Chapter XIV: Part 14

_The Carnival in Paris_ (_Carnaval à Paris_), for orchestra, op. 9 (1873) is one of Svendsen’s best-known works, even though it is not in his characteristic Norwegian style. His early manhood in Paris had been one of the composer’s happiest experiences in life, and some of that joy and feeling of excitement is found in this music describing a Mardi Gras in Paris. The full orchestra enters after a swelling trumpet tone over drum rolls. There is then heard an exchange among the wind instruments and a quickening of the tempo to lead into the first main theme, a delicate subject for flutes and clarinets. This theme is twice repeated after which the music becomes stormy. Divided violins then bring on the second theme, which like the first is quiet and gentle. In the development, in which much is made of the first subject, there are effective frequent alternations of tempo. A rhapsodic section, with a subject for divided strings, followed by extended drum rolls and calls for muted horns, precede the concluding section.

Deems Taylor

Joseph Deems Taylor was born in New York City on December 22, 1885. He received his academic education in New York, at the Friends School, Ethical Culture School, and New York University. All the while he studied music with private teachers. Following his graduation from college, Taylor appeared in vaudeville, worked for several magazines, and from 1921 to 1925 was the music critic of the New York _World_. He first distinguished himself as a composer in 1919 with the orchestral suite, _Through the Looking Glass_. In 1925 he resigned from the _World_ to concentrate on composition. In the next half dozen years he completed two operas, each successfully performed at the Metropolitan Opera: _The King’s Henchman_ (with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay) in 1927, and _Peter Ibbetson_ in 1931. Since 1927, Taylor has followed several careers besides that of one of America’s most important serious composers. He was editor of _Musical America_, music critic for the _New York American_, master of ceremonies on radio and television, program annotator, intermission commentator for broadcasts of opera and orchestral music, and author of several best-selling books on music. A highly sophisticated composer with a consummate technical skill, Taylor’s works are not for popular consumption. But he did write one composition in a popular style, _Circus Day_; and a second of his works, _Through the Looking Glass_, while intended for symphonic concerts, has enough wit and charm to fall gracefully into the semi-classical category.

_Circus Day_ is a fantasy for orchestra, op. 18 (1925) written on commission from Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. When Whiteman and his orchestra introduced it that year, the work was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, but since then Taylor has prepared his own symphonic adaptation. Subtitled “eight pictures from memory” this fantasy strives “to convey one’s early impressions of a day at the circus.” The composer has provided his own program notes for the eight movements. The first, entitled “Street Parade,” describes the circus parade as it “passes on down the street.” “The playing of the band grows fainter and dies away in the distance.” “The Big Tops” tells in musical terms about “peanuts, popcorn, pink lemonade, bawling side-show barkers.” This is followed by “Bareback Riders.” “As the ringmaster cracks his whip, the riders perform the miraculous feats ... that make horseback riders the objects of such awe and admiration.” The fourth movement is in three parts. The first is devoted to “The Lion’s Cage.” “The roar of the lions is blood curdling, but they go through their tricks with no damage to any of us.” The second speaks about “The Dog and the Monkey Circus.” “Into the ring dash a whole kennel full of small dogs guised as race horses, ridden by monkeys dressed as jockeys.” In the third, we get a picture of “The Waltzing Elephants.” “The great beasts solemnly waltz to a tune that is a pachydermous version of the theme of the bareback riders.” In the fifth movement, “Tight-Rope Walker,” the performer “balances his parasol; he pirouettes and slips and slides as he makes his perilous way along the taut wire.” “The Jugglers,” in the sixth movement, “juggle little balls and big ones, knives, dishes, hats, lighted candles....” Even the orchestra is seized by the contagion and finally juggles its main theme, keeping three versions of it in the air. In “Clowns,” two of them “come out to play us a tune.... Finally, after a furious argument, the entire clown band manages to play the tune through, amid applause.” The finale, the composer goes on to explain, “might better be called ‘Looking Back.’ For the circus is over, and we are back at home, trying to tell a slightly inattentive family what we saw and heard. The helpful orchestra evokes recollections of jugglers, clowns, bareback riders, tight-rope walkers, trained animals.”

_Through the Looking Glass_, a suite for orchestra (1919) is a musical setting of episodes from Lewis Carroll’s delightful tale of the same name. Taylor’s suite is in four movements, for which he has provided his own program. The first movement, “Dedication; The Garden of Live Flowers,” consists of “a simple song theme, briefly developed,” which leads immediately to the brisk music of “The Garden of Live Flowers.” In the second movement, “Jabberwocky,” the theme of the frightful beast, the Jabberwock, “is first announced by the full orchestra. The clarinet then begins the tale [with] the battle with the monsters recounted in a short and rather repellant fugue.” The third movement, “Looking Glass Insects” tells of “the vociferous _diptera_ that made such an impression on Alice—the Bee-elephant, the Gnat, the Rockinghorse fly, and the Bread-and-butter fly.” The last movement, “The White Knight” has two themes. “The first is a sort of instrumental prance, being the knight’s own conception of himself as a slashing daredevil. The second is bland, mellifluous, a little sentimental—much more like the knight as he really was.”

Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky

Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840. Serious music study began comparatively late, since he prepared for a career in law and then for three years served as clerk in the Ministry of Justice. He had, however, revealed unusual sensitivity for music from earliest childhood, and had received some training on the piano from the time he was five. Intensive music study, however, did not begin until 1861 when he became a pupil of Nicholas Zaremba, and it was completed at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His professional career began in 1865, the year in which he was appointed professor of harmony at the newly founded Moscow Conservatory. This was also the year when one of his compositions was performed for the first time: _Characteristic Dances_, for orchestra, introduced by Johann Strauss II in Pavlovsk, Russia. Tchaikovsky’s first symphony was introduced in Moscow in 1868; his first opera, _The Voivoda_, in Moscow in 1869; and his first masterwork—the orchestral fantasy _Romeo and Juliet_—in Moscow in 1870. During the next half dozen years he reached maturity as composer with the completion of his second and third symphonies, first two string quartets, famous Piano Concerto No. 1, and the orchestral fantasy, _Francesca da Rimini_.

In 1877, Tchaikovsky embarked precipitously on a disastrous marriage with Antonina Miliukova. He did not love her, but was flattered by her adoration of his music. In all probability he regarded this marriage as a convenient cloak with which to conceal his sexual aberration which was already causing some talk in Moscow and of which he was heartily ashamed. In any event, this marriage proved a nightmare from the beginning. Always hypersensitive, he now became a victim of mental torment which led him to try suicide. Failing that, he fled from his wife to find refuge in his brother’s house where he collapsed physically. For a year after that he traveled about aimlessly in Europe.

This strange relationship with his wife was followed by another one, even more curious and unorthodox, with the woman whom he admired and loved above all others. She was the wealthy patroness and widow, Nadezhda von Meck, with whom he maintained a friendship lasting thirteen years. But during all that time he never once met her personally, their friendship being developed through an exchange of often tender at times even passionate letters. She had written him to speak of her admiration for his music and he had replied in gratitude. Before long, she endowed him with a generous annual subsidy to allow him full freedom to write music. From then on, they wrote each other frequently, with Tchaikovsky often baring his heart and soul. The reason why they never met was that Mme. von Meck had firmly established that condition for the continuation of their friendship and her financial generosity. Why this strange request was made, and why she adhered to it so tenaciously, has never been adequately explained. She may have been influenced by their different stations in life, or by her excessive devotion to her children, or even by a knowledge of the composer’s sexual deviation.

Now financially independent—and strengthened by the kindness, affection and sympathy of his patroness—Tchaikovsky entered upon one of his richest creative periods by producing one masterwork after another: the fourth and fifth symphonies, the opera, _Eugene Onegin_; the violin concerto; the _Capriccio italien_, for orchestra; a library of wonderful songs. Inevitably he now assumed a rank of first importance in Russian music. In 1884 he was honored by the Czar with the Order of St. Vladimir, and in 1888 a life pension was conferred upon him by the Russian government.

In 1890, while traveling in the Caucasus, Tchaikovsky heard from Mme. von Meck that she had recently suffered financial reverses and was compelled to terminate her subsidy. The composer replied that he was no longer in need of her financial help but that he hoped their friendship might continue. To this, and to all subsequent letters by Tchaikovsky, Mme. von Meck remained silent. Upon returning to Moscow, Tchaikovsky discovered that his patroness was in no financial difficulties whatsoever, but had used this as an excuse to terminate a relationship of which she had grown weary. The loss of his dearest friend, and the specious reason given for the termination of their relationship, was an overwhelming blow, one largely responsible for the fits of melancholia into which Tchaikovsky lapsed so frequently from this time on.

In 1891, Tchaikovsky paid his only visit to the United States where he helped open Carnegie Hall in New York by directing a performance of his own _Overture 1812_. After returning to Russia, he became so morbid, and succumbed so helplessly to fits of despair, that at times he thought he was losing his mind. In such a mood he wrote his last symphony, the _Pathétique_, one of the most tragic utterances in all music; there is good reason to believe that when Tchaikovsky wrote this music he was creating his own requiem. He died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893, a victim of cholera contracted when he drank a glass of boiled water during an epidemic.

The qualities in his major serious works that made Tchaikovsky one of the best loved and most frequently performed composers in the world are also the traits that bring his lesser works into the permanent semi-classical repertory: an endless fund of beautiful melody; an affecting sentiment that at times lapses into sentimentality; a lack of inhibitions in voicing his deepest emotions and most personal thoughts.

The _Andante Cantabile_ is a gentle, melancholy song in three-part form which comes from one of the composer’s string quartets, in D major, op. 11 (1871). This is the second movement of the quartet, and the reason why this work as a whole is still occasionally performed. This famous melody, however, is not original with the composer, but a quotation of a Russian folk song, “Vanya Sat on the Divan,” which the composer heard a baker sing in Kamenka, Russia. Tchaikovsky himself adapted this music for orchestra. In 1941, this melody was adapted into the American popular song, “On the Isle of May.”

_Chanson Triste_ is another of the composer’s soft, gentle melodies that is filled with sentiment. This is the second of twelve children’s pieces for the piano “of moderate difficulty,” op. 40 (1876-1877).

_Humoresque_, op. 10, no. 2 (1871)—a “humoresque” being an instrumental composition in a whimsical vein—finds Tchaikovsky in a less familiar attitude, that of grotesquerie. This sprightly little tune is almost as celebrated as the very popular _Humoresque_ of Dvořák; and like that of Dvořák, it originated as a composition for the piano, a companion to a _Nocturne_ which it follows. Fritz Kreisler made a fine transcription for violin and piano, while Stokowski was one of several to adapt it for orchestra.

The _Marche Slav_, for orchestra, op. 31 (1876) was intended for a benefit concert in St. Petersburg for Serbian soldiers wounded in the war with Turkey. At that performance, the work aroused a “whole storm of patriotic enthusiasm,” as the composer himself reported. The work opens with a broad Slavic march melody which Tchaikovsky borrowed from a Serbian folk song. The middle trio section is made up of two other folk tunes. The composition ends with a triumphant restatement of the opening march melody, now speaking for the victory of the Serbs over the Turks.

The _Melodie_, in E-flat major, op. 42, no. 3 (1878) is a simple and haunting little song that originated as a piece for violin and piano. It appears in a set of three such pieces entitled _Souvenir d’un lieu cher_, of which it is the closing number. This melody was used in 1941 for the American popular song, “The Things I Love.”

_The Months_, op. 37b (1876) is a suite for piano out of which come several compositions exceedingly popular in transcriptions. Each movement of this suite is devoted to a month of the year. The sixth movement is _June_, a little barcarolle, or Venetian boat song. The tenth, for October, is _Autumn Song_, a gentle melody lightly touched by sadness. The eleventh, for November, is by contrast a lively piece entitled _Troika en Traneaux_, or _The Troika_.

“None But the Lonely Heart” is one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous songs, a melancholy setting of Goethe’s poem. This is the last of a set of six songs, op. 16 (1872) which is extensively performed in transcriptions of all sorts.

The _Nutcracker Suite_, or _Casse-Noisette_, op. 71a (1892) is a suite for orchestra adapted from a ballet score. The ballet (introduced in St. Petersburg in 1892) tells about a nutcracker, received as a Christmas gift by a little girl, which in her dreams becomes a handsome prince. He leads toys into battle against mice, and conducts the little girl to Jam Mountain, Arabia, where she is delighted with all kinds of games and dances. Those accustomed to associate the name of Tchaikovsky with lugubrious music will find this suite a revelation, for it is filled with the most enchanting moods, and is consistently light of heart and spirit. The highly popular suite for orchestra is made up of eight little movements. “Miniature Overture” is built from two lively tunes. The main subject of the “March” is a pert melody for clarinet, horn, and two trumpets; the trio section consists of a vivacious staccato melody for the woodwind and strings. “The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” is a sensitive melody for the celesta, the “Trepak” is a vigorous, rhythmic Russian dance, the “Arabian Dance” is an exotic melody for the clarinet, and the “Chinese Dance” an Oriental subject for flute and piccolo. The two last movements are the “Dance of the Flutes” in which a sensitive melody for flutes is contrasted by a more robust section for trumpets, and the “Waltz of the Flowers,” where the waltz tune in horns and then in clarinets is followed by two more important ideas, the first in the strings, and the second in flutes and oboe.

The _Overture 1812_ is a concert overture for orchestra, op. 49 (1880) commissioned for the consecration of a temple built as a memorial to Napoleon’s defeat in Russia in 1812. This overture was intended by the composer to describe the historic events of Napoleon’s invasion of and flight from Russia. An introductory section quotes the well-known Russian hymn, “God Preserve Thy People.” In the main body of the overture, the Battle of Borodino is dramatically depicted, the two opposing armies represented by quotations from the _Marseillaise_ and the Russian national anthem. A climax is reached with a triumphant restatement of the Russian national anthem.

The _Polonaise_ is one of two celebrated dance episodes in the opera _Eugene Onegin_. (The other is the Waltz discussed below.) This three-act opera is based on a poem by Pushkin, adapted by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer himself, and was introduced in Moscow on March 29, 1879. The setting is St. Petersburg in or about 1815, and its central theme concerns the frustrated love affair of Eugene Onegin and Tatiana. The brilliant music of the Polonaise is heard in the first scene of Act 3. In the palace of Prince Gremin there takes place a reception during which the guests dance to the vital strains of this courtly Polish dance, its vigor derived from sharp syncopations and accents on the half beat.

_Romance_, in F minor, op. 5 (1868) is a composition for piano written by the composer when he believed himself in love with the singer, Désirée Artôt, to whom the piece is dedicated. This music gives voice to a romantic ardor.

The _Sérénade mélancolique_ in B-flat minor, op. 26 (1875) is a work for violin and orchestra. As the title indicates it is a sentimental rather than romantic effusion. Here a brief subject leads to a soaring three-part song for the violin.

_Serenade for Strings_, in C major, op. 48 (1880) is particularly famous for its second and third movements. The second is a Waltz, perhaps the most popular of this composer’s many well loved waltzes. This is a graceful, even elegant, dance movement, the waltz of the Parisian salon rather than the more vital and earthy dance of Vienna. Such a light-hearted mood is instantly dispelled by the gloom of the third movement, an eloquent _Elegy_, in which the sorrow is all the more poignant because it is so subdued and restrained.

Solitude, op. 73, no. 6 (1893)—sometimes known as Again as Before—is a song set to a poem by D. M. Rathaus. This is the last of a set of six songs. Stokowski made an effective arrangement for orchestra.

_Song Without Words_ (_Chanson sans paroles_), in F major is the third of a set of three pieces for the piano collectively entitled _Souvenir de Hapsal_, op. 2 (1867). This tender melody is far more familiar in transcriptions than it is in its original version.

Tchaikovsky wrote three Suites for orchestra. From two of these come movements which must be counted with the composer’s most popular works. The Suite No. 1 in D minor, op. 43 (1880) is famous for its fourth movement, a _Marche Miniature_. The inclusion of this section into the suite was something of an afterthought with the composer, since it was interpolated into the work only after it had been published, placed as a fourth movement between an intermezzo and a scherzo. This march is in the grotesque, fantastic style of the piano _Humoresque_. The main subject is heard in the piccolo against plucked-string accompaniment. A transitory episode in strings and bells leads to a development of this melody.

The third movement from this same suite, _Intermezzo_, has two main melodies: the first appears in first violins, violas, bassoons and flute; the second, in cellos and bassoon. The coda is based on the first theme.

The suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55 (1884) is a four-movement work of which the second is particularly celebrated. This is a _Valse mélancolique_ for full orchestra, highly expressive and emotional music in the composer’s identifiable sentimental style.

There are several other waltzes by Tchaikovsky familiar to all lovers of light music. The _Valse sentimentale_, op. 51, no. 6 comes from a set of six pieces for the piano (1882) where it is the final number. The opera _Eugene Onegin_ (commented upon above for its Polonaise) is also the source of a remarkable waltz episode. This music, the essence of aristocratic style and elegance, appears in the first scene of the second act. Tatiana’s birthday is celebrated with a festive party during which the guests dance to its infectious strains. Two other famous Tchaikovsky waltzes come from his famous ballets—_Sleeping Beauty_ and _Swan Lake_. In the orchestral suite derived from the score of _Sleeping Beauty_, the waltz appears as the fourth and concluding movement and consists of a lilting melody for strings which is carried to an overpowering climax. The _Swan Lake_ consists of thirty-three numbers, various combinations of its most popular sections serving as orchestral suites for concert performance. The suave waltz music serves in the ballet for a dance of the swans at the lakeside in the second act.

Ambroise Thomas

Ambroise Thomas was born in Metz, France, on August 5, 1811. Between 1828 and 1832 he attended the Paris Conservatory where he won numerous prizes including the Prix de Rome. After his three-year stay in Rome, where he wrote some orchestral and chamber music, he returned to Paris in 1836 and devoted himself to writing operas. The first was _La double échelle_, produced at the Opéra-Comique in 1837. His first success was realized in 1843 with _Mina_, and in 1866 the opera by which he is remembered, _Mignon_, was triumphantly introduced at the Opéra-Comique. Later operas included _Hamlet_ (1868) and _Françoise de Rimini_ (1882). In 1851, Thomas was elected member of the French Academy. In 1871 he was appointed director of the Paris Conservatory, and in 1894 he was the recipient of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. He died in Paris on February 12, 1896.

_Mignon_ represents the French lyric theater at its best, with its graceful melodies, charming moods, and courtly grace of style. Its world première took place at the Opéra-Comique on November 17, 1866. In less than a century it was given over two thousand performances by that company besides becoming a staple in the repertory of opera houses the world over. The opera is based on Goethe’s novel, _Wilhelm Meister_, adapted by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier. Mignon is a gypsy girl purchased by Wilhelm Meister. She falls in love with him and is heartbroken to discover how he is attracted to the actress, Philine. She tells the demented Lothario of her sorrow and of her wish that Meister’s castle be burned to the ground. Lothario then proceeds to set Meister’s castle aflame. Mignon, caught therein, is saved by Meister and then gently nursed back to health. Meister now realizes he is in love with her and her alone. When the demented Lothario regains his sanity we learn that Mignon is in actuality his daughter and that the castle he has burned is not Meister’s but his own.

Parts of this opera are better known than the whole, and through these parts _Mignon_ remains deservedly popular on semi-classical programs. The Overture makes extended use of two of the opera’s main melodies. The first is “_Connais-tu le pays_,” (“_Knowest Thou the Land?_”), Mignon’s poignant first-act aria in which she recalls her childhood in some distant land; the melody is given in the wind instruments after a brief introduction. The second aria is Philine’s polonaise, “_Je suis Titania_” (“_I am Titania_”) from the second scene of the second act.

Another delightful orchestral episode from this opera is a suave, graceful little gavotte heard as entr’acte music just before the rise of the second-act curtain.

The _Raymond_ Overture is even more popular than that to _Mignon_. _Raymond_ was first performed at the Opéra-Comique on June 5, 1851. The overture opens with a spirited section punctuated with dashing chords. A serene transition, highlighted by a passage for solo cello, brings on a light, tuneful air in the violins against sharply accented plucked strings; a graceful countermelody for the woodwind follows. This appealing material is repeated at some length with embellishments and amplifications until a new thought is asserted: a brisk, march-like melody that slowly gains in sonority and tempo until a climactic point is reached in which this march melody is forcefully given by the full orchestra. The strings then offer a sentimental melody by way of temporary relief. But the overture ends in a dramatic and spirited mood with a finale statement of the march tune.

Enrico Toselli

Enrico Toselli was born in Florence, Italy, on March 13, 1883. After studying with Sgambati and Martucci, Toselli toured Italy as a concert pianist. But he achieved renown not on the concert stage but with the writing of several romantic songs. One of these is the “_Serenata_,” No. 1, op. 6, through which his name survives. He also wrote some orchestral music and an operetta, _La Principessa bizzarra_ (1913) whose libretto was the work of the former Crown Princess Luisa of Saxony whom he married in 1907 thereby creating an international sensation. Toselli died in Florence, Italy, on January 15, 1926.

The “_Serenata_” (“_Rimpianto_”) with Italian words by Alfred Silvestri and English lyrics by Sigmund Spaeth was published in the United States in 1923. This romantic, sentimental, Italian melody, as well loved in this country as in Europe, was for many years used by Gertrude Berg as the theme music for her radio and television program, _The Goldbergs_. It was also used as the theme music for an early talking picture, _The Magic Flame_, in which Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky were starred.

Sir Paolo Tosti

Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti, one of Italy’s best known song composers, was born in Ortona sul Mare, Abruzzi, Italy, on April 9, 1846. His musical education took place at the Royal College of San Pietro a Maiella in Naples. He left Naples in 1869 after serving for a while as teacher of music. Returning to his native city he now initiated his career as a composer of songs. Though a few of these early efforts became popular he failed for a long time to find a publisher. Success first came to him in Rome at a song recital in which he featured some of his own compositions. He scored an even greater success as singer-composer in London in 1875. He now settled permanently in London, serving as a singing master to the royal family, and as professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1908 he was knighted. In 1913 he returned to his native land. He died in Rome on December 2, 1916.

Tosti had a remarkable lyric gift that was Italian to its very core in the ease, fluidity, and singableness of his melodies. This talent was combined with an elegant style and a sincere emotion. His best songs are among the most popular to emerge from Italy. The most famous and the most moving emotionally is without question “_Addio_” (“Goodbye, Forever”). Almost as popular and appealing are “_Ideale_” (“My Ideal”), “_Marechiare_,” “_Mattinata_,” “_Segreto_,” “_La Serenata_,” and “_Vorrei morire_.”

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest of the Italian opera composers, was born in Le Roncole, Italy, on October 10, 1813. He demonstrated such unmistakable gifts for music in his boyhood that his townspeople created a fund to send him to the Milan Conservatory. In 1832 he appeared in Milan. Finding he was too old to gain admission to the Conservatory, he studied composition privately with Vincenzo Lavigna. For several years Verdi lived in Busseto where he conducted the Philharmonic Society and wrote his first opera, _Oberto_, produced in Milan in 1839. Now settled in Milan, he continued writing operas, achieving his first major success with _Nabucco_ in 1842. During the next eight years he solidified his position as one of Italy’s best loved opera composers with several important works among which were _Ernani_ (1844), _Macbeth_ (1847) and _Luisa Miller_ (1849). A new era began for Verdi in 1851 with _Rigoletto_, an era in which he became Italy’s greatest master of opera, and one of the foremost in the world. _Il Trovatore_ and _La Traviata_ came in 1853, to be followed by _I Vespri Siciliani_ (1855), _Simone Boccanegra_ (1857), _Un ballo in maschera_ (1859), _La Forza del destino_ (1862), and _Aida_ (1871). Now a man of considerable wealth (as well as fame), Verdi bought a farm in Sant’ Agata where he henceforth spent his summers; after the completion of _Aida_, he lived there most of the time in comparative seclusion, tending to his crops, gardens, and live stock. When Cavour initiated the first Italian parliament, Verdi was elected deputy. But Verdi never liked politics, and soon withdrew from the political arena; however, in 1874, he accepted the honorary appointment of Senator from the King.

As a composer, Verdi remained silent for about fifteen years after _Aida_. By the time the world became reconciled to the fact that Verdi’s life work was over, he emerged from this long period of withdrawal to produce two operas now generally regarded as his crowning achievements: _Otello_ (1887) and _Falstaff_ (1893). During the last years of his life, Verdi lived in a Milan hotel. His sight and hearing began to deteriorate, and just before his death—in Milan on January 27, 1901—he suffered a paralytic stroke. His death was mourned by the entire nation. A quarter of a million mourners crowded the streets to watch his bier pass for its burial in the oratory of the Musicians Home in Milan—accompanied by the stately music of a chorus from _Nabucco_, conducted by Toscanini.

Verdi’s profound knowledge of the theater and his strong dramatic sense, combined with his virtually incomparable Italian lyricism, made him one of the greatest composers for the musical theater of all time. But it is his lyricism—with all its infinite charm and variety—that makes so much of his writing so popular to so many in such widely scattered areas of the world. Selections from his most famous operas are favorites even with many who have never seen them on the stage, because their emotional appeal is inescapable.

_Aida_ is an opera filled not only with some of the most wonderful melodies to be found in Italian opera but also with scenes of pomp, ceremony, with exotic attractions, and with episodes dynamic with dramatic interest. This was the opera that brought Verdi’s second creative period to a rich culmination; and it is unquestionably one of the composer’s masterworks. He wrote it on a commission from the Egyptian Khedive for ceremonies commemorating the opening of the Suez Canal. However, Verdi took so long to complete his opera that it was not performed in Cairo until about two years after the canal had been opened, on December 24, 1871. The libretto—by Antonio Ghislanzoni—was based on a plot by Mariette Bey. Radames, captain of the Egyptian guard, is in love with Aida, the Ethiopian slave of Amneris. The latter, daughter of the King of Egypt, is herself in love with Radames. When an invading Ethiopian force comes to threaten Egypt, Radames becomes the commander of the army and proves himself a hero. Lavish festivities and ceremonies celebrate his victorious return, during which the king of Egypt offers him the hand of Amneris as reward. But Radames is still in love with Aida. Since Aida is actually the daughter of the Ethiopian king, she manages to extract from Radames the secret maneuvers of the Egyptian army, information enabling the Ethiopian army to destroy the Egyptians. For this treachery, Radames is buried alive; and Aida, still in love with him, comes within his tomb to die with him.

The brief overture opens with a tender melody in violins suggesting Aida. After an effective development we hear a somber and brooding motive of the Priests of Isis, which soon receives contrapuntal treatment. The Aida motive is dramatized, brought to a magnificent climax, then allowed to subside.

The Ballet Music is famous for its brilliant harmonic and orchestral colors, exotic melodies, and pulsating rhythms. In Act 2, Scene 1 there takes place the _Dance of the Moorish Slaves_, an oriental dance performed before Amneris by the Moorish boys. The _Ballabile_ is another oriental dance which appears in Act 2, Scene 2, performed by the dancing girls during the celebration attending the arrival of the triumphant Egyptian army headed by Radames. In this scene there is also heard the stirring strains of the _Grand March_. This march begins softly but soon gathers its strength and erupts with full force as the king, his attendants, the Priests, the standard bearers, Amneris and her slaves appear in a brilliant procession. The people raise a cry of praise to the king and their Gods in “_Gloria all’ Egitto_.” After this comes the dramatic march music to which the Egyptian troops, with Radames at their head, enter triumphantly into the square and file proudly before their king.

Of the vocal excerpts the most famous is undoubtedly Radames’ ecstatic song of love to Aida in the first act, first scene, “_Celeste Aida_,” surely one of the most famous tenor arias in all opera. Two principal arias for soprano are by Aida. The first is her exultant prayer that Radames come back victorious from the war, “_Ritorna vincitor_” in Act 1, Scene 1; the other, “_O Patria mia_,” in Act 3, is her poignant recollection of her beloved homeland in Ethiopia. Amneris’ moving aria in Act 2, Scene 1, “_Vieni amor mio_” where she thinks about her beloved Radames, and the concluding scene of the opera in which Radames and Aida bid the world farewell, “_O terra, addio_” are also famous.

_La Forza del destino_ (_The Force of Destiny_) has a popular overture. This opera was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 10, 1862—libretto by Francesco Piave based on a play by the Duke de Riva. Leonora, daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava, is in love with Don Alvaro, a nobleman of Inca origin. When they plan elopement, Leonora’s father intervenes and is accidentally killed in the ensuing brawl. Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo, swears to avenge this death by killing Don Alvaro. On the field of battle, Don Alvaro saves Don Carlo’s life. Not recognizing Don Alvaro as his sworn enemy, Don Carlo pledges eternal friendship; but upon discovering Don Alvaro’s true identity, he challenges him to a duel in which Don Carlo is wounded. Aware that he has brought doom to two people closest and dearest to his beloved Leonora, Don Alvaro seeks sanctuary in a monastery where many years later he is found by Don Carlo. In the sword duel that follows, Don Alvaro kills Don Carlo, whose last act is to plunge a fatal knife into his sister’s heart.

A trumpet blast, creating an ominous air of doom, opens the overture. An air in a minor key then leads to a gentle song for strings; this is Leonora’s prayer for help and protection to the Virgin in the second scene of the second act, “_Madre pietosa_.” A light pastoral tune, depicting the Italian countryside in the third act, is now heard. Leonora’s song of prayer is now forcefully repeated by the full orchestra, after which the overture ends robustly.

_Rigoletto_, introduced in Venice on March 11, 1851, is based on the Victor Hugo play, _Le Roi s’amuse_ adapted by Francesco Piave. Rigoletto is the hunchbacked jester to the Duke of Mantua who jealously guards his daughter, Gilda, from the world outside their home. Disguised as a student, the Duke woos Gilda and wins her love. Since the Duke’s courtiers hate the jester, they conspire to abduct Gilda and bring her to the ducal court to become the Duke’s mistress. Distraught at this turn of affairs, the jester vows to kill the Duke and hires a professional assassin to perform this evil deed. But since his own sister loves the Duke, the assassin decides to spare him and to kill a stranger instead. The stranger proves to be none other than Gilda, disguised as a man for a projected flight to Verona. The body is placed in a sack for delivery to Rigoletto who, before he can get rid of the body, discovers that it is that of his beloved daughter.

The following are the best loved and most widely performed excerpts from this tuneful opera: the Ballata, “_Questa o quella_” from the first act in which the Duke flippantly talks of love and his many conquests; the graceful Minuet to which the courtiers dance during a party at the Ducal palace in the same act; Gilda’s famous coloratura aria, “_Caro nome_” from the second act, in which she dreams about the “student” with whom she has fallen in love; the light and capricious aria of the Duke, “_La donna è mobile_” from the third act, in which the Duke mockingly comments on fickle womanhood, and one of the most celebrated tenor arias in the repertory; the quartet “_Bella figlia dell’ amore_”—as celebrated an ensemble number as “_La donna è mobile_” is as an aria—in which each of the four principal characters of the opera (Gilda, Rigoletto, the Duke, and Maddalena) speaks of his or her inner turmoil, doubts, and hatreds in the third act.

_La Traviata_ (_The Lost One_) is Francesco Maria Piave’s adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ celebrated romance, _La Dame aux camélias_. Its central theme is the tragic tale of the courtesan, Violetta, who falls in love with and is loved by Alfredo Germont. After they live together for a blissful period, Alfredo’s father is instrumental in breaking up the affair by convincing Violetta she must give up her lover for his own good. She does so by feigning she has grown tired of him. Only too late does Alfredo learn the truth; when he returns to Violetta, she is dying of tuberculosis.

The première of _La Traviata_ in Venice on March 6, 1853 was a dismal failure. The public reacted unfavorably to a play it regarded immoral, and to the sight of a healthy prima donna seemingly wasting away with tuberculosis; it also resented the fact that the opera was given in contemporary dress. At a revival, a year later in Venice, the opera was performed in costume and settings of an earlier period. Profiting further from a carefully prepared presentation, the opera now cast a spell on its audience. From this point on, _La Traviata_ went on to conquer the opera world to become one of the most popular operas ever written.

The orchestral preludes to the first and third act are celebrated. The Prelude to Act 1 begins softly and slowly with a poignant melody suggesting Violetta’s fatal sickness; this is followed by a broad, rich song for the strings describing Violetta’s expression of love for Alfredo. The Prelude to Act 3 also begins with the sad, slow melody speaking of Violetta’s illness. The music then becomes expressive and tender to point up the tragedy of her life; this prelude ends with a succession of broken phrases as Violetta’s life slowly ebbs away.

The following are the principal vocal selections from _La Traviata_: the opening drinking song, or Brindisi (“_Libiamo, libiamo_”); Violetta’s world-famous aria, “_Ah, fors è lui_” in which she reveals her love for Alfredo followed immediately by her determination to remain free and pleasure-loving (“_Sempre libera_”) also in the first act; Alfredo’s expression of joy that Violetta has come to live with him, “_De’ miei bollenti spiriti_” and the elder Germont’s recollection of his happy home in the Provence, “_Di Provenza il mar_” from the second act; Violetta’s pathetic farewell to the world, “_Addio del passato_,” and Alfredo’s promise to the dying Violetta to return together to their happy home near Paris, “_Parigi, o cara_” from the fourth act.

_Il Trovatore_ (_The Troubadours_) is so full of familiar melodies that, like a play of Shakespeare, it appears to be replete with “quotations.” It was first performed in Rome on January 19, 1853. The libretto by Salvatore Commarno, based on a play by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez, is complicated to a point of obscurity, and filled with coincidences and improbabilities; but this did not prevent Verdi from creating one of his most melodious scores, an inexhaustible reservoir of unforgettable arias and ensemble numbers. The story involves Count di Luna in a frustrated love affair with Leonora; his rival is Manrico, an officer of a rival army with whom Leonora is in love. The gypsy Azucena convinces Manrico, her foster son, that Count di Luna had been responsible for the death of Manrico’s father, and incites him on to avenge that murder. Later in the play, Azucena and Manrico are captured by Di Luna’s army. To help free Manrico, Leonora promises to marry the Count. Rather than pay this price, Leonora takes poison and dies at Manrico’s feet. Manrico is now sentenced to be executed. After his death, Azucena, half-crazed, reveals that Manrico is really Count di Luna’s half brother.

The long list of favorite selections from _Il Trovatore_ includes the following: Manrico’s beautiful serenade to Leonora in Act 1, Scene 2, “_Deserto sulla terra_”; Leonora’s poignant recollections of a mysterious admirer in the second scene, “_Tacea la notte placida_”; the ever popular _Anvil Chorus_ of the gypsies with which the second act opens, “_Vedi! le fosche_”; Azucena’s stirring recollection of the time long past when her mother had been burned as a witch, “_Stride la vampa_,” and Count di Luna’s expression of love for Leonora, “_Il balen_” also in the second act; in the third act, Manrico’s dramatic aria, “_Di quella pira_” and the rousing soldier’s chorus of Manrico’s troops, “_Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera_”; Leonora’s prayer for her beloved Manrico “_D’amor sull’ ali rosee_” followed immediately by the world-famous _Miserere_ (“_Ah, che la morte ognora_”), a choral chant asking pity and salvation from the prisoners, all in the first scene of the fourth act; and the poignant duet of Manrico and Azucena in the final scene, a fervent, glowing hope that some day they can return to their beloved mountain country in peace and love, “_Ai nostri monti_.”

While _I Vespri siciliani_, or _Les Vêpres siciliennes_ (_Sicilian Vespers_) is one of Verdi’s less familiar operas, its overture is one of his most successful. The opera-libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier—was first performed at the Paris Opéra on June 13, 1855. Its setting is 13th-century Sicily where the peasants rise in revolt against the occupying French. The overture is constructed from some basic melodies from the opera. The first _Allegro_ theme speaks of the massacre of the French garrison. A second melody—a beautiful lyrical passage _pianissimo_ against tremolos—is taken from the farewell scene of the hero and the heroine who are about to die.

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner, genius of the music drama, was born in Leipzig, Germany, on May 22, 1813. In his academic studies (at the Kreuzschule in Dresden, the Nikolaischule in Leipzig, and the University of Leipzig) he was an indifferent, lazy, and irresponsible student. But his intensity and seriousness of purpose where music was concerned were evident from the beginning. He studied theory by memorizing a textbook and then by receiving some formal instruction from Theodor Weinlig. In short order he completed an overture and a symphony that received performances between 1832 and 1833; in 1834 he completed his first opera, _Die Feen_, never performed in his lifetime. In 1834 he was appointed conductor of the Magdeburg Opera where, two years later, his second opera, _Das Liebesverbot_, was introduced. Between 1837 and 1838 he conducted opera in Riga. Involvement in debts caused his dismissal from this post and compelled him to flee to Paris, where he arrived in 1839. There he lived for three years in extreme poverty, completing two important operas, _Rienzi_ in 1840, and _The Flying Dutchman_ in 1841. His first major successes came with the first of these operas, introduced at the Dresden Opera on October 20, 1842. This triumph brought Wagner in 1843 an appointment as Kapellmeister of the Dresden Opera which he held with considerable esteem for six years. During this period he completed two more operas: _Tannhaeuser_, introduced in Dresden in 1845, and _Lohengrin_, first performed in Weimar under Liszt’s direction, in 1850.

As a member of a radical political organization, the Vaterlandsverein, Wagner became involved in the revolutionary movements that swept across Europe in 1848-1849. To avoid arrest, he had to flee from Saxony. He came to Weimar where he was warmly welcomed by Liszt who from then on became one of his staunchest champions. After that Wagner set up a permanent abode in Zurich. He now began to clarify and expound his new theories on opera. He saw opera as a drama with music, a synthesis of many arts; he was impatient with the old clichés and formulas to which opera had so long been enslaved, such as formal ballets, recitatives and arias, production scenes, and so forth. And he put his theories into practice with a monumental project embracing four dramas, collectively entitled _The Nibelung Ring_ (_Der Ring des Nibelungen_) for which, as had always been his practice, he wrote the text as well as the music; the four dramas were entitled _The Rhinegold_ (_Das Rheingold_), _The Valkyries_ (_Die Walkuere_), _Siegfried_, and _The Twilight of the Gods_ (_Goetterdaemmerung_). It took him a quarter of a century to complete this epic. But during this period he was able to complete several other important music dramas, including _Tristan and Isolde_ in 1859 and _The Mastersingers_ (_Die Meistersinger_) in 1867.

In 1862, Wagner was pardoned for his radical activities of 1849 and permitted to return to Saxony. There he found a powerful patron in Ludwig II, king of Bavaria, under whose auspices premières of Wagner’s mighty music dramas were given in Munich beginning with _Tristan and Isolde_ in 1865. In 1876 there came into being one of Wagner’s most cherished dreams, a festival theater built in Bayreuth, Bavaria, according to his own specifications, where his music dramas could be presented in the style and manner Wagner dictated. This festival opened in August 1876 with the first performance anywhere of the entire _Ring_ cycle. Since then Bayreuth has been a shrine of Wagnerian music drama to which music lovers of the world congregate during the summer months. Wagner’s last music drama was the religious consecrational play, _Parsifal_, first performed in Bayreuth on July 26, 1882. Wagner died in Venice on February 13, 1883, and was buried in the garden of his home, Wahnfried, in Bayreuth.

Of his turbulent personal life which involved him in numerous and often complex love affairs, mention need here be made only of his relations with Cosima, daughter of Liszt, and wife of Hans von Buelow. Wagner and Cosima fell in love while the latter was still von Buelow’s wife. They had two illegitimate children before they set up a home of their own at Lake Lucerne; and one more (Siegfried) before they were married on August 25, 1870.

Wagner’s creative career divides itself into two phases. In the first he was the composer of operas in more or less a traditional style. To the accepted formulas of operatic writing, however, he brought a new dimension—immense musical and dramatic power and invention. In the second phase he was the prophet of a new order in music, the creator of the music drama. It is from the works of his first phase that salon or pop orchestras derive selections that have become universal favorites—sometimes overtures, sometimes excerpts. For these earlier works abound with such a wonderful fund of melody, emotion, expressiveness and dramatic interest that they have become popular even with those operagoers to whose tastes the later Wagner is perhaps too subtle, complex, elusive, or garrulous.

From _The Flying Dutchman_ (_Der fliegende Hollaender_) comes a dramatic overture. This opera—text by the composer based on an old legend adapted by Heinrich Heine—was first performed at the Dresden Opera on January 2, 1843. “The Flying Dutchman” is a ship on which the Dutchman must sail until he achieves redemption through the love of a faithful woman. Only once in every seven years is he permitted to go ashore to find that love. He finally achieves his redemption through Senta. They both meet their final doom together in a raging sea which swallows up the ship.

Turbulent music, intended to describe a storm at sea, opens the overture. We then hear the theme of the Dutchman in the horns and bassoons. The stormy music returns and subsides as a motive from Senta’s beautiful second-act ballad, “_Traft ihr das Schiff_” is presented. This motive brings up the image of Senta herself. A vigorous sailors’ chorus is followed by a return of the Senta motive in full orchestra.

Three selections from _The Flying Dutchman_ are of particular appeal: Senta’s spinning song, “_Summ und brumm_” and her famous ballad, both from the second act; and the chorus of the sailors in the third act, a rousing chantey, “_Steuermann! lass die Wacht_.”

_Lohengrin_ was Wagner’s last “opera.” After that he confined himself to music dramas. He completed it in 1848. After its première in Weimar on August 28, 1850 it became one of the most successful operas in Germany of that period. The text, by the composer, was adapted from medieval legends. Lohengrin is a knight of the Holy Grail who becomes Elsa’s champion against Telramund when Elsa is unjustly accused of having murdered Gottfried. Lohengrin arrives on a swan and extracts from Elsa the promise that she must never try to uncover his true identity. After defeating Telramund, Lohengrin marries Elsa who, provoked by Telramund’s wife, cannot stifle her curiosity about her husband’s background and source. He finally must reveal to her that he is a knight of the Holy Grail. Having made that revelation he must leave her forever.

The two familiar orchestral preludes, from the first and third acts, are opposites in mood, texture, and dynamics. The Prelude to Act 1 has spiritual content, a portrait of a heavenly vision wherein the Holy Grail is carried by angels. The main theme is heard quietly in the upper registers of the violins, then repeated by other instruments. This theme is developed into a _crescendo_ and culminates in an exultant statement by trumpets and trombones. Now the theme is given in a _decrescendo_, and the prelude ebbs away _pianissimo_, once again in the strings in the upper register.

The Prelude to Act 3 is more robust in character, since it depicts the joy of Elsa and Lohengrin on the eve of their wedding. A forceful melody is pronounced by the full orchestra, succeeded by a second strong theme for the cellos, horns, bassoons in unison; a march-like episode for the wind instruments follows.

What is probably the most famous wedding march ever written comes out of _Lohengrin_. Its strains are heard after the rise of the curtain for Act 3, Scene 1, as a procession enters the bridal chamber. The chorus hymns a blessing to the marriage couple (“_Treulich gefuert_”). From one side ladies conduct Elsa, while from the other the King and his men lead Lohengrin. The two processions then meet midstage and Elsa joins Lohengrin to be blessed by the King. The two columns of the procession then refile and march out of the two sides of the stage.

_The Mastersingers_ (_Die Meistersinger_), while written after Wagner had set forth on his operatic revolution, is the only one of his music dramas with a recognizable operatic ritual: big arias, huge production numbers, even dances. For _The Mastersingers_ is a comedy, the only one Wagner ever wrote. For purposes of comedy some of the traditions of opera still prove useful to Wagner, even if fused with techniques, approaches and esthetics of the music drama. Wagner completed _The Mastersingers_ in 1867—eight years after _Tristan and Isolde_ and more than a decade following the first two dramas of the _Ring_ cycle. The first performance took place in Munich on June 21, 1868. The libretto, by the composer, was set in Nuremberg in the middle 16th century, and its plot revolves around a song contest conducted by the Mastersingers, its winner to receive the hand of lovely Eva, daughter of the cobbler-philosopher, Hans Sachs. Walther von Stolzing, a knight, and Beckmesser, a contemptible town clerk, are the main rivals for Eva. At a magnificent ceremony at the banks of the Pognitz River the contestants sing their offerings. It is Walther’s eloquent “Prize Song” that emerges victorious.

This “Prize Song” (“_Morgenlich leuchtend_”) is one of Wagner’s most famous melodies, the pivot upon which the entire opera gravitates. It is first heard in the first scene of the third act, where Walther comes to tell Hans Sachs of a song come to him in a dream. The song is repeated in the closing scene of the opera during the actual contest. This “Prize Song” is used by Wagner symbolically. Its victory over the dull and stilted creation of Beckmesser represents the triumph of inspiration and freedom of expression over hackneyed rules and procedures. August Wilhelmj made a famous transcription of the “Prize Song” for violin and piano.