Chapter I: Preface

Owing to the appreciation which has been accorded to my three series of "Stories from the Operas," it has been decided to re-issue the collection in one volume, and to include in this additional stories of new and popular operas recently produced in England.

The plan of the work, as before, is to present all the incidents of each _libretto_ in the clear, readable form of a short story; and it is hoped that the combined volume will continue to prove of interest, not only to opera-goers but to all lovers of dramatic tales. The three volumes have been entirely reset and re-collated in a manner which it is hoped will make them easier for reference.

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my best thanks to the following Publishing Houses and holders of copyrights for their kind permission to include in this volume the stories of the various operas selected, and for the helpful information they have given me regarding _libretti_, etc.:--

Messrs. ASCHERBERG, HOPWOOD & CREW, LTD., London. (For Mascagni's _Cavalleria Rusticana_ and Leoncavallo's _Pagliacci_.)

Messrs. BOOSEY & CO., LTD., London. (For Auber's _Fra Diavolo_, Flotow's _Martha_, and Meyerbeer's _Robert the Devil_.)

Messrs. BREITKOPF & HÄRTEL, Leipzic. (For Wagner's _Lohengrin_ and _Tristan and Isolda_).

Messrs. BROCKHAUS, Leipzic. (For Humperdinck's _Königskinder_.)

Messrs. CHAPPELL & CO., LTD., London. (For Gounod's _Faust_.)

Messrs. CRAMER & CO., LTD., London. (For Offenbach's _Tales of Hoffmann_.)

COVENT GARDEN OPERA HOUSE MANAGEMENT. (For courteous assistance.)

Herr ADOLPH FÜRSTNER, Berlin, W.10, and Herr S. FISCHER VERLAG, Berlin, W.57. (For Strauss's _Elektra_ and _Rosenkavalier_.)

(The story of _Elektra_ is published by authorization of Herr Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10, and Herr S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, W.57. Copyright, 1908, by Adolph Fürstner, Berlin.)

(The story of _Rosenkavalier_ is published by authorization of Herr Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10. Copyright, 1909, by Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10.)

Messrs. FREDERICK HARRIS, London. (For Verdi's _Il Trovatore_.)

Messrs. HEUGEL ET CIE, Paris. (For Thomas's _Mignon_.)

Messrs. HUTCHINGS & ROMER, London. (For Wallace's _Maritana_.)

Mr. CHARLES MANNERS and the MOODY-MANNERS OPERA COMPANY. (For Tschaikovsky's _Eugene Onegin_.)

Messrs. NOVELLO & CO., LTD., London. (For Beethoven's _Fidelio_, Bellini's _La Sonnambula_, Meyerbeer's _Star of the North_, Verdi's _La Traviata_ and _Rigoletto_, and Wagner's _The Flying Dutchman_ and _Tannhäuser_.)

Messrs. RENDLE & CO., LTD., London. (For Bizet's _Carmen_ and Gounod's _Philemon and Baucis_.)

Messrs. G. RICORDI & CO., London. (For Puccini's _La Bohème_, _Madam Butterfly_ and _Manon Lescaut_.)

Messrs. SCHOTT & CO., LTD., London. (For Wagner's _The Mastersingers_, _The Nibelung's Ring_ and _Parsifal_.)

Herr JOSEF WEINBERGER, Vienna. (For Wolf-Ferrari's _The Jewels of the Madonna_.)

G. D.

CONTENTS

PAGE

AUBER--
Fra Diavolo 1

BALFE--
The Bohemian Girl 14

BEETHOVEN--
Fidelio 28

BELLINI--
La Sonnambula 38
I Puritani 46

BENEDICT--
The Lily of Killarney 52

BIZET--
Carmen 62

DONIZETTI--
Lucrezia Borgia 73
Lucia di Lammermoor 80
The Daughter of the Regiment.
(_La Figlia del Reggimento_) 87

FLOTOW--
Martha 95

GOUNOD--
Faust 105
Philemon and Baucis 115
Romeo and Juliet 125

HALÈVY--
The Jewess. (_La Juive_) 135

HUMPERDINCK--
Die Königskinder (_The Kingly Children_) 143

LEONCAVALLO--
I Pagliacci. (_The Mountebanks_) 158

MASCAGNI--
Cavalleria Rusticana. (_Rustic Chivalry_) 165

MEYERBEER--
Robert the Devil. (_Robert le Diable_) 171
The Huguenots. (_Les Huguenots_) 180
Star of the North. (_L'Etoile du Nord_) 192

MOZART--
The Marriage of Figaro.
(_Le Nozze di Figaro_) 206
Don Juan. (_Don Giovanni_) 217

NICOLAI--
The Merry Wives of Windsor 229

OFFENBACH--
The Tales of Hoffmann.
(_Les Contes d'Hoffmann_) 238

PUCCINI--
Manon Lescaut 247
La Bohème 255
Madam Butterfly 270

ROSSINI--
The Barber of Seville.
(_Il Barbiere di Seviglia_) 282

STRAUSS--
Der Rosenkavalier. (_The Rose-Bearer_) 289
Elektra 301

THOMAS--
Mignon 307

TSCHAIKOVSKY--
Eugene Onegin 318

VERDI--
Ernani 328
Rigoletto 337
Il Trovatore, or the Gipsy's Vengeance.
(_The Troubadour_) 348
La Traviata 361
The Masked Ball. (_Un Ballo in Maschera_) 370

VERDI--_continued_
Aïda 377
Othello 390

WAGNER--
The Flying Dutchman.
(_Der Fliegende Holländer_) 397
Tannhäuser 406
Lohengrin 418
Tristan and Isolda 429
The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.
(_Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_) 438
The Nibelungs' Ring. (_Der Ring der Nibelungen_):--
Part I. The Rhinegold. (_Das Rheingold_) 449
Part II. The Valkyrie. (_Die Walküre_) 455
Part III. Siegfried 464