Chapter I: Front Matter

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_The Music Story Series_
EDITED BY
FREDERICK J. CROWEST.

THE
STORY OF OPERA

_The Music Story Series._
3/6 net per Volume.

_Already published in this Series._

THE STORY OF ORATORIO. By ANNIE PATTERSON,
B.A., Mus. Doc. With Illustrations.
THE STORY OF NOTATION. By C. F. ABDY
WILLIAMS, M.A., Mus. Bac. With Illustrations.
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WILLIAMS, M.A., Mus. Bac. With Illustrations.
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With Illustrations.
THE STORY OF THE HARP. By W. H. GRATTAN-FLOOD,
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M.A., Mus. Bac. With Illustrations.
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_Sir Arthur Sullivan, M.V.O., Mus. Doc._

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The
Story of Opera

BY
E. MARKHAM LEE
M.A.; Mus. Doc., Cantab.

London
The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons
1909

Preface.

HistorieS of Opera are not very numerous: there have been many articles and essays in various magazines, dictionaries, and so forth which have presented more or less concise synopses of the gradual development and growth of the Operatic Art. Some of these, notably the one in Grove’s _Dictionary_, are excellent, but a work of such bulk is not for the everyday reader, nor, generally speaking, for the amateur. Beyond these magazine and dictionary essays the number of books—at any rate in the English language—solely on Opera is very limited, and from the nature of the case, those that exist soon get out of date.

In the present work an attempt has been made, so far as space has allowed, to give some brief account of every notable School of Opera of which anything is known. It is not claimed that the advance of the Art will not necessitate constant additions to or alterations of these pages. Even in the short space of time that has elapsed since the body of this book on Opera was written, such features as the rise in popularity of Puccini’s operas, or of such modern works as Debussy’s _Pelleas and Melisande_, the permission of the censor to play Saint-Saëns’ _Samson and Delilah_ on the English stage, and the slight wane in interest on the part of the English public for Wagner’s operas, have made imperative the rewriting of many paragraphs and the modification of others.

Every attempt, however, has been made to bring the book up to date, and if in the Chapters on Modern Operas and in the Appendices there may be omitted names which some may consider should have been included, it must be borne in mind that in the twentieth century opera composers spring up like mushrooms, and often disappear from public gaze with equal rapidity. Works of bygone generations can be criticized and placed as successes or failures, but in these days of strenuous output one cannot speak with any certainty as to what is ephemeral and what is enduring. Our own times are too close to us, and must be left for future historians to pronounce judgment upon. Hence only the most notable and brilliant successes amongst modern operatic works are, generally speaking, recorded.

It is hoped that the Chapters on “What is Opera?” and “How to listen to and enjoy Opera” may touch to some extent on new ground and may be helpful to the amateur. Appendix A has entailed an enormous amount of work, and although it contains, of course, nothing that cannot be gathered from other sources, it is trusted that the information thus compiled and placed under one heading may be of use and of interest to the student of Opera. The tabulated State Grants in Appendix B will show, what is perhaps not generally known, how badly off England is in this matter as compared with many other countries.

The book is offered in all sincerity to those who care to read it. There are, possibly, mistakes and errors. If this be so, I will ask my good friends to point them out to me, in the hope of my having an opportunity of availing myself of such corrections in a second edition of this work.

E. M. L.

WOODFORD GREEN,
_November 1909_.

Contents.

CHAPTER I.
WHAT IS OPERA?
PAGE
What is Opera?—Derivation of term—A musical work—An
artificial product—Its justification—Emotional effect
of music—Hybrid opera—Modern taste demands one medium
of expression—A definition—Music an accessory to
opera, but an important one 1

CHAPTER II.
DIFFERENT SCHOOLS CORRESPONDING WITH THE
GROWTH OF MUSICAL ART.

The centuries see little change in the elements of the
drama—Growth of opera concurrent with the progress
of the art of music—Points of difference between
early operas (Monteverde, etc.) and those of Scarlatti
and later writers—Birth of the aria—England and
France of the same date—Opera buffa—Musical
empiricism—Gluck—His followers—Varying subjects
treated—Italian opera—Abuses by the singers—Wagner
and modern opera 7

CHAPTER III.
THE REFORMERS OF OPERA: MONTEVERDE, GLUCK,
AND WAGNER.

Reforms, and the reasons thereof—Monteverde’s
influence—Musical innovations—The stage discards music
of the ecclesiastical order—The beauty of Scarlatti’s
arias—Their weakness—Gluck—Gluck’s explanation of his
reforms—Triumph of his methods—Another retrogression—
Rossini—Wagner—The leit-motif—Influence on subsequent
composers—Will further reforms become necessary, and
what shape will they take? 18

CHAPTER IV.
THE BEGINNINGS OF OPERA.

Early commencement of opera—The Bardi enthusiasts—What
they achieved—Peri and Caccini—A logical
commencement—Its imperfections 32

CHAPTER V.
EARLY ITALIAN, FRENCH, GERMAN, AND ENGLISH
OPERA.

Monteverde—Scarlatti—Cambert—Lully—Keiser—Purcell—Handel
in London—Handel’s rival, Buononcini—Handel’s operas
now obsolete by reason of their lack of dramatic truth 39

CHAPTER VI.
THE OPERAS OF GLUCK AND THE GREAT COMPOSERS.

Gluck and his masterpieces—Mozart—Beethoven—Weber
and romantic opera—_Der Freischütz_—Other
operas—Schubert—Opera writing a distinct form of
composition—The small influence of the really great
composers upon opera 48

CHAPTER VII.
SOME LESSER STARS IN THE OPERATIC FIRMAMENT.

(_a_) THE ITALIAN SCHOOL (CIMAROSA TO VERDI).

The Italian school—Opera buffa—The Neapolitan
school—Piccini—A notable contest—Cimarosa—Rossini:
his _Barber of Seville_—Recitative and its
significance—_William Tell_—Bellini and
Donizetti—Verdi: his early and later operas 63

CHAPTER VIII.
SOME LESSER STARS IN THE OPERATIC FIRMAMENT.

(_b_) THE GERMAN SCHOOL (KEISER TO NICOLAI).

Keiser and his successors—Hiller—Real German
opera—Spohr—Marschner—Operatic interest not centred
in Germany at this time 76

CHAPTER IX.
SOME LESSER STARS IN THE OPERATIC FIRMAMENT.

(_c_) THE FRENCH SCHOOL (RAMEAU TO AMBROISE THOMAS).

Rameau—Divergence of methods—The successors
of Gluck and Piccinni—Méhul—Cherubini and
Spontini—Meyerbeer—Auber—Gounod—Bizet—Reasons
for the popularity of _Faust_ and
_Carmen_—Offenbach—Délibes and Lalo—Thomas 81

CHAPTER X.
ENGLISH OPERA OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND PART OF
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

_The Beggar’s Opera_—Arne—Bishop—Balfe—Wallace—Goring
Thomas—Sullivan—Living writers 91

CHAPTER XI.
WAGNER AND HIS OPERAS.

Wagner’s early days—At Würzburg—At Königsberg—At Riga—At
Paris—_Rienzi_—Dresden—Zurich—Munich—Triebschen
—Bayreuth—Death—Wagner’s methods—_The Flying Dutchman_
—_Tannhäuser_—_Lohengrin_—_Tristan and Isolde_—_Die
Meistersinger_—_The Ring_—_Parsifal_—Wagner’s continued
development 98

CHAPTER XII.
MODERN OPERA SINCE WAGNER’S REFORMS.

Wagner’s influence—No mere copying—Modern “Melos”—Use
of the orchestra—His harmony—Men of a younger
generation—The Slavs 116

CHAPTER XIII.
SLAVONIC OPERA.

Early Russian composers—Glinka—Dargomijsky—Borodin—César
Cui—Tchaïkovsky—Polish opera—Bohemian opera—Dvôrák
—Other European countries 122

CHAPTER XIV.
OPERA TO-DAY IN ITALY, GERMANY, FRANCE, AND
ENGLAND.

Boito—His interesting personality—Puccini—Mascagni—
Leoncavallo—Cilea—German composers—Goldmark and
Humperdinck—The French school—Saint-Saëns—Massenet
—Bruneau—English composers—Stanford—Mackenzie—
Cowen—Corder—Bunning, etc. 130

CHAPTER XV.
OPERATIC ENTERPRISE IN ENGLAND.

Subsidized opera—Opera an educative factor—Objections
to subsidies—Advantages—English opera—Opera companies
—Covent Garden—The Royal Opera Syndicate—History of
opera in this country—Travelling companies—The Carl Rosa
Company—The Moody-Manners Company—The outlook 150

CHAPTER XVI.
HOW TO LISTEN TO AND ENJOY OPERA.

Feelings of disappointment—Expectations—The language
difficulty—Why the story is hard to follow—What we go
to the opera to hear—Some suggestions—To grasp the
story—To realize the style of the music—Re-hearing
necessary—How to begin to study opera—What is
necessary for its enjoyment 163

CHAPTER XVII.
THE CHIEF OPERA HOUSES OF THE WORLD.

Covent Garden—La Scala—San Carlo—Venice—Rome—Paris and
the Grand Opera—Vienna—Budapest—Prague—Berlin—Dresden
—Munich—Bayreuth—Russia—Other European countries—
Egypt—America 172

CHAPTER XVIII.
OFFSHOOTS AND CURIOSITIES OF OPERA.

Operetta—Musical comedy—Ballad opera—Masque—Ballet—
Objections thereto—Curiosities of construction—
Pasticcio—Mixed language—Stereotyped casts—Curiosities
of stage requirements—Wagner’s supernatural requirements
—Curiosities of the music—Vocal cadenzas 185

CHAPTER XIX.
A CHAPTER OF CHATTER.

Opera and politics—_Lohengrin_ in Paris—Opera non-lucrative
to the composer—Jenny Lind’s contract—Modern fees—
Royalties—Librettists—Metastasio and Scribe— The
prima donna—Stories of singers and composers 199

APPENDIX A.—Chronological List of Composers of
Opera, Great Singers, Conductors, etc. 215

APPENDIX B.—Financial Aid Granted to Operatic
Schemes from State or Municipal Funds 248

APPENDIX C.—Glossary of Terms mainly used in Opera 255

APPENDIX D.—List of Instruments used in the
Orchestras of Composers of Different Periods of Opera 260