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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43873 ***
+
+  GIACOMO
+  PUCCINI
+
+  BY WAKELING DRY
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
+  NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY. MCMVI
+
+
+
+
+  Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO., LIMITED
+  Tavistock Street, London
+
+
+
+
+  LIVING MASTERS OF MUSIC
+  EDITED BY ROSA NEWMARCH
+
+  GIACOMO PUCCINI
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+  _To face
+  page_
+
+  GIACOMO PUCCINI                                     _Frontispiece_
+    _From an autographed copy of a photograph by Bertieri,
+        Turin, in the possession of the author_
+
+  PUCCINI'S BIRTHPLACE IN THE VIA DEL POGGIO, LUCCA                8
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  CHURCH OF ST. PIETRO, SOMALDI WHERE PUCCINI WAS ORGANIST        12
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  PUCCINI AND FONTANA, THE LIBRETTIST AT THE TIME                 18
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  PUCCINI'S VILLA AT TORRE DEL LAGO                               22
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  PUCCINI IN HIS 24-H.P. "LA BUIRE" MOTOR-CAR                     24
+    _From a photograph by R. de Guili & Co., Lucca_
+
+  PUCCINI AFTER A "SHOOT"                                         28
+    _From a photograph by S. Ernesto Arboco_
+
+  PUCCINI IN HIS STUDY AT TORRE DEL LAGO                          40
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  PUCCINI IN HIS MILAN HOUSE                                      48
+    _From a photograph specially taken by Adolfo Ermini, Milan_
+
+  PUCCINI MANUSCRIPT SCORE. FROM THE SECOND ACT OF "TOSCA"        50
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  MISS ALICE ESTY AS MIMI IN "LA BOHÈME"                          68
+    _From a photograph lent by Madame Alice Esty_
+
+  PUCCINI MANUSCRIPT SCORES. FROM THE LAST ACT OF "LA BOHÈME"     72
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  *PUCCINI IN "MORNING DRESS" (NATIONAL PEASANT COSTUME) AT
+      TORRE DEL LAGO                                              82
+
+  *PUCCINI SHOOTING ON THE LAKE AT TORRE DEL LAGO                 82
+
+  *PUCCINI SNOWBALLING IN SICILY                                  86
+
+  *PUCCINI WRESTLING AT POMPEII                                   86
+
+  *PUCCINI DESCENDING ETNA ON A MULE                              90
+
+  *PUCCINI ON HIS FARM AT CHIATRI                                 90
+
+  PUCCINI AT TORRE DEL LAGO IN HIS MOTOR-BOAT "BUTTERFLY"         96
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  PUCCINI'S MANUSCRIPT. FIRST SKETCH FOR THE END OF THE FIRST
+      ACT OF "MADAMA BUTTERFLY"                                  102
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+  PUCCINI'S MANUSCRIPT SCORES. FROM THE FIRST ACT OF "MADAMA
+      BUTTERFLY"                                                 112
+    _From a photograph lent by Messrs. Ricordi_
+
+* _From a series of snapshots given to the author by Signor Puccini_
+(_Copyright reserved_)
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAP.                                          PAGE
+
+     I. PUCCINI, AND THE OPERA IN GENERAL           1
+
+    II. PUCCINI'S EARLY LIFE                        9
+
+   III. THE PUCCINI OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY        19
+
+    IV. "LE VILLI"                                 30
+
+     V. "EDGAR"                                    40
+
+    VI. "MANON"                                    50
+
+   VII. "LA BOHÈME"                                68
+
+  VIII. "TOSCA"                                    83
+
+    IX. "MADAMA BUTTERFLY"                        101
+
+
+
+
+GIACOMO PUCCINI
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+PUCCINI, AND THE OPERA IN GENERAL
+
+
+A big broad man, with a frank open countenance, dark kindly eyes of
+a lazy lustrous depth, and a shy retiring manner. Such is Giacomo
+Puccini, who is operatically the man of the moment.
+
+It was behind the scenes during the autumn season of opera at Covent
+Garden in 1905 that I had the privilege of first meeting and talking
+with him, and about the last thing I could extract from him was
+anything about his music. While his reserve comes off like a mask when
+he is left to follow his own bent in conversation, one can readily
+understand why he adheres, and always has done, to his rule of never
+conducting his own works.
+
+One thing struck me as peculiarly characteristic about his nature and
+personality. The success of _Madama Butterfly_--for that was the work
+in progress on the stage as we passed out by way of the "wings" to the
+front of the house--was at the moment the talk of the town. Puccini
+was full, not of the success of his opera, but of the achievements of
+the artists who were interpreting it. "Isn't Madame So-and-so fine?"
+"Doesn't Signor So-and-so conduct admirably?" "Isn't it beautifully put
+on?" The composer was content and happy to sink into the background and
+think, in the triumph, of all he owed to those who were carrying out
+his ideas. He has a quiet sense of fun, too. "Let us step quietly,"
+he said--as we came into the range of the scene that was being
+enacted--"like butterflies."
+
+I have called Puccini the operatic man of the moment. It is not
+difficult to account for his popularity. His whole-souled devotion
+to this one form of musical art, in which he has certainly achieved
+much, has by some been pointed to as defining his limits. Apart from
+a few early string quartets, which mean nothing more than the usual
+preliminary studies of a gifted student, Puccini has written absolutely
+nothing but operas since he started. In this respect his music has a
+certain well-defined natural characteristic that gives him--if it be
+necessary in these days to fit any particular composer into his own
+special niche--a distinct place in the history of the progress and
+development of the art and science of music making.
+
+Roughly speaking, the opera had its beginnings in the dance, but almost
+at the same time it travelled along the road of the development of
+vocal expression by music. As early as the days of Peri and Caccini,
+who reverted to the old Greek drama as the basis on which to build
+something anew, and by so doing brought forth the germ which was
+afterwards to bear fruit through Gluck and Wagner, the feeling for
+freedom of expression, the desire to snatch music away from the
+tyranny of a set form--counterpoint, as it was then understood--strove
+to make itself felt and understood. It must not be taken to mean that
+the old contrapuntists did not endeavour to combine the adherence to
+a form with some degree of definite expression; for in the works of
+one of the greatest of this school, old Josquin des Près, are to be
+found plenty of emotional touches by which, even in so restricted a
+pattern as the madrigal form, it was plain that a closer union between
+words and music--an emotional feeling, in short--was clearly the thing
+striven for.
+
+Still dealing briefly with beginnings, one may point to the dramatic
+cantatas--particularly in Italy, but found in France as well--or
+madrigal plays, by which, in distinction to what may be called little
+comedies with music, this essential "operatic" feature in the union of
+the arts of speech and song, comes out with special clearness.
+
+In Italy then, the land which owns Puccini as one of its most
+distinguished sons, the opera had its rise; and in _Dafne_, the first
+child of a new art, it is curious to note, it immediately turned
+aside into one of those many by-paths which led it very far away from
+the goal of its promise. Curious again is the reason for its first
+fall--the desire of the leading singer for vocal display, and the
+introduction of long vocal flourishes, which, having nothing to do with
+the case, yet pleased the public mightily. In this _Dafne_--the score
+of which has been lost--it was the great singer Archilei who was the
+offender. Yet again a strange thing comes down to us after these many
+years. Peri, the composer, was highly delighted with the interpolations
+and the vocal gymnastics.
+
+But out of something dead, something very much alive was destined to
+develop. The old Greek drama was not to be resuscitated by a sort of
+transfusion of blood--music, the newest and most emotional of the arts,
+being the medium to carry life into the structure. There is not space
+here to do more than hint at the various fresh phases--the reforms, as
+they have been called--each of which, in trying to deal with what was
+already built up, really brought to an achievement the ideal which had
+floated before many a worker in the same field.
+
+In Italy, as early as Cimarosa's day--he died in 1801--the opera,
+regarded purely as a musical form, attained as near perfection as
+possible. It is difficult, even when dealing with a period that,
+unlike our own, was very much more concerned about the manner than
+the matter of things, to distinguish between the various styles of
+opera; but taking the opera seria and the opera buffa as representing
+two great phases of the art, Cimarosa stands out as one who combined
+the essential qualities of both into products which had the stamp of
+individuality. Pergolesi is another shining light who stands out in the
+long line of illustrious workers whose efforts were entirely cast into
+the shade by the arrival of Rossini and his followers, Donizetti and
+Bellini. All this time, during which so-called Italian opera dominated
+the whole of Europe, nothing was done in Italy in the way of developing
+orchestral writing, which in Germany had made such marvellous strides.
+At the psychological moment--for Italy--came Verdi, who, if he took
+the opera very much as he found it, breathed from the very first a
+new spirit into its composition. His artistic growth, as seen by his
+later operas, was one of the most remarkable things in modern musical
+history. And in the fulness of time we come to Puccini, to whom it is
+reasonable to point as the successor of Verdi. These two, who may be
+linked up with reason with Boïto and Ponchielli, present many features
+of resemblance. Puccini's musical expression, at first purely vocal,
+has in his later work shown that same growth in artistic development.
+From the beginning he was concerned with the continuous flow of melody,
+since he had not, like Verdi, to get away exactly from the old form
+of the set numbers; but in Puccini's case, the growth referred to is
+seen in his latest work in the further elaboration of the orchestral
+portion. Although in England we have had few experiments worked out in
+the way of the development of opera, it is safe to say that such new
+modern works as have been taken to our hearts have owed not a little to
+the orchestral part of the fabric. Tchaikovsky's _Eugen Oniegin_ and
+Humperdinck's _Hänsel und Gretel_ are at least two notable cases in
+point.
+
+But in whatever way we view an opera, mere orchestral fulness will
+not serve to land the work very high up in the esteem of music
+lovers. Nor will the purely beautiful in music--melody worked out
+with transparent clearness of form--save a poor, unconvincing or
+uninteresting dramatic fabric from passing into the great storehouse
+of the unacted. Puccini's music is dramatic, and by far the greater
+part of it, by a sort of quick natural instinct, is purely of the
+theatre. His first and most direct appeal is by the charm and vitality
+of the vocal expression, while his whole plan is one of movement.
+From the first--if we except for the moment his _Le Villi_, which
+was first called a ballet-opera--he called his operas _Dramma per
+lyrica_--lyric dramas, a term first established, and moulded into a
+definite art-form, by Wagner. With his first opera, Puccini started
+something of a new form in the short opera; and two remarkable works
+of the kind in _Cavalleria Rusticana_ by Mascagni and _I Pagliacci_
+by Leoncavallo, which came very soon after, clearly indicate that he
+had founded a school as it were; and so from Italy to-day, as in times
+past, this particular fashion spread to other countries. Puccini,
+still exhibiting, with a strong and in many ways typical national
+feeling, spontaneous vocal melody as his leading characteristic, did
+not limit himself to the perfection of the short opera. His subsequent
+works were of larger calibre. He left the fanciful and imaginative and
+the old world legends, and turned to everyday life for his subjects.
+In general form--for one must revert to this not particularly lucid
+description when dealing with opera--Puccini must be placed among the
+shining lights who have chosen to deal with what may be called light
+opera. _Opéra comique_, as translated by our term "comic opera,"
+means something so entirely different, that although "light opera"
+is but a poor expression, it is one that may perhaps be most readily
+"understanded of the people."
+
+The term "light" is associated practically entirely with the music. The
+subjects of Puccini's operas are all of them tragic, but the expression
+of the theme, the working out along the already roughly defined paths,
+is not by the heavy, the big, or the strongly moving in music. One may
+point almost to Bizet, as shown in _Carmen_, as the special point from
+which Puccini started. Furthermore, Puccini stands almost unrivalled
+in his own particular way in giving us, by means of operatic music,
+something very near akin to the comedy of manners in drama. Much might
+with advantage be deduced from the success of Puccini in this country,
+and the same result applied to the question of our national opera; or,
+seeing that such a thing does not exist, to the crying need for some
+encouragement to be given to native composers. Puccini, it may be, has
+become the vogue simply because he is light and lyrical, not so much
+here in the dramatic, but in the musical sense. No one, it is safe to
+say, at this time of day desires to go back in any shape or form to the
+old "set-number" sort of piece. Such a reversion may fittingly form
+the ideal towards which a follower of Sullivan--who in his _Yeomen of
+the Guard_ gave us unquestionably the best definite "light" opera of
+the last generation--may strive to bring to perfection. Puccini has by
+the general mould of his work made his place and found his following
+on the operatic stage, and it is surely by the vocal strength and
+vocal continuity of his work that this place of his has been achieved
+and maintained. It is easy, of course, to point to the simplicity of
+the achievement when one sees the fruit of the labour: but without
+urging any one to copy an accepted model, or to merely repeat what
+has been already designed, one may wonder why, with so many gifted
+melodists among contemporary British musicians, no one has given us
+definite light opera. It is a direction in which our composers have
+never moved. If a reason for Puccini's greatness--or popularity, if
+you will--is wanted, it may be found in this extremely clever use of
+the light lyrical style. And lest there be any misunderstanding, let
+it be said that hardly one of Puccini's songs or dramatic numbers can
+be pointed to as making this or that opera an accepted favourite. "Che
+gelida manina" from _La Bohème_ is trotted out by not a few budding
+tenors, and it may be occasionally heard at a ballad concert, but even
+this is not sung one-tenth as many times as, say, the prologue to _I
+Pagliacci_, leaving out of the question the extreme popularity, as an
+instrumental piece, of the Intermezzo from _Cavalleria_. Puccini's
+melodies, if they do not actually fall to pieces away from their
+surroundings, at least very quickly lose their full significance, and
+not a little of their charm. And it is for this reason, therefore,
+that Puccini stands as the most definitely operatic composer of the
+moment. He has had great opportunities, it is true, but he has had
+great struggles. Like Wagner, he is concerned, and ever has been, with
+just one phase of art. To those that come after may be left the task of
+deciding as to his exact place in the roll of fame. By the oneness of
+his endeavour, by the sincerity of his expression, by the spontaneity
+of his vocal melody, does Puccini stand worthily among the living
+masters of music.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI'S BIRTHPLACE IN THE VIA DI POGGIO, LUCCA]
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+PUCCINI'S EARLY LIFE
+
+
+In Lucca in 1858, in a house in the Via Poggia, Giacomo Puccini was
+born. The family originally came from Celle, a typical mountain village
+on the right bank of the Serchio. From the earliest times the family
+was one devoted to the art of music, and while the world knows only of
+the musician who is the subject of this book, the achievements of his
+musical ancestors were of no mean order.
+
+It will be sufficient to trace back the family to one of the same name,
+a Giacomo Puccini, who, born in 1712, studied with Caretti at Bologna.
+During his student days he was the friend of Martini, and thus from
+very early days the Puccini family have had intimate connection with
+those musicians whose names will live as long as musical history. On
+returning to Lucca this Puccini was appointed organist of the cathedral
+and subsequently _maestro di capella_. His compositions were entirely
+in the domain of ecclesiastical music, and include a motet, a Te Deum,
+and some services.
+
+His son, Antonio, also proceeded to Bologna for his musical training,
+and in process of time succeeded to the post at Lucca. Antonio's chief
+composition was a Requiem Mass, which was sung at Lucca on the occasion
+of the funeral of Joseph II. of Tuscany.
+
+The first of the family to turn his attention to opera was Domenico
+Puccini, the son of the foregoing, who, like his father and grandfather,
+after studying at Bologna, and under the famous Paisiello at Naples, also
+held the post at Lucca. Of his several operas, _Quinto Fabio_, _Il
+Ciarlatano_, and _La Moglie Capricciosa_ had a certain vogue in his day,
+but have passed into oblivion. Dying at the age of forty-four, he left
+four children, of whom Michele was the father of the Puccini with whom
+we are dealing.
+
+The grandfather Antonio helped this young Michele and sent him to study
+at Bologna, where he came under the influence of Stanislaus Mattei,
+the teacher of Rossini. Later on he proceeded to Naples, where he was
+taught by Mercadente and Donizetti. Returning to Lucca he married
+Albina Magi, and was appointed Inspector of the then newly formed
+Institute of Music. Some masses and an opera, _Marco Foscarini_, stand
+to his credit, but it was as a teacher that this Puccini did his best
+work. Among his pupils were Carlo Angeloni and Vianesi, who afterwards
+won distinction as a conductor, not only in Italy but at Paris and
+Marseilles.
+
+Michele Puccini died at the age of fifty-one in 1864, leaving his wife,
+who was then thirty-three, to provide and care for his seven children.
+It is interesting to record that the famous Pacini, the composer of
+_Saffo_, which is still regarded as perhaps the chief classic of the
+purely Italian school, conducted the Requiem sung at his funeral.
+
+Puccini's mother and her noble work in bringing up her large
+family--for she was left with no great share of this world's
+goods--deserves infinitely more than this bare mention of her
+excellence. In the present instance, it is her patient care in making
+her fifth child, our Giacomo Puccini, a musician, that we have to
+recognise. But for this patience, the way of the man who was destined
+to achieve his own place in the annals of fame must have been still
+more rough. All praise then to the patient mother whose memory is still
+so lovingly cherished by her distinguished son.
+
+Giacomo Puccini was only six when his father died, and as a child was
+remarkable for a restless nature and a keen desire to travel. He was
+sent to school at the seminary of S. Michele, and afterwards to San
+Martino. Arithmetic appears to have been his chief stumbling-block,
+but in everything, his curious irresponsible nature, his strong
+dislike to anything like guidance and restraint, made the acquisition
+of knowledge a hard task. Failing to acquire any sort of distinction
+in any branch of scholarship, an uncle of his, on his mother's side,
+tried to make him a singer; but the future musician, whose triumph was
+gained, curiously enough, in the display of the very art he despised,
+added, in this particular subject, one more to his many failures. The
+mother, in spite, doubtless, of a good deal of well-meant advice as
+to wasting time and money on a singularly unpromising youth, stuck
+to her conviction that Giacomo was destined by his gifts to carry
+on the long line of family musicians; and with many real sacrifices
+in the way of pinching and scraping, sent him to Lucca, where, at
+the Institute of Music, founded by Pacini, he came first under the
+influence of Angeloni, who, it will be remembered, was a pupil of
+his father. Infinite patience seems to have been the chief quality
+possessed by Angeloni, and by dint of great tact and sympathy, he
+infused an interest and something of a passion for music into his
+wayward young pupil. Giacomo became a fair player, and was sent off to
+take charge of the music at the church of Muligliano, a little village
+three miles from Lucca, and in a short time he had the church of S.
+Pietro at Somaldi added to his responsibilities. It was during the
+exercise of his church duties that the spirit of composition seems to
+have descended upon him, and certainly, if not in actually a novel way,
+a rather disconcerting one. During the offertory, and at other places
+in the Mass, it was the custom of the organist to improvise a more or
+less extended _pièce d'occasion_, a custom which still obtains. The
+officiating priests were more than occasionally startled by hearing,
+mixed up with these spirited improvisations of their young organist,
+certain plainly recognisable themes from operas, old and new.
+
+[Illustration: CHURCH OF S. PIETRO, SOMALDI, WHERE PUCCINI WAS ORGANIST]
+
+There is no definite record of any specific continuation of studies
+while Puccini was contributing in a questionable way to the dignity of
+the church's service; but in 1877 there was an exhibition at Lucca, and
+a musical competition was announced, a setting of a cantata _Juno_,
+and young Puccini entered. As happened with Berlioz, so too the
+young composer's work was rejected, as not conforming in any way with
+the accepted canons of the art of music. Puccini at this point gave
+an early indication of that doggedness of purpose, a quiet pursuance
+of his own aims and working out his own ideas, which marked his later
+career, and which must have come as rather a surprise to his family,
+who regarded him in all probability as a lazy wayward youth. He did
+not take the refusal of the Lucca authorities to accept his work the
+least to heart, but arranged for a performance of it, and the public
+found it very much to their taste. About this time another early
+composition, a motet for the feast of San Paolina, was performed. With
+these successes, Lucca and its restricted area, with the evidently
+uncongenial work of a church organist, soon became entirely distasteful
+to him, and after hearing Verdi's _Aïda_ at the theatre, his mind was
+made up. To Milan, the Mecca of the young Italian musician, he must go.
+
+His mother still was his best friend; and although the cost of living
+and studying in Milan was sufficient to daunt the courage of any one
+far less hampered with domestic difficulties than she was, she bravely
+set about making the necessary sacrifices. Through a friend at Court,
+the Marchioness Viola-Marina, she enlisted the kindly sympathy of Queen
+Margherita, who generously agreed to be responsible for the expense of
+one of the necessary three years, while an uncle of hers came to her
+assistance by defraying the cost of the other two.
+
+The Conservatory of Music at Milan is best known perhaps from the fact
+that the great teacher of singing, Lamperti, whose pupils number
+Albani and Sembrich, was a professor there up to the date of his
+retirement, in 1875. With the Royal College at Naples it represents at
+the present day the only survival of the most ancient teaching schools
+which began to be founded in Italy at the end of the fifteenth century,
+the name Conservatorio being given to the union of music schools
+for the preservation of the art and science of music. The oldest of
+them were the four schools at Naples, all of which were attached to
+monastical foundations, and which had their rise in the schools founded
+by the Fleming, Tinctor. There were four other schools, similar as to
+their foundation, at Venice, the origin of which was due to another
+great Fleming, Willaert.
+
+On reaching Milan, Puccini's first thought was to bring himself
+earnestly to study, and to pass the necessary examination for entrance
+into this "Reale Conservatorio de Musica." Apart from his steady
+determination to mend his haphazard ways, it is good to note that his
+good resolutions were put to the test, for he does not appear to have
+succeeded at the first trial. But he had grit in him, and he stuck to
+his work bravely; and in 1880, towards the end of October, he passed
+his entrance examination with flying colours, coming out with top marks
+over all the competitors. His actual work as a student did not begin
+till December 16 of that year, and we get from an interesting letter
+to his mother a vivid picture of his doings at this time. Bazzini,
+the master with whom he was put to study, will be remembered as the
+composer of that favourite violin piece with virtuosi, the _Witches'
+Dance_.
+
+"DEAR MAMMA,--On Thursday, at eleven o'clock, I had my second lesson
+from Bazzini, and I am getting on very well. To-morrow I start my
+theory lessons. My daily life is very simple. I get up at 8.30, and
+when I do not go to the school I stay indoors and play the pianoforte.
+For this I am trying now a new technical method by Angeloni, which is
+very simple.
+
+"At 10.30 I have my lunch, and a short walk afterwards. At one I return
+home and study Bazzini's lesson for a couple of hours; after that from
+three to five I go to the piano again and play some classic. I have
+been playing through Boïto's _Mefistofele_, a kind friend having given
+me the vocal score. On! how I wish I had money enough to buy all the
+music I want to get!
+
+"Five is dinner time, and it is a very frugal meal--soup, cheese, and
+half a litre of wine. As soon as it is over I go out for a walk and
+stroll up and down the Galleria. Now comes the end of the chapter--bed!"
+
+All through the three years of his sojourn at Milan, Puccini, from the
+evidence of his letters which he sent home, seems to have preserved
+the simplicity of his nature, and to have kept in a remarkable way to
+his good resolutions. For composition he was put, shortly after his
+entrance, with Ponchielli, the composer of _La Gioconda_. For both
+his teachers Puccini had the liveliest admiration, and the following
+extract from another of his characteristic letters to his mother
+towards the end of his student days, showed how lively an interest
+Ponchielli took in his future:--
+
+"To-morrow I have to go to Ponchielli. I have already seen him this
+morning, but we have had little opportunity of talking about what I am
+to do in the future, as his wife was with him. However, he promised to
+mention me to Ricordi, and he assures me that in my examinations I have
+made a favourable impression. I am now working hard at my exercise,
+towards the completion of which I have made good progress."
+
+This exercise Puccini speaks of was the equivalent to the composition
+demanded by our Universities before a student passes to the degree of
+Bachelor of Music. With this _Capriccio Sinfonica_ Puccini made his
+first mark as a rising composer. It was not apparently an entirely
+spontaneous outpouring, for he wrote it on all sorts of odd scraps of
+paper, just as the mood took him. It is curious to note that although
+in his general character he had made a radical change from waywardness
+to a steady determination and purposeful endeavour towards one definite
+goal, his methods of work and his music writing remained, to this
+day in fact, as very typical of the carelessness of the artistic
+temperament. His scores were, and still are, exceedingly difficult
+to decipher. Both Bazzini and Ponchielli were much attached to the
+promising young musician, but his handwriting--more particularly his
+way of setting down notes on paper--was more than once a great trial
+to their patience. Bazzini on one occasion inquired about this final
+exercise, and Ponchielli replied: "I really cannot tell you anything
+yet about it. Puccini brings me every lesson such a vile scrawl, that I
+confess, up to the present, I do no more than stare at it in despair."
+
+When Ponchielli came to sit down and study the score of this Capriccio,
+the black-beetle-like splotches on the untidy manuscript did not
+prevent the worth of the music from coming through and making its
+appeal to the kindly teacher's mind. Both Bazzini and he were struck
+by its freedom, its freshness, its general grip of the orchestra. It
+was performed at one of the Conservatory concerts, and Puccini's fame,
+heralded by the critic Filippi, who wrote in a special article in the
+_Perseveranza_ about the first performance, travelled round Milan. It
+is interesting to read what Filippi said about the first serious work
+by the future hope, operatically speaking, of young Italy:
+
+"Puccini has decidedly a musical temperament, especially as a
+symphonist, having unity of style and personality of character. There
+are more of such qualities in this Capriccio than are found in most
+composers of to-day, thorough grasp of style, a quick sense of colour,
+an inventive genius. The ideas are bright, strong, effective. He is not
+concerned with uncertainties, but fills up his scheme with harmonic
+boldness, and knits the whole together logically and with perfect
+order."
+
+This discerning writer goes on to speak of the skilful way in which the
+melodic material is worked up, and the general feeling for movement,
+states that it called forth the warmest enthusiasm, and dubs it by far
+the most promising work of that year.
+
+Faccio, a well-known conductor, made arrangements to have it played at
+an orchestral concert, and Puccini wrote with joy and alacrity to his
+mother to arrange to have the parts copied, asking to have sent to him,
+without a moment's delay, twelve first violin parts, ten seconds, nine
+violas, eight cellos, and seven basses.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI AND FONTANA, THE LIBRETTIST, AT THE TIME OF THE
+PRODUCTION' OF "LE VILLI," 1884]
+
+Flushed with his first real success Puccini was ready to act upon
+any suggestion that would enable him to keep the ball, once started,
+rolling along merrily. Ponchielli was struck with the essentially
+dramatic quality of Puccini's mind and bent, and promised to find him
+a suitable libretto so that he might start on an opera. He invited
+Puccini to spend a few days at his country villa at Caprino, and there
+Puccini met Fontana, who, like himself, was at the beginning of his
+career. After much cogitation, it was decided to collaborate in a short
+work, so that it might be ready for the Sozogno competition, the limit
+of time for that event having nearly expired. Thus it was that Fate,
+or Chance, settled the form in which, as it subsequently transpired,
+Puccini was from the very beginning to appear as a setter of fashion in
+opera. But, as we shall see, the path to fame did not immediately open
+to Puccini. The Sozogno prize was not won, but _Le Villi_, his first
+opera, was born, and, like Wagner, the ardent and now well-equipped
+young composer began to experience those pains and penalties, and
+bravely ploughed his way through thorns and over the rough places, and
+finally conquered by the sheer force of perseverance, endurance, and
+singleness of aim.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE PUCCINI OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY
+
+
+Puccini, after the death of his beloved mother, sought consolation in
+hard work, and _Edgar_ was written in Milan during a period, which was
+in like manner experienced by Wagner, of additional anxiety, brought
+about by the want of the actual means to live. But it is undoubtedly
+that out of such trials and troubles the best work of the brain is
+forged and brought to an achievement.
+
+Puccini was living at this time in a poor quarter of Milan with his
+brother and another student. With the £80 he received for _Le Villi_ he
+paid away nearly half of it to the restaurant keeper who had allowed
+him credit.
+
+Milan, the chief operatic centre of opera-loving Italy, is full of
+music schools, agencies, restaurants and cafés, whose reason for
+existence, practically, is found in the fact that half the population
+is in one way or another connected with the operatic stage. Milan is
+even more Bohemian than Paris in this respect, and it is not difficult
+to understand why the subject of unconventionality, as treated by
+Puccini in _La Bohème_, should have come to him with such force. He
+had, in fact, gone through the whole thing completely, so far as living
+on nothing and making all sorts of shifts for existence were concerned.
+Milan's social atmosphere is almost completely that of theatrical
+Bohemianism, and all the students come very intimately into contact
+with its essence and spirit.
+
+There are many little stories of Puccini in his early days, which,
+after all, only represent the common lot of many a struggling genius
+the wide world over. He and his companions at the time _Edgar_ was in
+the process of making rented one little top room in the Via Solferino,
+for which, according to Puccini's friend Eugenio Checchi, who has
+recorded the history of these early days, they paid twenty-four
+shillings a month. Puccini kept a diary, which he called "Bohemian
+Life," in 1881. It was little more than a register of expenses. Coffee,
+bread, tobacco and milk appear to be the chief entries, and there is
+an entire absence of anything more substantial in the way of food. In
+one place there was a herring put down; and on this being brought to
+Puccini's recollection, he laughingly said: "Oh, yes, I remember. That
+was a supper for four people."
+
+As will be seen in the chapter on _La Bohème_, this incident was made
+use of by the librettists in the third act of that opera.
+
+From the Congregation of Charity at Rome, Puccini was in receipt at
+this time of £4 per month. The sum used to come in a registered letter
+on a certain day, and he and his companions usually had to suffer
+the landlord to open it and deduct, first, his share for the rent.
+Many were the scenes they had with this worthy possessor of real
+estate. He had forbidden them to cook in the room, and even with the
+marvellously cheap restaurants, where at least the one national dish
+of spaghetti could be indulged in for the merest trifle, our group of
+young strugglers found it even cheaper to do their cooking at home. As
+the hour of a meal drew near, the landlord used to go into the next
+room, or prowl about the landing, to listen and to smell. The usual
+stratagem was to place the spirit lamp on the table and over it a dish
+in which to cook eggs. When the frizzling began, the others would call
+out to Puccini to play "like the very devil," and going over to the
+piano he would start on some wild strains which stopped when the modest
+omelette--two eggs between three--was ready to turn out.
+
+The material for firing was another source of expense. Their modest
+order did not warrant the coal-merchant sending up five flights of
+stairs to deliver it in whatever receptacle took the place of the usual
+cellar: so Michael Puccini, the brother, used to dress up in his best
+clothes, including a valuable relic in the shape of a "pot-hat," and
+take with him a black-bag. The others said, "Good-bye, bon voyage,"
+with some effusion on the door-step to let the neighbours imagine he
+was going away for a visit; and off Michael would go, to return in the
+dusk with the bag full of coal.
+
+There is something infinitely pathetic in recording that Puccini, when
+fortune smiled upon him, wrote to this brother in great glee to tell
+him of the success of _Manon_, and to say that he was able to buy the
+house in Lucca where they were born. But Michael, who had departed to
+South America to mend his own fortunes, was then lying dead of yellow
+fever, to which he had succumbed after three days' illness.
+
+_Edgar_ being completed, the work brought him in about six times the
+amount he had obtained for _Le Villi_, while with _Manon_, which
+followed, his position became practically assured for the future.
+Always of a shy, retiring disposition, he had often longed to get
+away from the cramped conditions of town life, and Torre del Lago,
+on a secluded lake not far from Lucca, lying in beautiful country,
+surrounded by woods, and connected by canals with the sea--into which
+it flows just by the spot where Shelley's body was washed ashore and
+afterwards burned--was an ideal spot to which his thoughts had often
+turned. He went there to reside first in 1891, about the time he was
+writing _La Bohème_; but some time before that he had found a partner
+of his joys in Elvira Bonturi, who, like himself, came from Lucca, and
+whom he married. Their only son, Antonio, was born in the December of
+1886. It was not until 1900 that Puccini built the delightful villa at
+Torre del Lago to which he is so devotedly attached, and to which he
+always refers as a Paradise.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI'S VILLA AT TORRE DEL LAGO]
+
+Before finally deciding on a site at Torre del Lago--the Tower of the
+Lake--Puccini stayed for a time at Castellaccio, near Pescia, where
+a good deal of _La Bohème_ was put to paper. _Tosca_ was begun at
+Torre del Lago, and finished during a visit at the country house,
+Monsagrati, not far from Lucca, of his friend the Marquis Mansi. At
+the time of _Madama Butterfly_ he was back at Torre del Lago, to which
+he was taken after his motor accident, but he was at this time the
+possessor of another country villa at Abetone, in the Tuscan Appenines,
+and in this latter place a good deal of his latest opera was set down.
+He has more recently built yet another country villa on the opposite
+side of the lake to Torre del Lago, on the Chiatri Hill. It is a
+charming example of the Florentine style of architecture, in which
+brick and marble are most skilfully blended. But Puccini told me, when
+last I saw him, that so far he had only spent a week-end in it.
+
+Puccini, who was always addicted to sport and an open-air life, went in
+for motoring in the year 1901. His accident, by which he broke his leg
+and suffered a great deal of pain and anxiety owing to the difficulty
+of the uniting of the bone, took place in the February of 1903. He had
+left his beloved Torre del Lago and gone into Lucca for a change of air
+and place, owing to a bad cold and sore throat from which he could not
+get free. One of Puccini's characteristics is a certain obstinacy which
+very often leads him to do things in direct opposition to anything like
+a command. The fact that his doctor had told him not to go out in his
+car at night was sufficient, of course, for "Mr. James"--Puccini is
+invariably addressed by those round him as "Sor Giacomo"--to decide on
+a little evening trip; and he and his wife and son with the chauffeur
+started off in the country.
+
+About five miles from Lucca there is a little place called Vignola,
+where is a sharp turn in the road by a bridge. Going at full speed,
+this was not noticed in the dark, and as the car turned, it went over
+an embankment and fell nearly thirty feet into a field. Mdme. Puccini
+and Antonio were unhurt, but the chauffeur had a fractured thigh and
+Puccini a fractured leg. Unfortunately, Puccini was pinned under
+the car, stunned and bruised by the fall; and, moreover, suffered
+considerably from the fumes of the petrol. A doctor, luckily, was
+staying at a cottage near by, and he was able to render first aid.
+Afterwards another doctor was sent for from Lucca, and it was decided
+to make a litter and carry Puccini to Torre del Lago by boat, as
+owing to the inflammation the leg was not able to be set immediately.
+Puccini's great friend, Marquis Ginori, went with him on the boat; and,
+although in great pain, the invalid found himself regretting that on
+the journey so many wild duck flew within range, just at the time, as
+he laughingly remarked, he could not shoot them. Three days after his
+arrival home, Colzi, a famous specialist from Florence, came and set
+the leg. The actual uniting of the bone was a long and tedious process,
+which spread over eight months, and Puccini was not really able to
+walk again properly until he had been to Paris--where his _Tosca_ was
+produced at the Opera Comique--and undergone a special treatment at the
+hands of a French specialist. His first visit to Paris had been in 1898
+for the rehearsals of _La Bohème_.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI IN HIS 24-H.P. "LA BUIRE"
+
+_Photo. by R. de Guili & Co., Lucca_]
+
+Puccini visited London for the first time when he came over for the
+production of _Manon_ at Covent Garden in 1894. He came again in 1897
+for the production in English of _La Bohème_ at Manchester by the Carl
+Rosa Company. This was not, by all accounts, one of his most pleasant
+visits to a country of which he is very fond. Apart from the nervous
+worry of a first performance of a brand new work in a strange language,
+there were difficulties which made it a peculiarly trying time for the
+composer. Robert Cuningham, the Rodolfo, was unfortunately seized with
+a fearful cold which made him practically speechless on the night of
+the performance, and he could do no more than whisper his part. All
+things considered, it is not to be wondered at that Puccini, after
+spending nearly three weeks in rehearsal, decided to keep away from
+the theatre on the eventful night. He has himself written down his
+impressions of Manchester, as well as those of London and Paris.
+
+"Manchester, land of the smoke, cold, fog, rain and--cotton!
+
+"London has six million inhabitants, a movement which it is as
+impossible to describe as the language is to acquire. A city of
+splendid women, beautiful amusements, and altogether fascinating.
+
+"In Paris, the gay city, there is less traffic than in London, but life
+there flies. My chief friends were Zola, Sardou and Daudet."
+
+It was when Puccini was in Paris for the production of _La Bohème_
+that he first met Sardou and arranged about the setting of _La Tosca_.
+Sardou invited him to dinner, and after the coffee and cigars asked him
+to play a little of the music he thought of putting in the new opera.
+Sardou's knowledge of music, by the way, has, to say the least of it,
+its limitations, and Puccini is very loth to play anything he may have
+in his mind in the way of a composition. Puccini sat down at the piano,
+however, and played a good deal, which Sardou liked immensely. But
+Sardou did not know that the composer was merely stringing together all
+sorts of odd airs out of his previous operas.
+
+Puccini's days at his beloved Torre del Lago are divided between sport
+and work. The beginning of his house, by the way, was a keeper's
+lodge, a mere hut, on the edge of the wood. It is so white that in
+the distance it looks like marble, but as a building it is quite
+unpretentious. There is a little garden leading down to the lake, while
+at the back stretches the fine open country. He is usually up and away
+early in the morning, accompanied by his two favourite dogs, "Lea"
+and "Scarpia." He goes to and fro from his shoots in his motor-boat
+"Butterfly." The place abounds with wild duck, wild swans and all sorts
+of water-fowl, the principal quarry from the sportsman's point of view
+being coots, hares, and wild boar. Puccini has been frequently snowed
+up while away shooting as late as April.
+
+To the south of the lake, in the plain, are some remains of a bath
+attributed to Nero, with undoubted traces of a Roman road and a fosse.
+One can hardly move a yard in Italy without coming across villas of
+Lucullus, roads of Hannibal, or fields of Cataline, but this particular
+place, not only from the traces of buildings which remain, but from
+the result of excavation, by which many Roman remains were brought to
+light, is of great antiquity.
+
+Coming in from a "shoot" Puccini often allows the best part of the
+day to pass in more or less what seems like idleness, preferring to
+put down his music at night--the one relic, one may say, of his old
+wayward restless ways. He works chiefly on the ground floor of his
+house at Torre del Lago, in a spacious apartment which is a sort of
+dining-room, study and music-room all in one. The ceiling is crossed
+with large wooden beams, and he calls the Venetian blinds, which are
+outside the many and large windows, "mutes" for the sun, using the
+word, of course, in its sense of a device for softening the tone of
+a musical instrument. The walls of the room are decorated with some
+quick impulsive designs, dashed on by his friend the artist Nomellini,
+representing the flight of the hours from dawn to night. For the rest,
+the room is full of photographs of all sorts of distinguished people,
+from Verdi downwards, and stuffed birds.
+
+When the desire for work is upon Puccini, "it catches him," as
+an Italian would say, "by the scalp," and he works at a thing
+continuously. During the recovery from his motor accident he was
+wheeled to the piano each day and planned out _Madama Butterfly_,
+although the actual writing down of the melodies and the general work
+of construction was done, of course, away from the instrument. He makes
+a rough sketch of the whole score as a rule, which he subjects to all
+sorts of weird alterations only intelligible to himself, and from this
+makes a clean copy embodying all the process of polishing and finishing
+to which the original idea was subjected.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI AFTER A "SHOOT"
+
+_Photo. by S. Ernesto Arboco_]
+
+It is difficult to get from Puccini any particulars of his ideas and
+aims. He much prefers to do things rather than to talk about them. He
+has on one or two occasions, however, given a hint of his views which
+may be worth putting down again. One is on the interesting question as
+to dramatic instinct in music. Puccini maintains that it is a question
+not of instinct but experience. He says himself that his early works
+were lacking in dramatic quality, but he does not agree that if it is
+not inborn it cannot be developed. He maintains that the choice of
+librettos has more to do with it than anything else, and from the first
+he has worked a good deal in this way by more than the usual amount
+of consultation and exchange of ideas that goes on between a composer
+and the writer of the book. Marie Antoinette, at the time when I had
+the pleasure of talking with him, was the subject for an opera which
+was, at least, uppermost in his mind. "But I have thought of many
+subjects and stories," he said. "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret and the
+Tartarin of Daudet are two well-known ones. The latter is pure fun,
+but I have always thought, when coming to the point, that I should be
+accused, if I set it, of copying Verdi's _Falstaff_. The former, I
+believe, Zola promised to Massenet. I have also thought of Trilby; and
+several excellent themes for plots could be gathered from the stories
+of the later Roman Emperors." One statement at least was very
+characteristic of Puccini. "My next plot must be one of sentiment to
+allow me to work in my own way. I am determined not to go beyond the
+place in art where I find myself at home."
+
+Puccini is very fond of the theatre, and when last in London enjoyed
+the production of _Oliver Twist_--he is specially fond, in our
+literature, of Dickens--and _The Tempest_.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+"LE VILLI"
+
+
+The Dal Verme Theatre, where Puccini's first opera was produced, has
+been the scene of many experiments in the art of opera. More than one
+composer has been able to get a hearing there, if no more, and among
+the list of trials and experiments--the value of which taken as a whole
+will doubtless some day be accounted at their proper worth, and which
+still come out like shades of the night to remind us how little we
+appreciate native endeavour--are to be found the names of more than one
+English composer. Among the notable successes which have been first
+launched at this theatre is Leoncavallo's _I Pagliacci_.
+
+The cast and general production of _Le Villi_, as has been mentioned,
+was apparently more or less in the nature of a friendly "helping hand"
+held out to the unknown composer. The first performance was on May 31,
+1884, and the cast as follows:
+
+  _Anna_               CAPONETTI.
+  _Roberto_            D'ANDRADE.
+  _Guglielmo Wulf_     PELZ.
+
+When one thinks of modern extravagance, supposedly so necessary for
+the production of a new play or musical piece, it is little short of
+amazing to learn that the first performance of _Le Villi_ cost a little
+over £20. Of course the main expenses were the costumes and the copying
+of the orchestral parts. Puccini's fellow-students, with that generous
+enthusiasm which is ever part of the artistic temperament, cheerfully
+swelled the ranks of the theatre orchestra, and Messrs. Ricordi printed
+the libretto for nothing.
+
+_Le Villi_ met with a favourable verdict, and Puccini's mother received
+the following telegram on the night of its production: "Theatre packed,
+immense success; anticipations exceeded; eighteen calls; finale of
+first act encored thrice."
+
+The outcome of it all was that Messrs. Ricordi not only bought the
+opera, but commissioned Puccini to write another, thus beginning an
+association which has not only been marked by commercial success but by
+a very real and close friendship.
+
+The following year it was given in a slightly revised version, divided
+into two acts, at the Scala, Milan, that Temple of Operatic Art which
+is the Mecca of every aspiring Italian musician. This performance
+took place on January 24, and was conducted by Faccio, the cast being
+Pantaleoni, Anton, and Menotti. It was not published by Ricordi until
+1897, when it appeared with an English version of Fontana's libretto by
+Percy Pinkerton. In this year it was done at Manchester, at the Comedy
+Theatre, by Mr. Arthur Rousby's company, Mrs. Arthur Rousby being the
+Anna, Mr. Henry Beaumont the Roberto, and Mr. Frank Land the Wulf. Mr.
+Edgardo Levi conducted.
+
+Fontana's story was a curious one to be dealt with by a Southern poet;
+for the basis of _Le Villi_ is found in one of those curious Northern
+legends which seem to be the exclusive property of natures of far
+sterner mould. The Villis, or witch-dancers, are spirits of damsels
+who have been betrothed and whose lovers have proved false. Garbed in
+their bridal gowns, they rise from the earth at midnight and dance in
+a sort of frenzy, till the dawn puts an end to their weird revelry.
+Should they happen to meet one of their faithless lovers, they beguile
+him into their circle with fair promises; but, like the sirens of old
+mythology, they do so only to take their revenge; for once within their
+magic ring, the unrestful spirits whirl their victim round and round
+until his strength is exhausted, and then in fiendish exultation leave
+him to die in expiation of his broken vows.
+
+The scene of _Le Villi_ is laid in the Black Forest. An open clearing
+shows us the cottage of Wulf, behind which a pathway leads to some
+rocks above, half hidden by trees. A rustic bridge spans a defile, and
+the exterior of the cottage is decorated with spring flowers for the
+festival of betrothal. With this, his first opera, Puccini adopted the
+Wagnerian plan which he has since always adhered to, of a preludial
+introduction, indicative of the general atmosphere of the drama to
+follow, in place of the conventional overture. As the curtain rises,
+Wulf, Anna and Roberto are seated at a table outside the cottage, and
+the chorus hail the betrothed pair in a joyful measure. As the lovers
+move off to the back, the chorus tells something of the prospects of
+the two young people. Roberto is the heir of a wealthy lady in Mayence.
+He will have to visit her for the arrangement of the details of his
+inheritance, and will then return to wed the bride. The chorus then
+sings a characteristic waltz measure, whirling and turning and singing
+that the dance is the rival of love. It is a quick impulsive measure in
+A minor, and foreshadows in a clever way the weird dance which later on
+plays such an important part in the scheme. Guglielmo, the father, is
+asked to join in the dance, and he does so after a short instrumental
+passage leading back to the dance and chorus proper. Guglielmo dances
+off with his partner and the stage is clear.
+
+Anna comes down alone as the orchestra finish off the rhythmic figure
+of the waltz. She holds a bunch of forget-me-nots in her hand, and
+sings of remembrance in a characteristic melody which at once reveals
+Puccini's individuality both in melody and structure. It varies
+considerably in the time, and has all that impulsive charm of movement
+with which Puccini always fits the situation and the sentiment. In
+actual structure the melody moves along in flowing vocal phrases, but
+they invariably drop on to an unexpected note and reveal thereby that
+piquancy of flavour which makes them singularly attractive. Anna is
+putting the bunch of flowers, the token of remembrance, in Roberto's
+valise when her lover comes in. Taking the little bunch he kisses
+it and puts it back, and then begs a token more fair--a smile. A
+characteristic duet then follows, in which Anna gives expression to the
+doubts she feels at her lover's enforced absence. A delightfully suave
+second section is sung by Roberto, in which he tells her of his love,
+strong and unending, born in the happy days of childhood. Anna catches
+the spirit of his fervent devotion, and the duet ends with their voices
+blending in a song of triumphant trust. The voices end together on a
+low note, but the orchestra carries the melody up to a high C by way
+of a climax, and then gives out a bell-like sound skilfully preceded
+by a chord of that somewhat abrupt modulation in which Puccini always
+delights, which portends the approach of night and the departure of
+Roberto. This bell-like note of warning comes in again during the short
+interlude which leads to the chorus, who return to sing of Roberto's
+departure ere the bright beams of sunset fade in the western sky.
+
+Roberto bids Anna to be courageous, and asks her father's blessing.
+Slow and solemn chords usher in Guglielmo's touching prayer, in which
+after the opening phrases the lovers join their voices, repeating the
+sentiment of his pious utterances. Towards the end the full chorus is
+added to the trio; and this solidly written number, backed by a moving
+orchestral figure, ends impressively. Anna sings her sad farewell, the
+voice rising to a characteristic high A, and a short orchestral passage
+finishes the scene.
+
+The second act is headed "Forsaken" in the score, and to the opening
+prelude is attached a short note explanatory of what has happened
+in the meanwhile. "In those days there was in Mayence a siren, who
+bewitched all who beheld her, old and young." Like the presiding
+spirit of the Venusberg who held Tannhäuser in thrall, so Roberto is
+attracted to her unholy orgies and Anna is forgotten. Worn out by
+grief and hopeless longing Anna dies, and in the opening chorus of the
+second act we learn that she lies on her bier, her features of marble
+paler than the moonlight. An expressive and solemn funeral march, the
+main theme of which is indicated by this preceding chorus, is then
+played by the orchestra, during which the funeral procession leaves
+Guglielmo's house and passes across the stage. In order to add to the
+air of mystery this is directed to be done behind a veil of gauze. At
+the end, a three-part chorus of female voices chants a phrase of the
+_Requiescat_. The tableaux curtains are dropped for a change of scene.
+The place is the same, but the time is winter, and the gaunt trees are
+snow laden. The night is clear and starry, and pulsing lights flash
+from the sides, adding their lurid and fitful brilliance to the calm
+cold light of the moon.
+
+With a sharp detached full chord in G minor, the weird unearthly
+dance begins in quick duple time, the quaint rhythmic melody being
+composed of staccato triplets. Out of the darkness the figures of the
+witch-dancers appear and join in the dance as the frenzy increases. It
+is a highly characteristic movement, and one can hardly agree with the
+critic who on its first production, as will be seen hereafter, wished
+that it might be in the major key. For an uncanny, utterly restless
+and grim effect, most subtly presented by means of purely legitimate
+music, this number stands as an exceptionally fine example. The dance
+ends, and the witch-dancers are swallowed up in the darkness, while
+Guglielmo comes out to dwell on the villainy of Roberto and the cruel
+wrong done to his dead child. The prelude to his plaintive number is
+prefaced with a striking descending passage for the chorus. As he
+sings of the pure and gentle soul of his daughter, the legend of the
+witch-dancers comes into his mind, but at once he prays for forgiveness
+for such unworthy thoughts of vengeance.
+
+From a passage for the hidden voices of the sopranos we expect the
+approach of Roberto. The recalcitrant lover is startled by the sounds
+he hears, but he thinks remorse, and not the Villis of the legend,
+is the cause of it. Into his mind there flashes the remembrance of
+all that has passed, and he goes towards the cottage-door with a
+pathetic hope that Anna may still be living. But he starts back as
+some irresistible force compels him to retreat. Again he thinks a wild
+fancy has deceived him, but once more the voices sound the note of
+approaching doom. "See the traitor is coming." He kneels in prayer, but
+at the end comes in the sinister phrase, "See the traitor is coming."
+He rises from his prayer to curse the evil influence that has wrought
+his destruction.
+
+Then, at the back, on the bridge, appears the spirit of Anna. Amazed,
+Roberto exclaims, "She is living, not dead!" but Anna replies that she
+is not his love but revenge, and reminds him, by a repetition of her
+solo in the first act, when she sang to the bunch of forget-me-nots,
+of all his broken promises. Roberto joins in this strenuous and
+moving duet, and accepts with resignation the fate that has been
+too strong for him. Torn with the anguish of remorse he expresses
+his willingness to die. Anna holds out her arms, and Roberto seems
+hypnotised. Gradually the witch-dancers come on, and surrounding
+the pair dance once more in frenzy row carry them off. Over the
+characteristic dance is now placed a full chorus. The words "whirling,
+turning," which frequently occur as the movement gains in intensity,
+show the connection with the joyous measure in the first act. In this
+we find one of those effects of unity which, although slight enough in
+many cases, reveal the hand, if not exactly of a great master, of an
+original thinker and a particularly finished craftsman. Roberto, at
+the end of the main section of the chorus, ending on a long sustained
+top A, and then dropping sharply to the tonic (it is still as before
+in G minor), breaks away breathless and terrified and strives to enter
+the cottage; but the spirits drive him again into the arms of Anna,
+and once more he is drawn into the whirlpool. With a last despairing
+shriek, "Anna, save me!" he dies; and Anna, with an exultant cry of
+possession, vanishes, while the chorus change the words of their song
+to a shout of exultation.
+
+By this first effort, slight in texture as it is, Puccini gave
+unmistakable evidence of that power of giving, by a series of detached
+scenes, an idea of impressionistic atmospheric quality which was
+afterwards so beautifully achieved in his _La Bohème_. From the
+criticism of Sala, who, as we saw in a preceding chapter, was present
+at the meeting at Ponchielli's house which led to the production of
+the opera, we get a sound idea of the general effect and trend of the
+music, which is worth quoting. It appeared in _Italia_ of the day
+after the performance, at which, it may be mentioned, Boïto applauded
+vigorously from a box.
+
+"It is, according to our judgment, a precious little gem, from
+beginning to end. The prelude, not meant to be important, is full of
+delicate instrumental passages, and contains the theme afterwards used
+in the first duet between the lovers. The chorus which follows is gay
+and festive and shows masterly handling of the parts: the waltz, which
+we should have preferred in a major key, is entrancing, one of the
+most characteristic numbers of the opera is the duet between Anna and
+Roberto. The prayer of benediction is another inspired page, in spite
+of its length. The polyphony of the vocal parts is masterly and the
+melodic flow most charming. The symphonic nature of the intermezzi
+which connect the scenes, more particularly the wild dance of the
+spirit forms, distinctly points to the arrival of a great composer."
+
+While the salient points of the music appear to have been unerringly
+seized upon by the writer, the subtlety of the composer in making the
+first dance of the peasants foreshadow the furious revelry of the
+witch-dancers appears to have escaped the critic. But this desire for
+strongly marked effects is after all essentially typical of the race.
+In Italy, the clear, radiant sky, the pure air, the glorious strength
+of the light, does not permit of an appreciation for half-tones and
+the fascination of shadows. If all need not exactly be dazzlingly
+bright it must be quite distinct. _Le Villi_ was a remarkable first
+opera, but it has not succeeded in keeping a place in the current
+repertory. The music is unquestionably dramatic, but the whole
+structure, words and music, has not that quality of characterisation
+which, together with the necessary dramatic force, makes up the
+theatrical effectiveness without which no opera can ever expect to hold
+the stage. To use a hackneyed phrase, _Le Villi_ has the defects of
+its qualities, but from the freshness and individuality of its music
+there is no reason why it should not be given in our concert-rooms as
+a cantata. The dance movement, after all, would lose nothing by being
+given as an orchestral piece, and the spirit forms might well be left
+to the imagination. At any rate, _Le Villi_ is, by a very long way,
+a far greater work than many a so-called "dramatic" cantata. These
+things take the place in our provincial towns of the opera abroad; and
+since we do not appear in the least likely to establish opera houses,
+it would be a good plan for the British composer to take Puccini's _Le
+Villi_ as an example of what might be done with a cantata--an opera,
+after all, played without action or scenery.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+"EDGAR"
+
+
+With his second work for the stage, _Edgar_--the libretto being by
+Fontana, the author of the opera-ballet _Le Villi_--Puccini adopts the
+designation of lyric drama. _Edgar_ is in three acts, and with it the
+composer attained to the dignity of a first performance at the Scala,
+Milan. It saw the light on April 21, 1889, with the following cast, the
+conductor being Faccio:
+
+  _Edgar_        GABRIELESCO.
+  _Gualtiero_    MARINI.
+  _Frank_        MAGINI COLETTI.
+  _Fidelia_      AURELIA CATAREO.
+  _Tigrana_      ROMEIDA PANTALEONE.
+
+The vocal score was not published by Ricordi until 1905.
+
+The theme of the drama is the familiar one of a man tempted by passion,
+who swerves from the "strait and narrow path," and who afterwards makes
+atonement. In the case of our hero, Edgar, the atonement comes too
+late, and the end, as in _Carmen_--which in general dramatic outline
+may be called the foremost if not the first operatic exploitation of
+the idea--is Tragedy.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI IN HIS STUDY AT TORRE DEL LAGO]
+
+In front of his book Fontana places a foreword to the effect that we
+are all Edgars, because fate brings to each of us love and death. He
+winds up with a moral statement, true if trite, that it is wrong to let
+ourselves be dragged away from pure love to mere sensual passion.
+
+The action takes place in Flanders in the early fourteenth century. The
+scene of the first of the three acts shows us a square in a Flemish
+village, at the back of which is Edgar's house, and before it an almond
+tree. On the one side is the entrance to a church, on the other an inn.
+
+Over the distant landscape dawn is breaking. With a bell effect, of
+which Puccini is so fond, the simple prelude begins. The plain and
+straightforward progression of light chords is French in character, but
+the bell effect is established musically by the simple leap of a fifth
+in the bass. The chords continue, with a filagree figure placed above
+them, and from delicate musical suggestion the effect turns to realism
+as the bell itself sounds, ushering in the notes of the unseen chorus,
+as the Angelus rings from the church.
+
+Edgar is asleep on a bench before the inn, and peasants and shepherds
+cross the stage, greeting each other as they go to their daily toil.
+Fidelia, the daughter of Gualtiero, then comes on to the balcony and
+salutes the dawn in a characteristic melody which, although not based
+on the bell theme in the way of the use of a representative phrase,
+seems very naturally to grow out of the musical idea. She calls to
+Edgar and comes down, plucking a branch from the almond tree. Fidelia
+continues her address to Edgar in a melody which is much more broken in
+rhythm than her former one; and on her departure a curious chromatic
+passage, which seems to presage unrest and stress, leads to the entry
+of the chorus, who repeat, from afar but coming nearer, their greeting
+to the dawn, while Edgar turns to go after Fidelia.
+
+Strongly dramatic and of distinctive colour is the orchestral passage
+which accompanies the entrance of Tigrana. She is a gipsy girl, who has
+been brought up by the villagers. She enters with a species of lute--or
+guitar, more properly perhaps--called the dembal, a stringed instrument
+in common use even now by descendants of the Magyar race. She laughs at
+Edgar with a fine scorn of his tame admiration for the gentle village
+damsel. "There! I have made Fidelia run away," she sings with a mixture
+of sarcasm, irony, and hypocrisy. "I am so sorry. I did not know a
+pastoral love affair was at all in your way."
+
+Gualtiero, Fidelia's father, now comes on, and, with the gathering
+crowd of villagers, enters the church. The beginning of the voluntary
+on the organ is heard, and over and above this simple diatonic,
+ecclesiastical tune, come, in skilful and expressive contrast, the
+remarks of the gipsy girl to Edgar, by which she reminds him that she
+has opened to his nature the delights of an intense full-blooded love
+in place of the mildly inocuous affection of peasant girls. "Trot
+along, good little boy," she sings, "and go to church." Edgar's feeling
+about the matter is quickly shown by his emphatic "Silence, demon!"
+which comes out like the crack of a whip. But Tigrana only laughs at
+him.
+
+As Tigrana turns to go into the inn she is stopped by Frank, the
+brother of Fidelia. Frank is in love with the gipsy girl, and from
+him we learn that fifteen years ago she was abandoned in the village.
+Questioned as to her doings, Tigrana tells Frank that he is a tiresome
+bore, while he proceeds with the not very tactful method of reproaching
+her for her ingratitude. "You were the child of us all," he sings, "and
+we did not know we were nursing a viper in our midst."
+
+Tigrana, who is not given to wasting much time with preliminaries,
+tells Frank that if he has any regard for his virtue he had better not
+be seen talking to her; and she goes towards the inn. Frank bursts out
+with the confession that he has tried to tear her out of his heart, but
+although she brings nothing but grief to him she remains there in full
+possession.
+
+From the church comes the sound of a fragment of a motet, begun by the
+sopranos and swelling out afterwards in a six-part chorus. Tigrana
+sits on the table outside the inn and jeers at the piety of those
+peasants who, not being able to find room in the church, kneel outside
+and join in the devotion. To her dembal she sings a quaint and springy
+sort of tune which is thoroughly impudent in character. With a murmur
+of disapproval, which afterwards grows into a demand, the peasants
+indignantly ask her to desist from her frivolity. As she proceeds with
+her melody the peasants threaten to take stronger measures to stop
+the interruption to their prayers, and Edgar, coming out, rushes at
+once to Tigrana's defence. This open devotion to her cause apparently
+surprises the villagers greatly, and Edgar finds himself called upon at
+once to make up his somewhat vacillating mind. With rather curious and
+certainly sudden access of ardour, he rails against his lot, and curses
+the home of his fathers. Egged on to a species of frenzy, he rushes
+into the house and comes out bearing an ember from the hearth. In spite
+of the efforts of the villagers to restrain his mad impulse he flings
+the brand into the house, and clasping Tigrana to him, announces his
+intention of fleeing with her. Frank then rushes on to prevent their
+departure, and the two young men draw their daggers. A lull in the fray
+is caused by the entrance of Gualtiero and Fidelia from the church; and
+the old man's counsel for peace backed up by pious ejaculations from
+the crowd, seems likely at first to prevail. But Tigrana puts an end
+to Edgar's hesitation, and he attacks Frank with fury. Frank is badly
+wounded, and falls in his father's arms as the chorus curse Edgar for a
+reprobate, and the curtain falls as the house, now well ablaze, lights
+up the scene with its lurid glare.
+
+The second act shows us a terrace in a garden with the brilliantly
+lighted rooms of a sumptuous mansion glimmering in the distance.
+The stillness of the night is broken by the sounds of revelry, more
+languorous than strident. The chorus, which sing of the splendour of
+the night, is made up of two sopranos, an alto, two tenors, and a
+bass; and the essentially nervous, close harmonies--the light detached
+phrase begins with a chord of the 13th--establish the atmosphere.
+There is some fine and characteristic music in this rather long scene
+between Edgar and Tigrana, who have, it is easy to understand, been
+partaking too freely of the joys which soon pall. Edgar is weary of
+his enervating surroundings, and his thoughts turn to the glory of
+the April dawn and the calm love of Fidelia. Tigrana taunts him with
+reproaches, and there follow the inevitable mutual recriminations. In
+vain does she bring her fascinations to bear upon her lover. The sound
+of drums and the march of soldiers is heard, and Edgar calls out to
+them as they pass to stay their march and partake of his hospitality.
+Tigrana at once begins to be suspicious. Frank, as it turns out, is
+the captain of the band. Edgar hails him with joy as the saviour of
+the situation. "Frank, forgive me," he cries. "You alone can save me
+and enable me to redeem my past." Tigrana is distracted, but she is
+powerless to prevent Edgar's departure, and with a menacing gesture she
+sees her lover go, a characteristic phrase from the chorus forming the
+background to the last utterances of the principals concerned in this
+short and not particularly convincing act.
+
+The third act is prefaced with a short prelude of melancholy mould.
+The rising curtain discloses a courtyard within a fortress at
+Courtray. In the battle which raged round this castle, the Flemish,
+it will be remembered, with very few numbers--and these only armed
+with agricultural implements for the most part--conquered the French
+army led by Philip Le Bel. Their opponents were decoyed into a sort
+of marshy swamp, and were not only hampered by their large retinue,
+which included carriages, women-kind, and all sorts of paraphernalia,
+but imagined that they were only to meet a handful of ignorant churls.
+There is a chapel on one side of the scene, and distant trumpet calls
+are heard as a funeral _cortège_ proceeds to range itself around a
+hearse, and the monks in the procession light tapers.
+
+Preceded by a draped banner, the soldiers bear on the body of a knight,
+fully armed, which they place on the hearse and then deck it with
+flowers and wreaths. Standing apart from the crowd are Frank and a
+monk, while in the background are seen Fidelia and her father. The
+chorus chant a _Requiescat_, and then Fidelia sings a most moving and
+pathetic farewell, for the armed knight is Edgar. It may be stated,
+however, that the monk who stands apart is really Edgar, who, for no
+very clear or convincing reason, has chosen to be a witness of his
+supposed funeral celebration.
+
+Frank now adds his praise to the farewell of Fidelia, and extols in
+an oration the splendid courage of the man Edgar who died for his
+fatherland. Then the monk does a seemingly strange and unwarrantable
+thing. He tells the soldiers that their hero, before death, directed
+that all his misdeeds should be proclaimed publicly, in order that his
+life might set an example in true penitence. The monk then relates
+the story of Edgar's past life, and discloses among other details the
+relations existing between the dead man and Tigrana.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI IN HIS STUDY AT HIS MILAN HOUSE
+
+_Specially photographed by Adolfo Ermini, Milan_]
+
+Fidelia, filled with horror at the supposed treachery, boldly asks how
+the soldiers dare to listen to this besmirching of their leader's
+honour. The soldiers, however, appear to believe the tale, and make
+an attempt to drag the body off to throw it to the vultures. The monk
+is touched by the loyalty of Fidelia, who is prepared to defend, with
+her life if needs be, the body of her hero. "By death," she cries, "he
+has expiated his sins. Leave me to watch him through the night, and my
+father and I will bear his body away in the morning and find for it
+some resting-place in his native village." The monk then kneels for a
+space by Fidelia; and the soldiers, touched by her devotion, move off,
+and Fidelia leaves with her father.
+
+Tigrana now enters, and, like Fidelia, would pay her tribute of
+respect to the dead man. Frank and the monk, however, after a little
+consultation, put a little plan of theirs into operation, and approach
+Tigrana. "Would that I were the object of your grief," says Frank. "One
+tear of yours is worth a thousand pearls." The monk then comes out with
+some rather plainer speaking, and deliberately bribes the erstwhile
+gipsy with some jewels if she will do their bidding. Tigrana very
+readily falls into the trap and the soldiers are recalled. The monk
+now calls on Tigrana to speak out, and prove that Edgar was a traitor
+to his country. She hesitates for a moment, but finally acknowledges
+that the accusation is true. In righteous anger the soldiers rush to
+the hearse and drag the body away, but the armour is found to be merely
+the empty pieces and no body is encased therein. Fidelia and her father
+now come on, and the fraud is disclosed to them. "Yes," cries the monk,
+throwing back his cowl, "for Edgar lives." Fidelia, at first stunned
+by the joyful discovery that her lover lives, throws herself into his
+arms, and Tigrana is spurned by the soldiers. With an exclamation, "I
+am redeemed, only love is the real truth," Edgar leads Fidelia towards
+the castle. Like a tiger cat, Tigrana follows them, and with a savage
+leap stabs Fidelia, who dies instantly. Edgar and Frank turn and seize
+the murderess, and the soldiers, with a bloodthirsty cry, hale her off
+to instant execution. With a cry of despair Edgar falls senseless
+across Fidelia's body.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI IN HIS MILAN HOUSE
+
+_Specially photographed by Adolfo Ermini, Milan_]
+
+Notwithstanding many serious shortcomings, _Edgar_, as a lyric drama,
+contains much that is sincere and appropriate. It was not a success on
+its first representation, and the blame was laid for the most part on
+the libretto. Seeing, however, in the history of opera how many a worse
+book has passed muster, it is a little curious that Puccini's second
+work should have been so completely laid on the shelf. It is not the
+lack of dramatic qualities that make the story of _Edgar_ a poor one;
+it is rather that the story, as a play, does not contain enough of
+characterisation to really retain the interest. In spite of the weak
+third act, with its supposed dead body, and the hero in disguise, the
+music of this section, both from its wealth of melody, its treatment,
+and above all its powerful expressive qualities, stands as the best in
+the work. A finer or more moving scene than that of Fidelia's farewell
+is hardly to be found in the whole range of what may be termed modern
+opera. Taken as it stands _Edgar_ proved that Puccini had emphatically
+progressed beyond his achievement of _Le Villi_. Amid the sweet
+notes of love there come strong and virile expressions of anger, tumult
+and indignation, but the main theme is kept clearly to the front with
+all that force that stands as the leading characteristic of Italian
+opera, old or new--definite and direct vocal expression.
+
+Puccini himself had, and still has by all accounts, a very warm
+affection for this _Edgar_ of his; and it is not at all unlikely that a
+revised version may be seen in the near future. Indeed, as it stands,
+it might very well be permitted the test of a revival.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+"MANON"
+
+
+Auber was the first opera-composer to be attracted by the Abbé
+Prévost's famous romance _Manon Lescaut_. It is one of those vivid
+stories of love and passion which have ever made an appeal to those
+in search of a theme for musical expression. As drama it has a very
+close connection with life in general, and its human interest has that
+full flesh-and-blood quality which gives it a certain quick vitality.
+Sad and sordid it may be; but the story of the wayward Manon, as
+fascinating a black sheep as ever graced the pages of fiction--or
+history--is one which is likely to remain in the common stock of tales
+which provides novelists with material for practically all time.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI'S MANUSCRIPT SCORES, FROM THE SECOND ACT OF
+"TOSCA"]
+
+The chief romances of the Abbé are the _Mémoires d'un Homme de
+Qualité_, _Cleveland_, and _Doyen de Killerine_ (the two latter, by
+the way, books which show the result of his sojourn in England). While
+these exhibit certain well-marked qualities, they are completely
+cast into the shade by _Manon Lescaut_, his masterpiece, and one
+of the greatest novels of the eighteenth century, while, from its
+characterisation, it may be pointed to as the father of the modern
+novel. The Chevalier des Grieux is an embodiment of the saying "Love
+first and the rest nowhere," and it is curious that the Abbé made a
+French translation of Dryden's once famous play on the same theme,
+_All for Love_. Manon, as a creation, is a triumph, one of the most
+remarkable heroines in fiction, springing red-hot as it were from the
+imagination of the wandering scholar who brought her into existence.
+It is all the more extraordinary that the novel which at once makes an
+appeal by its interest and sincerity, but which repays study as a work
+of art, should have been a sort of appendix to his first work.
+
+Some years after Auber's opera had been laid on the shelf--it never
+attained to any great popularity--Massenet, a notable "modern" French
+composer, found by means of its story the expression of quite the
+best that was in him. Since _Carmen_ modern French opera has no such
+masterpiece of its kind to show. Massenet's _Manon_ was produced
+in 1884, and in the fulness of time Puccini turned to the same
+story, and after planning his own _scenario_, commissioned Domenico
+Oliva--dramatic critic of the _Journal d'Italia_ of Rome, and author of
+a play _Robespierre_ which had attained no little success--to write the
+"book." This was afterwards so drastically altered and remodelled by
+Puccini, in consultation with Ricordi, the publisher, that in justice
+to Oliva, his name as the author of the libretto was removed from the
+published score.
+
+It was produced in 1893 at the Regio Theatre, Turin, on the 1st of
+February, conducted by Alexander Pomé, and cast as follows:
+
+  _Manon_                   FERRANI.
+  _The Dancing Master_      CERESOLI.
+  _Des Grieux_              CREMONINI.
+  _Lescaut_                 MORO.
+  _Geronte_                 POLONINI.
+  _Edmund_                  RASSINI.
+
+For a new work by a composer whose reputation at that time, much to the
+wonderment of native judges and musicians, had not traversed beyond
+Italy, its production in England was remarkably quick. It was given
+the next year, on May 14, 1894, at Covent Garden with the following
+cast, comprising a special company of Italian singers brought together
+by Messrs. Ricordi, of which the exceptionally fresh chorus appears to
+have been the chief point of excellence:
+
+  _Manon_                   OLGHINA.
+  _Des Grieux_              BEDUSCHI.
+  _Lescaut_                 PINI-CORSI.
+  _Geronte_                 ARIMONDI.
+
+and A. Seppilli was the conductor. The occasion was interesting in more
+than one way. The season under Sir Augustus Harris began on the very
+unusual day--a Whit-Monday. The opera house had been renovated entirely
+and re-upholstered, with new seats and curtains, and glittered fresh
+in all the glories of paint and gilding. Tradition has it that this
+was the only time in forty years--since the building of the present
+house in fact--had a broom ever been known to go into every corner. Yet
+another point makes this opening of the season memorable. It began with
+this new opera of Puccini's, and then gave Verdi's _Falstaff_ the same
+week.
+
+Without making an "odious" comparison it is obvious that reference
+should be made to Massenet's work and the differences between that and
+Puccini's opera briefly touched upon.
+
+In both versions certain departures are made, so far as the story
+goes, from the original tale. Let us first examine Massenet's book.
+This opens in the courtyard of an inn at Amiens to which Lescaut, a
+soldier who is evidently given to loose living, brings his pretty
+little sister Manon _en route_ for the convent school to which she is
+destined. She meets with the handsome Chevalier des Grieux, and easily
+falls in love with him. The quiet life of schoolroom and convent does
+not make a very strong appeal to the high-spirited girl, and she very
+quickly decides to run away to Paris, and give her brother the slip.
+At first honourable intentions as to the pretty and confiding Manon's
+future seem to weigh with the lover, but in the second act we find
+them installed in the customary _ménage à deux_, Des Grieux's father
+having declined to give his consent to a marriage. Thus almost at
+the beginning Fate seems to be against Manon, and she accepts only
+too easily the situation and--drifts. Des Grieux's "sinews of war"
+being anything but opulent, it is easy to understand why the offers
+of the aristocrat De Bretigny are too tempting for Manon to refuse.
+To him she transfers her affections, and we next see her established
+at Cours-la-Reine, the fêted and admired mistress of Bretigny. But
+during the ball she hears that her former lover has renounced the world
+with its pomps and vanities and is preparing to take orders. With
+that instinct known as the truly feminine, Manon immediately makes up
+her mind that she wants Des Grieux back again; and after a strenuous
+scene at the seminary of S. Sulpice we find, in the third act, that
+Des Grieux has thrown his good resolutions to the winds and is again
+with his charmer. Manon by this time has become rather more than a
+fragile butterfly from whose wings the bloom has been brushed. She is
+now running a gambling den, with the help, apparently, of one of her
+numerous admirers. Des Grieux and this person come to loggerheads,
+and the latter informs the police of the nature of the gaming house,
+and Manon is ignominiously dragged off to the lock-up. The last scene
+shows us Manon being taken by road to Havre, from whence she is to be
+shipped, in company with other undesirables, to the New Continent. Des
+Grieux sees her, and begs the warder to allow him an interview. Worn
+out by remorse and weakened by her former life, Manon, now reduced to
+the last stage of infirmity, dies peacefully in her lover's arms.
+
+Puccini's librettists follow a different plan, and the _Manon_ of the
+Italian composer is a species of impressionistic scenes more or less
+loosely strung together, which, while they demand perhaps a knowledge
+of the story for their full appreciation--and to opera goers the story
+is, of course, quite familiar--exhibit that quality of conjuring
+up the atmosphere not so much of the actual place and characters,
+but of the spirit which underlies the pathetic tragedy. In short,
+Puccini's _Manon_--music and story, for it is impossible to separate
+them--exhibits that skilful picturing of the theme which is even more
+apparent in the subsequent work, _La Bohème_.
+
+In Puccini's opera we find after the meeting of Manon and Des Grieux at
+the inn at Amiens that the gay young lady is installed as the mistress
+of Geronte, and rather less stress, perhaps, is laid on the part her
+rascally brother plays in the transaction. By giving the final scene
+in America, whither Des Grieux follows the ruined girl, Puccini's
+librettists follow the Abbe's original story rather more closely.
+Other actual differences will be noted by following the plan, as in
+the previous chapters, of giving a more or less detailed story of the
+opera, with plot and music side-by-side.
+
+Puccini begins his _Manon_ with a short, bustling, vivacious prelude
+which continues for some twenty bars or so after the rise of the
+curtain, which discloses, as in Massenet's first act, the exterior
+of an inn at Amiens, with a crowd of citizens, students and girls,
+strolling about the square and the avenue. One of the students, Edmund,
+sings of the beautiful night dear to lovers and poets, and the band
+of his merry companions cut his vapourings short with laughter and
+jest. Presently the work-girls come down, and Edmund sings to two of
+them a graceful, lively fantasy of youth and love, which is afterwards
+taken up by the chorus of students. In characteristic fashion, the
+citizens join in, and we get one of those solidly written but vivacious
+choruses, a form which Puccini handles so well and dexterously, with
+similar splendour of technic to the immortal Leipsic Cantor, keeping
+each part clear and effective. Des Grieux comes on and laughingly asks
+some of the girls whether among them is to be found the one his heart
+dreams of. The chorus continues in its gay spirit of song, dance and
+laughter until the sound of a postillion's horn calls their attention
+to the arrival of the coach from Arras. An orchestral passage repeating
+the brisk theme of the opening prelude leads up to the entry of the
+diligence, from which Lescaut and Geronte di Lavoir descend, the latter
+assisting Manon to alight. While the travellers give their orders to
+the landlord, Des Grieux catches sight of Manon, and is attracted by
+her face and figure. The crowd has dispersed and the students settle
+down to cards, and then Des Grieux speaks to the girl. In a pretty
+little musical dialogue, which Puccini always expresses so dramatically
+and with a sort of naturalness that may be called colloquial, the pair
+make each other's acquaintance, and, like the conventional action
+of writing of letters on the stage, the result is arrived at in the
+twinkling of an eye. Manon is called off by her brother's voice, and
+Des Grieux has his first love song, a tender impassioned melody full
+of great charm and lyrical strength. Edmund and the other students
+then chaff him as to the fair charmer good fortune has sent him,
+and Des Grieux makes his escape to think over his conquest. Another
+typical number, a duet in chorus between the students and the girls
+in a quick valse time, is broken by the arrival of Geronte and the
+brother, from whose dialogue we learn the sister is destined for a
+convent, and that the brother is not at all sorry to be quit of
+his responsibility in the matter of looking after her. Geronte di
+Lavoir, the elderly and lecherous nobleman, appears to be a chance
+acquaintance, who has met with Lescaut and his sister while travelling
+in the coach. The carelessness of Lescaut and his evidently mercenary
+nature fits in only too readily with Geronte's desires, for he is
+immediately attracted to the artless little girl from the country and
+lays his evil plans. Darkness falls on the scene. Lescaut is attracted
+to the card-players, and joins them quickly in the hopes of adding to
+his store of wealth, and Geronte bargains with the innkeeper for a
+post-chaise and some swift horses, giving instructions that a lady will
+want to pop off very quickly to Paris in a short time. Edmund overhears
+this little plot, and discloses it to his friend Des Grieux. A short
+characteristic orchestral passage with a changing unrestful rhythm
+leads up to Manon's entrance. With a _naïveté_ expressed in the music
+she sings, she comes to Des Grieux and tells him that she has kept her
+thoughtless promise. In a beautifully phrased impassioned passage Des
+Grieux urgently presses his suit. Manon, who continues to hang back a
+little, is overcome, and when an interruption from her brother, on whom
+the effects of wine is beginning to tell, startles them out of their
+ecstatic rapture, she attempts to return to the inn. But Des Grieux
+takes her away, and tells her of the plot of the old reprobate to
+abduct her, and urges her to escape with himself.
+
+Edmund now tells Geronte of the escape of his prize, and that
+disappointed old _roué_ tries to rouse the brother from his lethargy.
+Lescaut decides that pursuit is worthless, and suggests following the
+pair to Paris, whither he is sure they have gone. Geronte stifles his
+fury and goes in to supper, while the students join in with a merry
+chorus, laughing at the old man's discomfiture as the act ends.
+
+A few bars of a light tripping measure against a slight accompaniment
+of pizzicato chords from the strings opens the second act, the scene
+of which shows Manon installed in Geronte's luxurious house in Paris.
+Manon's toilette is being finished off by the perruquier, and the
+detached remarks and inquiries for the various articles necessary are
+musically "popped in" with a skilful hand. The brother comes in, and
+while the finishing process is still proceeding, he congratulates his
+sister on the transference of her affections from the penniless Des
+Grieux to the rich old nobleman. Manon, however, is by no means "off"
+with the old love, and in a tender little melody she sings of the
+humble dwelling where she and her lover passed a blissful time. Like
+so many of Puccini's melodies it begins by a reiteration of a single
+note, which gradually spreads itself into a lyrical flow. This works up
+into an expressive little duet, in which Manon longs for Des Grieux's
+return, and Lescaut promises to make him a successful gamester in order
+to gather in the necessary funds.
+
+Some singers now arrive, and Manon explains that Geronte is a composer,
+and likes to air his art for her delectation. A mezzo soprano then
+begins a tuneful madrigal of a pastoral character, pleasantly
+melodious but which hardly gives the idea, in full, of a certain
+stilted artificiality which is the peculiar flavour of the period.
+The other female voices join in a three-part chorus. Manon is rather
+bored with their music, and directs her brother to give them some money
+to get rid of them. The brother then departs to find Des Grieux, and
+Geronte and his friends arrive to a dainty little orchestral measure of
+the character of a minuet, with its fanciful little trills and twirls,
+but with its syncopated bass to preserve the idea of movement and
+progress. The dancing-master gives some hints in deportment to Manon,
+and the chorus of Abbés and other friends of Geronte's murmur their
+admiration at her graces. In a spirited little number Manon, who has
+politely told the company not to interrupt her lesson, sings to Geronte
+of the pleasure she is experiencing in her present life, and with
+characteristic skill the chorus is worked into the scheme as part of
+the musical fabric, and not merely as a decorative background.
+
+After the departure of Geronte and his guests, Des Grieux, who has been
+told of Manon's whereabouts by the brother, comes in. The scene between
+them is musically full of emotional force, Des Grieux expressing
+his loneliness and despair at Manon's flight, while Manon deplores
+her weakness and assures him of her love in spite of all that the
+present situation entails. The highly dramatic duet works up to a fine
+intensity, and at the end their voices blend in a clever climax of a
+kind--a few strenuous reiterated notes in unison taking an upward leap
+at the finish--so characteristic of the composer. Their happiness is
+short lived, for Geronte comes in and puts them to confusion. After
+cajoling him into something like sweet reasonableness, Manon thinks
+the little affair will blow over. But her truly feminine desire for a
+compromise, a gentle slipping over of things, is not to be fulfilled.
+Des Grieux, when they are once more alone, tells Manon that her present
+life is impossible, that she must give it all up and fly with him.
+He has a fine broad melody when Manon tries to return to her plan of
+letting things go on as they are. Manon is moved by his intensity, and
+begs once again for forgiveness, and agrees to wholly give her heart to
+him. Lescaut now rushes in breathless to acquaint Des Grieux and his
+sister that Geronte has put the police on their track. The scene works
+up into a clever trio of quick movement, Manon imperilling herself
+and her companion by her desire to carry off as much spoil as she can
+lay hands on. Geronte, attended by a sergeant and two men, block the
+entrance, and Manon in her surprise and agitation drops her cloak,
+and the jewels roll to the floor. With this effective finish--Manon
+being arrested, as we may suppose, in this instance for larceny, and
+the grimness of the situation intensified by the rascally brother's
+double-dealing in the matter being hinted at--the act closes, Des
+Grieux being held back from rescuing his beloved, and uttering a cry of
+despair.
+
+Before the third act comes a characteristic orchestral interlude,
+in which the Wagnerian plan of continuing the story by means of a
+symphonic tone poem is employed with individuality by Puccini.
+This intermezzo deals with two main ideas or phases, first the
+imprisonment of Manon, and secondly the sad journey to Havre, the port
+whence the _filles de joie_--how intensely sad is the irony of the
+description!--are to be taken over seas. To the score is appended a
+quotation from the Abbé Prévost's story, giving the clue to the strain
+of passion that comes in the music of this number, and blends skilfully
+with the sadness and the sense of movement which are its leading
+flavours, so to speak.
+
+Des Grieux says in the story, "How I love her! My passion is so ardent
+that I feel I am the most unhappy creature alive. What have I not
+tried in Paris to obtain her release. I have implored the aid of the
+powerful. I have knocked at every door as a suppliant. I have even
+resorted to force. All has been in vain. Only one thing remains for me,
+and that is to follow her--go where she may--even unto the end of the
+world."
+
+The scene of the third act shows the square near the harbour at Havre,
+with the sea and a ship in the distance. To the left is the barracks
+serving as a temporary prison, and at the gate a sentinel keeps guard.
+Des Grieux and the brother have evidently been keeping their vigil
+all through the night, and dawn is about to break. Very poignant and
+striking is the fevered agitation shown in the dialogue passages which
+open the scene. The brother has done his best to arrange for a rescue
+when his unhappy sister shall be brought forth and marched on board.
+The sentinel who now comes on duty has been bribed, and Des Grieux is
+able to hold a conversation with Manon through the barred window. As
+the night passes into day, the all too short interview ends, and Des
+Grieux gives some final instructions to Manon. But the plans for the
+rescue fail, and Lescaut comes back to tell Des Grieux of their failure
+as the clamour of citizens and soldiers is heard. After a spirited
+snatch of chorus, the roll on the drums gives the signal for the gate
+of the barracks to open, out of which the women, in chains, pass out to
+the ship. The chorus in some telling little abrupt phrases pass remarks
+as the various names are read out, and the vivacious comments and rough
+laughter heighten the effect of sadness as Manon and Des Grieux snatch
+their last farewell. Manon hangs behind a little, only to be roughly
+pushed on by a sergeant. Then it is that Des Grieux's despair gets the
+upper hand. "Kill me," he cries, "or take me along with you as your
+meanest servant." The captain is touched by his devotion, and in the
+bluff, good-natured fashion of the sailor, agrees to take Des Grieux.
+
+In the fourth act the death of Manon puts an end to this sad but
+very human tragedy. The music is one long duet, full of the highest
+emotional expression, and musically reaches to the highest heights
+of pure tragedy. The scene shows us a desolate dreary plain on the
+outskirts of New Orleans. Manon and Des Grieux by their dress and
+manner show the destitution of their circumstances. "Lean all your
+weight on me, love," murmurs Des Grieux, as he supports his companion,
+worn out by fatigue and privation. Manon suffers from thirst, and Des
+Grieux, who can find no water in this arid waste, goes out to search
+farther afield. Memories of the life that is past now come to torture
+poor Manon, and when Des Grieux comes in again he finds her hopelessly
+distraught and at the point of death. Very touchingly does the music
+Manon sings picture the ebbing life, the faltering breath, the approach
+of the end; and, with a long, low phrase on one note, Manon, whose last
+words are that her love for Des Grieux will never pass although her
+sins will be cleansed away, sinks peacefully in her long last sleep.
+Bursting into tears Des Grieux falls senseless over her body.
+
+It is inevitable to return to a comparison between this work of
+Puccini's and that of Massenet. Massenet remains supreme in his own
+place from the delicate and spirited characterisation of his music.
+His Manon is essentially French, entirely of the eighteenth century,
+bringing out in the music all the artificiality, all the airs and
+graces. While the story is not without flesh and blood, it remains
+as a thing apart, moving in its own sphere, full of its own special
+atmosphere. Puccini takes the same French story and gives us a moving
+lyric drama, which is on a far broader plane, is essentially human and
+common to every place, every race and all time, since it deals with
+purely elemental passions.
+
+Since _Manon_ was the work by which Puccini's operatic music was first
+given to the English music-lovers, the following extracts from the
+critiques which appeared after its first performance in England will
+be of interest.
+
+There is nothing which brings back the past so vividly as the
+fascinating process of turning up back files of daily papers. The
+actual day and all the "common round" come back like a living thing; so
+many of the "trivial tasks" seem to assume quite a special importance
+of their own. To read the advertisements, the announcements of
+concerts, theatres and picture galleries, is to remember events and
+pleasant moments which have long passed out of one's mind. Speaking as
+a journalist, the astonishing thing to me is that the daily paper of
+twelve years ago or so should seem such an old-fashioned thing to look
+at. One does not feel this with regard to the journals of a far more
+remote age. It is only these few recent years that seem to have rushed
+along at such a fearful pace.
+
+The _Morning Post_ calls attention to the enterprise shown by
+producing a new work on the opening night of the season and promising
+another--Verdi's _Falstaff_ to wit--within the first week.
+
+Mr. Arthur Hervey, its critic, says: "Now that Italian composers have
+once more come to the fore we may expect to be well provided with
+operas from the quondam land of song, and now the home _par excellence_
+of the melodramatic opera. Mascagni and Leoncavallo having been duly
+welcomed, it is now the turn of Puccini, the much applauded author of
+_Manon Lescaut_." After pointing out the differences in the two books,
+he says that they offer the same amount of similarity the one to the
+other as do those of Gounod's _Faust_ and Boïto's _Mefistofele_. "The
+seeds of Wagnerian reform have not fallen on barren ground. Puccini
+reveals himself in _Manon_ as a composer gifted with strong dramatic
+power, possessing an apparently innate feeling for stage effect and
+considerable melodic expression. His score is exempt from the crudities
+and vulgarities from which certain modern Italian operas are not
+free. The entire first act is treated with a wonderful lightness of
+touch. In the grand duet between Manon and Des Grieux in the second
+act, the composer has fully risen to the height of the situation. His
+music is full of melody and passion. It ends in a decidedly Wagnerian
+fashion which evokes recollections of _Tristan und Isolde_. We have
+only singled out a few salient features in a work that is remarkable
+from many points of view, not the least of which is its sincerity of
+purpose, and we cordially congratulate the composer upon having made so
+successful a _debut_ amongst us."
+
+In contrast to the _Times_ critic, the writer says: "The inevitable
+intermezzo separates the second from the third act. It reproduces
+some of the motives heard in the above-named duet, and is extremely
+effective."
+
+In the _Academy_ of May 19, 1894, Mr. J. S. Shedlock writes: "The
+composer has really something to say, and has said it to very great,
+though not the best, advantage. At present he is too strongly
+influenced by Wagner and by others to display his full individuality.
+The influence of Wagner is specially marked not so much in the use of
+representative themes as in phrases and melodies which recall _Die
+Meistersinger_, _Tristan_, and _Siegfried_. As, for example, the music
+in the first act, when Manon descends from the coach, or the opening
+of the intermezzo.... Of the four acts, the second and fourth appear
+to us the strongest ... the love duet between Manon and Des Grieux is
+a masterpiece of concentration and gradation, the fine broad phrase
+at the close, afterwards heard with imposing effect at the end of the
+third act and with tender expression in the fourth, ought alone to
+ensure the success of the work.... Of course, in a modern opera an
+intermezzo is indispensable. Puccini, however, gives to his distinct
+dramatic meaning: the coda with its orchestration is original and
+expressive."
+
+The _Times_ said of _Manon_, on May 15, 1894, that in melodic structure
+and general cast of its phraseology the new work has many points
+of affinity with the most popular productions of the young Italian
+school; but it is far above these in workmanship, in the reality of its
+sentiment, and, above all, in the atmosphere. It supposes that Puccini
+is the author of his own book, and on the whole prefers Massenet's
+libretto, and points out that the climax of the piece, musically, if
+not dramatically, is the penultimate scene, outside the prison at
+Havre. The finale to this scene in which occur the comments of the
+crowd on the prisoners, some of whom are covered with confusion, while
+others are jauntily defiant, is hailed as the finest number in the
+work. The weakest thing in the opera is, according to this critic, the
+intermezzo, but an atonement is made by the opening of the third act.
+The work, he concludes, amply deserved the very enthusiastic reception
+it obtained.
+
+Even at this short distance of time it is something of a curiosity
+to read that the National Anthem was sung, under Signor Mancinelli's
+direction, at the beginning of the evening by the choristers grouped
+round a bust of the Queen.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+"LA BOHÈME"
+
+
+The mere fact that _La Bohème_, Puccini's fourth work, to which he
+gave the plain title of opera, is his most popular composition for the
+stage, makes one all the more inclined to search more minutely for
+weaknesses. But with repeated performances (for it has passed into the
+regular repertory of all opera houses wherever it has been played) its
+unity, both as an idea and an expression, comes out more and more with
+remarkable distinctness.
+
+[Illustration: MISS ALICE ESTY AS MIMI IN "LA BOHEME"]
+
+It captured the Italian ear and taste immediately, and babies were
+christened Mimi and Rodolfo just as ten years before, Santuzza and
+Turiddu, culled from Mascagni's _Cavalleria Rusticana_, were favourite
+baptismal appellations. It did not take long for England--represented,
+in this instance, by the comparatively limited number of
+opera-lovers--to take it to its heart. It delighted fastidious France
+and even satisfied hypercritical and essentially conservative Germany.
+Of all Puccini's work, it exhibits perhaps the most spontaneity, and
+as a piece of modern music--if the melodies themselves, apart from
+their very definite piquancy and freshness, do not rise to any vast
+heights of emotional expression--its absolute continuity is certainly
+a very high artistic achievement and stands unquestionably as its most
+striking feature.
+
+Illica and Giocosa provided the book, and their idea in providing the
+framework is clearly indicated by the prefatory note to the vocal
+score. They begin with a quotation from the preface to Murger's _Vie
+de Bohème_, of which the thoroughly impressionistic opera is a most
+spirited musical expression. _The Bohemians_, under which title the
+opera was first presented in England, does not express by any means the
+exact nature of the work. It is the spirit of Bohemianism--that curious
+almost undefinable quality, which in reality simply means the absolute
+living for, and in, the mood of the moment, and is not by any means
+the entire monopoly of the artistic temperament--that is portrayed by
+the dramatic scheme. In the matter of following Murger's story, which
+as a novel is the most free in the whole range of modern literature,
+the librettists have been careful to give the spirit rather than the
+letter. They even roll two characters, Francine and Mimi, into one;
+for they find that although in Murger's book characters of each person
+are clearly defined, one and the same temperament bears different
+names and is incarnated, so to speak, in two different persons. "Who
+cannot detect," they say, "in the delicate profile of one woman the
+personality both of Mimi and Francine? Who as he reads of Mimi's little
+hands, whiter than those of the Goddess of Ease, is not reminded of
+Francine's little muff?"
+
+The librettists were content to string together four more or less
+detached scenes from the story. Save for the death of Mimi at the
+close, there is no real climax to any of the four acts. In the first
+act, the two chief characters go off and sing their final high note
+in the passage; in the third, where they part more in sorrow than in
+anger, the situation is varied between a similar device of finishing
+the duet "off" or by quietly sitting up at the back of the scene. These
+two, out of many points of subtlety, are mentioned merely as showing
+Puccini's mastery in catching the essential spirit of the dramatic
+scheme, which is atmospheric, or purely impressionistic. The supremacy
+of his art is shown in a very marked way by the preservation of the
+continuity of the idea by the musical expression. In this _La Bohème_
+stands as a very notable modern work solely because of its absolute
+keeping to the idea which dominates it. Leoncavallo set the same story
+to music, writing the book himself. As a mere adaptation of a novel
+for stage purposes, the dramatic portion of this opera, which keeps
+the stage in France and Germany, may be pointed to as offering certain
+points of superiority. But the music is certainly not atmospheric nor
+impressionistic, and the two works never really come into rivalry.
+Puccini's _La Bohème_ is absolutely on its own plane, and in its own
+particular way supreme.
+
+_La Bohème_ was composed partly at Torre del Lago and partly in a villa
+which Puccini took for a time at Castellaccio, near Pescia. It was
+given for the first time at the Teatro Regio, Turin, on February 1,
+1896, Toscanini being the conductor, and cast as follows:
+
+  _Rodolfo_                 GORGA.
+  _Marcello_                WILMANT.
+  _Schaunard_               PINI-CORSI.
+  _Colline_                 MAZZARA.
+  _Benoit_    }
+  _Alcindoro_ }             POLONINI.
+  _Mimi_                    FERRANI.
+  _Musetta_                 PASINI.
+
+Its first appearance in England was interesting from the rare fact that
+a new opera should not only be produced within a year of its production
+in its native land, but that an English company should be the first to
+present it in our native tongue. With the title _The Bohemians_ it was
+given at Manchester on April 22, 1897, at the Theatre Royal, by the
+Carl Rosa Company, conducted by Claude Jacquinet, and cast as follows:
+
+  _Rodolfo_                 ROBER CUNINGHAM.
+  _Marcello_                WILLIAM PAUL.
+  _Schaunard_               CHAS. TILBURY.
+  _Colline_                 ARTHUR WINCKWORTH.
+  _Mimi_                    ALICE ESTY.
+  _Musetta_                 BESSIE MACDONALD.
+
+It was given at Covent Garden in English, in the October of the same
+year, with practically the same cast. Madame Alice Esty, from whom I
+learnt several interesting particulars, not only of the production of
+the opera, but of the work in general, and some of the past history of
+the wonderful organisation which is still doing such excellent work
+in keeping alive the love for opera in English, was the first English
+Mimi, although she was born in Boston. There were many difficulties in
+the production, and, strange to say, the part of Mimi was first offered
+to Mdlle. Zelie de Lussan, the well-known exponent of the part of
+Carmen, not only in English, but in French as well. The photograph of
+Mdme. Alice Esty shows her in the last Act of _La Bohème_; and it will
+be noticed that she wears, not the customary black gown of the little
+seamstress, but one of some pretensions to magnificence. She followed,
+she told me, the idea of the composer, who particularly wished to
+bring out the fact that Mimi, after parting with Rodolfo, had formed
+an alliance with a rich viscount. This little incident, it will be
+remembered, is duly referred to by Musetta in the text.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI'S MANUSCRIPT SCORES. FROM THE LAST ACT OF "LA
+BOHÈME"]
+
+I have also talked with Puccini about this first English performance of
+_La Bohème_. "I always feel about past performances," he said, "in the
+same way as dead people. Let us say nothing about them but good. But I
+shall never forget the shock it was to me on arriving at the theatre to
+find the disposition of the orchestra in a fashion which I have never
+seen except at a circus. Out of two boxes at each end the bass brass on
+the one side and the drum on the other gave forth detached blares and
+pops which really frightened the life out of me. They did not seem to
+have anything to do with the general musical scheme. I heard this band
+rehearsal start, and then I saw that the right idea, simply because of
+the square-cut idea as to the tempi on the part of the conductor was
+absolutely away from the spirit of the work. I asked the band to take
+a rest and then took two rehearsals with the piano myself. It was
+not long before the artists, all of them sincerely concerned with the
+proper interpretation of my ideas, and myself got into complete accord.
+I was very pleased on the whole with the way it eventually went, and
+although I did not see the subsequent London production, Ricordi told
+me that the Manchester performance was far more spontaneous."
+
+How wonderfully Puccini is able, by playing a score of his on the piano
+and by his eloquent directions as to interpretation, to convey his
+subtlest meaning to an artist, I can speak from actual knowledge. I
+have heard him take a singer through a good deal of this very opera.
+Under his almost magical hands, a well learned interpretation is
+transformed into a genuinely spontaneous interpretation. Puccini in the
+present year of grace, when I told him that I had seen an important
+opera revived in the provinces with the same strange disposal of the
+orchestra which had caused him such distress, threw back his head and
+roared with laughter, not in the least unkindly. "You are a delightful
+people and seriously artistic, but you will keep on doing such funny
+things."
+
+For a long time, however, Mdme. Melba, who in this country has
+invariably, since her first performance of the part in Italian here,
+been seen in the character, has appeared in the final scene in much
+the same plain dress as in the opening Act, the reason, doubtless,
+being that Mimi's loneliness and poverty should be emphasised. Lately,
+however, Mdme. Melba has reverted to the original method of dressing
+the part, and appears in the last scene in an even more elaborate
+evening gown of pale blue satin, with a cloak, and dispenses with a hat.
+
+_La Bohème_ was brought to London after its first production, as we
+have seen, and was played about twenty times that season. The Covent
+Garden production in Italian was two years later, on June 30, 1899,
+when Mancinelli conducted, the cast being as follows:
+
+  _Rodolfo_                 DE LUCIA.
+  _Marcello_                ANCONA.
+  _Schaunard_               GILIBERT.
+  _Collins_                 JOURNET.
+  _Benoit_    }             DUFRICHE.
+  _Alcindoro_ }
+  _Mimi_                    MELBA.
+  _Musetta_                 ZELIE DE LUSSAN.
+
+It will be noticed that the gifted lady who was in the mind of the
+Carl Rosa authorities, for their initial production, as Mimi, was then
+seen in the particular part for which her temperament fitted her. By
+substituting Caruso as the Rodolfo--it is one of the very finest parts
+of this tenor--and Scotti as the Marcello, we have practically the same
+cast as that with which this opera at the present time fills Covent
+Garden; invariably one of its most brilliant audiences.
+
+In June 1898 Paris saw _La Bohème_ at the Opera Comique, for which
+performance the composer visited the French Capital, for the first
+time, to superintend some of the first rehearsals. It went to America
+in the December of the same year, when it was mounted at the Academy of
+Music, Philadelphia, and sung in Italian. Melba was the Mimi, De Lussan
+the Musetta, and Pandolfini the Rodolfo.
+
+New York had seen it, in English, at the American Theatre, in the
+previous month. This production, in which the Rodolfo was J. F.
+Sheehan; the Mimi, Yvonne de Treville; and the Musetta, Villa Knox,
+was by Henry W. Savage's Castle Square Opera Company. It was given in
+French at New Orleans in the winter of 1900 by Barrich's Company. It
+was first given in Germany at the Ander Wren Theatre, Vienna, Frances
+Saville being the Mimi and Franz Naval the Rodolfo.
+
+Coming to the story, which with the music is by this time so familiar
+to opera-goers, the composer, in characteristic fashion, plunges us
+at once, without scarcely as much as a few bars of prelude, into the
+midst of things. At the outset the atmosphere is established by the
+restless, vivacious, detached and spirited phrase which, if it hardly
+ever assumes the proportions, musically considered, of a leading
+theme, at least flavours very strongly the whole musical fabric. It
+may well be taken to represent the free unrestrained spirit of the VIE
+DE BOHÈME. The curtain rises quickly, and we see an attic, inhabited
+by the quartet of gay spirits, those bold adventurers, as Murger calls
+them, who are stopped by nothing--rain or dust, cold or heat. Every
+day's existence is a work of genius, a daily problem. Now abstemious as
+anchorites, now riding forth on the most ruinous fancies, not finding
+enough windows whence to throw their money. Truly, as Murger puts it, a
+gay life yet a terrible one!
+
+Rodolfo, the poet, gazes pensively out of the window, Marcello, the
+artist, is painting the passage of the Red Sea. It is Christmas Eve,
+and the cold is bitter: and to keep the stove alight, they burn up a
+MS.--a drama--of Rodolfo's.
+
+All through this scene of colloquial and snappy dialogue, the music
+runs with remarkable movement. Soon Schaunard the musician comes in. He
+has been lucky enough not only to find a job but to get paid for it;
+and he tells us it was an Englishman who employed him. He has bought
+provisions with the spoil, and they spread the feast, in true Bohemian
+fashion, with a newspaper for table cloth. They begin the meal with
+light-hearted merriment, when the landlord comes in to collect his much
+overdue rent. That worthy is amazed to find his tenants can pay it, and
+after taking a glass with them, and chatting about his _amours_, the
+four irresponsibles get rid of him. They then decide on a visit to the
+café Momus in the Latin quarter, and leave Rodolfo behind for a space,
+as he has to finish an article for the _Beaver_. "Be quick, then," says
+Marcello, "and cut the _Beaver's_ tale short."
+
+As Rodolfo sits at the table to work, a timid knock is heard at the
+door, and Mimi, the pretty little seamstress who occupies a room
+near the roof, and who is already in the grip of the fell disease,
+consumption, comes in to ask for a light, her candle having been
+extinguished by the draught in the passage. She is evidently worn out
+by cough, cold and fatigue, and Rodolfo, after reviving her with a
+little wine, makes a remark as to her delicate beauty. Mimi, however,
+has not come to chatter or to be flattered, and with thanks, prettily
+expressed, she departs for her chamber. Fate, in the shape of a lost
+key, sends her back again, and the draught in the passage puts out
+not only Mimi's candle, but Rodolfo's as well. While they both search
+for the key, Mimi's cold little hand touches that of Rodolfo, and
+the latter clasps it; and he then tells her of his life and aims and
+prospects in the beautifully melodious number, _Che gelida manina_,
+which, like so many of Puccini's themes, seems to grow out of the
+reiteration of a single note, swelling out in a delightful emotional
+fulness. Mimi tells Rodolfo of her work, and how she embroiders flowers
+on rich stuffs, which make her think of the green fields and the sweet
+scents of the country side; how lonely she is all by herself in her
+little top attic; how she takes her frugal supper all alone. The two
+natures are quickly brought together, and Mimi is soon in Rodolfo's
+arms and has received his first passionate kiss. The three friends
+outside now call up to him, and he says he has three lines to finish,
+but that he will join them anon, and that he wants two places kept
+at the supper table. With a full confession of her love, Mimi takes
+Rodolfo's arm, and their last notes, "My love, my love," are heard as
+they descend the staircase.
+
+At the café Momus--the exterior of which we see as the curtain rises on
+the second Act, preceded by a clever and vivacious phrase given to the
+trumpets in the orchestra--our four brave Bohemians were known as the
+Four Musketeers, since they were inseparable. "Indeed," says Murger,
+"they always went about together, played together, dined together,
+often without paying the bill, yet always with a beautiful harmony
+worthy of the conservatoire orchestra."
+
+In this scene, which is full of life and movement--showing in the
+treatment of the chorus, formed of children, people, soldiers,
+students, work girls, and gendarmes, that beautifully polished
+technique in melodic construction which makes Puccini so strong and
+in every way a master musician--the lively Musetta comes on the
+scene. Once more may Murger's own words fittingly recall her to mind.
+"Mademoiselle Musetta was a pretty girl of twenty, very coquettish,
+rather ambitious, but without any pretensions to spelling. Oh, those
+delightful suppers ... a perpetual alternative between a blue brougham
+and an omnibus: between the Rue Breda and the Latin quarter."
+
+Although the incidents represented appear to follow consecutively, it
+is a little strange to find a sort of _al fresco_ entertainment in
+progress after the references to the bitter cold in the preceding Act.
+At any rate, whether the dramatist's license be allowed or not--and
+we may easily imagine a flight of time to have taken place since the
+happenings in the opening Act--the café Momus, in this second Act, is
+so full that our quartet of Bohemians, with Musetta and her elderly
+admirer, take their supper _en plein air_. There is little of incident,
+or progress of events, in this lively scene. Musetta is reconciled
+after singing her delicious song, in slow waltz form, to her Marcello,
+and the fatuous old Alcindoro is left to pay the bill of the whole
+party. Yet against this, the sense of movement and gaiety, shown by the
+ever-moving crowd, and the incident of the toy-seller Parpignol--just a
+plain slice of life put down on the stage in a truly modern method--is
+beautifully worked out in the music, and never for an instant does it
+flag in vivacity.
+
+Musetta comes into prominence again in the third Act. Again is the
+weather intensely cold, and the chill drear atmosphere is indicated in
+the music at the opening by the subtle passage of bare fifths, which
+is further remarkable as a purely musical effect from its connection
+with the trumpet passage which heralded the second Act. The scene is a
+place beyond the toll-gate, on the Orleans road, at the end of the Rue
+d'Enfer. Over a tavern hangs Marcello's picture as a signboard, with
+its title altered to the Port of Marseilles, signifying its adaptation
+to its environment.
+
+Two scenes of parting dominate the dramatic plan of this Act, that
+of Rodolfo and Mimi, and that of Marcello and Musetta. They are
+cleverly contrasted. Very pathetically does Mimi's "addio senza
+rancor" come from the depths of her simple little heart, while the
+end is foreshadowed by the hacking cough which frequently chokes her
+utterances. Musetta is taken to task by Marcel for flirting, and off
+she goes after a strongly dramatic duet, which for characterisation and
+force is one of the most distinctive numbers in the opera; and after
+her exit, in a fury, Mimi and Rodolfo appear to agree, indicated by
+the last phrases of their tender duet, to continue together, for yet a
+space, in the old relations.
+
+In the fourth Act we are back in the attic; and the quartet of
+Bohemians are once more struggling with the problem of keeping body
+and soul together. Two of them, Rodolfo and Marcel, at any rate, are
+lonely, for Mimi has been taken up by a viscount, and Musetta, dressed
+in velvet--through which, as Rudolfo tells Marcel, she cannot hear her
+heart beat--is riding in a carriage. But with all their troubles they
+keep a stout heart and are able to jest over the herring and rolls
+which Schaunard and Colline bring in for dinner. They dance and romp,
+and play the fool in the lightest hearted manner until Musetta suddenly
+breaks in upon their pretended jollity. The end is reached rapidly.
+Mimi has come home to die, and this she does after an intensely sad,
+simple and moving scene, stretched, as they placed her, on Rodolfo's
+hard little bed. Infinitely touching is Mimi's reference, in her last
+words, to the song which Rodolfo sang in the opening Act. She begins
+_Che gelida manina_ only to break off in a fit of coughing. Marcello
+has gone out to fetch a doctor and Musetta brings a muff to warm the
+dying girl's fingers. Mimi's spirit passes away however before aid can
+be brought to her, and the pathos of the situation is intensified by
+the silence in which it takes place. It is Schaunard who whispers to
+Marcello that she is dead. To Rodolfo's last despairing cry of "Mimi!
+Mimi!" as he realises that his loved one is no more, does the curtain
+fall.
+
+There is little to point to in the music save its chief and outstanding
+feature, its continuity. In this the whole charm and strength of the
+work lies. Orchestrally, the score of _La Bohème_ is a beautifully
+polished one, not so symphonically complete as _Manon_ for instance,
+but essentially individual. For fulness as a constructional background
+one may point to the orchestration of the duet in the first Act; for
+daintiness of effect, the use of harmonics on the harp against the
+muted strings in Musetta's waltz-song; while many happy touches are
+seen all through, such as the xylophone and muted trumpets at the
+toy-sellers' entrance in the café scene; or again, the striking passage
+in fifths at the opening of the third Act, given to the harp and flutes
+over the 'cellos playing _tremolo_. The orchestra employed is the usual
+large modern orchestra, with a piccolo, glockenspiel and xylophone.
+Considerable use is also made of the division of the 'cellos, in many
+places, into three.
+
+The complete success, notwithstanding certain difficulties that have
+been referred to, of the first performance of the opera in this
+country, was duly chronicled in London, on the day following the event,
+in _The Times_. The notice states that the composer was called at the
+end and bowed his acknowledgments, from which it would appear that
+he was prevailed upon at least to appear on the fall of the curtain,
+although, by all accounts I have heard from those who took part in the
+performance, Puccini adopted the custom--followed, if we may believe
+certain traditions, by certain notable playwrights--of wandering up and
+down the streets until the _première_ was over.
+
+The writer of the notice in question places the work on a higher level
+than _Manon_, speaks of the highly dramatic intensity reached by simple
+means in the scenes between Mimi and Rodolfo, notices in the absence of
+set songs the Wagnerian method of continuous melody, and sums it up as
+a decided success gained by the beauty of its melody, the refinement of
+the music as a whole, the cleverness in the handling of the themes, and
+by the absence of clap-trap. The performance is spoken of as a genuine
+triumph, in spite of the leading tenor's hoarseness.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI IN "MORNING DRESS" (NATIONAL PEASANT COSTUME) AT
+TORRE DEL LAGO]
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI WILD-FOWL SHOOTING ON THE LAKE AT TORRE DEL
+LAGO]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+"TOSCA"
+
+
+With his next opera--for _Tosca_ is the only one of his works so
+entitled by the composer--Puccini made a rather curious reversal
+of the proceedings as compared with _La Bohème_, taking it from an
+Italian story treated from the French point of view. From the old world
+story of Murger, Puccini turned to a notable example of modern French
+stagecraft, in Sardou's drama of _La Tosca_. His librettists again were
+Giocosa and Illica, and they provided the composer with a strikingly
+apt presentation of the grim story; not one, perhaps, that lends itself
+altogether to musical expression, but one which certainly grips the
+attention and carries the hearer along. By _Tosca_, Puccini certainly
+sustained his now universal popularity made manifest by the preceding
+_La Bohème_. It was given first at the Costanzi Theatre, Rome, on
+January 14, 1900, conducted by Mugnone, and cast as follows:
+
+  _Tosca_                   DARCLÉE.
+  _Cavaradossi_             DE MARCHI.
+  _Scarpia_                 GIRALDOIN.
+  _Angelotti_               GALLI.
+  _The Sacristan_           BORELLI.
+
+London saw it in the summer of the same year at Covent Garden, where
+it was given on July 12 with the following cast, Mancinelli being the
+conductor.
+
+  _Tosca_                   TERNINA.
+  _Cavaradossi_             DE LUCIA.
+  _Scarpia_                 SCOTTI.
+  _Angelotti_               DUFRICHE.
+  _The Sacristan_           GILIBERT.
+
+In America, _Tosca_ was first given in Italian on February 4, 1901,
+at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, by Maurice Grau's company,
+the cast and conductor being the same as that for the first Covent
+Garden performance, with the substitution of Cremonini for De Lucia as
+Cavaradossi.
+
+Its first American production in English was by Henry W. Savage's
+company, at the Teck Theatre, Buffalo, and cast as follows, Emanuel
+being the conductor:
+
+  _Tosca_                   ADELAIDE NORWOOD.
+  _Cavaradossi_             JOSEPH SHEEHAN.
+  _Scarpia_                 W. GOFF.
+  _Angelotti_               F. J. BOYLE.
+  _The Sacristan_           FRANCIS CARRIER.
+
+In the music of _Tosca_ Puccini reveals, more powerfully perhaps than
+anywhere, that quick instinct of the theatre which may be called
+dramatic, or merely a very clever fitting of music to the mood of the
+moment. It is, in fact, very purely melodramatic, the word being used
+here not in its accepted sense of the traditional "tootle-tootle" in
+the orchestra when the wicked villain pursues the innocent and sorely
+tried heroine. The story is tragic in all conscience, but it hardly
+reaches the level of true tragedy, since it is more horrible than
+impressive, and lacks that restraint and poetry which are two necessary
+qualities. This much must be said for the operatic version. It is a
+shade less revolting, less purely realistic than the drama, and it
+undoubtedly provides a splendid acting _rôle_ for the exponent of the
+name part; while the lover, and the villain--Scarpia, the chief of the
+police--are provided with opportunities, very little behind, in point
+of vocal and dramatic effect. One could very well imagine a production,
+on prevailing lines set upon elaboration of detail, in which Puccini's
+music, or a great deal of it, was used purely as incidental music.
+This suggestion, however, must in no way be taken to mean that as a
+whole the music of this opera lacks continuity of interest or fails
+to exhibit the close and essential union between speech and song.
+There are many pages of strong and definite lyrical charm, but somehow
+the main interest lies in the action which fascinates the spectator,
+rather, one feels, against his better--or more calm--judgment. It is,
+in short, a most moving picture of love, hate, jealousy, passion and
+intrigue. These, after all, form the great bulk of the material for
+operatic treatment; and without entering into the question whether
+_Tosca_ is or is not a work for all time, it has certain very "live"
+attributes which make it a notable achievement.
+
+The scene in the first act shows the Attavanti Chapel in the Church
+of Saint Andrea della Valle in Rome. The strenuous, shuddering chords
+which preface the short prelude are representative of the cruel nature
+of Scarpia, whose personality dominates the scene--more than this, the
+figure seems to give at once the atmosphere of stress, and hints at a
+wealth of incident which characterises the whole of that which is to
+follow.
+
+A man in prison garb, harassed, dishevelled, well-nigh breathless with
+fear and haste, comes in and glances hastily this way and that. This is
+Angelotti, a victim of Papal tyranny, who has escaped from the Castle
+of S. Angelo; and his entrance, it will be noted, is also characterised
+by a theme always associated with him throughout the work.
+
+On a pillar is an image of the Virgin, and underneath it a stoup. "My
+sister wrote to tell me of this spot," says Angelotti, as he searches
+for the key which will open the chapel and allow him to escape. While
+he searches in feverish haste the string of chromatic chords carries on
+the idea of his agitation. With yet another glance to reassure himself
+that he has not been followed, he opens the gate in the grille of the
+chapel and disappears.
+
+A light tripping figure ushers in the Sacristan, and it continues for
+a space while he walks to the daïs, on which is an easel and a covered
+picture. He complains of the bother he has in washing the brushes of
+the artist who is painting an altar-piece. He is surprised not to find
+Cavaradossi painting. The Angelus rings, and the Sacristan kneels and
+continues the prayer.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI SNOWBALLING IN SICILY]
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI WRESTLING AT POMPEII]
+
+Cavaradossi now comes in, and a broad melodious phrase is heard as
+he ascends the daïs and uncovers the picture. The Sacristan is
+amazed to find that it represents the features of a lady who has
+been frequently to pray in the church, and is further shocked when
+the artist draws forth a miniature and compares it with his figure,
+into whose features he has incorporated the dusky glow and peach-like
+bloom of his beloved Floria. The phrase indicated at Cavaradossi's
+entrance now swells out in a lyrical melody in which he sings that his
+Madonna's eyes are blue, while Tosca's are dark as a moonless night,
+the Sacristan punctuating the rhapsody with a pious ejaculation to the
+effect that the artist scorns the saints and jests with the ungodly.
+
+After the Sacristan's departure to a snatch of his characteristic
+phrase, Angelotti, believing the church empty, comes out of the chapel.
+Cavaradossi does not at first recognise, in this prison-worn creature,
+his friend the Consul of the Republic. Tosca's voice is heard, and
+the artist makes a sign to Angelotti to remain yet a little while in
+hiding, and on hearing that the fugitive is spent with hunger, he gives
+him the basket left, for his refreshment, by the Sacristan.
+
+A quick moving figure, accompanied by triplets, announces Tosca's
+entrance, and she thinks that she has heard her lover conversing
+with another woman, and even declares she heard the swish of skirts.
+Cavaradossi attempts to embrace her, but she reproves him, and first
+makes an offering before the Virgin's shrine. This done, she tells
+him that although she is singing at the theatre that evening, the
+piece is a short one, and proceeds to sing in a delightfully suave
+melody, which increases gradually in intensity, of the delights of love
+in a quiet secluded cottage far away from all worldly distractions.
+Cavaradossi comes in at the close with an impassioned burst on a
+characteristic high note, in which he says that he is caught in the
+toils of her enchantment. The artist makes as his excuse for her
+quick dismissal the need of continuing his work on the picture, but
+his frequent glances towards the chapel show that his anxiety for his
+friend is the cause of his agitation. But Tosca now comes in sight of
+the picture, and is struck by the resemblance of the face to some one
+she has seen. She immediately connects the whispering she has heard
+before arriving upon the scene and the anxious looks towards the chapel
+together as a proof that Cavaradossi has been meeting the original of
+the picture. The incident, however, leads up to a further avowal of
+devotion on the part of Cavaradossi, and their voices blend together
+for a brief space in a delicious bit of melody. Tosca elects to be
+comforted, and with a final thrust she goes out, requesting her lover
+to change the lady's eyes to black ones.
+
+Angelotti now comes out of the chapel and tells of his plan of escape.
+Cavaradossi gives him the key of his villa, and indicates the way
+he may reach it. Angelotti takes up the bundle of clothes left by
+his sister for his disguise--the sister being the lady who has been
+frequenting the church of late, and who has attracted the artist's
+attention--and goes off, while his friend tells him, as a final
+precaution in case of urgent need, of a passage that leads down to a
+cellar. Just as Angelotti is going the cannon sound from the fortress,
+giving the signal that the prisoner's escape has been discovered.
+
+On their exit, the Sacristan enters, followed by choir boys,
+acolytes and a crowd of people. The Sacristan tells them the news of
+Bonaparte's defeat, that there will be rejoicings and a new cantata
+for the occasion sung by Tosca, and his snatch of melody is cleverly
+derived from the theme heard on his first entrance. The choir boys
+burst out into a great riot of joyous merrymaking, beginning with "Te
+Deum" and "Gloria," and breaking out into "Long live the King," the
+Sacristan trying his best to drive them into the sacristy to vest
+for the festival service. Their jollity is cut short by the entrance
+of Scarpia--whose sinister theme breaks in characteristically, as
+always--followed by Spoletta and others of his staff. After bidding
+them curtly prepare for the solemn "Te Deum," he motions the rather
+frightened Sacristan to his side, and tells him that a State prisoner
+has escaped, and from information received has been tracked here. He
+asks which is the Attavanti Chapel, and the facts that the gate is open
+and that a new key is in the lock give at once a clue.
+
+A police agent comes out of the chapel and brings with him the basket
+given to Angelotti by Cavaradossi; and Scarpia, after a little more
+judicious questioning of the Sacristan, is able to guess that the
+fugitive has been assisted by the painter.
+
+Tosca now comes back, and after signalling to the Sacristan, Scarpia
+retires behind a pillar, watching her as she looks about for
+Cavaradossi. To serve his own ends, he decides to rouse the jealousy of
+the woman; and after a little flattery, expressed in a suave, flowing
+melody, he brings out a fan and mildly inquires whether it forms any
+part of the customary outfit of a painter. From the coronet on it Tosca
+recognises it as belonging to the Marchioness Attavanti, who is the
+sister of Angelotti, and a member of the family to whom the chapel is
+dedicated. Forgetful of Scarpia's presence and the place where she is,
+Tosca, in a finely emotional passage--broken into now and again by
+Scarpia, who rams home his poisonous suggestions--bewails the weakness
+of her lover; and the wily Scarpia, after tenderly escorting her to the
+church door, despatches an agent to watch her closely. His exultation
+at having fired her jealousy is punctuated twice by the sound of
+cannon; and into the rather curious triplet accompaniments is worked
+the opening phrases of the organ, which signals the approach of the
+procession of the Chapter, with the Cardinal, to whom Scarpia makes a
+reverence as he passes him.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI DESCENDING ETNA ON A MULE]
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI ON HIS FARM AT CHIATRI]
+
+"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth,"
+sing the Chapter and monks, while Scarpia continues his musings as to
+the business he has on hand. From the mere catching of the escaped
+prisoners his thoughts turn to lustful possession of Tosca; and the
+whole scene, finely contrasted, is worked up with superb force into
+one of those magnificently solid finales which reveal the technic of
+Puccini so emphatically. The cannon continue to go off--the sound
+is managed, by the way, by striking a huge cone over which is
+stretched, drum-fashion, a tight skin--the whole crowd turn towards the
+high altar, the stately "Te Deum" swells through the church, and at the
+end, Scarpia, after saying that for Tosca he would renounce his hopes
+of heaven, joins in the last phrase: "All the earth shall worship Thee,
+the Father everlasting." The curtain descends quickly to the harsh
+progression of chords forming the Scarpia theme.
+
+The second act shows us Scarpia's room in the Farnese Palace. It is on
+an upper floor. To the left a table is laid, and at the back a large
+window looks over the courtyard.
+
+Scarpia is at supper, and looks at his watch from time to time
+impatiently. "Tosca is a famous decoy," he sings; "to-morrow's
+sunrise shall see the two conspirators hanging side by side on my
+tallest gallows." Ringing a handbell, which is answered by Sciarrone,
+he inquires whether Tosca is in the Palace, and learns that she
+has been summoned thither. Scarpia orders the window to be thrown
+open, and borne on the evening air comes the sound of a gavotte
+from the orchestra which is playing in one of the lower rooms at
+an entertainment given by Queen Caroline. Very skilfully is this
+graceful little melody, just sufficiently archaic in its mould to be
+characteristic of the period, used as a background for the clever
+dialogue which follows, from which we learn that Tosca is to be lured
+to the Palace in the hope of seeing Cavaradossi. Spoletta comes in
+to give an account of his visit to the villa, and enrages Scarpia by
+telling him of Angelotti's escape. The minister is somewhat mollified
+when Spoletta tells him that he promptly secured the painter. Now,
+with striking effect, the dance measure gives place to a cantata,
+proving that Tosca is in the Palace in the Queen's apartments.
+Scarpia's directions as to securing Cavaradossi are worked into the
+musical fabric with consummate effect, and continue as the painter,
+now a prisoner, is led in. Cavaradossi breaks off from his curt and
+guarded replies to Scarpia's questioning on hearing Tosca's voice. He
+denies strenuously that Angelotti received any aid from him, and even
+laughs at his examiner. Scarpia shuts the window in anger, and the
+repetition of his characteristic similar phrase leads up to a strenuous
+passage in which determination is skilfully depicted in contrast to
+the almost colloquial movement of the preceding passages. "Once more,"
+says Scarpia, "where is Angelotti?" and from a remark by Spoletta the
+application of the process torture to wring a confession from the
+prisoner is hinted at. Tosca now enters, and runs quickly to her lover,
+who tells her quickly in an undertone not to say a word of what she
+has seen at the villa. As Scarpia signals to Sciarrone to slide back
+the panel which leads to the torture chamber, he says formally, "Mario
+Cavaradossi, the judge is wanting to take your depositions." Sciarrone
+then gives the directions to Roberto, an underling, to at first apply
+the usual pressure, and to increase it as he will direct him.
+
+Then follows a highly dramatic scene, ushered in with a characteristic
+theme indicating the torture which Tosca's lover is to undergo, between
+Scarpia and Tosca, in which the latter dismisses the fan episode as
+a feeble trick to rouse her jealousy. Scarpia, however, comes very
+quickly to plain speaking, and tells Tosca that she had better confess
+all that she knows as to the escape of Angelotti if she wishes to
+spare Cavaradossi an hour of anguish. Tosca learns with horror that
+a fillet of steel, gradually tightening round the temples, is being
+applied to Cavaradossi's head, and on hearing his groan of pain, she
+relents and bursts out that she will speak if he is released. But
+Mario from within calls on Tosca to be silent, and that he despises
+the pain. Scarpia directs further pressure to be applied. Tosca is
+allowed to gaze through the open door, and, distracted by what she
+sees, signifies her intention of revealing all she knows. Her mind
+is made up when she hears another groan of anguish, and she tells
+Scarpia that Angelotti is to be found in the well in the garden of the
+villa. Scarpia now orders Cavaradossi to be brought in. From Scarpia's
+directions to Spoletta, the fainting victim, nearly at his last gasp
+by what he had endured, learns of Tosca's treachery, and curses her.
+This painful scene, finely worked up as it is in intensity, comes to a
+climax by the news brought in by Sciarrone of the victory at Marengo
+by Bonaparte. This enrages Scarpia, but he will at least keep the
+victim he has in hand; and Cavaradossi, exulting as he foresees the
+downfall of the minister, is borne off. Tosca now turns to Scarpia, and
+implores him to save Cavaradossi. Splendidly dramatic is the closing
+scene, beginning with Scarpia's light and airy remark that his little
+supper was interrupted, and rising to heights of emotional fulness
+when Tosca asks him outright to name his price for saving her lover's
+life. Tosca's horrified scream, to a rising passage of two high notes,
+when she listens to Scarpia's lascivious proposals, thoroughly fits
+the situation. The drums are used cleverly to indicate the march of
+the prisoners to their doom, and the setting up of the gallows for
+Cavaradossi, and in contrast to Scarpia's sinister passages, comes the
+broad lyrical and impassioned prayer of Tosca, who rails at God for
+having forsaken her in her hour of need. Scarpia presses his infamous
+proposals, when Spoletta returns, and speaking outside brings the news
+that Angelotti has poisoned himself rather than allow himself to be
+taken. A question as to the disposal of Cavaradossi brings the climax,
+and Tosca, by taking upon herself to give directions as to this,
+indicates her consent to Scarpia's wishes. But this master of deceit
+will not allow the release to be managed in any but his own way. He
+tells Spoletta that there will be an execution, but it will be a sham
+one, as in the case of another prisoner, by name Palmieri, the guns
+being loaded with blank cartridge only, and the victim instructed to
+fall and feign death. But Tosca wants more than this on her side of
+the bargain. Scarpia must give them both a passport out of the place,
+and as he goes to the table to write it Tosca's eyes catch sight of
+a knife on the table. In an instant her mind is made up, and as he
+returns to give her the paper, and to clasp her in a feverish embrace,
+she plunges the knife into his heart. The death-scene is perhaps a
+little prolonged, but seeing that it has been preceded by the torturing
+of Cavaradossi, it is at least logical that Tosca should remind him of
+the ghastly torture he inflicted on her loved one. The intensity of
+the scene is rounded off by the expressive phrase on a low monotone
+of Tosca, "And yesterday all Rome lay at this man's feet." The action
+to the finishing notes of this moving scene follows that of the play.
+Tosca searches for the passport, and snatches it from the fast locking
+palms of the dead man. With a shudder she rinses her finger with a
+serviette dipped in the carafe, and then puts the candles from the
+supper table at the head of the corpse, and taking a crucifix from
+the wall, places it on the breast, as the Scarpia theme in long-drawn
+chords is played softly by the orchestra. She goes out quietly as the
+curtain falls.
+
+The third act takes place on an open space or platform within the
+Castle of S. Angelo. At the back we see the dome of S. Peter's and the
+Vatican. The expressive prelude, and the opening song by a shepherd,
+are musically of great interest. It begins with a horn passage, and
+at the rise of the curtain it is still night, and we see the dawn
+break, and hear the many bells from the church towers, one of the most
+striking sounds of the Eternal city.
+
+The pastoral melody of the shepherd has a plaintive character, and he
+sings:
+
+    Day now is breaking,
+    The weary world awaking,
+    Lending new sorrow
+    And sadness to the morrow.
+
+And the sheep-bells come in with their jangle as the shepherd
+continues, with a suggestion of a love theme:
+
+    If you could prize me
+    To live I might try,
+    But if you despise me
+    I may as well die.
+
+Then the church bells continue the strain, now near, now afar.
+
+A gaoler enters and looks over the parapet to see if the soldiers to
+whom is entrusted the grim task of execution have arrived. Led by a
+sergeant, the picket enters, bringing Cavaradossi. The gaoler, after
+making him sign a paper, tells him that he has an hour, and that a
+priest is at his disposal. Cavaradossi, after giving a ring to the
+gaoler as the price of the favour, is allowed to write a letter, and
+sings his beautiful air, one of the chief lyrical gems of the opera, "E
+luce van stelle." It ends emotionally, and the singer bursts into tears
+with the thought that never was life so dear to him as now when he is
+within sight of death.
+
+Spoletta comes in bringing Tosca, and is amazed to find that she brings
+a safe-conduct. Tosca and Cavaradossi join in a finely expressive duet,
+in which the latter learns of her devotion, and how for him she killed
+Scarpia. Towards the close the voices are unsupported, and the whole
+number has a very characteristic force and movement.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI AT TORRE DEL LAGO IN HIS MOTOR BOAT "BUTTERFLY"]
+
+The sky has gradually been getting lighter, and the passage of time is
+marked by the striking of the hour of four by the church clock. Then
+Tosca gives the final instructions to the condemned man. "As soon as
+they fire, fall down." Cavaradossi, in his joy at his coming release,
+is even able to be humorous, and suggests that he will be acting like
+Tosca.
+
+Tosca watches the supposed execution from the parapet. "How well he
+acts!" she cries, after she has covered her ears with her hands to
+shut out the sound of the shooting, and then sees her lover prostrate
+on the ground. Leaning over, she calls to him: "Get up, Mario, now.
+Quickly away, Mario, Mario." Then with a heart-piercing cry she learns
+that Scarpia has been false to the end, and that the execution has in
+very truth taken place. By this time the news of Scarpia's death has
+come out, and Spoletta naturally fixes on Tosca as the murderess. The
+soldiers' voices are heard joining in the hue and cry, and Sciarrone
+comes in to seize Tosca. Tosca after thrusting back Spoletta nearly to
+the ground, hurls herself from the parapet. Her last thoughts are of
+the tyrant who has so cruelly wronged her, and her last words are: "O
+Scarpia, we shall face God together!"
+
+In pure orchestration, Puccini in _Tosca_ shows an advance on _La
+Bohème_, in the general symphonic fulness and in the more extended
+use of representative themes. The orchestra employed is the usual
+large orchestra of the moderns, and Puccini adds a third flute, a
+contrabassoon, a celesta, and for the special effects in the opening of
+the third act a set of bells. There are several places where more work
+than hitherto is obtained from the dividing of the strings, but not in
+any way like the Strauss method, for example, of subdividing them into
+several distinct groups. As will have been seen during the progress
+of the story, the themes stand out as invariably characteristic, and
+at the first entrance of Tosca the theme is delightful, given out by
+the flute against the plucked strings. There is excellent work by the
+wood wind in the impressive finale of the first act, which is mainly
+developed out of the bell theme.
+
+In the pastoral music at the opening of the third act Puccini uses with
+characteristic force a passage of fifths--one which he is always very
+fond of employing, and which, curiously enough, always has the effect
+of bringing about the special flavour or atmosphere it is intended to
+convey in any one particular place.
+
+In the _Daily Telegraph_ the critic prefaces his column notice, which
+appeared the day after the first production, with a protest against
+the conjunction of a pure and beautiful art--music--with the workings
+of a humanity that has gone to the devil. But apart from these
+considerations, the writer has little but praise for the singularly
+lucid libretto.
+
+"The first and all important remark to make concerning the music," he
+proceeds, "has to do with its Italian character. There is very little
+that can be regarded as common to it and to the typical German opera.
+The pedestal is not on the stage and the statue in the orchestra.
+Tosca does not offer us declamation as a key to symphonic music nor
+symphonic music as a key to declamation. The work does not follow
+the old operatic lines into matter of detail. All is subordinate to
+the changing situations and emotions of the stage. So far Tosca is
+modern; for the rest it presents the characteristics which have always
+distinguished Italian opera--long reaches of tender or passionate
+melody, intense climaxes, and a disposition to proceed everywhere on
+broad and direct lines to the desired goal."
+
+The charm of the light music of the first act, the beautiful soul of
+Cavaradossi to the picture he has painted, the piling up of the effects
+in the finale, the vigour of the music in the second act, particularly
+where Scarpia presses his suit, and the duet of the lovers at S.
+Angelo, are the points which call forth praise, while, on the other
+hand, this critic finds most of the music allotted to Angelotti and
+Scarpia dull. The notice ends with a tribute to the art of Ternina, who
+"acted with the grace and directness of a true tragedian."
+
+Mr. Arthur Hervey, in the _Morning Post_, sets out, very clearly and
+characteristically, a plain and straightforward account of the music
+and story. The curious succession of chords at the opening of the
+prelude, the suggestion of the amorous nature of Scarpia's character by
+the opening notes of the second act, the pleasing effect of the gavotte
+heard during Scarpia's monologue, when he awaits the arrival of his
+spies, the beautiful song for Tosca, "Vissi d'arte d'amor," the beauty
+of the music in the last act, the ingenuity, finish and resource of the
+orchestration as a whole, are points which are fully expressed by this
+discerning critic. With regard to the interpretation, he does not find
+Signor Scotti's Scarpia entirely satisfactory, while he joins in the
+fullest praise for Ternina's masterly performance in the name part. It
+ends, that the opera was received with every sign of success, and that
+the composer, Mancinelli, the conductor, and the exponents were called
+many times before the curtain.
+
+The _Times_ critic makes an interesting comparison at the outset of his
+notice, referring to the masterly finale of the first act: "The scene
+is one in which Meyerbeer would have delighted, but it is treated by
+Puccini with far greater sincerity than Meyerbeer could ever command,
+and with a knowledge of effect at least equal to his." With regard
+to the use of representative themes, the writer finds that the one
+associated with the passion of Scarpia--a phrase with an arpeggio
+in it, appears to be derived from the woman's charm in the "Ring."
+Referring to the gavotte and cantata at the opening of the second act,
+the writer says they are "in excellent style and belong to the period
+of the action or a little before it, as it may be doubted whether the
+Roman composers of 1800 were capable of producing so interesting a
+piece of solid workmanship as the cantata, or so graceful and original
+a composition as the gavotte."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+"MADAMA BUTTERFLY"
+
+
+For his latest opera, _Madama Butterfly_, Puccini turned to the flowery
+land of Japan for the environment of a story--the book being by Illica
+and Giocosa--which, following his invariable custom, he chose himself.
+The suggestion appears to have come originally from Mr. Frank Nielson,
+who was then the stage manager at Covent Garden, that Puccini should
+go and see the play by Belasco, running at the time at the Duke of
+York's Theatre in London. He did so, and was immediately taken with
+its possibilities. It may be mentioned as a tribute to the actors who
+interpreted this play, that without knowing any English Puccini was
+able to follow the story with perfect ease. He was greatly struck by
+Miss Evelyn Millard's performance of the name part, and her photograph
+as Butterfly is among his collection of celebrities at Torre del Lago.
+
+The story is a slight one, and is no more Japanese than the plot of
+_La Bohème_ is French. It is a presentation of the universal theme of
+a man's passion, which is an episode, and a woman's love, which is her
+life. A little Japanese girl is wooed and won by an American naval
+officer. She, in her trust and devotion regards herself, after going
+through some sort of marriage ceremony, as his lawful wife. He regards
+the whole affair as an incident, the mere satisfying of an animal
+instinct, and returns, married to an American wife, to find the girl a
+mother. The ending is the usual sad one--the girl takes her life when
+her dishonoured state comes upon her in its full significance.
+
+_Madama Butterfly_ was written for the most part during Puccini's
+recovery from his accident; but he had planned out a good deal of
+it by the end of 1902 or the beginning of the next year. He himself
+about this time said of the work: "As an opera, it would be in one act
+divided by an intermezzo. The theme has a sentiment, a passion which
+veritably haunts me. I have it constantly ringing in my head."
+
+The intermezzo mentioned was Puccini's idea of treating the very
+effective and most eloquent silence on which, it will be remembered,
+the curtain fell, while the little Japanese girl with her servant and
+baby were keeping their long, long vigil through the night, awaiting
+the return of the supposed husband who, after all, was only a lover,
+and a poor one at that.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI'S MANUSCRIPT. FIRST SKETCH FOR THE END OF THE
+FIRST ACT OF "MADAMA BUTTERFLY"]
+
+Puccini was at Rome for a time soon after his complete recovery from
+his accident, and took special pains to get up the local colour for his
+new work. For this he invoked the aid of the Japanese ambassadress, and
+obtained some actual Japanese melodies from a friend of hers in Paris.
+Of music there is no lack in Japan, but by the Japanese themselves it
+is never written down. Like the troubadours of old, the musicians, who
+are a sort of guild, hand the traditional songs and dances on from
+father to son.
+
+_Madama Butterfly_ was produced at the Scala, Milan, on February 17,
+1904. Canpanini was the conductor, and it was cast as follows:
+
+  _Butterfly_               STORCHIO.
+  _Suzuki_                  GIACONIA.
+  _Pinkerton_               ZENATELLO.
+  _Sharpless_               DE LUCA.
+  _Goro_                    PINI-CORSI.
+  _Zio Bonzo_               VENTURINI.
+  _Yakusidé_                WULMANN.
+
+Although Puccini was at the very zenith of his popularity a strange
+thing happened with the first production of this new opera, and the
+composer went through a similar experience to that which Wagner had
+to suffer when _Tannhäuser_ was first given in Paris. The audience
+simply howled with derision. For the reason of this it is difficult
+to account. The storm of disapproval began after the first few bars
+of the opening act. Puccini, very quietly, took matters into his own
+hands, and at the end of the performance thanked the conductor for his
+trouble and marched off with the score. The second or any subsequent
+performance was therefore an impossibility.
+
+He tells an amusing story of a little incident occasioned by the
+fiasco, which, he says, brought him at least some little consolation,
+and atoned for much disillusion. A bookkeeper at Genoa, an ardent
+admirer of Puccini, indignant at what he considered the outrageous
+treatment--for it was nothing else--meted out to his favourite
+composer, went to the City Hall to register the birth of a daughter.
+When the clerk asked the name of the child, he replied, "Butterfly."
+"What!" said the official, "do you want to brand your child for life
+with the memory of a failure?" But the father persisted, and so as
+Butterfly the child was entered. A little time after this Puccini heard
+of the incident, and rather touched with the simple devotion, asked
+the father to bring the child to see him. On the appointed day Puccini
+looked out of the window and saw a long stream of people approaching
+his front door. Not only did the father bring little "Butterfly," but,
+as in the first act of the opera from which her name was derived, her
+mother, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, as well--in fact the whole
+surviving members of the genealogical tree. Puccini laughingly said at
+the end of a trying afternoon that it was the most gigantic reception
+he had ever held.
+
+The despised opera was given in what is known as the present revised
+version at Brescia, on 28 May of the same year, the Butterfly being
+Krusceniski, and Bellati the Sharpless, Zenatello being again the
+Pinkerton. Strange to say, it proved entirely to the taste of those who
+saw it. The revision, as a matter of fact, amounted to very little. It
+was played in two acts instead of one, with the intermezzo dividing two
+scenes in the second act, making it, in reality, in three acts, and the
+tenor air was added in the last scene.
+
+No more striking proof of Puccini's popularity could be found than the
+fact that the new opera quickly came to London. It was seen at Covent
+Garden on July 10, 1905, Campanini being the conductor, and was cast
+as follows:
+
+  _Butterfly_               DESTINN.
+  _Suzuki_                  LEJEUNE.
+  _Pinkerton_               CARUSO.
+  _Sharpless_               SCOTTI.
+  _Goro_                    DUFRICHE.
+  _Zio Bonzo_               COTREUIL.
+  _Yakusidé_                ROSSI.
+
+Its splendid performance was helped in no small degree by the superb
+interpretation of the name part by Mdme. Destinn, and the news of its
+favourable reception was one of the greatest pleasures ever afforded to
+its composer. It was given again early in the autumn season of the same
+year, by the company, conducted by Mugnone (who, by the way, was not
+the person of the same name whose death was chronicled very soon after
+the conclusion of the season), and for which the composer came over,
+having been away at Buenos Ayres when the work was given in the summer.
+Zenatello, who was the original Pinkerton at the Milan production, was
+seen in this part on this occasion, making his first appearance in
+London during that season. Giachetti was the Butterfly and Sammarco the
+Sharpless.
+
+The original source of the story, I believe, was a story by John Luther
+Long, and emanated from America. It was turned into a play by David
+Belasco, and, as in the case of _The Darling of the Gods_, the author's
+name appeared jointly with the dramatist, or adaptor, on the play
+bills. The simple touching little story depends rather upon its pathos
+and atmosphere, which is decidedly poetical, than on any great dramatic
+situation. A lieutenant, F. B. Pinkerton, of the United States Navy,
+goes through a ceremony of marriage with a little Japanese girl, with
+no intention of regarding the contract as in the least degree binding.
+Little Butterfly (or Cio Cio San, as her Japanese name is) thinks
+differently, and after her child is born watches and waits anxiously
+for the return of her husband. Sharpless is a friend of Pinkerton's,
+and is the consul at Nagasaki, and he tries to break the news gently to
+the sorrowful girl who has been so cruelly misled, and in the "letter"
+song in the last act is provided with one of the most subtle and
+dramatic numbers in the whole work. Butterfly believes in Pinkerton's
+fidelity and honour up to the end, when her ideal is shattered by the
+arrival of Pinkerton's wife, an American woman, who wants to befriend
+the child, and who has apparently condoned Pinkerton's lapse from the
+strict path of virtue. Butterfly, however, prefers to die by her own
+hand, and this she does, after caressing the child and giving way to
+a torrent of grief, and pathetically placing an American flag in the
+baby's hand. Pinkerton comes in time to see her pass away, and in
+calling her name in an outburst of sorrow and remorse, the story ends.
+
+In _La Bohème_ it has been seen how singularly happy Puccini was in
+stringing together, by the flow of his music, a dramatic scheme that is
+concerned with detached scenes and incidents; and in _Madama Butterfly_
+he is equally successful and characteristic. The music is essentially
+vocal, but the chief melodies are often to be found in the orchestral
+fabric, a feature which comes out more prominently in this work than in
+any of this composer's since _Manon_, and which goes to prove that it
+stands as his chief orchestral achievement.
+
+The present work begins in somewhat curious fashion with a tonal fugue,
+as if to show that the composer with all his modernity has still a
+regard for the old forms. A similar figure is used for the opening
+of the second act. The first indication of the Japanese character in
+the music--and this flavour is very sparingly introduced--comes when
+Goro (a sort of marriage broker) parades his wares, in the shape of
+girls, before the lieutenant. There is here a very distinctive melody
+in octaves underneath the vocal part, which is most effective. Several
+of the little melodies make an entrance after their first quotation
+much after the fashion of the old _ritornello_, which is an interesting
+point, among several, to note in Puccini's working out, on quite
+modern lines, of his scheme. The themes are often altered, in place
+of development, by a change in the time; and at the opening of the
+first act several examples are to be found, while here and there an
+Eastern character is given to the music by the frequent use of the flat
+seventh. Another noteworthy feature is the constant modulation by means
+of chords of the seventh.
+
+Sharpless, the friend (a baritone), makes an entry with a fine burst
+of melody--the theme, easily recognised on hearing the work, which
+is associated with this character, being one particular rhythmic
+distinction--and when Pinkerton (the tenor) explains that he has
+bought the house, and probably the little lady with it, on an
+elastic contract, there is a clever counterpoint in the music to the
+introductory fugue. Pinkerton's first chief solo--the music, of course,
+runs on continuously from start to finish--is a broad and vocal aria,
+quite allied to the old form. The general trend of the music gets
+brisker at the entry of Butterfly and her girl friends. Butterfly's
+first song, a beautiful "largo," in which she tells of her approaching
+happy state, is skilfully blended with the sopranos of the chorus, and
+ends with a high D flat for the soloist. The procession and arrival
+of Butterfly's relations give an opportunity for some humour in the
+music, which is quaint and characteristic, and brings in a clever theme
+for the bassoons. Just before the signing of the contract, Butterfly
+has a pathetic air, in which she states that, fully believing in
+Pinkerton, she has embraced the Christian religion and discards her
+native gods. Soon after, a noisy and cantankerous old uncle of the
+bride comes in to protest against the union. Here is another of the
+few examples of Japanese music, and his entry is shown by a quaint
+march of the conventional pattern chiefly in unison. After the guests
+leave, Butterfly and Pinkerton have a very tender scene, and begin a
+duet of great charm. Butterfly's share continues rather more vigorously
+when she is preparing for the marriage chamber, while Pinkerton has a
+contemplative air as he admires her pretty movements. The act ends with
+a strenuous outburst of love and longing, both voices going up to a
+high C sharp by way of a finish.
+
+The second act is in Butterfly's little house, and is divided into two
+sections without a change of scene, the curtain being lowered merely
+to mark the passage of time. Butterfly and her faithful maid Suzuki
+begin to feel the pinch of poverty, and the desertion of Pinkerton is
+soon realised, although Butterfly will not believe it. Butterfly has a
+characteristic air, vocal but possibly commonplace, and quite typical
+of "Young Italy," in which she explains that Pinkerton will come back,
+how she will see the smoke of his vessel, and watch him climbing the
+hill from the harbour. Sharpless then comes in to try and break the
+news, and brings in a former native lover, a Prince, Yamadori, who is
+evidently quite willing to accept Butterfly as his spouse and make
+her happy. But she simply bids Sharpless to write and tell his friend
+Pinkerton that Butterfly and Pinkerton's son await the coming of their
+lord and master. The first scene ends with Butterfly, the maid, and the
+child sitting up all the night to watch for the arrival of Pinkerton's
+vessel. She dresses herself in her wedding garments, and decorates the
+little house with flowers. The maid and the child soon fall asleep,
+but as the moonlight floods the scene Butterfly remains rigid and
+motionless. A delicate instrumental passage in the music gives the
+idea of the vigil, in the nature of an intermezzo, and a fresh and
+pleasing effect is obtained by the use of a humming with closed lips,
+by the chorus outside, of the melody, supported by the somewhat unusual
+instrument, a viol d'amore. It is a curious instance, and probably the
+first, of the use of this "bouche fermée" effect as an integral part
+of the orchestration. For a special effect, Puccini also adds to his
+score in another place the Hungarian instrument, a czimbalom, added to
+the dulcimer.
+
+The second scene has a rich, picturesque, and gay opening, the voices
+of the sailors and the bustle of the vessel's arrival being well shown
+in the bright music. The end of the tragedy is near, and is very
+pathetic. Pinkerton is full of remorse, and his wife Kate tries to
+console Butterfly, but the little Japanese girl, with her heart broken
+when she learns that Pinkerton has passed out of her life, decides to
+kill herself. She bandages the child's eyes, commits the deed behind a
+screen, and then staggers forward to die with her arms about the child.
+With Butterfly's farewell to the child the work ends, as Pinkerton
+and Sharpless come in to see her die. The music ends with a curious
+outburst of Japanese character almost in the nature of an epilogue, and
+oddly enough it ends on a chord of the sixth in place of the accustomed
+tonic.
+
+All through the music is fresh and interesting, and, provided that
+by the setting and general interpretation the necessary picturesque
+atmosphere is established, the opera proves singularly attractive. From
+the nature of the story, the text reads extremely well in English; in
+fact, contrary to usual custom, much of the dialogue is strange in
+Italian, in which mellifluous tongue there is no equivalent apparently
+for "whisky punch" or "America for ever!"
+
+With this last opera of Puccini we come to the end of the chapter, and
+with it, he may fittingly be left to the verdict of those who shall
+come after. At the time of writing no one can say with what the gifted
+melodist will follow it--whether one of the few themes which have
+been mentioned as being in his mind will materialise, or whether the
+"Notre Dame" of Victor Hugo, or a certain play of Maxim Gorky's will
+eventually come to an achievement. Certain it is, that the present
+success of _Madama Butterfly_, with all its progress on the purely
+orchestral side, cannot fail to call attention to the earlier works,
+particularly _Le Villi_, _Edgar_ and _Manon_, as being compositions of
+singular sincerity.
+
+One of Mr. E. A. Baughan's most interesting pieces of criticism, I
+think, was that written in the _Outlook_ of July 15, 1905, after
+the first production of _Madama Butterfly_ in England. After making
+comparison between Puccini and other modern Italians on the subject of
+musical expression of a theme, in general, he deals, in characteristic
+fashion, with the dramatic structure of the opera in question.
+
+"The story itself, as arranged by the Italian librettists, has also
+grave defects as the subject of an opera. The character of Madame
+Butterfly herself, with her _naïve_ love for the American naval
+officer, her belief that she is a real American bride and that he
+will return to lift her once more into the paradise from which she
+was so cruelly cast out by his departure, and, when the truth of her
+"marriage" is at last revealed, her tragic recourse to the honourable
+dagger is a fit subject for music. The emotions to be expressed are
+mainly lyrical. The other characters are outside musical treatment.
+F. B. Pinkerton, the American naval officer, is never possessed of
+any lyrical emotion, except when he expresses his remorse for the
+consequences of his misdeeds; Sharpless, the American consul, who
+acts as a go-between, feels nothing but a vague disquietude, which is
+easily drowned in a whisky-and-soda, and later a rather tender pity
+for Butterfly; Goro, the marriage-broker, is antipathetic to music;
+Mrs. Pinkerton is the merest of shadows; and of all the cast the only
+characters that have thoughts or feelings which can be interpreted
+by music are Butterfly's faithful maid, Suzuki, and her uncle Bonzo,
+who objects on religious grounds to Butterfly's marriage. Puccini
+has written a love-duet for the American naval officer and Madame
+Butterfly, but as he can make no pretence to any more passionate
+feeling than a passing sensualism there is a want of emotional grip in
+the scene. Then the Japanese environment of the story does not help
+the composer. Madame Butterfly is only Japanese by fits and starts.
+When she is emotional she is a native of modern Italy, the Italy of
+Mascagni, Leoncavallo and Puccini himself. It could not be otherwise,
+for there is no musical local colour to be imitated which would serve
+in passionate scenes.
+
+[Illustration: PUCCINI'S MANUSCRIPT SCORES, FROM THE FIRST ACT OF
+"MADAMA BUTTERFLY"]
+
+"The composer has overcome many of these difficulties with much
+cleverness. When the stage itself is not musically inspiring, he falls
+back on his orchestra with the happiest effect. The prosaicness of the
+European lover and his friend the Consul and the sordid ideas of the
+Japanese crowd are covered up by a clever musical _ensemble_, and the
+whole drama is drawn together by Puccini's sense of atmosphere....
+Madame Butterfly herself is a musical creation. The composer could
+not, of course, make her Japanese, but very poetically he has made
+her musically _naïve_ and sincere. She is a fascinating figure from
+the moment when she appears singing of her happiness in having been
+honoured by the American's choice. Her share in the love duet is also
+well conceived. It is not exactly passionate music; rather ecstatic and
+sensitive. And the gradual smirching of this butterfly's brightness
+until in the end she becomes a wan little figure of tragedy is subtly
+expressed in the music. It is not deep music--indeed it should not
+be--but it has all the more effect because it is thoroughly in
+character. Even when Madame Butterfly sets her child on the ground
+and addresses to him her last worship before dying with honour she is
+not made to rant by the composer. A German would not have forgotten
+Isolde's Liebestod; a Mascagni would have remembered his own Santuzza;
+a Verdi would have metamorphosed the Geisha into an Aïda; but Puccini
+has kept to his conception of the character and she is never once
+allowed to express herself on the heroic scale."
+
+_Madama Butterfly_ is published (like all the operatic works of
+Puccini) by Ricordi, who, with the vocal score (the English translation
+being by R. H. Elkin), departed from the usual style of binding and
+issued it in a very decorative "Japanesy" cover of white linen, with
+all sorts of tasteful little designs--butterflies and flowers--jotted
+about on the cover and on the margins.
+
+My final paragraph may well be an expression of thanks to those who
+have been kind enough to assist me with the preparation of my little
+book. First of all I would thank Signor Puccini, who has cheerfully
+submitted to two things which he cordially detests--sitting for his
+photograph on two special occasions and answering letters. Again would
+I thank him for the time he was good enough to spare me when I had the
+pleasure of meeting him in London during his last two visits. Then to
+Messrs. Ricordi, who not only have been at considerable pains to verify
+casts, first performances and biographical details, but have generously
+enriched my library of opera scores by those Puccini works which I
+did not possess. Yet again, to Mr. C. Pavone, their representative in
+London, for considerable assistance most cheerfully rendered; and to my
+friends Mrs. John Chartres--for helping out my very limited knowledge
+of Italian, and Mr. Percy Pitt--for allowing me to see his orchestral
+scores of the Puccini operas.
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+    leading themes in each. The volume is neither too precise nor
+    too extravagant in its appreciation; it has a quality of sanity
+    which such work often lacks."--_T. P.'s Weekly._
+
+
+  TCHAIKOVSKI
+    By E. MARKHAM LEE, M.A., MUS. DOC.
+
+    "A thoroughly sympathetic, scholarly, and sound examination of
+    the Russian master's music."--_Literary World._
+
+    "His copious and musicianly analysis of the works makes the
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+
+
+  BEETHOVEN
+    By ERNEST WALKER, M.A., D. MUS. (OXON.)
+
+    "Dr. Walker has achieved a difficult task with complete
+    success. The review of Beethoven's music as a whole is finely
+    critical, and the appreciation is expressed with force and
+    fluency; while a short and judiciously described bibliography
+    and a list of the master's music complete this newest volume
+    in a scheme which bids fair to develop into a collection of
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+
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+
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+
+    By LAWRENCE GILMAN, Author of "Phases of Modern Music," "Edward
+    Macdowell," &c. Crown 8vo, 5s. net.
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY
+
+    (1840-1893). BY HIS BROTHER, MODESTE TCHAIKOVSKY. EDITED AND
+    ABRIDGED FROM THE RUSSIAN AND GERMAN EDITIONS BY ROSA NEWMARCH,
+    WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACSIMILES AND AN INTRODUCTION
+    BY THE EDITOR.
+
+  Demy 8vo. 21s. net. Second Edition.
+
+    _Times_: "A most illuminating commentary on Tchaikovsky's
+    music."
+
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+    artist which has been given to the world. The translation is
+    excellent, and worth reading for its own sake."
+
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+    work as one of singular fascination."
+
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+
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+
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+Edition.
+
+    "On almost every page there are sentences which might well be
+    committed to memory."--_Times._
+
+    "The book is a valuable and stimulating contribution to musical
+    æsthetics; it is animated throughout by a lofty conception of
+    the responsibilities of the artist, and it enforces with spirit
+    and with eloquence the sound and wholesome doctrine that the
+    vitalising element of song is thought."--_Spectator._
+
+    "This interesting and valuable work ... every word of which
+    should be read and carefully studied by professors and pupils
+    alike.... The work renders conspicuous service to art, and
+    deserves the highest praise."
+
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+
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+    ESSAYS. By ERNEST NEWMAN. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.
+
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+    æsthetics."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
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+    insight."
+
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+
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+  By E. A. BAUGHAN. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.
+
+    _Tribune_: "Certainly a book to be recommended. Its readers
+    cannot fail to be stimulated, interested and instructed by it."
+
+
+
+
+  Concert Direction E. L. Robinson
+  7 WIGMORE STREET,
+  CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, W.
+
+
+_Sole Agents for the following Artists_:
+
+  HERR FRITZ STEINBACH } _Conductors_
+  M. EDOUARD COLONNE            }
+
+
+Violinists--
+
+  Mr. FRITZ KREISLER
+  M. PAUL KOCHÀNSKY
+    (The new Russian Violinist)
+  MISS MAUD MacCARTHY
+  SIG. ALDO ANTONIETTI
+  MME. MARIE SOLDAT
+
+'Cellists--
+
+  HERR ANTON HEKKING
+  Mr. PERCY SUCH
+  Mr. HERMAN SANDBY
+    (The Danish 'Cellist)
+
+Pianists--
+
+  Mr. MARK HAMBOURG
+  MISS FANNY DAVIES
+  HERR ERNST VON DOHNÀNYI
+  MADAME SANDRA DROUCKER
+  MISS KATHARINE GOODSON
+  Mr. PERCY GRAINGER
+  Mr. GEORGE MACKERN
+  Mr. EGON PETRI
+
+Vocalists--
+
+  MRS. HENRY J. WOOD
+    (Soprano)
+  MISS KATHLEEN MAUREEN
+    (The new Irish Contralto)
+  MISS EVA RICH
+    (Soprano)
+  MISS ALICE VENNING
+    (Soprano)
+  MR. GERVASE ELWES
+    (Tenor)
+  MR. FREDERIC AUSTIN
+    (Baritone)
+  MR. WILLIAM HIGLEY
+    (High Baritone)
+  MR. PEDRO DE ZULUETA
+    (Bass)
+
+Accompanist--
+
+  MR. HAMILTON HARTY
+
+
+  THE JOACHIM QUARTET
+  THE NORAH CLENCH QUARTET
+
+
+  _Telephone--793 P.O. Mayfair._      _Telegrams--"Musikchor, London."_
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected.
+
+Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
+
+Page vii: Illustration "PUCCINI IN HIS STUDY AT HIS MILAN HOUSE"
+(facing page 46) is not in the List of Illustrations.
+
+Page 15: "On! how I" may be misprint for "Oh!".
+
+Page 19: "music schools, agencies," was missing the first comma; added
+here.
+
+Page 88: "the toils of her enchantment" was printed that way.
+
+Page 96: "E luce van stelle" was printed that way.
+
+Page 100: Missing closing quotation mark added after 'at least equal to
+his.'.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Giacomo Puccini, by Wakeling Dry
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43873 ***