The Complete Opera Book - free ebook by Gustav Kobbé

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The Complete Opera Book

Gustav Kobbé

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FOREWORD

FOREWORD

Through the thoughtfulness of William J. Henderson I was asked to supply material for The Complete Opera Book , which was missing at the time of Mr. Kobbé's death. In performing my share of the work it has been my endeavor to confine myself to facts, rather than to intrude with personal opinions upon a work which should stand as a monument to Mr. Kobbé's musical knowledge and convictions. Katharine Wright. New York , 1919....

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Schools of Opera

Schools of Opera

T HERE are three great schools of opera,—Italian, French, and German. None other has developed sufficiently to require comment in this brief chapter. Of the three standard schools, the Italian is the most frankly melodious. When at its best, Italian vocal melody ravishes the senses. When not at its best, it merely tickles the ear and offends common sense. "Aïda" was a turning point in Italian music. Before Verdi composed "Aïda," Italian opera, despite its many beauties, was largely a thing of te

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Opera Before Gluck

Opera Before Gluck

G LUCK'S "Orfeo ed Euridice" (Orpheus and Eurydice), produced in 1762, is the oldest opera in the repertoire of the modern opera house. But when you are told that the Grand Opéra, Paris, was founded by Lully, an Italian composer, in 1672; that Italians were writing operas nearly a century earlier; that a German, Reinhard Keiser (1679-1739), is known to have composed at least 116 operas; and that another German, Johann Adolph Hasse, composed among his operas, numbering at least a hundred, one ent

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Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)

G LUCK is the earliest opera composer represented in the repertoire of the modern opera house. In this country three of his works survive. These are, in the order of their production, "Orfeo ed Euridice" (Orpheus and Eurydice), "Armide," and "Iphigénie en Tauride" (Iphigenia in Tauris). "Orpheus and Eurydice," produced in 1762, is the oldest work of its kind on the stage. It is the great-great-grandfather of operas. Its composer was a musical reformer and "Orpheus" was the first product of his m

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

T HE operas of Gluck supplanted those of Lully and Rameau. Those of Mozart, while they did not supplant Gluck's, wrested from them the sceptre of supremacy. In a general way it may be said that, before Mozart's time, composers of grand opera reached back to antiquity and mythology, or to the early Christian era, for their subjects. Their works moved with a certain restricted grandeur. Their characters were remote. Mozart's subjects were more modern, even contemporary. Moreover, he was one of the

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Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Soldiers, prisoners, people. Time —18th Century. Place —A fortress, near Seville, Spain, used as a prison for political offenders. L UDWIG van BEETHOVEN, composer of "Fidelio," was born at Bonn, December 16, 1770. He died at Vienna, March 26, 1827. As he composed but this one opera, and as his fame rests chiefly on his great achieve ments outside the domain of the stage—symphonies, sonatas, etc.—it is possible, as Storck suggests in his Opernbuch , to dispense with biographical data and confine

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Weber and his Operas

Weber and his Operas

C ARL MARIA von WEBER, born at Eutin, Oldenberg, December 18, 1786, died in London, June 5, 1826, is the composer of "Der Freischütz;" "Euryanthe," and "Oberon." "Der Freischütz" was first heard in Berlin, June 18, 1821. "Euryanthe" was produced in Vienna, October 25, 1823. "Oberon" had its first performance at Covent Garden, London, April 12, 1826. Eight weeks later Weber died. A sufferer from consumption, his malady was aggravated by over-exertion in finishing the score of "Oberon," rehearsing

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Why Some Operas are Rarely Given

Why Some Operas are Rarely Given

T HERE is hardly a writer on music, no matter how advanced his views, who will not agree with me in all I have said in praise of "Orpheus and Eurydice," the principal Mozart operas, Beethoven's "Fidelio," and Weber's "Freischütz" and "Euryanthe." The question therefore arises: "Why are these works not performed with greater frequency?" A general answer would be that the modern opera house is too large for the refined and delicate music of Gluck and Mozart to be heard to best effect. Moreover, th

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From Weber to Wagner

From Weber to Wagner

I N the evolution of opera from Weber to Wagner a gap was filled by composers of but little reputation here, although their names are known to every student of the lyric stage. Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861) composed in "Hans Heiling," Berlin, 1833, an opera based on legendary material. Its success may have confirmed Wagner's bent toward dramatic sources of this kind already aroused by his admiration for Weber. "Hans Heiling," "Der Vampyr" (The Vampire), and "Der Templer und Die Judin" (Templar

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Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

R ICHARD WAGNER was born at Leipsic, May 22, 1813. His father was clerk to the city police court and a man of good education. During the French occupation of Leipsic he was, owing to his knowledge of French, made chief of police. He was fond of poetry and had a special love for the drama, often taking part in amateur theatricals. Five months after Richard's birth his father died of an epidemic fever brought on by the carnage during the battle of Leipsic, October 16, 18, and 19, 1813. In 1815 his

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Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868)

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868)

I T would be difficult to persuade any one today that Rossini was a reformer of opera. But his instrumentation, excessively simple as it seems to us, was regarded, by his contemporaries, as distracting too much attention from the voices. This was one of the reasons his Semiramide was coolly received at its production in Venice, 1823. But however simple, not to say primitive, the instrumentation of his Italian operas now strikes us, he made one great innovation in opera for which we readily can g

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Vincenzo Bellini (1802-1835)

Vincenzo Bellini (1802-1835)

B ELLINI, born in Catania, Sicily, November 3, 1802, is the composer of "La Sonnambula," one of the most popular works of the old type of Italian opera still found in the repertoire. "I Puritani," another work by him, was given for the opening of two New York opera houses, Palmo's in 1844, and Hammerstein's Manhattan, in 1903. But it maintains itself only precariously. "Norma" is given still more rarely, although it contains "Casta diva," one of the most famous solos for soprano in the entire It

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Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

T HE composer of "Lucia di Lammermoor," an opera produced in 1835, but seemingly with a long lease of life yet ahead of it, was born at Bergamo, November 29, 1797. He composed nearly seventy operas. His first real success, "Anna Bolena," was brought out in Rome, in 1830. Even before that, however, thirty-one operas by him had been performed. Of his many works, the comparatively few still heard nowadays are, in the order of their production, "L'Elisire d'Amore," "Lucrezia Borgia," "Lucia di Lamme

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Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

V ERDI ranks as the greatest Italian composer of opera. There is a marked distinction between his career and those of Bellini and Donizetti. The two earlier composers, after reaching a certain point of development, failed to advance. No later opera by Bellini equals "La Sonnambula"; none other by Donizetti ranks with "Lucia di Lammermoor." But Verdi, despite the great success of "Ernani," showed seven years later, with "Rigoletto," an amazing progress in dramatic expression and skill in ensemble

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Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886)

Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886)

A MILCARE PONCHIELLI, the composer of "La Gioconda," was born at Paderno Fasolaro, Cremona, August 31, 1834. He studied music, 1843-54, at the Milan Conservatory. In 1856 he brought out at Cremona an opera, "I Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed), which, in a revised version, Milan, 1872, was his first striking success. The same care Ponchielli bestowed upon his studies, which lasted nearly ten years, he gave to his works. Like "I Promessi Sposi," his opera, "I Lituani" (The Lithuanians), brought out

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French Opera

French Opera

G LUCK, Wagner, and Verdi each closed an epoch. In Gluck there culminated the pre-Mozartean school. In Mozart two streams of opera found their source. "Don Giovanni" and "Le Nozze di Figaro" were inspirations to Rossini, to whom, in due course of development, varied by individual characteristics, there succeeded Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. The second stream of opera which found its source in Mozart was German. The score of "Die Zauberflöte" showed how successfully the rich vein of popular mel

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Méhul to Meyerbeer

Méhul to Meyerbeer

C ERTAIN early French operas still are in the Continental repertoire, although they may be said to have completely disappeared here. They are of sufficient significance to be referred to in this book. "Le Calife de Bagdad," "Jean de Paris," and "La Dame Blanche" (The White Lady), by François Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834), are still known by their graceful overtures. In "La Dame Blanche" the composer has used the song of "Robin Adair," the scene of the opera being laid in Scotland, and drawn by Sc

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Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)

A LTHOUGH he was born in Berlin (September 5, 1791), studied pianoforte and theory in Germany, and attained in that country a reputation as a brilliant pianist, besides producing several operas there, Meyerbeer is regarded as the founder of what generally is understood as modern French grand opera. It has been said of him that "he joined to the flowing melody of the Italians the solid harmony of the Germans, the poignant declamation and varied, piquant rhythm of the French"; which is a good desc

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Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

T HIS composer, born Côte-Saint-André, near Grenoble, December 11, 1803; died Paris, March 9, 1869, has had comparatively little influence upon opera considered simply as such. But, as a musician whose skill in instrumentation, and knowledge of the individual tone quality of every instrument in the orchestra amounted to positive genius, his influence on music in general was great. In his symphonies—"Episode de la Vie d'un Artiste" (characterized by him as a symphonie phantastique ), its sequel,

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F. von Flotow

F. von Flotow

Opera in four acts, by Friedrich von Flotow; words by Wilhelm Friedrich Riese, the plot based on a French ballet pantomime by Jules H. Vernoy and Marquis St. Georges (see p. 559 ). Produced at the Imperial Opera House, Vienna, November 25, 1847. Covent Garden, London, July 1, 1858, in Italian; in English at Drury Lane, October 11, 1858. Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, December 16, 1865, when was interpolated the famous air "M'apparì," from Flotow's two-act opera, "L'Âme en Peine," produced at the Grand

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Charles François Gounod (1818-1893)

Charles François Gounod (1818-1893)

T HE composer of "Faust" was born in Paris, June 17, 1818. His father had, in 1783, won the second prix de Rome for painting at the École des Beaux Arts. In 1837, the son won the second prix de Rome for music, and two years later captured the grand prix de Rome, by twenty-five votes out of twenty-seven, at the Paris Conservatoire. His instructors there had been Reicha in harmony, Halévy in counterpoint and fugue, and Leseur in composition. Gounod's first works, in Rome and after his return from

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Ambroise Thomas

Ambroise Thomas

Opera in three acts by Ambroise Thomas, words, based on Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister," by Barbier and Carré. Produced, Opéra Comique, Paris, November 17, 1866. London, Drury Lane, July 5, 1870. New York, Academy of Music, November 22, 1871, with Nilsson, Duval ( Filina ), Mlle. Ronconi ( Frederick ) and Capoul; Metropolitan Opera House, October 21, 1883, with Nilsson, Capoul, and Scalchi ( Frederick ). Characters Townspeople, gypsies, actors and actresses, servants, etc. Time —Late 18th Century. Pl

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Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet

Opera in four acts by Georges Bizet; words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, founded on the novel by Prosper Mérimée. Produced, Opéra Comique, Paris, March 3, 1875, the title rôle being created by Galli-Marié. Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in Italian, June 22, 1878; same theatre, February 5, 1879, in English; same theatre, November 8, 1886, in French, with Galli-Marié. Minnie Hauck, who created Carmen , in London, also created the rôle in America, October 23, 1879, at the Academy of Music, N

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Italian Opera Since Verdi

Italian Opera Since Verdi

C HIEF among Italian opera composers of the present day are Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo. Others are Giordano, Wolf-Ferrari, Zandonai, Montemezzi, and Leoni. Modern Italian opera differs from Italian opera, old style, largely through the devotion of the moderns to effects of realism—the Italian verismo , of which we hear so much. These effects of realism are produced largely by an orchestral accompaniment that constantly adapts itself descriptively to what is said and done on the stage. At

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Pietro Mascagni (1863- )

Pietro Mascagni (1863- )

P IETRO MASCAGNI was born in Leghorn, Italy, December 7, 1863. His father was a baker. The elder Mascagni, ambitious for his boy, wanted him to study law. The son himself preferred music, and studied surreptitiously. An uncle, who sympathized with his aims, helped him financially. After the uncle's death a nobleman, Count Florestan, sent him to the Milan Conservatory. There he came under the instruction and influence of Ponchielli. After two years' study at the conservatory he began a wandering

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Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858- )

Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858- )

L EONCAVALLO, born March 8, 1858, at Naples, is a dramatic composer, a pianist, and a man of letters. He is the composer of the successful opera "Pagliacci," has made concert tours as a pianoforte virtuoso, is his own librettist, and has received the degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Bologna. He studied at the Naples Conservatory. His first opera, "Tommaso Chatterton," was a failure, but was successfully revived in 1896, in Rome. An admirer of Wagner and personally encouraged by

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Giacomo Puccini (1858- )

Giacomo Puccini (1858- )

T HIS composer, born in Lucca, Italy, June 22, 1858, first studied music in his native place as a private pupil of Angeloni. Later, at the Royal Conservatory, Milan, he came under the instruction of Ponchielli, composer of "La Gioconda," whose influence upon modern Italian opera, both as a preceptor and a composer, is regarded as greater than that of any other musician. Puccini himself is considered the most important figure in the operatic world of Italy today, the successor of Verdi, if there

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Riccardo Zandonai

Riccardo Zandonai

Opera in four acts, by Riccardo Zandonai; words by Tito Ricordi, after the drama of the same title by Gabriele d'Annunzio. English version from Arthur Symons's translation of the drama. Produced, Reggio Theatre, Turin, February 1, 1914. Covent Garden Theatre, London, July 16, 1914. Metropolitan Opera House, New York, December 22, 1916, with Alda ( Francesca ), Martinelli ( Paolo ), and Amato ( Giovanni ). Characters Bowmen, archers, and musicians. Time —Thirteenth century. Place —First act, Rave

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Franco Leoni

Franco Leoni

Opera in one act by Franco Leoni, words by Camillo Zanoni, adapted from the play, "The Cat and the Cherub," by Chester Bailey Fernald. Produced, Covent Garden Theatre, London, June 28, 1905. Metropolitan Opera House, New York, February 4, 1915, with Scotti, as Chim-Fen ; Didur, as Win-She ; Botta, as Win-San-Lui ; and Bori, as Ah-Joe . Characters Four opium fiends, a policeman, an opium maniac, a soothsayer, distant voices, four vendors, Chinese men, women, and children. Time —The present. Place

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Italo Montemezzi

Italo Montemezzi

Opera in three acts, by Italo Montemezzi; words by Sem Benelli, from his tragedy ("tragic poem") of the same title, English version, by Mrs. R.H. Elkin. Produced, La Scala, Milan, April 10, 1913; Metropolitan Opera House, New York, January 2, 1914, with Didur ( Archibaldo ), Amato ( Manfredo ), Ferrari-Fontana ( Avito ), Bori ( Fiora ). Covent Garden Theatre, London, May 27, 1914. Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, April 25, 1914. In the Milan production Luisa Villani was Fiora , and Ferrari-Fon

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Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari

E RMANNO Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice, January 12, 1876, the son of August Wolf, a German painter, and an Italian mother. At first self-taught in music, he studied later with Rheinberger in Munich. From 1902-09 he was director of the conservatory Licio Benedetto Marcello. He composed, to words by Dante, the oratorio "La Vita Nuova." His operas, "Le Donne Curiose," "Il Segreto di Susanna," and "L'Amore Medico," are works of the utmost delicacy. They had not, however, been able to hold their ow

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Umberto Giordano

Umberto Giordano

U MBERTO GIORDANO was born at Foggia, August 26, 1867. Paolo Serrão was his teacher in music at the Naples Conservatory. With a one-act opera, "Marina," he competed for the Sonzogno prize, which Mascagni won with "Cavalleria Rusticana." "Marina," however, secured for him a commission for the three-act opera, "Mala Vita," Rome, 1892. Then followed the operas which have been noticed above. Opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, words by Renato Simoni after the play by Victorien Sardou and E. More

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Modern Italian Opera

Modern Italian Opera

O PERA in three acts by Luigi Mancinelli; libretto by Arrigo Boïto. First produced in America at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 10, 1899, with the composer conducting and the following cast: Hero , Mme. Eames; Leandro , Saléza, and Plançon as Ariofarno . In the first act the lovers meet at a festival. Leandro , victor in the Aphrodisian games both as a swordsman and cytharist, is crowned by Hero . He sings two odes borrowed from Anacreon. Ariofarno , the archon, loves Hero . When he seeks t

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Modern French Opera

Modern French Opera

The contemporaries and successors of Bizet wrote many charming operas that for years have given pleasure to large audiences. French opera has had generous representation in New York. Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann," Delibes's "Lakmé," Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila," Massenet's "Manon" are among the most distinguished works of this school. “L ES CONTES D'HOFFMANN”; a fanciful opera in four acts; words by MM. Michel Carré and Jules Barbier; posthumous music by Jacques Offenbach, produced at the

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Modern German and Bohemian Opera

Modern German and Bohemian Opera

Wagner's powerful influence upon German opera produced countless imitators. For some reason or other it appeared to be almost impossible for other German composers to assimilate his ideas and yet impart originality to their scores. Among those who took his works for a model were Peter Cornelius, Hermann Goetz, and Carl Goldmark. Perhaps the most important contribution to German opera during the decade that followed Wagner's death was Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel." Then came Richard Strauss w

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Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

R ICHARD STRAUSS was born at Munich, June 11, 1864. His father, Franz Strauss, was a distinguished horn player in the Royal Opera orchestra. From him Richard received rigid instruction in music. His teacher in composition was the orchestral conductor, W. Meyer. At school he wrote music on the margins of his books. He was so young at the first public performance of a work by him, that when he appeared and bowed in response to the applause, someone asked, "What has that boy to do with it?" "Nothin

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Russian Opera

Russian Opera

Too little is known of Russian opera in this country. It is true that Tschaikowsky's "Pique-Dame," Rubinstein's "Nero," Moussorgsky's "Boris Godounoff," Borodin's "Prince Igor," Rimsky-Korsakoff's fascinating "Coq d'Or" have been performed here; while one act of Serge Rachmaninoff's "Miser Knight" was given by Henry Russell at the Boston Opera House with that excellent artist George Baklanoff in the title rôle. But according to Mr. Rachmaninoff thirteen operas of Rimsky-Korsakoff still await an

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American Opera

American Opera

No really distinguished achievement has as yet been reached in the world of American opera. Various reasons are given for the delinquency. Some say that American composers are without that sense of the theatre so apparent in the composers of the modern Italian school. But whatever the reasons, the fact remains inalterably true. The Metropolitan has housed several worthy efforts. Two of the most successful were Mr. Parker's "Mona" and Mr. Damrosch's "Cyrano de Bergerac." After much fulsome praise

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Spanish Opera

Spanish Opera

D URING the winter of 1915-16 the interest in Spanish music was at its height in New York. Enrique Granados, a distinguished Spanish composer and pianist, came to the city to superintend the production of his opera, "Goyescas," sung in Spanish at the Metropolitan. Pablo Casals, the famous Spanish 'cellist, and Miguel Llobet, virtuoso of the guitar, were making frequent appearances. La Argentina was dancing, and Maria Barrientos made her début at the Metropolitan. In the season of 1917-18 the Spa

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Transcriber’s Errata List

Transcriber’s Errata List

Page 31 : Voice type for Masetto should be "Baritone", not "Tenor". Page 54 : "Theatre on the Wien" should be "Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna". Page 296 : Lyrics incorrectly given in music illustration as "Ecco ridente il cielo"; should be "Ecco ridente in cielo". Page 316 : Lyrics incorrectly given in music illustration as "Ah! Matilda, io t'amo, e amoe"; should be "Ah! Matilda, io t'amo, t'adoro". Page 322 : "Ah! Why is it I cannot hate him" should be "Ah! Why is it I cannot hate you". Page 34

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