cousin. - -_Lieutenant Paul Merrill_, an American naval officer, and _Natomah_, a -pure-blooded Indian girl, appear together at the back of the stage. -His ship has dropped anchor in the Bay of Santa Barbara. _Natomah_ has -never seen an American before and she is fascinated by him. She tells -him of a legend of her people. She is the last of her race. During -their childhood she was _Barbara's_ playmate. She tells him of the -young girl's beauty, and imagining that when he sees _Barbara_ he will -fall in love, the Indian girl begs him to permit her to be at least -his slave. _Barbara_ and _Father Peralta_ enter. With the young girl -and _Paul_ it is a case of love at first sight. When all but _Castro_ -and _Natomah_ have gone into the hacienda, the half-breed urges -_Natomah_ to cease spending her time with white people and to follow -him, the leader of her race. _Natomah_ turns from him in disgust. When -they separate, _Alvarado_ serenades _Barbara_ who appears on the -porch. He has heard that she has eyes only for the American. Fearing -to lose time he declares his love. But he does not advance his suit by -taunting her with her infatuation for the American officer. When she -leaves him he swears to have _Paul's_ life. _Castro_ suggests that it -would be better to carry _Barbara_ off. _Natomah_, hidden in an -arbour, overhears them discussing their plans. The next day a fiesta -will be held in honour of _Barbara's_ return. When the festivity is at -its height fast horses will be ready to bear the young girl away to -the mountains where pursuit would be difficult. - -When all the guests have departed, _Barbara_ speaks aloud in the -moonlight of her love for _Paul_. He suddenly appears and they -exchange vows. - -The next act shows the fiesta. _Alvarado_ dances the Habanera with the -dancing-girl _Chiquita_. There is formal ceremony in which the -_Alcalde_ and the leading dignitaries of the town pay tribute to the -young girl on her coming of age. _Alvarado_ begs the honour of dancing -with his cousin. The American ship salutes and _Paul_ arrives with an -escort to pay tribute to the Goddess of the Land, _Barbara_. -_Alvarado_ demands that his cousin continue the dance. A number of -couples join them and the dance changes into the Panuelo or -handkerchief dance of declaration. Each man places his hat upon the -head of his partner. Each girl retains the hat but _Barbara_ who -tosses _Alvarado's_ disdainfully aside. During this time _Natomah_ has -sat motionless upon the steps of the grand-stand. When _Castro_ -approaches in an ugly mood, rails at the modern dances and challenges -someone to dance the dagger dance with him, she draws her dagger and -hurls it into the ground beside the half-breed's. The crowd is -fascinated by the wild dance. Just as _Alvarado_ is about to smother -_Barbara_ in the folds of his serape, _Natomah_, purposely passing -him, plunges her dagger into the would-be abductor. The dance comes to -a sudden stop. _Alvarado_ falls dead. _Paul_ and his escort hold the -crowd at bay. _Natomah_ seeks protection in the Mission Church at the -feet of _Father Peralta_. - -At the opening of the third act _Natomah_ is crooning an Indian -lullaby to herself in the church. She wishes to join her people, but -instead _Father Peralta_ persuades her to enter the convent. - - -MONA - -Opera in three acts. Poem by Brian Hooker. Music by Horatio Parker. -The action takes place during the days of the Roman rule in Britain. -First performance at the Metropolitan, March 4, 1912. - -_Quintus_, son of the Roman _Governor_, by a British captive, has -grown up as one of his mother's people. Known to them as _Gwynn_, he -has won power and position among them as a bard. He is about to marry -_Mona_, foster-child of _Enya_ and _Arth_, and last of the blood of -Boadicea. But a great rebellion is stirred up in Britain by _Caradoc_, -the chief bard, and _Gloom_, the Druid, foster-brother of _Mona_. By -birthright and by old signs and prophecies she is proclaimed leader. -The girl has been taught to hate Rome and to dream of great deeds. -_Gwynn_, fearing to lose _Mona_ and his power, swears fellowship in -the conspiracy. But in spite of this, for urging peace, he is cast off -by _Mona_ and her followers. - -The faithful lover follows her about on her mission to arouse revolt, -prevents the Roman garrisons from seizing her, and secretly saves her -life many times. The _Governor_, his father, blames him for this, but -he replies that through _Mona_ he will yet keep the tribes from war. -The _Governor_ lays all the responsibility upon his shoulders. He -promises to spare the Britons if they remain passive, but swears to -crush them without mercy if they attack. _Gwynn_ meets _Mona_ just -before the battle and so moves her love for him that she becomes his -creature from that moment. Triumphantly he begins to tell her of his -plans for peace. Suddenly she seems to realize that he is a Roman, and -calls the Britons to her aid. Still, she lies to save his life. The -youth is made prisoner and led by _Mona_ and the bards against the -Roman town. - -The rebellion is crushed. _Arth_ and _Gloom_ are slain. _Gwynn_, -coming upon them and _Mona_, tells her of his parentage and pleads for -assistance. But having believed him a traitor, she now thinks him a -liar and slays him. The _Governor_ and his soldiers take her captive. -From them she learns that _Gwynn_ had spoken the truth. - - -CYRANO - - Opera in four acts by Walter Damrosch. Book by William J. - Henderson after the drama by Edmond Rostand. First - performance on any stage at the Metropolitan Opera House, - February 27, 1913, with Pasquale Amato as _Cyrano_, Frances - Alda as _Roxane_, and Riccardo Martin as _Christian_. - - CHARACTERS - - CYRANO DE BERGERAC _Baritone_ - ROXANE _Soprano_ - DUENNA _Alto_ - LISE _Soprano_ - A FLOWER GIRL _Soprano_ - RAGUENEAU _Tenor_ - CHRISTIAN _Bass_ - DE GUICHE _Bass_ - LE BRET _Bass_ - A TALL MUSKETEER _Tenor_ - MONTFLEURY _Bass_ - FIRST CAVALIER _Bass_ - SECOND CAVALIER _Tenor_ - THIRD CAVALIER _Bass_ - A CADET _Tenor_ - -Act I. Interior of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Act II. "The Poet's Eating -House," _Ragueneau's_ cook and pastry shop. Act III. A small square in -the Old Marais. Act IV, Scene 1. Entrenchment at the siege of Arras. -Scene 2. A convent garden near the field of battle. - -Rostand's play was first produced, October, 1898, by Richard -Mansfield, and repeated in subsequent seasons. In 1900 it was given in -French by Bernhardt and Coquelin. The libretto of the opera follows -the play closely. Mr. Henderson retained and successfully remodelled -the main incidents of the drama. The operatic version begins at the -Hôtel de Bourgogne where "La Clorise" is to be played. _Cyrano_ orders -the leading actor off the stage because he has dared to cast insolent -glances at his cousin _Roxane_, whom _Cyrano_ loves but dares not woo -because of the deformity of his hideous nose. _Roxane_, from a box, -sees in the audience the man with whom she has fallen in love, -although she has never met him. _Cyrano_ fights a duel with _De -Guiche_, a married suitor of _Roxane_, and pricks him in the arm. -Elated at the prospect of a meeting with his cousin arranged through -her duenna, _Cyrano_ rushes off to disperse one hundred men who are -waiting to kill one of his friends. - -In Act II, _Cyrano_ is at _Ragueneau's_ shop waiting for his cousin. -He writes an ardent love letter, intending to give it to her. His -hopes are high, but they are dashed to the ground when _Roxane_ tells -him of her love for _Christian_, who is to join her cousin's regiment -that day. _Cyrano_ promises to watch over _Christian_. He bears his -insults and agrees to woo _Roxane_ for _Christian_ by his wit and -verse. He even sacrifices his own love letter. - -In Act III, _Christian_ rebels at the second-hand love-making. But -when _Roxane_ is disgusted with his commonplaces he is glad to turn -again to _Cyrano_. Under cover of night, _Cyrano_ courts _Roxane_ -beneath her balcony. She is delighted and rewards her lover with a -kiss. _De Guiche_ sends a priest with a letter in which he attempts to -gain an interview with her. _Roxane_ tells the priest that the letter -contains an order for him to perform the marriage ceremony. While -_Cyrano_ keeps _De Guiche_ outside the lovers are married. In revenge, -_De Guiche_ orders the Gascon regiment of which _Cyrano_ and -_Christian_ are both members to the war. - -In the last act, _Roxane_ visits the entrenchment at the siege of -Arras. Her carriage is driven by the faithful _Ragueneau_. _Cyrano's_ -love letters, ostensibly from _Christian_, have prompted her coming. -Her husband realizes that the man she really loves is _Cyrano_, -although she believes it to be _Christian_. He leaves the cousins -alone, urging _Cyrano_ to tell the truth. He is soon brought back, -mortally wounded. _Cyrano_ assures him that he has told _Roxane_ of -the deception and that _Christian_ is the man she loves. - -The second scene takes place in a convent. _Cyrano_, wounded and -dying, visits _Roxane_. He begs to see her husband's last letter. -Forgetting himself, he recites it in the dusk. Thus he betrays his -love. But when _Roxane_ realizes the truth he denies it, "dying," as -he declares, "without a stain upon his soldier's snow-white plume." - - -THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS - - Opera in four acts by Reginald de Koven. Book by Percy - Mackaye. Produced for the first time on any stage at the - Metropolitan Opera House, March 8, 1917, with the following - cast: - - CHAUCER _Johannes Sembach_ - THE WIFE OF BATH _Margaret Ober_ - THE PRIORESS _Edith Mason_ - THE SQUIRE _Paul Althouse_ - KING RICHARD II _Albert Reiss_ - JOHANNA _Marie Sundelius_ - THE FRIAR _Max Bloch_ - JOANNES _Pietro Audisio_ - MAN OF LAW _Robert Leonhardt_ - THE MILLER _Basil Ruysdael_ - THE HOST _Giulio Rossi_ - THE HERALD _Riccardo Tegani_ - TWO GIRLS { _Marie Tiffany_ - { _Minnie Egener_ - THE PARDONER _Julius Bayer_ - THE SUMMONER _Carl Schlegel_ - THE SHIPMAN _Mario Laurenti_ - THE COOK _Pompilio Malatesta_ - - Conductor, Bodanzky - -The time is April, 1387; the place, England. _Chaucer_, first -poet-laureate of England, travelling incognito with pilgrims from -London to Canterbury, encounters _Alisoun_, the _Wife of Bath_, a -woman of the lower middle class, buxom, canny, and full of fun, who -has had five husbands, and is looking for a sixth. She promptly falls -in love with _Chaucer_ who, instead of returning her sprightly -attentions, conceives a high, serious, poetic affection for the -_Prioress_. She is a gentlewoman, who, according to the custom of the -time, is both ecclesiastical and secular, having taken no vows. - -The _Wife of Bath_, however, is determined to win her man. Devising a -plan for this, she wagers that she will be able to get from the -_Prioress_ the brooch, bearing the inscription "Amor Vincit Omnia," -that this lady wears upon her wrist. Should _Alisoun_ win, _Chaucer_ -is bound by compact to marry her. After much plotting and by means of -a disguise, the _Wife of Bath_ wins her bet, and _Chaucer_ ruefully -contemplates the prospect of marrying her. In his plight he appeals to -_King Richard II_, who announces that the _Wife of Bath_ may marry a -sixth time if she chooses, but only on condition that her prospective -bridegroom be a miller. A devoted miller, who has long courted her, -joyfully accepts the honour, and the opera ends with a reconciliation -between _Chaucer_ and the _Prioress_. - -Mr. Mackaye in speaking of his libretto at the time of the production -of the opera had this to say: - -"In writing 'The Canterbury Pilgrims' one of my chief incentives was -to portray, for a modern audience, one of the greatest poets of all -times in relation to a group of his own characters. As a romancer of -prolific imagination and dramatic insight, Chaucer stands shoulder to -shoulder with Shakespeare. For English speech he achieved what Dante -did for Italian, raising a local dialect to a world language. - -"Yet the fourteenth-century speech of Chaucer is just archaic enough -to make it difficult to understand in modern times. Consequently his -works are little known today, except by students of English -literature. - -"To make it more popularly known I prepared a few years ago (with -Professor J.S.P. Tatlock) 'The Modern Readers' Chaucer'; and I wrote -for Mr. E.H. Sothern in 1903 my play 'The Canterbury Pilgrims,' which -since then has been acted at many American universities by the Coburn -Players, and in book form is used by many Chaucer classes. - -"In the spring of 1914, at the suggestion of Mr. De Koven, I -remodelled the play in the form of opera, condensing its plot and -characters to the more simple essentials appropriate to operatic -production. Thus focussed, the story depicts Chaucer--the humorous, -democratic, lovable poet of Richard Second's court--placed between two -contrasted feminine characters, the _Prioress_, a shy, religious-minded -gentlewoman, who has retired from the world, but has as yet taken no -vows; and the _Wife of Bath_, a merry, sensual, quick-witted hoyden of -the lower middle class, hunting for a sixth husband. These three, with -many other types of old England, are pilgrims, en route from London to -the shrine of Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury. - -"Becoming jealous of the _Prioress_, the _Wife of Bath_ makes a bet -with _Chaucer_ concerning the gentlewoman's behaviour--a bet which she -wins by a trick in the third act, only to lose it in the fourth. - -"The work is a comedy in blank verse of various metres, interspersed -with rhythmed lyrics. For the first time, I believe, in drama of any -language, it inaugurates on the stage the character of the famous -first poet-laureate of England--the 'Father of English Literature.'" - -Mr. De Koven also tells how he came to compose the music: - -"I have often been asked the question why I have never before now -written a work in the larger operatic form, and my answer has always -been that I was waiting until I could find a really good book. For an -opera libretto that successfully meets the requirements of a lyric -work of this class, which is primarily for and of the stage, in the -way of dramatic interest, development and climax, a poetic knowledge -of the possibilities and limitations of the English language when -sung, and those visual and picturesque qualities in the story which -alone can make the unreal conditions of opera, _per se_, either -plausible or intelligible, is about as rare as the proverbial white -crow--as many gifted composers have found to their cost. - -"All these requirements are, I think, fulfilled in the really charming -libretto which Mr. Mackaye has written in 'The Canterbury Pilgrims,' -which came to me unsought as it were. As a member of a committee for -choosing plays to be used in settlement work on the East Side, my wife -read Mr. Mackaye's earlier play of the same name, and told me she -thought it contained excellent operatic material. Agreeing with her, I -went to Mr. Mackaye and suggested the idea to him. He agreed with me -and soon afterwards, early in 1914, we set to work. To adapt a play of -over 17,000 words for operatic purposes by merely cutting it was -manifestly impossible. Entire reconstruction, both in structure and -language, was necessary, and this Mr. Mackaye has so successfully -accomplished that in my judgment his libretto, as an artistic whole, -is far superior to his earlier play. - -"I took the first act with me when I went abroad in March, 1914, and -the entire opera, begun October 10, 1914, was finished on December 21, -1915, during which time I lived at Vevey, Switzerland, amid, and yet -far from, wars and rumours of wars. - -"As to my part of the work, the characters of Mr. Mackaye's story, -whose essentially old English atmosphere appealed to me strongly from -the first, naturally suggested Verdi's 'Falstaff' as a model in a -sense. But Verdi abjured the leit motif or motto theme, and I had -always felt that Wagner's theory, applied in some form, was the true -basis of construction for all musico-dramatic work. Yet again it -always seemed to me that, save in the hands of a consummate master, -the leit motif, pushed to its logical development, was only too apt to -become tiresome, obscure, and ineffective. So, after much -consideration, I bethought me of the very way in which Massenet in -'Manon' had used a limited number of what might be called recurrent -themes--such as the one for 'Des Grieux'--and made up my mind to try -what could be done along these simpler and more plastic lines. - -"So, without attempting to describe pictorially in music, swords, -tarnhelms, or dragons, or to weave music into an intricate -contrapuntal work, I have in 'The Canterbury Pilgrims,' while -following closely the spirit and meaning of Mr. Mackaye's poetic text, -attributed a number of saliently melodic themes to the characters, -incidents, and even material objects of the story, and when these -recur in or are suggested by the text the attributive themes recur -with them, so that, as I hope, they may be readily recognizable by -the untechnical opera-goer and aid him in following this story and -action. - -"Just a word in regard to the English language as a medium for opera -and song. As Mr. Gatti says that a typical operatic audience in Italy, -knowing their own language and generally familiar with both text and -story of their operas, only expect to understand about half the words -as sung, owing to the very conditions of opera itself, may it not be -fairly said that American audiences who go to hear operas in English, -expecting to understand every word, expect the impossible, and should -be more reasonable in their demands? - -"Again, I have always contended and maintained that the English -language, properly used, is an entirely singable language, and as so -far during the rehearsals of 'The Canterbury Pilgrims' none of the -artists has seemed to find any great difficulty in singing in English -beyond that inherent to a certain lack of familiarity with the -language itself, it looks as if my contention stands at least a fair -chance of being admitted." - - - - -Spanish Opera - - -During the winter of 1915-16 the interest in Spanish music was at its -height in New York. Enrique Granados, a distinguished Spanish composer -and pianist, came to the city to superintend the production of his -opera, "Goyescas," sung in Spanish at the Metropolitan. Pablo Casals, -the famous Spanish 'cellist, and Miguel Llobet, virtuoso of the -guitar, were making frequent appearances. La Argentina was dancing, -and Maria Barrientos made her début at the Metropolitan. In the season -of 1917-18 the Spanish craze culminated in "The Land of Joy," a -musical revue which came first to the Park Theatre, then was -transferred to the Knickerbocker Theatre. The music was by Joaquin -Valverde, fils, and the entertainment was an entrancing blend of -colour and intoxicating rhythms, with the dancing of the passionate -gipsy, Doloretes, as the most amazing and vivid feature. - - -GOYESCAS - -The characters and setting of the opera are suggested by the work of -the Spanish painter Goya. The opera opens with a crowd of _majas_ and -_majos_ enjoying a holiday on the outskirts of Madrid. Some of the -_majas_ are engaged in the popular pastime of tossing the _pelele_ (a -man of straw) in a blanket. _Paquiro_ the toreador is paying -compliments to the women. _Pepa_, his sweetheart of the day, arrives -in her dogcart. Popular, she is warmly welcomed. Soon _Rosario_, a -lady of rank, arrives in her sedan-chair to keep a tryst with her -lover, _Fernando_, a captain in the Royal Spanish Guards. _Paquiro_ -reminds her of a _baile de candil_ (a ball given in a room lit by -candlelight) which she once attended. He invites her to go again. -_Fernando_ overhears his remarks. His jealousy is aroused. He informs -_Paquiro_ that _Rosario_ shall go to the ball, but that he, -_Fernando_, will accompany her. He extracts _Rosario's_ promise to go -with him, while _Pepa_, enraged by _Paquiro's_ neglect, vows vengeance -upon her. - -The second tableau shows the scene at the ball. _Fernando_ appears -with _Rosario_. His haughty bearing and disdainful speech anger all -present. The two men arrange for a duel that evening, and when -_Rosario_ recovers from a swoon, _Fernando_ takes her away. - -The third tableau reveals _Rosario's_ garden. _Fernando_ visits her -before keeping his appointment with _Paquiro_. When a bell strikes the -fatal hour, _Fernando_ tears himself away. He is followed hesitatingly -by _Rosario_. Soon the silence is broken by a cry from _Fernando_, -followed by a shriek from _Rosario_. The lovers reappear. _Rosario_ -supports _Fernando_ to a stone bench where he dies in her arms. - -Enrique Granados, perhaps the first important composer from Spain to -visit North America, was born July 27, 1867, at Lerida, Catalonia. He -died March 24, 1916, a passenger on the _Sussex_, torpedoed in the -English Channel. The libretto for his "Goyescas" is by Fernando -Periquet. - - - - -INDEX - - - NOTE: In setting this index, different faces of type have - been used as follows: - - For operas, thus: =Aïda=. - For characters, thus: Rhadames. - For singers, thus: _Eames_. - For composers, thus: VERDI. - - - A - - Abimelech, 725 - - Adalgisa, 326 ff. - - ADAM, ADOLPHE CHARLES, 467, 497 - - _Adams, Suzanne_, 45, 516 - - Adina, 335 ff. - - Adriano, 94 ff. - - Æneas, 539, 541 - - Aennchen, 64 ff. - - Afron, Prince, 829 - - Aegisthus, 804 - - Agathe, 64 ff. - - Agnes, 816 - - Agramente, Mother, 765 - - Ah-Joe, 686 ff. - - =Aïda=, 1, 6, 7, 90, 433, 438, 439, 466, 602, 618, 672 - - Alain, 728 - - Alberich, 89, 141, 148, 208 - - Albert, 748 - - _Alboni_, 306, 308 - - =Alceste=, 493 - - Alcindoro, 643 ff. - - _Alda, Frances_, 458, 466, 602, 680, 762, 841 - - =Alessandro Stradella=, 559 - - Alessio, 319 ff. - - Alfio, 612 ff. - - Alfonso, 52, 53, 496 - - Alfonso XI., 359 ff. - - Ali, 762 - - Alice, 343 ff., 501 ff. - - Aline, 767 - - Alisa, 343 - - Allaine, 760 - - Almaviva, 308 - - Almaviva, Count, 23 ff., 295 ff. - - Almaviva, Countess, 23 ff. - - Almério, 762 - - _Alston, Elizabeth_, 23 - - _Althouse, Paul_, 834, 836, 843 - - Altichiara, 680 ff. - - Alvar, Don, 524 ff. - - Alvarado, Juan Baptista, 838 - - _Alvarez, M._, 458, 516, 543, 736, 745 - - Alvaro, Don, 437 ff. - - _Alvary, Max_, 69, 140, 148, 191, 208, 227 - - Alvise, 482 ff. - - _Amato, Pasquale_, 14, 427, 475, 482, 587, 602, 622, 639, 674, 680, - 690, 707, 841 - - _Ambré, Mme._, 586 - - Ambrosio, 295 - - Amelfa, 829 - - Amelia (Adelia), 427 ff. - - Amfortas, 272 ff. - - =Amico Fritz, L'=, 618 ff. - - Amina, 319 ff. - - Amneris, 439 ff. - - _Amodio_, 402, 416, 531 - - Amonasro, 439 ff. - - Amor, God of Love, 9 ff. - - =Amore Medici, L'=, 698 - - Anacoana, 718 ff. - - _Ananian, Paolo_, 765 - - _Ancona_, 359, 602, 628 - - Andrès, 724 - - =André Chénier=, 712 ff. - - Andromache, 539 - - ANGELINO, 638 - - _Angelo_ (Director), 434 - - Angelotti, Cesare, 653 ff. - - Angioletta, 765 - - _Angrisani, Carlo_, 44, 295 - - Anita, 746 - - Anna, 523 ff., 541, 639, 720, 764 - - =Anna Bolena=, 334 - - Anne, 466 ff. - - Annetta, 718 ff. - - Annina, 416 ff., 807 - - _Anschütz, Carl_ (Director), 69 - - Antipas, Herod, 801 - - _Antognini, Signor_, 333 - - Antonia, 724 - - Antonio, 23 ff., 367 ff., 581 ff., 622 ff. - - =Aphrodite=, 756 ff. - - _Araline, Mme._, 62 - - Araquil, 746 - - ARBELL, LUCY (Librettist), 750 - - Archibaldo, 690 ff. - - _Arden, Cecil_, 765 - - ARDITI, 306 - - Ariadne, 813 - - =Ariadne= (=Arianna=), 5 - - =Ariadne auf Naxos=, 813 - - Ariane, 759 ff. - - =Ariane et Barbe-Bleue=, 759 - - =Arianna= (=Ariadne=), 5 - - Ariofarno, 715 - - Arkel, 752 ff. - - Arlecchino, 705 ff., 814 - - =Armide=, 8, 20, 85, 493 - - Armide, 14 ff. - - Armuth, Lena, 721 - - Arnold, 313 ff. - - _Arnoldson, Sigrid_, 748 - - Arnolfo, 706 - - Arontes, 15 ff. - - Arrigo, 436 ff. - - Arsaces, 310 ff. - - =Artaxerxes=, 4 - - Artemidore, 15 ff. - - Arth, 840 - - Arturo, 343 - - Ascanio, 536 ff. - - Ascanius, 539, 541 - - Asdrubale, Don, 719 - - Ashby, 674 ff. - - Ashton, Lord Henry, 343 ff. - - Assad, 773 - - Assur, 310 ff. - - Astaroth, 773 - - Astolfo, 339 ff. - - Astyonax, 539 - - Astrofiammante, Queen of the Night, 45 - - Asvezel Moslain, Khan, 767 - - Athanaël, 732 - - =Attaque du Moulin, L'=, 758 ff. - - AUBER, DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT, 2, 306, 426, 496, 498, 510 - - _Audisio, Pietro_, 765, 844 - - Autharite, 752 - - Avito, 690 ff. - - Azema, 310 ff. - - Azucena, 403 ff. - - - B - - Baal Hanau, 773 - - Bacchis, 757 - - Bacchus, 813 - - _Bada, Angelo_, 765 - - _Baglioni, Antonio_, 32 - - Bahis, Dr., 706 - - _Baklanoff, Georges_, 767 - - Balducci, 536 ff. - - BALFE, 467 - - =Ballo in Maschera, Un=, 426, 438 - - Balthazar, 359 ff. - - _Bandrowski, Alexander Van_, 830 - - Baptista, 772 - - Barbarina, 23 ff. - - =Barber of Bagdad, The=, 770 - - =Barber of Seville=, 7, 22, 25, 295, 307, 308, 315, 376, 742 - - BARBIER, JULES (Librettist), 23, 531, 535, 562, 565, 574, 580, 585, 723 - - _Barbieri, Mme._, 44 - - Bardolph, 466 ff. - - _Barili, Clothilda_, 367 - - Barnaba, 482 ff. - - Baroncello, 94 ff. - - _Barré_, 585 - - _Barrientos, Maria_, 849 - - _Bartet, Miss_, 728 - - Bartolo, 719 - - Bartolo, Doctor, 23 ff., 295 ff. - - BARTON, GEORGE EDWARDS (Librettist), 833 - - Basilio, 295 - - _Bassett, Charles_, 612 - - _Bassi, Signor_, 32, 699 - - Bastien, 52 - - =Bastien and Bastienne=, 51 - - Bastienne, 52 - - BATKA, RICHARD (Libretttist), 781, 788 - - _Bayer, Julius_, 272, 776, 844 - - _Beale, Kittie_, 765 - - Beatrice, 583, 704 ff. - - =Beatrice and Benedict=, 538 - - BEAUMARCHAIS (Librettist), 23 - - Beckmesser, Sixtus, 246 ff. - - BEETHOVEN, 22, 54, 55, 56, 77 - - _Behne, Harriet_, 665 - - Belcore, 335 ff. - - _Belhomme_, M., 724 - - BELL-RANSKE, JUTTA (Librettist), 834 - - Bellangère, 760 - - _Bellati_, 665 - - _Bellini, Laura_, 612 - - BELLINI, VINCENZO, 1, 318 ff., 325, 329, 334, 376, 493, 608 - - Benedict, 538 - - BENELLI, SEM (Librettist), 690 - - Benjamin, 495 - - Benoit, 643 ff. - - Benson, Mrs., 725 - - =Benvenuto Cellini=, 535 ff. - - Benvolio, 575 ff. - - Beppe, 619 ff., 628 ff. - - Berardengo, Ser Toldo, 680 ff. - - _Bérat, Louis_, 699 - - _Bergmann, Carl_ (Director), 63, 107 - - BERGMÜLLER, ROBERT, 559 - - BERLIOZ, HECTOR, 13, 63, 78, 85, 535, 542 - - Bernal, 832 - - Bernardino, 536 ff. - - BERNÈDE, ARTHUR (Librettist), 749 - - BERNHARD, A. (Librettist), 825 - - Bersi, 713 ff. - - Berta, 295 - - Bertel, 781 - - Bertha, 516 ff. - - BERTONI, FERNANDINO, 12 - - Bertram, the Unknown, 501 - - Bervoix, Flora, 416 ff. - - Besenbinder, Der, 776 - - =Betrothed, The= (=I Promessi Sposi=), 481 - - _Bettaque, Katti_, 148 - - _Bettini_, 501 - - _Betz_, 89 - - BEY, MARIETTE (Librettist), 439 - - _Beyle, Leon_, 756 - - _Biachi, Hannibal_, 562 - - Bianca, 772 - - Biancofiore, 680 ff. - - Biaso, 699 ff. - - BIELSKY, V., 829 - - BIERBAUM, OTTO JULIUS (Librettist), 791 - - _Bignardi_, 386 - - BIS (Librettist), 317 - - _Bischoff, A._, 163 - - _Bispham, David_, 52, 227, 375, 830 - - BISHOP, HENRY ROWLEY, 30 - - _Bishop, Mme. Anna_, 546 - - Biterolf, 107 ff. - - BIZET, GEORGES, 2, 494, 510, 586, 601, 603, 728 - - Black Lorenzo, 836 - - Blanchefleur, 788 - - _Blass, M._, 272, 830 - - BLAU, EDOUARD (Librettist), 742, 747 - - BLECH, 781 - - _Bloch, Max_, 772, 844 - - Blue-Beard, 759 ff. - - _Blum, A._, 163 - - Bobadilla, 718 ff. - - BODANZKY, ARTUR, 769, 773, 844 - - =Bohème, La= (Leoncavallo), 628 - - =Bohème, La= (Puccini), 638, 643 ff. - - _Bohner, Mrs. Jennie_, 612 - - BOIELDIEU, FRANÇOIS ADRIEN, 495 - - BOÏTO, ARRIGO (Librettist), 458, 466, 474, 480, 482, 715 - - Bombardon, 779 - - _Bonci_, 329, 372, 639 - - _Bondini, Teresa_, 32 - - Boniface, 747 - - _Bonnard_, 745 - - Bonze, The, 665 ff. - - _Borghese, Signora_, 333 - - Borgia, Lucrezia, 339 ff. - - _Bori_, 620, 686, 690 - - =Boris Godounoff=, 822 - - BORODIN, 819 - - Borov, 720 - - Borsa, 387 ff. - - _Bosio, Signorina_, 501, 503 - - Bostana, 771 - - Botta, 620, 686 - - BOUILLY (Librettist), 55 - - Boy, 440 - - _Braendle, Miss_, 272 - - Brander, 543 ff. - - Brangäne, 227 ff. - - _Brandt, Marianne_, 62, 69, 117, 163, 236, 272, 516 - - _Braun_, 18, 504 - - Braun, 781 - - _Braslau, Sophie_, 834 - - Brayole, Captain, 788 - - BREIL, JOSEPH, 836 - - _Brema_, 516 - - _Bressler-Gianoli_, 586, 602 - - Bret, Le, 841 - - BREUNING (Librettist), 54 - - _Bréval, Lucienne_, 729, 752 - - _Bridewell, Carrie_, 752 - - Brighella, 814 - - _Brignoli_, 339, 402, 416, 513, 585 - - _Broschi, Carlo_, 4 - - _Brough_, 319 - - BRÜLL, 779 - - BRUNEAU, ALFRED, 758 - - Brünnhilde, 7, 89, 140, 142, 146, 164, 208 - - Bucklaw, Lord Arthur, 343 ff. - - BUNGE, RUDOLF (Librettist), 784 - - _Burgstaller_, 272 - - Burton, 832 - - Butterfly, Madam (Cio-Cio-San), 665 ff. - - =Butterfly, Madama=, 638, 644, 664 - - BYRNE, JACQUES (Librettist), 836 - - - C - - Cadi, 762 - - CADMAN, CHARLES WAKEFIELD, 834 - - CAIN, HENRI (Librettist), 743, 745, 749 - - Cajus, Dr., 466 ff. - - Calatrava, Marquis di, 437 ff. - - Caliph, The, 771 - - =Calife de Bagdad, Le=, 495 - - Callidès, 756 ff. - - _Calvé, Mme._, 475, 543, 564, 586, 602, 604, 612, 618, 745 - - CALZABIGI, RANIERO DI (Librettist), 9 - - =Cambiale di Matrimonio, La=, 294 - - CAMMARANO, SALVATORE (Librettist), 343, 372, 402 - - _Campanari_, 23, 628 - - =Campanello di Notte, Il=, 334, 374 ff. - - _Campanini, Cleofante_ (Director), 354, 458, 466, 611, 665, 699 - - _Campanini, Italo_, 117, 343, 354, 359, 402, 437, 440, 475, 503, 531, - 546, 562, 586, 587 - - _Campbell, Miss_, 612 - - Canio, 628 ff. - - _Canissa, Pauline_, 163 - - =Canterbury Pilgrims, The=, 843 - - _Capoul_, 575, 580 - - Capulet, Count, 575 ff. - - Caradoc, 840 - - Carlos, Don, 377, 437, 438 - - Carmela, 699 ff. - - Carmelita, 836 - - =Carmen=, 2, 303, 510, 586, 587, 603 - - Caroline, Queen, 708 ff. - - CARRÉ, MICHEL (Librettist), 2, 531, 562, 565, 574, 580, 585, 603, 723 - - _Caruso_, 14, 335, 337, 339, 343, 354, 386, 388, 402, 412, 426, 475, - 482, 504, 516, 546, 564, 587, 602, 604, 611, 620, 622, 640, 665, 674, 714 - - _Cary, Annie Louise_, 117, 359, 402, 437, 440, 475, 503, 585 - - _Case, Anna_, 807 - - Cassandra, 539 - - Cassio, 459 ff. - - _Castelmary_, 557 - - Castiglione, 765 - - CASTIL-BLAZE (Librettist), 299, 307 - - =Castor and Pollux=, 1 - - Castro, José, 675, 838 - - CATALINA, ALFRED, 719 - - Caterina, 619 ff. - - Catherine, 530 - - CAVALIERI, CATERINA, 43 - - _Cavalieri, Lina_, 640, 715, 749 - - =Cavalleria Rusticana=, 609, 610, 612, 626, 698, 707, 746 - - CAVALLI, 5 - - Cavaradossi, Mario, 652 ff. - - Cellini, Benvenuto, 536 ff. - - =Cendrillon=, 728, 745 - - Ceprano, Count, 386 ff. - - Ceprano, Countess, 387 ff. - - Cesano,765 - - =Cesare Borgia=, 627 - - _Cesarini, Duke_ (Director), 300 - - _Chaliapine_, 475 - - _Chalmers, Thomas_, 762, 834 - - Chappelou, 497 - - _Chapuis_, 601 - - Charles, Vicomte de Sirval, 367 ff. - - Charlotte, 748 - - Charming, Prince, 745 - - CHARPENTIER, GUSTAVE, 750 - - Chaucer, 843 - - =Chemineau, Le=, 766 - - Chénier, André, 713 ff. - - CHERUBINI, LUIGI, 493, 494 - - Cherubino, 23 ff. - - Chiarina, 765 - - Chim-Fen, 686 ff. - - Chimaris, 757 - - Chimène, 742 - - Chonita, 832 - - CHOPIN, 306 - - CHORLEY (Librettist), 574 - - Choroebus, 539 - - Christian, 841 - - Christine, 779 - - Chrysis, 757 - - Chrysothemis, 804 - - Ciccillo, 699 ff. - - =Cid, Le=, 742 - - Cieca, La, 482 ff. - - Cinderella, 745 - - _Cinti-Damoreau, Mlle._, 501 - - CIVINI, G., 674 - - CLARETIE, JULES (Librettist), 745 - - _Clarke, Payne_, 612 - - Claudio, 538 - - =Clemenza di Tito=, 51 - - Cleo, 788 - - Cleopatra, 750 - - =Cléopâtre=, 750 - - Clitandro, 706 - - Clotilda, 326 ff. - - Clytemnestra, 804 - - Cochenille, 724 - - Colas, 52, 779 - - COLAUTTI (Librettist), 720 - - _Coletti_, 503, 562 - - _Colin_, 562 - - _Collin, M._, 724 - - Colline, 643 ff. - - Colombina, 704 ff. - - Colombo, Cristoforo, 717 ff. - - Colonna, Steffano, 94 ff. - - Comare, La, 719 - - Concetta, 699 ff. - - =Conchita=, 685, 716 - - Conchita, 716 ff. - - _Conried, Heinrich_ (Director), 272, 612, 804 - - =Contes d'Hoffmann, Les=, 723 - - CONVERSE, FREDERICK SHEPHERD, 832, 833 - - Coppélius, 724 - - =Coq d'Or, Le=, 828 - - _Coquelin_, 728 - - _Cordier_, 531 - - Corentino, 531 ff. - - CORMON (Librettist), 603 - - CORNEILLE, 742 - - CORNELIUS, PETER, 769, 770 - - =Corregidor, Der=, 792 - - _Corsi, Pini_, 674 - - =Cortez, Fernando=, 80 - - Cortez, 765 - - Cosse, 504 ff. - - =Così Fan Tutte=, 24, 52 - - COSTA, 63, 78 - - _Crabbe, Mr._, 837 - - _Cremonini_, 359, 652 - - =Crepusculum=, 627 - - Crespel, 724 - - =Cricket on the Hearth, The=, 775 - - Crisogono, 721 - - =Crispino e La Comare=, 718 ff. - - Crispino, 718 ff. - - =Cristoforo Colombo=, 717 ff. - - _Crivelli, Signor_, 295 - - Cuno, 63 ff. - - Cyril, 720 - - =Cyrano de Bergerac=, 832, 841 - - =Czar und Zimmermann= (=Czar and Carpenter=), 80 - - - D - - =Dafne=, 4 - - Daland, 98 ff. - - Dalila, 725 - - _Dalmorès, Charles_, 543, 587, 602, 749 - - =Dame Blanche, La=, 495 - - Damian, 784 - - =Damnation de Faust, La=, 535, 542 ff. - - _Damrosch, Dr. Leopold_ (Director), 62, 90, 107, 163, 498, 523, 542, 830 - - DAMROSCH, WALTER, 832, 841 - - _d'Angelo, Louis_, 836 - - Danielo, 765 - - Danish Knight, The, 15 ff. - - DA PONTE, LORENZO (Librettist), 29, 30, 31, 44, 52 - - David, 247 ff., 619 ff. - - DÉBUSSY, 2, 752 - - _Defrère, Désiré_, 767 - - D'ENNERY, M. (Librettist), 742 - - _de Gebel, Frida_, 163 - - DE GRAMONT, LOUIS (Librettist), 756 - - DE KOVEN, REGINALD, 843 - - DELAVIGNE (Librettist), 496, 501 - - DELDEVEZ, EDOUARD, 559 - - DELIBES, 724 - - _Delmas, M._, 736 - - _Delpouget, M._, 736 - - _Del Puente_, 402, 503, 562, 586, 612, 736 - - _de Luca, Giuseppe_, 628, 665, 762 - - _Demellin_, 756 - - Démétrios, 756 ff. - - _de Reszke, Édouard_, 45, 208, 227, 246, 440, 503, 516, 523 - - _de Reszke, Jean_, 23, 45, 140, 208, 227, 246, 426, 503, 516, 523, - 542, 575, 563, 586, 736, 748 - - DESCHAMPS (Librettist), 503 - - _Deschamps-Jéhin, Mme._, 750 - - Desdemona, 459 ff. - - _de Segurola, Andrés_, 674, 762 - - Desfonandres, Dr., 706 - - Despina, 52 - - Despréaux, 707 ff. - - d'Este, Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, 339 ff. - - _Destinn, E._, 427, 466, 475, 482, 504, 665, 674 - - =Deux Journées, Les=, 493 - - Diable, Le, 728 - - Diana, 18 ff. - - Dido, 541 - - _Didur, Adamo_, 516, 622, 674, 686, 690, 765, 776 - - Diego, Don, 524 ff., 742 - - Diemut, 797 - - _Dilthey, Minnie_, 9 - - Dimitri, the Pretender, 822 - - _di Murska, Ilma_, 531 - - _Dinh-Gilly_, 674 - - Dinorah, 531 ff. - - =Dinorah, ou le Pardon de Ploërmel=, 500, 530 - - Di Silva, Don Ruy Gomez, 377 ff. - - =Djamileh=, 605 - - Djamileh, 605 - - Dmitri, 720 - - d'Obigny, Marquis, 416 ff. - - Dodon, King, 828 - - _Dolci, Alessandro_, 720 - - Dominique, 759 - - Donati, 679 - - =Don Carlos=, 437, 441 - - Donella, 680 ff. - - DONIZETTI, 1, 308, 334, 359, 366, 372, 376, 493, 608 - - =Donne Curiose, Le=, 698, 704 - - Donner, 89, 148 - - Dorabella, 52 - - D'ORINVILLE (Librettist), 720 - - Doris, 788 - - _Dorus, Mlle._, 501 - - Dot, 775 - - Douphol, Baron, 416 ff. - - =Duca d'Alba, Il=, 366 - - _Dufranne, Mr._, 729, 837 - - _Dufriche_, 652, 745, 752 - - DUKAS, PAUL, 759 - - Dulcamara, 335 ff. - - Dulcinée, La belle, 743 ff. - - DU LOCLE, CAMILLE (Librettist), 752 - - _Duprez_, 313, 343 - - Durham, Lady Harriet, 546 ff. - - Dursel, 788 - - =Dusk of the Gods, The=, 89 - - Dutchman, The, 98 - - DUVAL, ALEXANDER (Librettist), 495 - - DU WAILLY (Librettist), 535 - - - E - - _Eames, Emma_, 23, 140, 246, 402, 426, 458, 466, 475, 564, 575, 586, - 612, 620, 715, 748 - - _Easton, Florence_, 622, 769, 835 - - EBERHARDT, NELLE RICHMOND (Librettist), 834 - - Eboli, Princess, 438 - - =Edgar=, 639 - - Edgar of Ravenswood, 343 ff. - - Edgardo, 343, 608 - - Edmund, 640 ff. - - _Egener, Minnie_, 844 - - Eislinger, Ulrich, 246 ff. - - El Dancairo, 587 ff. - - Eleanora, 704 ff. - - =Elektra=, 769, 804 - - Elektra, 804 - - Elena, 475 ff. - - Elisa, Princess, 708 ff. - - Elizabeth, 107 ff. - - Elizabeth, St., 769 - - Ellen, 725 - - _Ellis, Mary_, 765 - - =Elopement from the Serail, The= (=Belmonte und Constance=), 52 - - El Remendado, 587 ff. - - Elsa of Brabant, 117 ff. - - Else, 781 - - Elvino, 319 ff. - - Elvira, 330, 377, 608 - - Elvira, Donna, 31 ff. - - Emilia, 459 ff. - - Engel, Friedrich, 787 - - _Engel, Lotta_, 776 - - Enrico, 343, 375 - - =Enrico di Borgogna=, 335 - - =Ensorcelée, L'=, 764 - - Enya, 840 - - Erda, 89, 140, 142, 148 - - Eric, 98 ff. - - ERLANGER, CAMILLE, 756 - - =Ernani=, 377, 385 - - Ernani, 608 - - Ernani, John, of Aragon, 377 ff. - - Ernesto, 372 ff. - - Eroshka, 820 - - Escamillo, 587 ff. - - Eschenbach, Wolfram von, 107 ff. - - Esmeralda, 816 - - Estella, 716 ff. - - ÉTIENNE, V.J. ("JOUY"), 313 - - =Eugen Onegin=, 825, 828 - - =Euryanthe=, 63, 69, 77, 85 - - Eurydice, 9 ff. - - Eva, 247 ff. - - =Evangelimann, Der=, 787 - - Everton, Amy, 834 - - Everton, Mrs., 834 - - - F - - Fabrizio, 718 ff. - - Fafner, 141, 148 - - =Fairies, The=, 82 - - =Falstaff=, 7, 376, 466, 480, 847 - - Falstaff, Sir Henry, 466 ff. - - =Fanciulla del West, La=, 638, 674 - - =Faniska=, 494 - - Farlaf, 818 - - _Farneti, Marie_, 620 - - _Farrar, Geraldine_, 23, 45, 565, 586, 602, 611, 622, 665, 705, 707, - 741, 765, 776 - - Fasolt, 141, 148 - - Fatimah, 762 - - _Faure_, 45, 531, 562, 585 - - =Faust=, 7, 79, 510, 561, 562 - - Faust, 475, 543, 562 - - Favart, 788 - - =Favorita, La=, 334, 359 - - =Fedora=, 714, 720 - - Fedora, Princess, 720 - - =Feldlager in Schlesien, Das=, 500, 530 - - Fenella, 496 - - Fenton, 466 ff. - - Feodor, 822 - - Ferdinand, 359 ff. - - Fernando, 850 - - =Fernando Cortez=, 80 - - Fernando, Don, 54 ff. - - Ferrando, 52, 402 - - _Ferrari-Fontana_, 690 - - =Feuersnot=, 769, 796 - - FEVRIER, HENRY, 761 - - Fiamina, 729 - - =Fidelio=, 22, 54, 56, 62, 77 - - Fides, 516 ff. - - Fieramosca, 536 ff. - - Figaro, 23, 24, 295, 309 - - =Figaro, Marriage of=, 51, 295 - - =Figlia del Reggimento, La=, 334, 355 - - =Figliuol Prodigo, Il=, 481 - - Filipievna, 825 - - =Fille de Roland, La=, 763 - - Finn, 818 - - Fiordiligi, 52 - - Fiorello, 295 - - _Fischer, Emil_, 69, 117, 140, 148, 191, 208, 227, 246 - - _Fitziu, Anna_, 719 - - Flaminio, 690 ff. - - Flammen, 622 ff. - - Flavius, 326 ff. - - Fléville, 713 ff. - - Flora, 690 ff. - - Florestan, 54, 62 - - Florinda, 704 ff. - - Flosshilde, 148, 208 - - =Flying Dutchman, The=, 69, 79, 84, 98, 109, 118, 226 - - Folco, 626 - - Folz, Hans, 246 ff. - - _Fontaine, Charles_, 761, 767 - - Ford, 466 ff. - - Ford, Mistress, 466 ff. - - Forêt, Lysiart de, 69 ff. - - _Formes, Carl_, 313, 501, 503 - - _Fornia_, 807 - - Forth, Sir Richard, 330 ff. - - FORTUNA, FERDINANDO (Librettist), 639 - - =Forza del Destino, La=, 436 ff. - - FORZANO, GIOACCHINO (Librettist), 622 - - Fouché, 707 - - =Fra Diavolo=, 497 - - Francesca, 680 ff. - - =Francesca Da Rimini=, 680 ff. - - Francesco, 536 ff. - - FRANCHETTI, ALBERTO, 717, 721 - - =Franco Arciero, Il=, 63 - - François, 767 - - Françoise, 759 - - Frantz, 724 - - Franz, 622 ff. - - Frasquita, 587, 793 - - Frédéric, 581 ff. - - Frederica, Duchess of Ostheim, 434 ff. - - Frederick, 724 - - Frederick of Telramund, 117 ff. - - Frederico, 619 ff. - - Freia, 141, 148 ff. - - =Freischütz, Der=, 62, 77, 81, 85 - - _Fremstad, Olive_, 14, 140, 227, 801, 804 - - Freudhofer, Johannes, 787 - - Freudhofer, Matthias, 787 - - _Frezzolini_, 386 - - _Friche, Claire_, 756 - - Fricka, 89, 142, 148, 164 - - Friedhold, 799 - - Froh, 148 ff. - - _Fuchs_, 272 - - _Fugère, Lucien_, 729, 750 - - Furies, The, 10 - - _Fursch-Madi_, 483 - - Furst, Walter, 313 ff. - - - G - - GABEAUX, PIERRE, 55 - - Gabriel, Padre, 833 - - _Gadski, Johanna_, 9, 227, 246 - - _Galassi, Antonio_, 332, 354, 367, 387, 402, 437, 458, 587 - - Galitzky, Prince, 820 - - _Gall, Yvonne_, 767 - - GALLET, M. LOUIS (Librettist), 605, 731, 742, 758 - - _Galli-Curci, Amelita_, 295, 306, 343, 386, 388, 416, 532, 575, 742 - - _Galli-Marié_, 586, 601 - - GANDONNIÈRE, 542 - - Gansemagd, Die, 776 - - Garcia, 716, 743 ff. - - _Garcia, Mme._, 44 - - _Garcia, Manuel_, 44, 295, 309 - - _Garcia, Jr., Manuel_, 44 - - _Garcia, Maria_, 44, 295 - - _Garden, Mary_, 587, 603, 747, 750, 756, 761, 801, 804, 837 - - _Garrison, Mabel_, 52 - - Garrito, Gen., 746 - - Garsenda, 680 ff. - - Gaspar, Don, 359 ff. - - _Gates, Lucy_, 52, 375 - - _Gatti-Casazza_, 516, 611 - - GAUTHIER-VILLARS, HENRY (Librettist), 804 - - _Gay_, 466 - - Gazello, 339 ff. - - GAZZANIGA, GIUSEPPE, 31 - - Gelsomino, 707 ff. - - Gennaro, 339, 699 ff. - - Genoveva, 752 ff. - - Geôlier, Le, 756 ff. - - Gerald, 724 - - GÉRARD (Librettist), 542 - - Gérard, Charles, 713 ff. - - =Germania=, 720 - - Germont, Alfredo, 416 ff. - - Germont, Giorgio, 416 ff. - - =Gerolamo Savonarola=, 627 - - _Gerold, Herman_, 612 - - Geronte de Ravoir, 640 ff. - - _Gerster, Etelka_, 45, 319, 325, 329, 335, 343, 546 - - Gertrud, Frau, 781 - - Gertrude, 575, 778 - - Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, 586 - - _Gerville-Réache, Jeanne_, 746, 749 - - Gessler, 313 ff. - - GHISLANZONI, ANTONIO, 439, 441 - - GIACOSA, GIUSEPPE (Librettist), 643, 652, 664 - - _Gianini_, 736 - - Giannetta, 335 ff. - - Giannetto, 622 ff. - - =Gianni Schicchi=, 677 - - Giarno, 581 ff. - - GIESEKE (Librettist), 45, 46 - - Gil, Count, 705 - - Gilda, 387 ff. - - _Gilibert, Charles_, 355, 602, 652, 745, 752 - - GILLE, PHILIPPE (Librettist), 724, 736 - - =Gioconda, La=, 480, 481, 482, 638 - - Gioconda, La, 482 ff. - - GIORDANO, UMBERTO, 607, 707, 726 - - Giorgetta, 678 - - Giorgio D'Ast, 765 - - _Giorgi-Righetti_, 300, 308 - - Giovanni, 377, 387, 680 - - =Giovanni di Guzman--Vespri Siciliani=, 436 - - =Giovanni, Don=, 21, 22, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 43, 51, 85, 493 - - Giovanni, Don, 21, 31 ff. - - _Giraldoni_, 482 - - =Giovanni Gallurese=, 697 - - GIRARD, ERNEST, 723 - - Giscon, 752 - - =Gismonda=, 761 - - Gismonda, 761 - - Giuseppe, 416 ff. - - GLINKA, MICHAEL IVANOVICH, 818 - - Gloom, 840 - - _Gluck, Alma_, 9, 14 - - GLUCK, CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD, 1, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 77, - 90, 293, 493, 494 - - Godfrey, Duke, 117 ff. - - =Godounoff, Boris=, 822 - - Godounoff, Boris, 822 - - GOETZ, HERMANN, 769, 772 - - _Goff, Winifred_, 665 - - =Golden Cross, The=, 779 - - _Golden, Grace_, 612 - - GOLDMARK, CARL, 769, 773, 775 - - GOLISCIANI, ENRICO (Librettist), 699, 705 - - Golo, 752 ff. - - GONDINET (Librettist), 724 - - Gorislava, 819 - - _Goritz, Otto_, 246, 272, 772, 776, 807 - - Gormas, Comte de, 742 - - Goro, 665 - - =Götterdämmerung=, 140, 207 - - GOUNOD, CHARLES FRANÇOIS, 2, 438, 459, 494, 510 - - _Gourdon, M._, 724 - - =Goyescas=, 849 - - GRANADOS, ENRIQUE, 849 - - _Grange, La_, 416, 503 - - _Grau, Maurice_ (Director), 509, 563 - - Grazia, 699 ff. - - _Graziani_, 417 - - Grech, 720 - - Grégoras, 762 - - Gregory, 575 ff. - - Gremin, 825 - - Grenvil, Dr., 416 ff. - - _Grenville, Miss Lilian_, 837 - - Gretel, 778 - - Grieux, Chevalier Des, 640, 736 ff. - - Grieux, Count Des, 736 ff. - - Grimaldo, Enzo, 482 ff. - - Griselda, 727 - - =Grisélidis=, 727 - - _Grivot, M._, 724 - - _Grisi_, 306, 309, 326, 329, 339, 374 - - Grumio, 772 - - _Grün, Frau_, 89 - - _Guadagni, Gaetano_, 12, 14 - - Gubetta, 339 ff. - - _Gudehus_, 272 - - Guerra, Barbara de la, 838 - - Guerra, Don Francisco de la, 837 - - Guevara, Don Fernando, 717 ff. - - Guglielmo, 52 - - Guidon, Prince, 828 - - Guiche, de, 841 - - GUILLARD, FRANÇOIS (Librettist), 18 - - =Guillaume Tell=, 294, 312 - - _Guille_, 612 - - GUNSBOURG, RAOUL, 767 - - Gunther, 89, 143, 208 - - =Guntram=, 798 - - Guntram, 799 - - _Gura_, 89 - - Gurnemanz, 272 ff. - - Gusmann, Leonora di, 359 ff. - - =Gustave III, ou Le Bal Masqué=, 426 - - GUTIERREZ, ANTONIO GARCIA (Librettist), 402 - - Gutrune, 89, 143, 208 - - Gwynn, 840 - - - H - - Hänsel, 778 - - =Hänsel und Gretel=, 746, 769, 778, 807 - - Hagen, 89, 143, 208 - - HALÉVY, JACQUES, 2, 498, 510 - - Haltière, Mme. de la, 745 - - Hamilcar, 752 - - =Hamlet=, 585 - - Hamlet, 585 - - _Hammerstein, Oscar_ (Director), 612 - - HÄNDEL, 14 - - Handsome, 674 - - Hanego, 619 ff. - - Hans, 816 - - =Hans Heiling=, 79 - - Happy, 674 ff. - - =Happy Shade, A=, 9 ff. - - _Harden_, 272 - - Haroun, Prince, 605 - - =Harriette, ou La Servante de Greenwiche=, 559 - - Harry, 674 ff. - - HARTMANN, G. (Librettist), 747 - - HASSE, JOHANN ADOLPH, 4 - - _Hastreiter, Helene_, 9 - - Hate, 14 ff. - - _Hauck, Minnie_, 575, 586, 602, 612, 736 - - HAYDN, 51 - - _Hayes, Miss_, 516 - - Hecuba, 539 - - Hedvige, Signora, 721 - - Hedwiga, 313 ff. - - _Héglon, Mme._, 736 - - Hélène, Duchess, 436 ff. - - HELL, THEODOR (Librettist), 76 - - =Hélléra=, 697 - - _Hempel, Freda_, 23, 45, 246, 427, 475, 504, 807 - - HENDERSON, WILLIAM J. (Librettist), 841 - - Henrietta, 330 ff. - - Henry the Fowler, 117 ff. - - HERBERT, VICTOR, 837 - - Herman, 827 - - Hermann, 107 ff. - - Hermann, Landgrave, 769 - - Hero, 538, 715 - - =Hero e Leandro=, 715 ff. - - Herod, 749 - - =Hérodiade=, 748 - - Herodias, 749, 801 - - HÉROLD, LOUIS J.F., 497 - - Hexe, Die, 776 - - Hidraot, 15 ff. - - _Hill_, 89, 272 - - _Hincks, Mrs. Pemberton_, 612 - - _Hinrichs, Gustave_ (Director), 612, 618, 628 - - _Hinshaw, William_, 776 - - HIPPOLYTE (Librettist), 313 - - Hoël, 531 ff. - - _Hofer, Mme._, 52 - - Hoffman, 724 - - _Holman, Miss_, 309 - - _Holman, Mrs._, 23 - - Holzhacker, Der, 776 - - _Homer, Louise_, 9, 14, 140, 246, 272, 402, 427, 475, 482, 665, 776, 830 - - HOOKER, BRIAN (Librettist), 840 - - Hortensio, 355, 772 - - _Howard, Kathleen_, 762, 765, 834, 836 - - Hua-Qui, 686 ff. - - _Huberdeau, Gustave_, 756, 761, 837 - - Hu-chi, 686 ff. - - Huebscher, Catherine, 708 ff. - - HUGO, JOHN ADAM, 834 - - HUGO, VICTOR (Librettist), 343, 377, 386 - - =Huguenots, Les=, 294, 498, 500, 503, 510, 527, 731 - - HUMPERDINCK, ENGELBERT, 769, 776, 778 - - Hunding, 142, 163 - - Hu-Tsin, 686 ff. - - Hylas, 541 - - - I - - Iago, 458 ff. - - =Ib and Little Christina=, 689 - - =Idomeneo=, 51 - - Idrenus, 310 ff. - - Igor, 820 - - =Igor, Prince=, 819 - - Igoreivitch, Vladimir, 820 - - Iguamota, 718 ff. - - =Il Barbiere di Siviglia=, 705 - - Il Cieco, 620 ff. - - =Il Dissoluto Punito, ossia il Don Giovanni=, 30 - - ILLICA, LUIGI (Librettist), 619, 625, 643, 652, 664, 712, 717, 721 - - Inez, 359, 403, 523 - - Infanta, 742 - - Intendant, 367 - - Iolan, 833 - - =Iphigénie en Aulide=, 493 - - =Iphigénie en Tauride=, 8, 9, 18, 19, 20 - - Iphigénie, 18 ff. - - =Iphigenia in Aulis=, 85 - - Irene, 94 ff. - - =Iris=, 611, 619, 620 - - Irma, 750 - - _Isaac, Mlle. Adèle_, 724 - - Isèpo, 482 ff. - - =Isabeau=, 611, 625 - - Isabeau, 625 ff. - - Isabella, 501 ff. - - Isabel of Spain, Queen, 717 ff. - - Isolde, 227 ff. - - - J - - Jackrabbit, Billy, 674 ff. - - Jacob, 495 - - Jacquino, 54 ff. - - _Jadlowker, Herman_, 705, 776 - - _Jäger_, 272 - - Jago, 377 ff. - - Jagu, 831 - - _Jaide_, 89 - - _Jamet_, 585 - - Jane, 721 - - _Janouschoffsky, Mme._, 612 - - Javotte, 736 ff. - - Jean, 746, 747 - - =Jean de Paris=, 495 - - Jebbel, 721 - - Jemmy, 313 ff. - - =Jessonda=, 79 - - =Jewels of the Madonna, The=, 699 - - Joannes, 844 - - Joe, 674 ff. - - Johanna, 844 - - John, 775 - - Johnson, Dick (Ramerrez), 674 ff. - - John the Baptist, 749 - - Jokanaan, 801 - - Jonas, 516 ff. - - =Jongleur de Nôtre Dame, Le=, 746 ff. - - Jopas, 541 - - José, Don, 587 ff. - - Josef, 764 - - =Joseph en Egypte=, 495 - - Joseph, 495 - - _Journet, Marcel_, 272, 477, 620, 752, 761 - - "JOUY," V.J. ÉTIENNE (Librettist), 313 - - Juan, 744 - - _Juch, Emma_, 9 - - =Juive, La=, 498, 510, 731 - - Julia, 708 ff. - - Julien, 750 - - Juliet, 575 ff. - - - K - - Kagama, 838 - - KALBECK, MAX (Librettist), 51 - - Karnac, 727 - - Kaspar, 64 ff. - - Katharina, 772 - - Katrinka, 815 - - KEISER, REINHARD, 4 - - _Kellogg, Clara Louise_, 367, 546, 562 - - _Kelly, Michael_, 24 - - _Kemlitz_, 227, 246 - - _Kerker, Gustave_ (Director), 612 - - Kezal, 817 - - KIENZL, WILHELM, 787, 788 - - Kilian, 64 ff. - - _Kingston, Morgan_, 835 - - Kirchhofer, Werner, 784 - - Klingsor, 272 ff. - - Kobus, Fritz, 619 ff. - - _Kögel, Josef_, 107, 163 - - Konchak, Khan, 820 - - Konchakovna, 820 - - =Königskinder=, 776 - - Königssohn, Der, 776 - - Konradin, 784 - - Körner, Carlo, 721 - - Kothner, Fritz, 246 ff. - - _Kousnezova, Marie_, 750 - - KREUTZER, CONRADIN, 80 - - _Kronold, Selma_, 612, 628 - - _Krusceniski_, 665 - - Kruschina, 815 - - =Kuhreigen, Der=, 788 - - Kundry, 273 ff. - - Kunrad, 797 - - _Kurt_, 18, 140 - - Kurwenal, 227 ff. - - Kyoto, 630 ff. - - - L - - _Lablache_, 45, 329, 374, 562 - - LACHMANN, HEDWIG (Librettist), 800 - - Laertes, 581, 586 - - =L'Africaine=, 500, 523, 527 - - =Lakmé=, 724 - - Lakmé, 724 - - _L'Allemand, Pauline_, 725 - - LALO, 727 - - _Lambert, A._, 728 - - =L'Âme en Peine=, 546 - - _Lammert, Fräulein_, 89 - - =L'Amore Medici=, 705 ff. - - =L'Amore Dei Tre Re=, 690 ff. - - Lampe, 781 - - L'Anery, Gontran de, 779 - - LANGE, FERDINAND, 76 - - LANNER, 808 - - Larina, 825 - - Larkens, 674 ff. - - _Lasalle_, 523, 585 - - Laura, 434, 482 - - _Laurenti, Mario_, 765, 844 - - Lawrence, Friar, 575 ff. - - _Lazaro, Hipolito_, 765 - - LAZZARI, SYLVIO, 764 - - _Lazzari, Virgilio_, 720 - - Leandro, 704, 715 - - =Le Villi=, 638 - - _Leesugg, Miss_, 295, 308 - - Lefebvre, 707 ff. - - _Legros_, 12, 13 - - =Legend, The=, 836 - - _Lehmann, Lilli_, 45, 62, 69, 89, 93, 140, 191, 207, 227, 326, 475, - 516, 603 - - _Lehmann, Marie_, 89 - - =Leila=, 603 - - Leila, 604 - - Lelio, 704 ff. - - =L'Elisire d'Amore=, 334, 335 - - LEMAIRE, FERDINAND (Librettist), 725 - - LÉNA, MAURICE (Librettist), 746 - - Lenski, 825 - - Leonato, 538 - - LEONI, 607, 686 - - LEONCAVALLO, RUGGIERO, 7, 91, 607, 608, 627, 628, 638 - - _Leonhardt, Robert_, 769, 772, 844 - - Leonora, Donna, 437 ff. - - Leonora, Duchess, 403 ff. - - =Leonora, ossia L'Amore Conjugale=, 55 - - Leonore, 54, 62 - - Leporello, 31 ff. - - =Lépreuse, La=, 764 - - LEROUX, XAVIER, 765, 766 - - Leroy, 707 ff. - - Lescaut, 640, 736 - - =L'Étoile du Nord=, 500, 530 - - Letorières, Gastone de, 416 ff. - - Leuthold, 313 ff. - - _Levasseur_, 501 - - _Levi, Hermann_ (Director), 52, 272 - - _Lherie_, 601 - - =Liebesverbot, Das=, 82 - - _Lind, Jenny_, 325, 334, 355, 501 - - Linda, 367 ff. - - =Linda di Chamounix=, 367 - - Lindorf, 724 - - Lionel, 546, 834 - - Lisa, 319, 827 - - Lise, 841 - - Lisetta, 706, 719 - - _Listner, Mme._, 163 - - LISZT, FRANZ, 86, 98, 117, 120, 535, 769 - - =Lituani, I=, 481 - - Liverotto, 339 ff. - - =Lobetanz=, 791 - - Lobetanz, 791 - - LOCLE, CAMILLE DU (Librettist), 439, 441 - - =Lodoletta=, 611, 622 - - Lodoletta, 622 ff. - - Lodovico, 459 ff. - - Loewe, Frederick, 721 - - Loge, 89, 148 - - =Lohengrin=, 68, 69, 79, 86, 99, 117, 118, 273, 516 - - Lohengrin, 117 ff. - - Lola, 612 ff. - - _Lolli, Giuseppe_, 32 - - Lopez, Juan, 793 - - =Loreley=, 719 ff. - - Loreley, 720 - - Loris, Count, 720 - - LORTZING, ALBERT, 80 - - Lothario, 581 ff. - - Louis VI., 69 ff. - - =Louise=, 750 - - Louise, 750 - - Loÿs, 729 - - Luc Agnolo, 765 - - _Lucca_, 355, 523 - - Lucentio, 772 - - Lucia, 343 - - =Lucia di Lammermoor=, 7, 334, 343, 376, 426, 608, 673 - - Lucia, Mamma, 612 ff. - - Lucinda, 706 - - Lucinde, 14 ff. - - =Lucrezia Borgia=, 334, 339 - - Lucy, 343 ff. - - Ludmilla, 818 - - _Ludwig_, 736 - - Ludwig, Landgrave, 769 - - Luigi, 678 - - Luisa, 434 ff. - - =Luisa Miller=, 433, 438 - - LULLY, 4, 6, 17, 21 - - _Lussan, Zélie de_, 466 - - Lützow, Luigi, 721 - - - M - - _Macbeth, Florence_, 719 - - MACKAYE, PERCY (Librettist), 843 - - Macroton, Dr., 706 - - Madda, 764 - - Maddalena, 387 ff. - - Madeleine, 713 ff. - - Madeline, 367 ff. - - Madelon, 713 ff. - - MAETERLINCK, MAURICE (Librettist), 752, 759 - - Magda, 676 ff. - - Magdalena, 247, 787 - - _Maguénat, Alfred_, 750 - - MAHLER, GUSTAVE, 76 - - =Magic Flute, The=, 7, 21, 22, 45, 52, 55, 77, 85, 307 - - Malatesta, Dr., 372 ff. - - _Malatesta, Pompilio_, 844 - - Malatestino, 680 ff. - - =Mala Vita=, 707 - - _Malibran_, 44 - - Maliella, 699 ff. - - Mallika, 724 - - _Malten_, 262 - - _Mancinelli_ (Director), 752 - - MANCINELLI, LUIGI, 715 - - Manfredo, 690 ff. - - =Manon Lescaut=, 638, 640, 736, 741, 742 - - Manon Lescaut, 640, 736 ff. - - _Maran, Ernst_, 776 - - Mantua, Duke of, 386 ff. - - Manuela, 793 - - _Mapleson_ (Director), 354, 712 - - Manrico, 402 ff. - - =Manru=, 830 - - Manru, 831 - - _Mantelli_, 359, 503 - - Marcel, 504, 643 - - MARAST, ARMAND (Librettist), 313 - - Marc Antony, 750 - - Marcellina, 23 ff., 54 ff. - - _Marconi_, 458 - - _Marcy, Mme._, 736 - - _Mardones_, 516 - - _Maréchal, Mr._, 729, 746, 750 - - _Maretzek, Mme._, 516 - - Margared, 727 - - Margherita, 475 ff. - - Margiana, 771 - - Marguerite, 543, 562 - - Maria, 784 - - Marianne, 807 - - Marie, 355, 816 - - _Marimon_, 531 - - =Marina=, 707 - - Marina, 822 - - _Marini_, 501, 503 - - _Mario_, 45, 326, 374, 388, 516 - - =Marion Delorme=, 481 - - Marke, King, 227 ff. - - Marouf, 762 - - =Marouf, the Cobbler of Cairo=, 762 - - =Marriage of Figaro, The=, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 295 - - MARSCHNER, HEINRICH, 79 - - Marta, 836 - - =Martha=, 546 ff. - - Martha, 475, 787 - - _Martinelli_, 680 - - _Martin, Riccardo_, 841 - - _Martyn, Mrs._, 62 - - Marullo, 387 ff. - - Mary, 98 ff. - - =Masaniello=, 496, 498, 510 - - Masaniello, 496 - - MASCAGNI, PIETRO, 7, 91, 607, 610, 612, 618, 638 - - =Maschere, Le= (=The Maskers=), 611 - - Masetto, 31 ff., 36 ff. - - =Masked Ball, The= (=Un Ballo in Maschera=), 426 ff. - - _Mason, Edith_, 843 - - MASSENET, JULES, 2, 7, 306, 494, 510, 727, 731, 736, 742, 743, 745, - 746, 747, 748, 750 - - Massimelle, Marquis, 788 - - Mateo, 716 ff. - - _Materna, Frau_, 89, 163, 272, 498 - - Mathieu, 713 ff. - - _Mathieu-Lutz, Mme._, 756 - - Matheos, 718 ff. - - Mathô, 752 - - _Mattfeld, Marie_, 674, 765, 772, 776, 807 - - Matthisen, 516 ff. - - MATTINATA, 306 - - _Matzenauer, Margarete_, 23, 427, 504, 516, 769 - - _Maurel, Victor_, 45, 440, 458, 466, 503, 623, 627 - - Max, 64 ff. - - May, 775 - - MAYR, SIMON, 55 - - MEYREDER-OBERMAYER, ROSA, 792 - - _Mazarin_, 804 - - _Mazzoleni, Francesco_, 523, 562 - - _McCormack, John_, 45, 355, 837 - - _McGuckin, Barton_, 736 - - _McIntyre, Margaret_, 475 - - =Medici, I=, 627 - - Mefistofele, 475 ff. - - MÉHUL, ÉTIENNE NICHOLAS, 495 - - MEILHAC, HENRI (Librettist), 586, 736 - - =Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die=, 88, 91, 119, 246, 376 - - _Melba, Nellie_, 295, 306, 343, 388, 416, 458, 503, 543, 564, 628 - - Melcthal, 313 ff. - - MÉLÉSVILLE (Librettist), 497 - - Mélisande, 753, 760 - - Mélisse, 14 ff. - - Melot, 227 ff. - - MENASCI, G., 612 - - MENDÈS, CATULLE (Librettist), 765 - - =Mephistopheles=, 474 - - Méphistophélès, 543, 562 - - Mercedes, 587 ff. - - Mercedes, Doña, 793 - - Mercutio, 575 ff. - - =Mère Coupable, La=, 296 - - Merlier, 759 - - Merrill, Paul, 838 - - =Merry Wives of Windsor, The=, 80 - - Méru, 504 ff. - - MÉRY (Librettist), 437 - - =Messiah, The=, 14 - - MEYERBEER, GIACOMO, 1, 2, 79, 438, 440, 459, 494, 498, 499, 510, 523 - - Micaela, 587 ff. - - _Micelli, Catarina_, 32 - - Micha, 816 - - Michela, 765 - - Michele, 678 - - _Mierzwinski_, 313 - - =Mignon=, 580 ff. - - Mignon, 581 ff. - - Mikkel, 764 - - Mikleford, Lord Tristan de, 546 ff. - - Miller, 434 ff. - - MILLIET, PAUL (Librettist), 747, 748 - - _Milon_, 44 - - Mime, 89, 148 - - Mimi, 143, 644 - - Minnie, 674 ff. - - _Miolan-Carvalho_, 562, 575 - - _Mirabella_, 475 - - Mirabolano, 719 - - Miracle, Dr., 724 - - Missail, 822 - - Mitranus, 310 ff. - - _Molé, Mlle._, 724 - - =Mona=, 832, 840 - - Mona, 840 - - =Monna Vanna=, 761 - - Monna Vanna, 761 - - Montano, 459 ff. - - _Monteux, Pierre_ (Director), 762 - - _Montegriffo_, 628 - - MONTEMEZZI, ITALO, 607, 690 - - Monterone, Count, 386 ff. - - MONTEVERDI, CLAUDIO, 5 - - Montfleury, 841 - - Montford, Guy de, 436 ff. - - Morales, 587 ff. - - MORAND, EUGÈNE (Librettist), 727 - - _Moran, Miss_, 272 - - _Moran-Oldern_, 140, 148 - - _Morello, Signor_, 43 - - Morfontaine, Guillot de, 736 ff. - - =Mors et Vita=, 561 - - MOSENTHAL, G.H. (Librettist), 773 - - MOSENTHAL, H. (Librettist), 779 - - Moser, August, 246 ff. - - _Mottl, Felix_ (Director), 539 - - Monostatos, 46 ff. - - MOUSSORGSKY, 822, 824 - - MOZART, 21, 22, 24, 30, 33, 43, 45, 51, 55, 77, 293, 295, 426, 493 - - =Muette de Portici, La= (=Masaniello=), 496 - - Muff, 816 - - _Mühlmann_, 272, 830 - - MÜLLER, WENZEL, 46 - - _Muratore_, 564, 575, 761 - - _Murska, Ilma di_, 45 - - Musetta, 643 ff. - - Mustapha, Baba, 771 - - _Muzio_, 516 - - Mylio, 727 - - Myrto, 757 - - =Mystères d'Isis, Les=, 45, 51 - - - N - - Nachtigall, Conrad, 246 ff. - - =Nachtlager in Granada, Das=, 80 - - Nadir, 604 - - Naiad, 15, 814 - - Nancy, 546 ff. - - Nangis, Raoul de, 504 ff. - - _Nannetti_, 440 - - Naoia, 833 - - Napoleon Bonaparte, 707 ff. - - Narbal, 541 - - Narraboth, 801 - - Narr'Havas, 752 - - =Natomah=, 837 - - Natomah, 838 - - =Navarraise, La=, 605, 728, 745 - - Nedda, 608, 628 - - Neipperg, Count de, 707 ff. - - Nelusko, 523 ff. - - Nemorino, 335 ff. - - Nereno, 475 ff. - - =Nerone= (=Nero=), 480 - - NESSLER, VIKTOR E., 784 - - _Neuendorff, Adolff_, 107, 162, 163 - - _Neumann, Angelo_ (Director), 140 - - Nevers, Adolar de, 69 ff. - - Nevers, Count de, 504 ff. - - =Nibelungen, Der Ring des=, 139 ff. - - =Nibelung, The, Dramas=, 87, 88 - - Nicias, 732 - - Nick, 674 ff. - - Nicklausse, 724 - - NICOLAI, OTTO, 80, 466 - - _Nicolay, Mr._, 837 - - _Nicolini_, 575 - - _Niemann_, 62, 89, 140, 207, 227 - - Nikitin, (Michael), 822 - - Nilakantha, 724 - - _Nilsson, Christine_, 117, 402, 416, 475, 483, 503, 546, 562, 580, 585 - - Ninus, Ghost of, 310 ff. - - Noémie, 745 - - _Nordica, Lillian_, 45, 140, 227, 482, 503, 523 - - Norina, 372 ff. - - =Norma=, 318, 325 - - Norma, 326 ff. - - Norman, 343 ff. - - Normanno, 343 - - NOSSIG, ALFRED (Librettist), 830 - - Nourabad, 604 - - _Nourrit_, 13, 313, 501 - - _Novara_, 475, 483, 562 - - =Nozze di Figaro, Le=, 23, 24, 309, 376, 493, 808 - - Nureddin, 771 - - - O - - _Ober, Margarete_, 482, 772, 807, 843 - - =Oberon=, 63 - - Oberthal, Count, 516 ff. - - Ochs, Baron, 807 - - Octavian, 807 - - OFFENBACH, JACQUES, 723 - - Olga, 825 - - Olga, Countess, 720 - - Olympia, 724 - - Onegin, Eugen, 825 - - Ophelia, 585 - - =Oracola, L'=, 686 ff. - - Orestes, 18, 20, 804 - - Orfeo, 8, 9, 13, 14 - - =Orfeo ed Euridice=, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 20, 77, 493 - - Orlando, 765 - - Oroe, 310 ff. - - Oros, 831 - - Oroveso, 326 ff. - - Orsini, Maffio, 339 ff. - - Orsino, Paolo, 94 ff. - - Ortel, Hermann, 246 ff. - - Orti, 764 - - Ortrud, 117 ff. - - Osaka, 620 ff. - - Oscar (Edgardo), 427 ff. - - Ostasio, 680 ff. - - =Othello=, 7, 376, 458, 480 - - Othello, 458 ff. - - Ottavio, 704 ff. - - Ottavio, Don, 31 ff. - - Ottokar, Prince, 63 ff. - - =Ory, Comte=, 294 - - - P - - PADEREWSKI, IGNACE JAN, 830 - - PAËR, 55 - - Page, Mistress, 466 ff. - - =Pagliacci, I=, 608, 618, 626, 628, 698 - - PAISIELLO, 300 - - Palm, Giovanni, 721 - - _Paltrinieri, Giordano_, 765 - - Pamina, 45 ff. - - Pandolfe, 745 - - Pantalis, 475 ff. - - Pantalone, 704 ff. - - Pantasille, 765 - - Pantheus, 539, 541 - - Paolo, 680 ff. - - Papagena, 46 ff. - - Papageno, 45 ff. - - _Pappenheim_, 163 - - Paquiro, 849 - - _Parepa-Rosa_, 503 - - Paris, Count, 575 ff. - - PARKER, HORATIO, 832, 840 - - Parpignol, 643 ff. - - =Parsifal=, 90, 119, 247, 272 - - Parsifal, 272 ff. - - _Pasquali, di_, 372 - - =Pasquale, Don=, 334, 372 - - Pasquale, Don, 372 ff. - - PASQUÉ, ERNST, 76 - - _Patti, Adelina_, 295, 305, 308, 309, 319, 343, 354, 355, 367, 377, - 388, 416, 531, 546, 564, 725, 742 - - _Patti, Carlotta_, 45 - - Pauloff, Stephen, 836 - - _Pearman_, 23 - - =Pêcheurs de Perles, Les=, 603 ff. - - Pedro, 743, 793 - - Pedro, Don, 31, 523, 538 - - Pelléas, 752 ff. - - =Pelléas et Mélisande=, 2, 752 - - PEPOLI, COUNT (Librettist), 329 - - Peralta, Father, 837 - - PERI, JACOPO, 4 - - PERINET (Librettist), 46 - - _Perini, Flora_, 765 - - PERIQUET, FERNANDO (Librettist), 850 - - _Perozzi, Signor_, 333 - - PERRIER, MARTIAL (Librettist), 764 - - _Persiani_, 343 - - =Pescatori di Perle=, 603 - - _Peschka-Leutner_, 306 - - Peter, 779 - - Peters, 721 - - Peter the Great, 530 - - Petruchio, 772 - - _Pettigiani_, 523 - - Phanuel, 749 - - Phenice, 14 ff. - - Philine, 581 ff. - - Philip, 834 - - Philip II., 438 - - _Phillipps, Thomas_, 23, 295, 308 - - Philodème, 756 ff. - - PIAVE, FRANCESCO MARIA (Librettist), 377, 386, 416, 718 - - PICCINI, NICOLA, 8, 9, 20 - - _Piccolomini_, 416 - - Pico, 838 - - Pierre, 767 - - Pierrot, 367 ff. - - Pimen, 822 ff. - - _Pini-Corsi, Antonio_, 372, 776 - - _Pinkert_, 329 - - Pinkerton, Kate, 665 ff. - - Pinkerton, Lieutenant B.F., 665 ff. - - =Pipe of Desire, The=, 833 - - =Pique-Dame=, 827 - - Pistacchio, Don Hannibal, 375 - - Pistol, 466 ff. - - Pizarro, 54 ff. - - _Placide, Mr._, 62 - - _Plançon, Pol_, 359, 427, 475, 482, 503, 516, 565, 587, 715, 745 - - Plummer, Edward, 775 - - Plunkett, 564 ff. - - Pogner, Veit, 246 ff. - - Polkan, Voevoda, 829 - - Pollione, 326 ff. - - Polonius, 586 - - Polyxena, 539 - - Pomone, 765 - - Pompeo, 536 ff. - - PONCHIELLI, AMILCARE, 480, 481, 638 - - _Ponselle, Rosa_, 836 - - _Ponziani, Felice_, 32 - - PORDES-MILO (Librettist), 781 - - =Postillon de Longumeau, Le=, 497 - - Poussette, 736 ff. - - Prefect, 367 ff. - - _Preisch, Mr._, 837 - - Prêtre, Le Grand, 756 ff. - - _Preusser, Felix_, 163 - - Priam, 539 - - Procida, Giovanni di, 436 ff. - - =Prodigal Son, The=, 481 - - =Prophète, Le=, 500, 504, 516, 731 - - _Pruette, William_, 612 - - PUCCINI, GIACOMO, 1, 7, 91, 482, 607, 638, 643, 652 - - _Puente, Del_, 117, 437, 483 - - Puiset, Eglantine de, 69 ff. - - =Puritani, I=, 318, 329 - - PUSHKIN (Librettist), 822 - - Pylades, 182 ff. - - - Q - - =Quichotte, Don=, 743 ff. - - Quichotte, Don, 743 ff. - - Quickly, Dame, 466 ff. - - QUINALT, FRANÇOIS (Librettist), 14, 17 - - Quintus, 840 - - - R - - RABAUD, HENRI, 763 - - Rachel, 498 - - Rafaele, 699 ff. - - =Raggio di Luna=, 689 - - Ragueneau, 841 - - Raimbaut, 501 - - Raimondo, 343 - - Raimondo, 94 ff. - - Raimondo, King, 625 ff. - - _Raisa, Rosa_, 625 - - Rambaldo, 676 ff. - - RAMEAU, 1, 21 - - Ramphis, 439 - - Rance, Jack, 674 ff. - - Rangoni, 822 - - _Rappold, Marie_, 18, 772 - - Ratmir, 818 - - Ratsalteste, Der, 776 - - Raymond, 343 ff. - - =Rédemption, La=, 561 - - _Reichmann_, 272 - - =Reine Fiammette, La=, 765 - - _Reiner, Marcel_, 776 - - Reinhart (Renato), 427 ff. - - _Reiss, Albert_, 52, 375, 665, 674, 765, 772, 776, 807, 843 - - _Renaud, Maurice_, 45, 387, 475, 543, 747, 749 - - Renaud (Rinaldo), 15 ff. - - Repela, 793 - - Retz, de, 504 - - REYER, 752 - - Rhadames, 439 ff. - - =Rheingold, Das=, 87, 89, 139, 148 - - Rhinedaughters, 89, 141 - - Rhodis, 757 - - Riccardo, Don, 377 ff. - - RICCI, FEDERICO, 718 - - RICCI, LUIGI, 718 - - RICCORDI, TITO (Librettist), 680 - - Richard, Count of Warwick, 427 ff. - - Richard II., King, 843 - - RICHEPIN, JEAN (Librettist), 766 - - _Richings_, 319 - - _Richter, Hans_ (Director), 89, 107, 246 - - Ricke, 721 - - =Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribune=, 84, 94, 98, 109, 118 - - Rienzi, Cola, 94 ff. - - RIESE, WILHELM FRIEDRICH (Librettist), 546 - - =Rigoletto=, 7, 376, 386, 426, 438, 466, 471, 602 - - Rigoletto, 386 ff. - - _Rimini, Giacomo_, 720 - - RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF, 828 - - =Rinegata, La=, 343 - - =Ring Dramas, The=, 91, 119, 122, 247 - - _Rioton, Miss_, 750 - - =Rip Van Winkle=, 689 - - RIVAS, DUKE OF (Librettist), 437 - - Robert, 639 - - Robert, Duke, 501, 799 - - Roberti, 653 ff. - - =Robert le Diable=, 498, 500, 504, 510 - - Robertson, Sir Benno, 330 ff. - - Robin, 466 ff. - - _Robinson, Adolf_, 107, 117, 208, 227 - - Rocco, 54, 699 - - ROCHE, HENRI PIERRE (Librettist), 764 - - Roderigo, 459 ff. - - Rodolpho, Count, 319, 434 - - Rodrigo, 742 - - Rodrigo, Marquis de Posa, 438 - - Rodriguez, 744 - - =Roi d'Ys, Le=, 727 - - =Roland of Berlin=, 628 - - ROMANI, FELICE (Librettist), 318, 325, 335, 339 - - Romeo, 575 ff. - - =Roméo et Juliette=, 561, 574 - - _Ronconi, Mlle._, 580 - - _Ronconi_, 387 - - =Rondine, La=, 639, 676 - - ROQUETTE, OTTO (Librettist), 769 - - _Rosa, Parepa_, 546 - - Rosario, 850 - - Rosaura, 704 ff. - - =Rosenkavalier, Der=, 376, 759, 807 - - Rose, 725 - - ROSENFELD, SYDNEY, 374 - - Rosette, 736 ff. - - _Rosick, Signor_, 295 - - Rosina, 295, 306, 308 - - ROSMER, ERNST (Librettist), 776 - - Rossa, La, 708 ff. - - ROSSI, GAETANO (Librettist), 309, 367 - - _Rossi, Giulio_, 335, 844 - - ROSSINI, GIOACHINO ANTONIO, 1, 22, 25, 293, 307, 309, 312, 334, 426, - 493, 494, 498, 510, 608 - - _Rothier, Léon_, 762, 765 - - Roucher, 713 ff. - - Roustan, 707 ff. - - Rouvel, Baron, 720 - - Roxana, 841 - - ROYER, ALPHONSE (Librettist), 359 - - _Roze, Marie_, 736 - - Rozenn, 727 - - _Rubini_, 45, 329 - - Rudolph, 313, 643 - - Ruedi, 313 ff. - - Rufina, 716 ff. - - _Ruffo, Titta_, 387, 475, 585, 717 - - Ruggero, 676 ff. - - =Ruin of Athens, The=, 56 - - Ruiz, 402 ff. - - _Russitano_, 466 - - Russlan, 818 - - =Russlan und Ludmilla=, 818 - - Rustighello, 339 ff. - - _Ruysdael, Basil_, 769, 772, 844 - - - S - - SABINA, R. (Librettist), 815 - - Sachs, Hans, 145, 246 - - =Sacrifice, The=, 832 - - SAGANA, LUIGI (Librettist), 704 - - St. Bris, Count de, 504 ff. - - =St. Elizabeth=, 769 - - ST. GEORGE, 559 - - SAINT-SAËNS, 725 - - =Salammbô=, 752 - - Salammbô, 752 - - _Saléza, Albert_, 575, 587, 715, 752 - - _Salignac, Mr._, 752 - - SALIERI, 24, 466 - - =Salome=, 769, 800 - - Salome, 749, 801 - - Saluce, Marquis de, 728 - - _Salvi_, 502, 516 - - Salviati, Cardinal, 536 ff. - - _Salvini-Donatelli_, 417 - - Samaritana, 680 ff. - - _Sammarco, Mr._, 458, 705, 837 - - _Sammares_, 699 - - Samson, 725 - - =Samson et Dalila=, 14, 725 - - Samuel, 427 ff. - - Sancho, 743 ff. - - _Sänger_, 227 - - _Sanderson, Sibyl_, 736, 741 - - =Sans-Gêne, Madame=, 707 ff. - - Sante, 705 - - _Santley_, 503, 562, 585 - - Santuzza, 612 ff. - - _Saporiti, Teresa_, 32 - - =Sapho=, 561, 728, 749 - - Sarastro, 45 ff. - - SARDOU (Librettist), 728, 761 - - Saretsky, 825 - - Satan, 728 - - =Sauteriot, Le=, 764 - - Savoie, Euryanthe de, 69 ff. - - _Scalchi_, 309, 458, 466, 483, 562, 580 - - Scaramuccio, 814 - - _Scaria_, 272 - - SCARLATTI, ALESSANDRO, 5 - - Scarpia, Baron, 652 ff. - - Schaunard, 643 ff. - - =Schauspieldirektor, Der=, 52 - - _Scheff, Fritzi_, 23, 830 - - _Schefsky, Fräulein_, 89 - - Schicchi, 679 - - SCHIKANEDER, EMANUEL (Librettist), 45, 46, 55 - - SCHILLER (Librettist), 434, 437 - - _Schlegel, Carl_, 769, 835, 844 - - _Schlosser_, 89 - - Schmidt, 713 ff. - - Schneider, Der, 776 - - _Schott, Anton_, 107, 163, 497, 516 - - Schreiber, Heinrich der, 107 ff. - - _Schröder-Devrient, Mme._, 56, 84 - - _Schroeder-Hanfstaengl_, 516 - - _Schumann-Heink_, 140, 246, 340, 516, 806 - - Schwartz, Hans, 246 ff. - - Schwerlein, Martha, 562 ff. - - Sciarrone, 653 ff. - - _Scolara_, 440 - - _Scotti, Antonio_, 23, 45, 335, 372, 427, 458, 466, 504, 620, 640, - 652, 665, 686, 705, 752 - - SCRIBE (Librettist), 436, 495, 498, 501, 503, 516, 523, 528 - - =Segreto di Susanna, Il=, 698, 705 - - _Seidl, Anton_ (Director), 62, 69, 117, 140, 227, 246, 255 - - _Seidl-Kraus_, 107, 117, 163, 191, 207, 246 - - Selika, 523 ff. - - Sélysette, 759 ff. - - _Sembach, Johannes_, 18, 772, 843 - - _Sembrich_, 23, 45, 295, 306, 319, 325, 335, 343, 355, 372, 377, 416, - 483, 503, 546, 565, 725, 830 - - =Semiramide=, 309 ff. - - Semiramide, 310 ff. - - Seneschal, 769 - - Senta, 98 ff. - - Sentlinger, Ortolf, 797 - - Serafina, 375 - - Serena, 699 ff. - - Séso, 757 - - _Setti_, 503 - - Sforza, Cardinal, 765 - - Shahabarim, 752 - - Shanewis, 834 - - =Shanewis, or The Robin Woman=, 834 - - Sharpless, 665 ff. - - =Sheba, The Queen of=, 773 - - Sheba, Queen of, 773 - - _Sheehan, Joseph F._, 665 - - Shouisky, 822 - - =Siberia=, 714 - - Sid, 674 ff. - - Sidonie, 14 ff. - - Siebel, 562 ff. - - =Siegfried=, 87, 89, 91, 140, 191 - - Siegfried, 89, 140, 143, 208 - - Sieglinde, 89, 140, 142, 146, 164 - - Siegmund, 89, 140, 142, 146, 163 - - _Siehr_, 89, 272 - - _Silvain_, 728 - - Silvan, 427 ff. - - SILVESTRE, ARMAND (Librettist), 727 - - Silvio, 628 ff. - - Siméon, 495 - - SIMONI, RENATO (Librettist), 707 - - =Singspiel=, 51 - - _Sinico, Mme._, 586 - - Siriex, de, 720 - - _Sizes_, 752 - - Skoula, 820 - - _Slach, Anna_, 107 - - _Slezak_, 458 - - Smaradi, 680 ff. - - SMETANA, FRIEDRICH, 769, 815 - - Solomon, King, 773 - - Somarone, 538 - - SOMMA-SCRIBE (Librettist), 426 - - =Songe d'une Nuit d'Été, Le=, 467 - - =Sonnambula, La=, 7, 318, 331, 376, 426, 608 - - SONNLEITHNER, JOSEPH (Librettist), 54, 55 - - Sonora, 674 ff. - - _Sontag_, 355 - - Sophie, 748, 807 - - Sophie, Landgravine, 769 - - Spalanzani, 724 - - Sparafucile, 386 ff. - - _Sparkes, Lenore_, 765 - - Spendius, 752 - - Spielmann, Der, 776 - - Splendiano, 605 - - SPOHR, LUDWIG, 79 - - Spoletta, 653 ff. - - SPONTINI, GASPARO, 80 - - Springer, 816 - - Stackareff, Count, 836 - - _Stagno_, 483 - - Stallmagd, Die, 776 - - Stapps, 721 - - STASSOFF (Librettist), 819 - - _Staudigl_, 163 - - Stchelakov, Andrey, 822 - - _Steffanone_, 402, 501, 503, 516 - - Stella, 699, 724 - - STERBINI, CESARE (Librettist), 295 - - _Stockton, Fanny_, 562 - - Stolzing, Walther von, 246 ff. - - _Storchio_, 665 - - _Strakosch, Max_ (Director), 440 - - STRAUSS, JOHANN, 808 - - STRAUSS, RICHARD, 7, 20, 32, 306, 769, 796, 798, 800, 804, 807, 813 - - _Stritt_, 117, 246 - - SUARATONI (Librettist), 618 - - Sulamith, 773 - - Sulpice, 355 ff. - - _Sulzer, Henrietta_, 562 - - _Sundelius, Marie_, 834, 844 - - =Suor Angelica=, 677 - - Susanna, 23 ff. - - _Susini_, 326 - - Suzanne, Countess, 705 - - Suzel, 619 ff. - - Suzuki, 665 ff. - - Sviatoslav, Prince, 820 - - Svietosar, 818 - - _Szamozy, Elsa_, 665 - - - T - - =Tabarro, Il=, 677 - - Tackleton, 775 - - _Tagliafico_, 516 - - _Taglioni_, 501 - - _Talazac, M._, 724 - - Talbot, Lord Arthur, 330 ff. - - _Tamagno_, 313, 458 - - _Tamburini_, 329, 374 - - =Taming of the Shrew, The=, 772 - - Tamino, 45 ff. - - =Tancredi=, 12, 294, 307 - - =Tannhäuser=, 68, 69, 79, 85, 86, 88, 99, 106, 118, 226, 303, 516 - - Tannhäuser, 107 ff. - - Tan Taanach, 752 - - TARGIONI-TOGGETTI, GIOVANNI (Librettist), 612 - - _Taskin, M._, 724 - - Tatiana, 825 - - Tavannes, 504 ff. - - Tchernomor, 819 - - _Teal, Jeannie_, 612 - - _Tegani, Riccardo_, 844 - - Tell, William, 313 ff. - - =Temple Dancer, The=, 834 - - =Templer und die Judin, Der=, 79 - - Tenebrun, 744 - - Teresa, 319, 536 - - _Ternina, Milka_, 140, 227, 272, 652 - - _Tetrazzini, Luisa_, 295, 319, 325, 329, 343, 355, 388, 416, 458, - 531, 725 - - =Thaïs=, 728, 731 - - Thaïs, 732 - - Thallus, Primus, 788 - - Thérèse, 779 - - Thoas, 18 ff. - - THOMAS, AMBROISE, 580, 585, 586 - - Thore, 504 ff. - - =Three Pintos, The=, 76 - - THUILLE, LUDWIG, 791 - - _Tichatschek_, 84 - - _Tietjens_, 306, 339 - - _Tiffany, Marie_, 765, 844 - - Timon, 756 ff. - - Tio Lucas, 793 - - Titurel, 272 ff. - - Toinet, 767 - - Toinette, 708, 767 - - Tolak, 767 - - Tom (Tommaso), 427 ff. - - Tomaso, 832 - - Tomes, Dr., 706 - - =Tommaso Chatterton=, 626 - - Tonio, 355, 628, 716 - - Tonuelo, 793 - - _Torriani, Mlle._, 440 - - =Torvaldo e Dorliska=, 300 - - =Tosca=, 638, 644, 652 - - Tosca, Floria, 652 ff. - - _Toscanini_ (Director), 705 - - =Traviata, La=, 376, 416, 438, 471 - - Trebelli, 475, 581 - - TREITSCHKE, GEORG FRIEDRICH (Librettist), 54, 56 - - _Trentini_, 602 - - Trim, 674 ff. - - Trine, 764 - - Triquet, 825 - - Tristan, 227 ff. - - =Tristan und Isolde=, 87, 88, 91, 119, 227, 247, 335 - - =Trompeter von Säkkingen, Der=, 784 - - Trouble (Cio-Cio-San's child), 665 ff. - - =Trovatore, Il=, 376, 402, 471 - - =Troyens à Carthage=, 540 ff. - - =Troyens, Les, La Prise de Troie=, 539 ff. - - Truffaldin, 814 - - TSCHAIKOWSKY, MODESTE (Librettist), 825, 827 - - TSCHAIKOWSKY, PETER ILITSCH, 825, 827 - - Turiddu, 609, 612 - - Tybalt, 575 ff. - - - U - - Ubalde, 15 ff. - - _Ugalde, Mlle. Marguerite_, 724 - - Ulana, 831 - - Ulrica, 427 ff. - - =Undine=, 80 - - _Unger_, 89 - - Urbain, 504 ff. - - Urok, 831 - - Ursula, 538 - - Utobal, 495 - - - V - - _Valda, Giulia_, 434 - - Valentine, 504, 562 - - Valéry, Violetta, 416 ff. - - =Valkyr, The=, 89, 91 - - _Valleria_, 475 - - Valois, Elizabeth de, 438 - - Valois, Marguerite de, 504 ff. - - _Valtellino, Signor_, 333 - - Valzacchi, 807 - - =Vampyr, Der=, 79 - - _Van Dyck_, 140 - - Vannard, 622 ff. - - _Van Rooy_, 140, 246, 272 - - _Van Zandt, Miss_, 725 - - _Varesi_, 417 - - Varlaam, 822 - - Vasari, 765 - - Vasco Da Gama, 523 ff. - - VAUCAIRE (Librettist), 716 - - Vecchio, Cecco del, 94 ff. - - Venus, 107 ff. - - =Vêpres Siciliennes, Les=, 440 - - VERDI, GIUSEPPE, 1, 6, 7, 22, 90, 91, 334, 376, 377, 386, 402, 416, - 426, 436, 481, 493, 494, 608, 638, 847 - - =Verkaufte Braut, Die=, 815 - - VERNOY, BAYARD (Librettist), 355 - - VERNOY, JULES H. (Librettist), 355, 559 - - Verona, Duke of, 575 ff. - - =Versiegelt=, 781 - - =Vestale, La=, 80 - - _Vestivalli_, 309, 402 - - _Viardot-Garcia, Pauline_, 13, 44, 305, 516 - - _Vicini_, 434 - - =Vieil Aigle, Le=, 767 - - _Vietti_, 503 - - _Villani, Louise_, 690 - - =Villi, Le=, 639 ff. - - Vinaigre, 707 ff. - - Viola, 765 - - Violette, 765 - - Violine, 765 - - =Viscardello=, 402 - - Vitellozzo, 339 ff. - - _Vogel_, 89 - - Vogelgesang, Kunz, 246 ff. - - Vogelweide, von der, 107 ff. - - VON BREUNING, STEPHAN (Librettist), 56 - - _von Bülow, Hans_ (Director), 227, 246, 535 - - VON CHEZY, HELMINE (Librettist), 69 - - _von Doenhof, Helen_, 612 - - von Faninal, 807 - - VON FLOTOW, FRIEDRICH, 546, 559 - - von Gundelfingen, Schweiker, 797 - - VON HOFMANNSTHAL, HUGO (Librettist), 804, 807, 813 - - _von Milde_, 227 - - von Schönau, Baron, 784 - - von Werdenberg, Princess, 807 - - von Wildenstein, Count, 784 - - VON WOLZOGEN, ERNST, 796 - - - W - - _Wachtel, Theodore_, 496, 497, 503 - - WAEZ, GUSTAVE (Librettist), 359 - - =Waffenschmied, Der=, 80 - - Wagner, 475, 562 - - WAGNER, RICHARD, 6, 8, 68, 71, 79, 81, 86, 90, 98, 106, 117, 118, - 139, 148, 163, 191, 207, 227, 293, 459, 481, 483, 494, 562, 626, 759, - 769, 803, 807, 847 - - _Walker, Edyth_, 482 - - =Walküre, Die=, 7, 87, 139, 163 ff. - - Wallace, Jake, 675 ff. - - Wälse, 142 ff. - - Walter, 720 - - Walter, Count, 434 ff. - - _Walter, Edna_, 776 - - Walton, Lord Gautier, 329 ff. - - Walton, Sir George, 329 ff. - - Waltraute, 89, 140, 208 - - _Warwick, Veni_, 765 - - WEBER, CARL MARIA VON, 63, 68, 76, 77, 79, 493, 562 - - _Weckerin, Fräulein_, 89 - - _Weil_, 18, 807 - - Wellgunde, 148, 208 - - Wenzel, 816 - - =Werther=, 747 - - Werther, 748 - - WETTE, ADELHEID (Librettist), 778 - - _White, Carolina_, 699, 705 - - _White, Phillis_, 765 - - _Whitehill, Clarence_, 246, 769, 772 - - _Wickham, Florence_, 776 - - WIDMANN, VICTOR (Librettist), 772 - - Wilhelm, 584 ff., 724 - - =Wildschütz, Der=, 80 - - =William Tell=, 498, 510 - - Willmers, Frau, 781 - - WILLNER, M. (Librettist), 775 - - _Winckelmann_, 272 - - Win-San-Lui, 686 ff. - - Win-She, 686 ff. - - Wirt, Der, 776 - - Wirtstochter, Die, 776 - - Woglinde, 148, 208 - - WOLF-FERRARI, ERMANO, 607, 698 - - WOLF, HUGO, 792 - - _Wood, Mr._, 319, 501 - - _Wood, Mrs._, 319, 501 - - Worms, Carl, 721 - - Wotan, 89, 140, 141, 148, 164 - - Wowkle, 675 ff. - - Wulf, 639 - - - X - - Xenia, 822 - - Ximenes, Don Roldano, 718 ff. - - - Y - - Yakuside, 665 ff. - - Yamadori, Prince, 665 ff. - - Yaroslavna, Princess, 820 - - Yeletsky, Prince, 828 - - Ygraine, 759 ff. - - Yniold, 753 ff. - - Yoga, 835 - - _Yppolito, G._, 562 - - - Z - - Zaccaria, Franco, 762 - - Zacharias, 516 ff. - - _Zamboni_, 301 - - Zamiel, 64 ff. - - =Zampa=, 497 - - ZANARDINI (Librettist), 720 - - ZANDONAI, RICCARDO, 607, 680, 716 - - =Zanetto=, 611 - - ZANGARINI, C. (Librettist), 674, 699, 716 - - ZANONI, CAMILLO (Librettist), 686 - - =Zauberflöte, Die=, 51, 493 - - =Zaza=, 628 - - _Zenatello_, 458, 665 - - Zerbinetta, 814 - - Zerlina, 31, 36 - - Zina, 767 - - Zitterbart, 787 - - Zorn, Balthazar, 246 ff. - - Zuàne, 482 ff. - - Zucarraga, 746 - - _Zucchi_, 523 - - Zuniga, 587 ff. - - Zurga, 604 - - Zweter, Reinmar von, 107 ff. - - - - -My Path Through Life - -By Lilli Lehmann - -Translated from the German by Alice Benedict Seligman - -_8o. About 500 pp. With 50 Illustrations_ - -Mme. Lehmann gives us a volume of memoirs, musical and personal, which -will command the attention of the world-wide public which this great -singer has charmed. The book is written with her characteristic -sincerity and frankness. She unfolds the complete story of her life, -devoting a generous measure of attention to her friends and rivals -upon the operatic stage. - -Her achievements in Prague, Leipsic, Vienna, and elsewhere, her -struggles in Berlin, her extended tours in Europe and America, are -fascinatingly told. She presents an account of her collaborations with -Wagner at Bayreuth, and tells of her experiences at Court. - -The pleasant as well as the arduous aspects of the artist's career are -presented with a wealth of anecdote. - - G.P. Putnam's Sons - New York - London - - - - -_"Clear in construction, direct in purpose, and written with -intellectual calm, yet with the enthusiasm of a musician."--N.Y. Sun._ - -The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach - -BY - -Sir Hubert Parry, M.A., Mus. Doc., D.C.L. - -Professor of Music, Oxford; Director of Royal College of Music - -Author of "Studies of Great Composers," "Evolution of the Art of -Music," etc. - -_8vo. With Portraits._ - -Sir Hubert Parry's _Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer_, is at once a -biography and a critical and historical study of the achievements of -the great eighteenth-century composer, director, and performer upon -the organ and piano. The eminence of Sir Hubert Parry himself as a -composer and as a writer and student of music needs no comment here. -For the last decade he has been professor of music at Oxford. -Considering the importance of the man who is the subject of this life, -and the authority of Sir Hubert Parry as a critic and writer, no -student of music can afford to be a stranger to this thorough and -comprehensive work. - - G.P. Putnam's Sons - New York - London - - - - -Memoirs of a Prima Donna - -By Clara Louise Kellogg - -(Mme. Strakosch) - -_8o. With 48 Illustrations._ - -Clara Louise Kellogg, who is now Clara Louise Strakosch, was the first -American prima donna to win recognition abroad. After making her début -in opera at the Academy of Music, in New York, in 1861, she appeared -in opera in London and later in Berlin, Vienna, and Saint Petersburg. -In every country she was received with acclaim and returned to her -native land covered with honors showered upon her by the best -audiences that the old world affords. - -Miss Kellogg created the rôle of Marguerite in Gounod's _Faust_ in -this country, and of Mignon in Ambroise Thomas's opera of that name. -After winning laurels in Italian opera she organized an English opera -company of her own, which sang for several seasons in New York and the -principal cities of the United States. While at the head of her own -company she produced Wagner's _Flying Dutchman_ for the first time in -America, creating the rôle of Senta, and she was the first prima donna -to sing _Aïda_ and _Carmen_ in English. Miss Kellogg was famous not -only for the beautiful quality of her voice but for her marvelous -musical ear. It is said that there were over forty operas that she -could sing on twenty-four hours' notice, and that never once in the -course of her operatic career had she been known to sing a fraction of -a tone off the key. - -These Memoirs are filled with anecdotes of the interesting people whom -she met, on and off the stage, and contain a fund of information about -voice culture and the study of music that no one interested in the -subject can read without profit. - - G.P. Putnam's Sons - New York - London - - - - -_An Ideal Biography_ - -Richard Wagner - -His Life and His Dramas - -A Biographical Study of the Man and an Explanation of His Work - -By - -W.J. Henderson - -Author of "The Story of Music," "Preludes and Studies," "What Is Good -Music," etc. - -The purpose of this book is to supply Wagner-lovers with a single work -which shall meet all their needs. The author has told the story of -Wagner's life, explained his artistic aims, given the history of each -of his great works, examined its literary sources, shown how Wagner -utilized them, surveyed the musical plan of each drama, and set forth -the meaning and purpose of its principal ideas. The volume has been -prepared with great care and no little labor, and is not intended to -be critical, but is designed to be expository. It aims to help the -Wagner-lover to a thorough knowledge and understanding of the man and -his works. - -"An exposition rather than a criticism of Wagner's art, for in -Wagner's case it is peculiarly true that any biographical study of the -man is inseparable from an explanation of his works. Mr. Henderson's -book is intended to help the lover of Wagner to a thorough knowledge -and understanding both of the man and his works. Nothing in the -English language, at least, has ever so fully covered the -subject."--_Review of Reviews._ - - G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS - New York - London - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Opera Book, by Gustav Kobbé - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE OPERA BOOK *** - -***** This file should be named 40540-8.txt or 40540-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/5/4/40540/ - -Produced by Charlene Taylor, Linda Cantoni, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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