Chapter XI: Part 11

Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous work for orchestra is the symphonic suite, _Scheherazade_, op. 35 (1888). Nowhere is his remarkable gift at pictorial writing, at translating a literary program into tones, more in evidence than here. This music describes episodes from the _Arabian Nights_ in four movements which are unified by the recurrence of two musical motives. The first is that of the Sultan, a forceful, majestic statement for unison brass, woodwinds and strings; the second is a tender melody in triplets for strings depicting the lovely Scheherazade. The Sultan theme opens the first movement, entitled “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” After quiet chords for the brass, the Scheherazade melody is heard in solo violin accompanied by harp arpeggios. The music later becomes highly dramatic as Sinbad’s ship, represented by a flute solo, is buffeted about by an angry sea, the latter portrayed by rapid arpeggio figures. The poignant Scheherazade motive in solo violin introduces the second movement, “The Tale of the Kalendar.” The tale is spun in a haunting song for bassoon, dramatically contrasted by a dynamic rhythmic section for full orchestra. The third movement, “The Young Prince and the Princess” is a tender love dialogue between violins and clarinets. After a recall of the Scheherazade melody there appears the finale: “The Festival at Bagdad; The Sea, The Ship Founders on the Rock.” A brief recall of the Sinbad theme brings on an electrifying picture of a festival in Bagdad. The gay proceedings, however, are interrupted by a grim shipwreck scene, vividly depicted by the exciting music. This dramatic episode passes, and the suite ends with a final statement of the Scheherazade theme.

The _Spanish Caprice_ (_Capriccio espagnol_), for orchestra, op. 34 (1887) is one of the composer’s rare attempts at exploiting the folk music of a country other than his own. There are five parts. The first is a morning song, or “Alborada,” in which two main subjects of Spanish identity are given by the full orchestra. This is followed by “Variations.” A Spanish melody is here subjected to five brief variations. In the third part, the Alborada music returns in a changed tonality and orchestration. The fourth movement is entitled “Scene and Gypsy Dance” and consists of five cadenzas. The Capriccio ends with “_Fandango asturiano_,” in which a dance melody for trombones is succeeded by a contrasting subject in the woodwinds. A last recall of the main Alborada theme of the first movement brings the work to its conclusion.

Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers was born in Hammels Station, near Arverne, Long Island, on June 28, 1902. As a child he began studying the piano and attending the popular musical theater. He wrote his first songs in 1916, a score for an amateur musical in 1917, and in 1919 created the music for the Columbia Varsity Show, the first freshman ever to do so. Meanwhile he had initiated a collaborative arrangement with the lyricist, Lorenz Hart, that lasted almost a quarter of a century. Their first song to reach the Broadway theater was “Any Old Place With You” in _A Lonely Romeo_ in 1919. Their first Broadway musical was _The Poor Little Ritz Girl_ in 1920, and their first success came with _The Garrick Gaieties_ in 1925 where the song, “Manhattan,” was introduced. For the next twenty years, Rodgers and Hart—frequently with Herbert Fields as librettist—dominated the musical stage with some of the most original and freshly conceived musical productions of that period: _Dearest Enemy_ (1925), _The Girl Friend_ (1926), _Peggy-Ann_ (1926), _A Connecticut Yankee_ (1927), _On Your Toes_ (1936), _Babes in Arms_ (1937), _I’d Rather Be Right_ (1937), _I Married an Angel_ (1938), _The Boys from Syracuse_ (1938), and _Pal Joey_ (1940). From these and other productions came hundreds of songs some of which have since become classics in American popular music. The best of these were “Here In My Arms,” “Blue Room,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “My Romance,” “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” “There’s a Small Hotel,” “Where or When,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Spring Is Here,” “Falling in Love With Love,” “I Could Write a Book” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”

_By Jupiter_, in 1942, was the last of the Rodgers and Hart musicals. Hart’s physical and moral disintegration made it necessary for Rodgers to seek out a new collaborator. He found him in Oscar Hammerstein II, with whom Rodgers embarked on a new and even greater career as composer for the theater. Their first collaboration was _Oklahoma!_ in 1943, an unprecedented box-office triumph, and a production that revolutionized the musical stage by crystallizing the concept and procedures of the musical play as opposed to the musical comedy. After that Rodgers and Hammerstein brought to the stage such classics as _Carousel_, _South Pacific_, and _The King and I_. Other Rodgers and Hammerstein productions were _Allegro_ (1947), _Me and Juliet_ (1953), _Pipe Dream_ (1955), _The Flower Drum Song_ (1958) and _The Sound of Music_ (1959). Among the most famous songs by Rodgers from these productions—besides those from musical plays discussed below—were “A Fellow Needs a Girl,” “No Other Love,” “Everybody’s Got a Home But Me,” “All at Once You Love Her,” “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” “Do, Re, Mi,” “The Sound of Music” and “Climb Every Mountain.” The collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein ended in 1960 with the death of the lyricist.

_Oklahoma!_, _Carousel_, _South Pacific_, and _The King and I_ have become enduring monuments in the American theater. They are continually revived, have been adapted for motion pictures, and are perpetually represented at semi-classical concerts and on records. In whatever form they appear they never fail to excite and inspire audiences. It is in these productions that Rodgers has reached the highest creative altitudes of his career, with music of such expressive lyricism, dramatic impact, consummate technical skill, and pervading charm and grace that its survival in American music seems assured. Robert Russell Bennett has made skilful orchestral adaptations of the basic melodic material from each of these musical plays, and it is most usually these adaptations that are most frequently performed by pop and semi-classical orchestras.

_Carousel_ is the second of the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterworks, succeeding _Oklahoma!_ by about two years. It is one of the most radiant ornaments of our musical stage. Oscar Hammerstein II here adapted Ferenc Molnar’s play, _Liliom_, with changes in setting, time, and some basic alterations of plot. In the musical version the action takes place in New England in 1873. Billy Bigelow, a barker in an amusement park, falls in love and marries Julie Jordan. A charming but irresponsible young man, Billy decides to get some money in a holdup, when he learns his wife is pregnant. Caught, Billy eludes arrest by committing suicide. After a brief stay in Purgatory, Billy is permitted to return to earth for a single day to achieve redemption, the price for his admission to Heaven. On earth, he meets his daughter. Through her love, understanding and forgiveness he achieves his redemption. Thus the musical ends in a happy glow of love and compassion whereas Molnar’s original play ended on the tragic note of frustration.

_Carousel_ opened in New York on April 19, 1945. John Chapman described it as “one of the finest musical plays I have ever seen, and I shall remember it always.” It received the Drama Critics Award and eight Donaldson Awards. Since then it has often been revived besides being adapted for the screen; in 1958 it was presented at the World’s Fair in Brussels.

The heartwarming glow that pervades the play in Hammerstein’s moving dialogue and lyrics was magically caught in the score, which begins with an extended waltz sequence for orchestra. In the play this music is heard under the opening scene which represents an amusement park dominated by a gay carousel. This waltz music is a self-sufficient composition that can be, and often is, played independently of the other excerpts. The other main musical episodes include the love duet of Billy and Julie, “If I Loved You”; Billy’s eloquent and extended narrative, “Soliloquy,” when he learns he is about to become a father; the spiritual “You’ll Never Walk Alone”; the ebullient “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over”; two vigorous choral episodes, “Blow High, Blow Low” and “This Was a Real Nice Clambake.”

_The King and I_, presented on March 29, 1951, was adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II from Margaret Landon’s novel _Anna and the King of Siam_ (which had already been made into a successful non-musical motion picture starring Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne). Anna, played in the musical by Gertrude Lawrence, is an English schoolmistress come to Siam to teach Western culture to the royal princes and princesses. Her own strong will and Western independence comes into sharp conflict with the king, an Eastern despot enacted by Yul Brynner. But they are nonetheless drawn to each other, partly through curiosity, partly through admiration. Naturally, since they are of different social stations and cultures, a love interest is out of the question, but they are ineluctably drawn to each other, particularly after Anna has managed to save a critical political situation in Siam through her ingenuity. The king dies just before the final curtain; Anna remains on as a teacher of the children she has come to love.

Part of the attraction of Rodgers’ music is its subtle Oriental flavoring. In the music—as in text, settings and costuming—_The King and I_ is a picture of an “East of frank and unashamed romance,” as Richard Watts, Jr., said, “seen through the eyes of ... theatrical artists of rare taste and creative power.” The Oriental element is particularly pronounced in the orchestral excerpt, “The March of the Royal Siamese Children,” with its exotic syncopated structure and orchestration. Other popular excerpts from this score include Anna’s lilting “I Whistle a Happy Tune”; her poignant ballad “Hello, Young Lovers”; Anna’s duet with the king, “Shall We Dance?”; her amiable conversation with the children, “Getting to Know You”; the King’s narrative, “A Puzzlement”; also two sensitive and atmospheric duets by the two Siamese lovers, Tuptim and Lun Tha, “We Kiss in the Shadow” and “I Have Dreamed.”

_Oklahoma!_, the first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical plays—which opened on March 31, 1943—made stage history. Its run of 2,248 performances was the longest run of any Broadway musical up to then; a national company toured for ten years. It was successfully produced in Europe, Africa, and Australia. But beyond being a box-office triumph of incomparable magnitude, it was also an artistic event of the first importance. This was musical comedy no more, but a vital folk play rich in dramatic content, and authentic in characterization and background. The play upon which it was based was Lynn Riggs’ folk play, _Green Grow the Lilacs_, adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II. In making his adaptation, Hammerstein had to sidestep long accepted formulas and clichés of the American musical stage to meet the demands of Riggs’ play. Chorus-girl routines made way for American ballet conceived by Agnes De Mille. Set comedy routines were replaced by a humor which rose naturally from text and characters. Each musical incident was basic to the movement of the dramatic action. Even the plot was unorthodox for our musical theater. At the turn of the present century in West-Indian country, Laurey and Curly are in love, but are kept apart by their respective diffidence and a false sense of hostility. An ugly, lecherous character, Jud Fry, pursues Laurey. Laurey and Curly finally declare their love for each other. At their wedding Jud arrives inebriated, attacks Curly with a knife, and becomes its fatal victim when he accidentally falls upon the blade during a brawl. A hastily improvised trial exonerates Curly of murder and permits him and his bride to set off on their honeymoon for a land that some day will get the name of Oklahoma.

The play opens at once with its best musical foot forward, a simple song, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” which has the personality of American folk music. It is sung offstage by Curly. After that the principal musical episodes include the love song of Curly and Laurey, “People Will Say We’re in Love”; several songs with a strong American national identity, including “Kansas City,” “The Farmer and the Cowman,” “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” and the title number; and two highly expressive numbers, “Out of My Dreams” and “Many a New Day.”

_Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ is one of Rodgers’ most famous orchestral compositions, and one of the finest achievements of the school of symphonic-jazz writing. This music was used for a ballet sequence in the Rodgers and Hart musical, _On Your Toes_, first produced in 1936. Since _On Your Toes_ dwelled in the world of ballet, with dancers as principal characters, ballet episodes played an important part in the unfolding of the story; these episodes were conceived by George Balanchine. The play reaches a dramatic climax with a jazz ballet, a satire on gangsters, entitled _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_. This is a description of the pursuit by gangsters of a hoofer and his girl. Caught up in a Tenth Avenue café, the gangsters murder the girl and are about to kill the hoofer when the police come to his rescue. Rodgers’ music for the ballet is an extended and integrated symphonic-jazz composition which has won its way into the permanent repertory of semi-classical music. It is constructed from two main melodic ideas. The first is an impudent little jazz tune, and the second is a rich and luscious jazz melody for strings.

_South Pacific_, produced on April 7, 1949, was both commercially and artistically of the magnitude of _Oklahoma!_ Its Broadway run of 1,925 performances was only 325 less than that of its epoch-making predecessor. In many other respects _South Pacific_ outdid _Oklahoma!_: In the overall box-office grossage; in sale of sheet music and records; in the capture of prizes (including the Pulitzer Prize for drama, seven Antoinette Perry and nine Donaldson awards). The book was adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan from _Tales of the South Pacific_, a series of short stories about American troops in the Pacific during World War II. In the adaptation two love plots are emphasized. The first involves the French planter, Emile de Becque, and the American ensign, Nellie Forbush; the other engages Liat, a Tonkinese girl, and Lieutenant Cable. The first ends happily, but only after complications brought on by the discovery on Nellie’s part that Emile was once married to a Polynesian and is the father of two Eurasian children. The other love affair has a tragic ending, since Lieutenant Cable dies on a mission. With Ezio Pinza as De Becque and Mary Martin as Nellie, _South Pacific_ was “a show of rare enchantment,” as Howard Barnes reported, “novel in texture and treatment, rich in dramatic substance, and eloquent in song.” Among its prominent musical numbers are De Becque and Nellie’s love song, “Some Enchanted Evening”; De Becque’s lament “This Nearly Was Mine”; Cable’s love song “Younger Than Springtime”; three songs by Nellie, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “A Cockeyed Optimist,” and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy”; two exotic numbers by the Tonkinese Bloody Mary, “Happy Talk” and “Bali Ha’i”; and a spirited and humorous choral number by the Marines, “There Is Nothing Like a Dame.”

_Victory at Sea_ is a nine-movement suite for symphony orchestra adapted by Robert Russell Bennett from the extended musical score for a series of documentary films on naval operations during World War II. These films were presented over NBC television in 1952 and received both the Sylvania and the George Foster Peabody Awards. Much of the acclaim accorded to these remarkable films belonged to Rodgers’ background music which, as Otis L. Guernsey said, “suggested courage, self-sacrifice and the indomitable spirit of the free man.” A _New Yorker_ critic described Rodgers’ music as a “seemingly endless creation, now martial, now tender, now tuneful, now dissonant ... memorable and tremendously moving.”

The first movement, “The Song of the High Seas,” is a picture of ships menaced by Nazi U-boats on the seas during the early part of World War II. They finally get involved in battle. “The Pacific Boils Over” describes the beauty of Hawaii at peace in a melody suggesting Hawaiian song and dance. War comes, and this idyllic mood is shattered. A broad melody for strings ending in forceful chords tells about the tragedy of Pearl Harbor and the grim business of repairing the damage inflicted upon it by the Japanese. The third movement is one of the most famous in the suite, often performed independently of the other sections. It is stirring and dramatic march music of symphonic dimensions entitled “Guadalcanal March.” This is followed by “D Day,” its principal melody a broad, strong subject for brass telling of the gradual build-up of men and materials for the invasion of Fortress Europe. The fifth movement, “Hard Work and Horseplay” provides the lighter side of war. American soldiers find relief from grim realities in mischievous escapades and playtime. “Theme of the Fast Carrier” brings up the picture of a battle scene and ends with moving funeral music. In “Beneath the Southern Cross” we get an infectious tango melody which Rodgers later borrowed for his hit song, “No Other Love,” for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play, _Me and Juliet_. “Mare Nostrum” recalls the harsh realities of war, first by presenting a serene Mediterranean scene, and then showing how it is torn and violated by the fierce naval attack on North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. The suite ends on a note of triumph with “Victory at Sea.” A hymn of thanksgiving is sounded. Then we hear reminders of the “Guadalcanal March” and the seductive tango melody from “Beneath the Southern Cross.” This tango is soon transformed into a rousing song of joy and triumph with which the suite comes to a magnificent culmination.

Sigmund Romberg

Sigmund Romberg was born in Szeged, Hungary, on July 29, 1887. His boyhood and early manhood were spent in Vienna where he studied engineering and fulfilled his military service with the 19th Hungarian Infantry stationed in that city. In Vienna, Romberg’s lifelong interest in and talent for music found a favorable climate. He heard concerts, haunted the city’s leading music salons, was a devotee of Viennese operettas at the Theater-an-der-Wien. Vienna’s influence led him to abandon all thoughts of becoming an engineer. In 1909 he came to the United States where he led salon orchestras in various restaurants and published his first popular songs. In 1912 he was engaged as staff composer for the Shuberts, for whose many and varied Broadway productions Romberg supplied all the music. Within a three-year period he wrote the scores for eighteen musicals, one of which was his first operetta in a European style, _The Blue Paradise_ (1915) for which he created his first outstanding song hit, “_Auf Wiedersehen_.” Though he continued writing music for many musical comedies, revues and extravaganzas—including some starring Al Jolson at the Winter Garden—it was in the field of the operetta that Romberg achieved significance in American popular music. His musical roots were so deeply embedded in the soil of Vienna that only in writing music for operettas in the manner and procedures of Vienna did he succeed in producing a lyricism that ran the gamut from sweetness and sentimentality to gaiety, masculine vigor and charm. His most successful operettas, which are discussed below, have never lost their capacity to enchant audiences however many times they are revived.

Romberg began writing music for motion pictures in 1930 with _Viennese Nights_. Out of one of his many scores for the screen came the poignant ballad, “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.” His last huge success on Broadway was achieved not with an operetta but with an American musical comedy with American backgrounds, settings and characters—and songs in a pronounced American idiom. It was _Up in Central Park_ in 1945. His last musical comedy was _The Girl in Pink Tights_ produced on Broadway posthumously in 1954. Romberg died in New York City on November 9, 1951. Three years after his death his screen biography, _Deep in My Heart_, was released, with José Ferrer playing the part of the composer.

_Blossom Time_ was first produced on Broadway on September 29, 1921 and proved so successful that to meet the demand for tickets a second company was formed to perform it at a nearby theater. There were also four national companies running simultaneously. This musical was derived from the successful German operetta, _Das drei Maederlhaus_, adapted by Dorothy Donnelly. The central character is the beloved Viennese composer of the early 19th century, Franz Schubert, and the plot is built around the composer’s supposed frustrated love for Mitzi, who, in turn, falls in love with Schubert’s best friend. The composer’s anguish in losing her makes it impossible for him to finish the symphony he was writing for her—and it remains forever unfinished. This tragic episode, however, has no basis in biographical fact and is entirely the figment of a fertile operetta librettist’s imagination.

Romberg’s most famous songs were all based on Schubert’s own melodies, and one became a hit of major proportions: “Song of Love” based on the beautiful main theme from the first movement of the _Unfinished Symphony_. Other popular selections include “Tell Me Daisy,” “Lonely Hearts,” “Serenade” and “Three Little Maids”—all possessed of that charm, grace and _Gemuetlichkeit_ which we always associate with the city of Vienna and its popular music.

_The Desert Song_, produced on November 30, 1926, had for its background the colorful setting of French Morocco. There Margot Bonvalet is in love with the Governor’s son but is being pursued by the bandit chief, The Red Shadow. In the end it turns out that the Governor’s son and The Red Shadow are one and the same person. The principal musical excerpts include the romantic duet of Margot and The Red Shadow, “Blue Heaven”; the rapturous love song of The Red Shadow, “One Alone”; and two virile episodes, “Sabre Song” and “French Marching Song.”

Unlike most Romberg operettas, _Maytime_, presented on August 16, 1917, did not have a foreign or exotic setting. The action takes place in Gramercy Park, New York, between 1840 and 1900. However, the tragic frustrations of the love affair of Ottilie and Richard belong inevitably in the make-believe world of the operetta. Ottilie is forced to marry a distant relative. Many years later, Ottilie’s granddaughter and Richard’s grandson find each other, fall in love, and fulfil the happiness denied their grandparents. The most important musical number in this play is the sweet and sentimental waltz, “Will You Remember?”, which is repeated several times during the course of the action. Other numbers include “Jump Jim Crow,” “It’s a Windy Day” and “Dancing Will Keep You Young.”

_The New Moon_—which came to Broadway on September 19, 1928—was described by its authors (Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab) as a “romantic musical comedy.” Its hero is a historical character, Robert Mission, an 18th-century French aristocrat who has come to New Orleans as a political fugitive. In the operetta he is a bondservant to Monsieur Beaunoir, with whose daughter, Marianne, he is in love. When the French police arrive to take him back to Paris for trial, Marianne boards his ship upon which a mutiny erupts on the high seas. The victorious bondservants now take possession of a small island off the coast of Florida where they set up their own government with Robert as leader, who then takes Marianne as his wife. This opulent score yields one of Romberg’s most beautiful love songs, “Lover Come Back to Me,” but it is significant to point out that its main melody was expropriated by Romberg from a piano piece by Tchaikovsky. Other delightful musical excerpts from this tuneful operetta include the tender ballads “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,” “One Kiss” and “Wanting You,” and the stirring male chorus, “Stout-Hearted Men.”

_The Student Prince_, like _Blossom Time_, was based on a successful German operetta, _Old Heidelberg_, once again adapted for the American stage by Dorothy Donnelly. Its first performance took place on December 2, 1924. It has become one of the best loved operettas of the American theater; there is hardly a time when it is not revived somewhere in the United States. The setting is the romantic German University town of Heidelberg in 1860. Prince Karl Franz falls in love with Kathie, a waitress at the local inn. Their romance, however, is doomed to frustration, since the Prince must renounce her to marry a Princess. Romberg’s music is a veritable cornucopia of melodic riches, including as it does the love duet of Kathie and the Prince, “Deep in My Heart,” the Prince’s love song “Serenade,” and with them, “Golden Days” and a vibrant male chorus, “Drinking Song.”

David Rose

David Rose was born in London, England, on June 15, 1910. His family came to the United States in 1914, settling in Chicago where Rose received his musical training at the Chicago Musical College. After working for radio and as pianist of the Ted Fiorito Orchestra, Rose came to Hollywood in 1938 where he became music director of the Mutual Broadcasting network. During World War II he served as musical director of, and composer for, _Winged Victory_, the Air Corps production by Moss Hart. After the war, Rose became outstandingly successful as musical director for leading radio and television programs (including the first Fred Astaire television show for which he received an “Emmy” Award), and as a composer of background music for many motion pictures. He has also appeared extensively in America and Europe as guest conductor of symphony orchestras.

Rose is the composer of several instrumental compositions in a popular style that have achieved considerable popularity. Indeed, it was with one of these that he first became famous as a composer. This was the _Holiday for Strings_, written and published in 1943, a three-part composition in which the flanking sections make effective use of plucked strings while the middle part is of lyrical character. _Holiday for Strings_ received over a dozen different recordings and sold several million records. Fifteen years later, Rose wrote another charming composition in a similar vein, _Holiday for Trombones_ in which virtuosity is contrasted with lyricism. Other instrumental works by Rose outstanding for either melodic or rhythmic interest are _Big Ben_, _Dance of the Spanish Onion_, _Escapade_, and _Our Waltz_.

Gioacchino Rossini

Gioacchino Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy, on February 29, 1792. He received his musical training at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. In 1810 he wrote his first opera, _La Cambiale di matrimonio_, produced in Venice. Success came in 1812 with his third opera, _La Pietra del paragone_, given at La Scala in Milan. _Tancredi_ and _L’Italiana in Algeri_, performed in Venice in 1813, further added to his fame and helped make him an adulated opera composer at the age of twenty-one. In 1815 Rossini was appointed director of two opera companies in Naples for which he wrote several successful operas. But his masterwork, which came during this period, was not written for Naples but for Rome: _The Barber of Seville_ introduced in the Italian capital in 1816. In 1822 Rossini visited Vienna where he became the man of the hour. In 1824 he came to Paris to assume the post of director of the Théâtre des Italiens. Among the operas written for Paris was _William Tell_, introduced at the Paris Opéra in 1829. Though Rossini was now at the height of his fame and creative power—and though he lived another thirty-nine years—he never wrote another work for the stage. He continued living in Paris, a dominant figure in its social and cultural life. His home was the gathering place for the intellectual élite of the city, the scene of festive entertainments. He died of a heart attack in Paris on November 13, 1868.

Rossini was the genius of Italian comic opera (_opera buffa_). His melodies are filled with laughter and gaiety; his harmonies and rhythms sparkle with wit and the joy of life. He was at his best when he brought to his writing an infallible instinct for comedy, burlesque, and mockery. But he was also capable of a lyricism filled with poetry and infused with heartfelt sentiments. He was, moreover, a master of orchestral effect—especially in his dramatic use of the extended _crescendo_—and highly skilled in contrasting his moods through rapid alternation of fast and slow passages. He was also a daring innovator in his instrumentation.

He is a giant in opera, but with his infectious moods and endless fund of melodies he is also a crowning master in semi-classical music. His masterwork, _The Barber of Seville_ (_Il Barbiere di Siviglia_) is as popular with salon orchestras through its merry overture and main selections as it is in the opera house. _The Barber of Seville_ is based on two plays by Beaumarchais, _Le Barbier de Séville_ and _Le Mariage de Figaro_, adapted by Cesare Sterbini. It is a vivacious comedy in which Count Almaviva, in love with Rosina (ward of Doctor Bartolo who is in love with her himself) tries to penetrate Bartolo’s household by assuming various disguises. The Count and Rosina plan to elope, but Rosina reneges when Bartolo convinces her that the Count is unfaithful to her. Eventually, Rosina discovers that Bartolo has deceived her. She marries the Count, and Bartolo finds consolation in the fact that the Count is willing to renounce Rosina’s dowry in his favor.

When this work was first performed in Rome on February 20, 1816 it was a dismal failure. This was largely due to a carefully organized uproar in the theater by admirers of another famous Italian composer, Paisiello, who had previously written an opera on the same subject. A sloppy performance did not help matters either. The furor in the auditorium was so great that it was impossible at times to hear the singers; and Rossini was in the end greeted with hisses and catcalls. But the second performance told a far different story. The singing and staging now went off much more smoothly, and Rossini’s enemies were no longer present to do their damage. Consequently the opera was acclaimed. Five years later, a tour of the opera throughout Italy established its fame and popularity on a solid and permanent basis.

The deservedly famous overture is so much in the carefree and ebullient spirit of the opera as a whole—and so felicitously sets the tone for what is soon to follow on the stage—that it comes as a shock to discover that it was not written for this work. Rossini had actually created it for an earlier opera, and then used it several times more for various other stage works, tragedies as well as comedies. The overture opens with a slow introduction in which the violins offer a graceful tune. A transition of four chords leads to the main body in which strings doubled by the piccolo offer a spicy little melody. The same infectious gaiety is to be found in the second theme which is first given by oboe and clarinet. A dramatic crescendo now leads into the development of both themes, and the overture ends with a vivacious coda.

Besides the overture, some of the principal melodies from this opera are frequently given in various orchestral potpourris and fantasias: Count Almaviva’s beautiful serenade, “_Ecco ridente in cielo_” and Figaro’s patter song, “_Largo al factotum_” from the first act; in the second act, Rosina’s coloratura aria, “_Una voce poco fa_” and Basilio’s denunciation of slander in “_La Calunnia_”; and in the third act, Basilio’s unctuous greeting “_Pace e gioia sia con voi_” and Figaro’s advice to the lovers to get married in haste and silence, “_Zitti, zitti, piano, piano_.”

_La Gazza ladra_ (_The Thieving Magpie_), first produced at La Scala on May 31, 1817, is also a light comedy; libretto by Giovanni Gherardini, based on a French play. The central character is a servant girl falsely accused of having stolen a silver spoon; she is exonerated when the spoon is found in a magpie’s nest just as the girl is about to be punished at the scaffold. The overture begins with an attention-arresting roll on the snare drum. This is followed by a brisk, march-like melody for full orchestra. In the main section, the principal themes consist of a sensitive little tune for strings and a pert melody for strings and woodwind.

_L’Italiana in Algeri_ (_The Italian Lady in Algiers_) is, on the other hand, a serious opera. It was first produced in Venice on May 22, 1813, libretto by Angelo Anelli. In Algiers, Lindoro and Isabella are in love, but their romance is complicated by the fact that Isabella is sought after by the Mustafa. The lovers manage to effect their escape while the Mustafa is involved in complicated rites serving as his initiation into a secret society. The solemn opening of the overture has for its main thought a beautiful song for oboe. A crescendo then carries the overture to its principal section in which two lively melodies are heard, the first for woodwind, and the second for oboe.

_La Scala di seta_ (_The Silken Ladder_) is an opera buffa which had its first performance in Venice on May 9, 1812. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi was based on a French farce involving a young girl who tries desperately to keep secret from her jealous guardian her marriage to the man she loves. A brief and electrifying opening for strings in the overture brings on a sentimental duet for flute and oboe. Two principal subjects in the main body of the overture include a gay and sprightly melody for strings, echoed by oboe, and a tender theme for flute and clarinet accompanied by strings.

_Semiramide_—introduced in Venice on February 3, 1823—is a serious opera based on Voltaire with libretto by Gaetano Rossi. Semiramis is the Queen of Babylon who is driven by her love for Asur to murder her husband. Her later love life is complicated when she discovers that the object of her passion, a Scythian, is actually her son. Semiramis is killed by a dagger which Asur directs at her Scythian son; Semiramis’ son then murders Asur and assumes the throne. The overture opens dramatically with a gradual crescendo at the end of which comes a slow and solemn melody for four horns, soon taken over by woodwind against plucked strings. A short transition in the woodwind brings on a return of the opening crescendo measures. We now come to the main part of the overture in which the first theme is for strings, and the second for the woodwind.

The most famous of all Rossini’s overtures, more celebrated even than that for _The Barber of Seville_, is the one for the tragic opera _William Tell_ (_Guillaume Tell_). This is perhaps the most popular opera overture ever written. It is much more than merely the preface to a stage work but is in itself an elaborate, eloquent tone poem, rich in dramatic as well as musical interest, and vivid in its pictorial and programmatic writing.

_William Tell_, which had its première in Paris on August 3, 1829, is based on the drama of Friedrich Schiller, the libretto adaptation being made by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. The hero is, of course, the Swiss patriot who triumphs over the tyrant Gessler and helps bring about the liberation of his country.

In the early measures of the overture we get a picture of sunrise over the Swiss mountains, its beautiful melody presented by cellos and basses. A dramatic episode for full orchestra then depicts an Alpine storm. When it subsides we get a pastoral scene of rare loveliness evoked by a poignant Swiss melody on the English horn. Trumpet fanfares then bring on the stirring march music which, in our time and country, has been borrowed by radio for the theme melody of “The Lone Ranger.” The overture ends triumphantly in telling of William Tell’s victory over tyranny and oppression.

The contemporary British composer, Benjamin Britten, has assembled various melodies by Rossini into two delightful suites for orchestra. _Soirées musicales_ (1936) is made up of five compositions by Rossini—from _William Tell_ and from several pieces from a piano suite entitled _Péchés de vieillesse_. The five movements are marked; I. March; II. Canzonetta; III. Tyrolese; IV. Bolero; V. Tarantella. _Matinées musicales_ (1941) also gets its material from _William Tell_ and the piano suite. Here the movements are: I. March; II. Nocturne; III. Waltz; IV. Pantomime; V. Moto Perpetuo.

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein was born in Viakhvatinetz, Russia, on November 28, 1829. He studied the piano with Alexandre Villoing after which, in 1839 he came to Paris with his teacher, deeply impressing Chopin and Liszt with his performances. Between 1841 and 1843 Rubinstein made a concert tour of Europe, but his career as a world-famous virtuoso did not begin until 1854 when his formidable technique and musicianship aroused the enthusiasm of Western Europe. After that he made many tours of the world, his reputation as pianist second only to that of Liszt; his first American appearance took place in 1872-1873 when he gave more than two hundred concerts. He also distinguished himself as conductor of the Russian Musical Society, and as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory which he helped found in 1862. He was one of the most highly honored musicians in Russia of his generation. He resigned his post as director of the Conservatory in 1891, and on November 20, 1894 he died in St. Petersburg.

Rubinstein was an extraordinarily prolific composer, his works including many operas, symphonies, concertos, overtures, tone poems, chamber music together with a library of music for solo piano. About all that has survived from his larger works is his Fourth Piano Concerto which is flooded with Romantic ardor and is often in the recognizable style of Mendelssohn. Beyond this concerto, only a few of his smaller pieces for piano are still heard, so delightful in their melodic content and so charming in mood and atmosphere that they have lost little of their universal appeal.

_Kamenoi-Ostrow_, though best known as a composition for orchestra, originated as a piece for the piano. Actually the name _Kamenoi-Ostrow_ belongs to a suite of twenty-four compositions for solo piano, op. 10. But the twenty-second number has become so popular independent of the suite, and in so many different guises, that its original title (“_Rêve angelique_”) has virtually been forgotten and it is almost always referred to now by the name of its suite. Kamenoi-Ostrow is a Russian town in which the Grand Duchess Helena maintained a summer palace. Rubinstein was its chamber virtuoso from 1848 on for a few years, and while there he wrote his piano suite, naming it after the Grand Duchess’ residence. The solemn melody and its equally affecting countermelody have an almost religious character, emphasized in orchestral transcription by a background of tolling bells. Victor Herbert made an effective orchestral adaptation.

The _Melody in F_ is one of the most popular piano pieces ever written. It is found in the first of _Two Melodies_, for solo piano, op. 3, but is most often heard in orchestral transcription, or adaptations for solo instrument and piano. The vernal freshness of its spontaneous lyricism has made it particularly appropriate describing Springtime; indeed, verses about Spring have been written for this melody.

The _Romance in E-flat major_ is almost as well known as the _Melody in F_. This sentimental melody—filled with Russian pathos, yearning and dark brooding—is the first number in a set of six pieces for solo piano collectively entitled _Soirées de St. Petersbourg_, op. 44.

Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-saëns was born in Paris on October 9, 1835. He was extraordinarily precocious. After some piano instruction from his aunt he gave a remarkable concert in Paris in his ninth year A comprehensive period of study followed at the Paris Conservatory where he won several prizes, though never the Prix de Rome. In 1852 he received a prize for _Ode à Sainte Cécile_, and in 1853 the première of his first symphony attracted considerable praise. From 1858 to 1877 he was the organist of the Madeleine Church in Paris, a position in which he achieved renown as a performer on the organ. From 1861 to 1865 he was an eminent teacher of the piano at the École Niedermeyer, and in 1871 he helped organize the distinguished Société Nationale in Paris devoted to the introduction of new music by French composers. From 1877 his principal activity was composition in which, as in all the other areas in which he had been engaged, he soon became an outstanding figure. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1868; Officer in 1884; Grand Officer in 1900; and in 1913 the highest rank in the Legion of Honor, the Grand-Croix. He became a member of the Institut de France in 1881. Saint-Saëns paid his first visit to the United States in 1906, and made his first tour of South America in 1916 when he was eighty-one. He remained active until the end of his long life, appearing as pianist and conductor in a Saint-Saëns festival in Greece in 1920, and performing a concert of his own music in Dieppe a year later. He was vacationing in Algiers when he died there on December 16, 1921.

Though Saint-Saëns lived well into the 20th century and was witness to the radical departures in musical composition taking place all about him, he remained a conservative to the end of his days. He was, from a technical point of view, a master. There is no field of musical composition which he did not cultivate with the most consummate skill and the best possible taste. He was gifted not merely with a fine lyrical gift but also at other times with passion, intensity, and a sardonic wit. He wrote numerous compositions in a light style, but many of his most serious efforts are readily assimilable at first hearing and readily fall into the category of semi-classics.

_The Carnival of Animals_ (_Le Carnaval des animaux_), for two pianos and orchestra (1886) finds the composer in a gay mood. This is witty, ironic and at times satiric music. The composer regarded the writing of this work as a lark, thought so little of the composition that he did not permit a public performance or a publication during his lifetime. Nevertheless it is one of the composer’s most infectious compositions, one that never fails to enchant audiences young and old. It was described by the composer as “a grand zoological fantasy,” and its fourteen sections represent pictures of various animals. The suite begins with a march (“Introduction and Royal March of the Lion,” “_L’Introduction et marche royale du lion_”). After a brief fanfare, sprightly march music is heard. We can readily guess who is at the head of the parade by the lion’s roar simulated by the orchestra. After this we are given a picture of a hen through the cackle in piano and strings, and of a cock through a clarinet call (“Hens and Cocks,” “_Poules et coqs_”). This is followed by music for two unaccompanied pianos intended to depict “Mules” (“_Hémiones_”). Actually this portion was planned by the composer as a satire on pianists who insist on playing everything in a strict rhythm and unchanging dynamics. In the fourth movement, “Tortoises” (“_Tortues_”), two amusing quotations are interpolated from Offenbach’s _Orpheus in the Underworld_. A cumbersome melody in a stately rhythm then introduces us to the “Elephant” (“_L’Eléphant_”). In this part the composer’s fine feeling for paradox and incongruity asserts itself in contrasting a ponderous theme with a graceful waltz tune. In the halting music of the next movement, “Kangaroos” (“_Kangourous_”), the composer aims his satirical barbs not on these graceless animals but upon concert audiences who insist on talking throughout a performance. “Aquarium” consists of a sensitive melody for flute and violin against piano arpeggio figures. In “Personages With Long Ears” (“_Personnages à longues oreilles_”) donkeys are represented by a melody with leaping intervals. The “Cuckoo in the Woods” (“_Le Coucou au fonds des bois_”) consists of a melody for clarinet. “Aviary” (“_Volière_”) reproduces the flight and singing of birds. “Pianists” (“_Pianistes_”), the composer feels, belongs to the animal kingdom; the attempt by embryo pianists to master his scales is here described amusingly. “Fossils” (“_Fossiles_”) quotes four popular themes from the classics: from Rossini’s _The Barber of Seville_, Saint-Saëns’ _Danse macabre_, and two French folk songs. Satire and wit are replaced by the most sensitive lyricism and winning sentiment in the thirteenth movement, a section so famous that it is most often heard apart from the rest of the suite, and in many different versions and arrangements. This is the movement of “The Swan” (“_Le Cygne_”), a beautiful melody for the cello in which the stately movement of the swan in the water is interpreted. A dance inspired by this music was made world famous by Anna Pavlova. The suite ends with the return of all the preceding characters in a section entitled “Finale.” In the present-day concert hall, it is sometimes the practice to present _The Carnival of Animals_ with an appropriate superimposed commentary in verse by Ogden Nash preceding each section.

_Danse macabre_, tone poem for orchestra, op. 40 (1874) is a musical interpretation of a poem by Henri Cazalis. The composition opens with a brief sequence in the harp suggesting that the hour of midnight has struck. Death tunes his violin and almost at once there begins a demoniac dance, its abandoned theme first presented by the flute. Another equally frenetic dance tune is given by Death, the xylophone simulating the rattle of bones. In the midst of the orgy the solemn refrain of the “Dies Irae” is sounded. Dawn is announced by the crowing of a cock. The wild dance dies down and the dancers disappear in the mist.

_The Deluge_ (_Le Déluge_), op. 45 (1876), is an orchestral prelude to a Biblical poem, text by Louis Gillet. The inspiration for this music comes from a passage in the _Genesis_: “And God repented of having created the world.” Solemn chords preface a fugal passage built from a theme in violas. After this a beautiful melody for solo violin unfolds symbolizing humanity in its original state of purity.

The _Havanaise_, op. 83 (1887) is a popular composition for violin and piano which makes effective use of a languorous Spanish melody set against the habanera rhythm. “Havanaise” is the French term for “Habanera,” a popular Spanish dance in slow ²/₄ time said to have originated in Cuba.

_Henry VIII_, an opera, is remembered for its effective ballet music. The opera, with libretto by Leonce Detroyat and Armand Sylvestre was first performed at the Paris Opéra on March 5, 1883. Since its setting is England during the Tudor Period, the popular ballet music is restrained, sensitive and graceful. It is heard in the second act during a festival given by the King of Richmond to honor the Papal Legate. Much of the material for these dances was acquired by the composer from a collection of Scottish and Irish tunes and dances provided him by the wife of one of his librettists. The Ballet Music is made up of five sections. The first is a restrained Introduction. Then comes “The Entry of the Clans.” This music, it is amusing to remark, is English rather than Scottish in style because the composer confused the English Dee with the Scottish river of the same name and decided to use the English melody “The Miller of the Dee.” The third movement is a “Scotch Idyll,” this time a bright Scottish tune in the oboe. The Ballet Music continues with a “Gypsy Dance” in which a Hungarian-type melody for English horn is followed by brisker music whose main subject is offered by the violins. The suite concludes with “Gigue and Finale.”

The _Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso_, op. 28 (1863) is for violin and orchestra. The main theme of the Introduction is found in the solo violin in the second measure, accompanied by the strings. A forceful chord for full orchestra brings on the Rondo Capriccioso section, whose main melody is presented by the solo violin. The solo instrument later on also introduces a contrasting second theme. After some embellishment of both ideas, the orchestra loudly interpolates a third subject which is repeated by the solo violin. All this material is amplified, often with brilliant virtuoso passages in the violin. A climactic point is reached when the first theme of the Rondo Capriccioso is pronounced by the orchestra against broken chords in the violin. This composition concludes with a coda marked by virtuoso passages for the solo instrument.

The _Marche heroïque_, for orchestra, op. 34 (1871) was originally written for two solo pianos but later the same year orchestrated by the composer himself. The composition is dedicated to one of Saint-Saëns’ friends, the painter Alexandre Regnault, who served in the French army and was killed during the Franco-Prussian War. This music has a seven-bar introduction following which the principal march subject is given by the woodwind accompanied by plucked strings. In the middle trio section a contrasting theme is offered by the trombone against an accompanying figure taken from the earlier march melody. The march music returns in the closing section, but more vigorously than heretofore. The composition ends with a powerful coda.

_Le Rouet d’Omphale_ (_Omphale’s Spinning Wheel_), is an orchestral tone poem, op. 31 (1871), based on an old legend. Hercules is the slave of the Lydian queen. He disguises himself as a woman and is put to the task of spinning. The whirr of the spinning wheel is simulated by the violins at the beginning of the composition. The abused Hercules is then represented by a somber subject for the bass. Soon the whirr returns in an increased tempo to point up Hercules’ return to the business of spinning.

The composer’s most famous opera, _Samson and Delilah_, is represented on semi-classical programs with its colorful, exciting _Bacchanale_. The opera was first performed in Weimar in 1877, its libretto (by Ferdinand Lemaire) based on the famous Biblical story. The Bacchanale comes towards the end of the opera, the second scene of the third act. At the Temple of Dagon, the Philistines are celebrating their victory over Samson and the Hebrews with wild revelry in front of a statue of their god. A part of these festivities consists of a bacchanale to wild music Semitic in melodic content, orgiastic in tone colors, and barbaric in rhythms. The most celebrated vocal selection from this opera is Delilah’s seductive song to Samson, “My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice” (“_Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix_”).

The _Suite algérienne_, for orchestra, op. 60, is a set of four “picturesque impressions of a voyage to Algeria,” in the composer’s own description. The opening movement is a prelude. The sea is here depicted in a swelling figure while brief snatches of melody suggest some of the sights of Algiers as seen from aboard ship. “Moorish Rhapsody” (“_Rapsodie mauresque_”) is made up of three sections. The first and last are brilliant in sonority and tonal colors, while the middle one is an Oriental song. “An Evening Dream at Blidah” (“_Rêverie du soir_”) is a dreamy nocturne picturing a famous Algerian fortress. The most popular movement of the suite is the last one, a rousing “French Military March” (“_Marche militaire française_”)—vigorous, at times even majestic, music representing the composer’s delight and sense of security in coming upon a French garrison.

Pablo de Sarasate

Pablo de Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Spain, on March 10, 1844. As a child prodigy violinist he made his debut in Spain when he was six, and soon thereafter toured the country. In 1859 he completed with honors a three-year period of violin study at the Paris Conservatory. He was only fifteen when he initiated a worldwide career as virtuoso which continued until the end of his life and placed him with the foremost violinists of his generation. In his concerts he featured prominently his own arrangements and fantasias of opera arias as well as his original compositions in all of which he could exhibit his phenomenal technique. Some of his compositions are now staples in the violin repertory. They include the _Gypsy Airs_ (_Zigeuenerweisen_), _Caprice Basque_, _Jota aragonesa_, _Zapatadeo_, and the _Spanish Dances_.

The _Gypsy Airs_ is a fantasia made up of haunting gypsy tunes and dance rhythms. The heart of the composition comes midway with a sad gypsy song which finds contrast in the electrifying dance melodies and rhythms that follow immediately.

Sarasate produced four sets of _Spanish Dances_, opp. 21, 22, 23, and 26, all for violin and piano. The identifiable Spanish melodies and rhythms of folk dances are here exploited most effectively. The most famous of these is the _Malagueña_, a broad and sensual gypsy melody followed by a rhythmic section in which the clicking of castanets is simulated.

Franz Schubert