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.
To-day the art of operatic composition appears to be returning for its
best results to its much loved home, Italy: it is the young Italian
composers, among all its devotees of all nationalities, who appear to
be putting forth the strongest work. Contemporary English, French,
and German operas, with a few notable exceptions, are rarely heard
beyond the borders of the land which gives them birth, but the works of
Mascagni, Puccini, and Leoncavallo find a home in every opera-house.
[Sidenote: =Boito, 1842=]
At the outset of our review of living Italian opera composers we
meet the strange figure of Arrigo Boito, more famous for his one
completed opera than are many composers who have endowed the world
with dozens of such works. The charm of his personality has aided its
success, while the ill fortune which dogged its birth and its intimate
relationship to a great home have also contributed to its world-wide
fame.
[Sidenote: =His interesting Personality=]
Not that Boito’s _Mefistofele_ is a work in the repertoire of every
opera-house; rather, its performances seem to be limited in number,
and yet all the world knows of its composer as the capable litterateur
and musician who, amidst intense excitement, brought his _Mefistofele_
before the Milanese public at La Scala in 1868, and by the novelty of
its form and musical treatment so displeased a very large number of
his would-be admirers, that he fell from the height of popularity to
which expectation had elevated him almost to the depth of extinction
so far as his musical efforts were concerned. _Mefistofele_ has been
rewritten; it was a work in advance of its time, and honour must be
given to Boito for the artistic beauty of his conceptions, and for his
courage and skill in the wielding of them to the ultimate conviction of
an unwilling public. This fascinating but tantalizing composer still
stimulates interest by the fact that he keeps two other and newer
operas, _Nero_ and _Orestiade_, in his desk, and refuses, at any rate
for the present, to bring them to the light. He has received the degree
of Doctor of Music from the University of Cambridge, and at a concert
given to celebrate the event in 1893 the author had the pleasure of
taking part in a performance of the Prologue to _Mefistofele_ under his
bâton. Verdi’s last two operas are to libretti by Boito.
Commencement of Vocal Scherzo from Boito’s “Mefistofele.”
[Music]
Siam nimbi volanti dai limbi, nei santi
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Mascagni=]
We now come to a composer whose music, or part of it, at any rate,
must have been heard by everybody; we speak of Pietro Mascagni, whose
most famous opera, entitled _Cavalleria Rusticana_, is probably the
most popular modern work in the operatic repertoire. It was produced
in 1890, and soon attained to fame; this was due, to some extent,
to the introduction of a new device—namely, the performance of an
orchestral intermezzo dividing the work into two parts, the curtain
remaining up and disclosing an empty stage (a street scene). Possibly
the original intention in leaving the curtain up was to prevent the
buzz of conversation which always accompanies its fall, and precludes
the possibility of careful attention to the music; but in this instance
the music is so melodious, tuneful, and cleverly scored that it assured
the success of the opera. Succeeding works from the same pen, _L’Amico
Fritz_, _I Rantzau_, _William Ratcliff_, _Iris_, and others, have not
yet found equal success.
[Sidenote: =Leoncavallo=]
Very frequently coupled upon the same play-bill with Mascagni’s
_Cavalleria_ is the short modern Italian opera, _I Pagliacci_ (The
Strolling Players), the work of Leoncavallo, and written upon much
the same general lines as its forerunner; its prologue, for a solo
baritone, is popular in our concert halls; in the opera it occurs as
part of the overture, the singer pushing his way through the curtain,
and retiring again after his performance, before the stage scene is
actually disclosed. Leoncavallo has written many other works, but his
chief distinction of later date has been that upon him has fallen the
choice of the German Emperor to write a typically German opera on the
subject of _Roland of Berlin_. The work was produced in Berlin in
1905, but without giving full satisfaction, the general opinion being
that a German composer should have been chosen to clothe so essentially
national a subject with music, and that Leoncavallo’s attempt was
uninspired, grandiose, and lacking in the elements of beauty.
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Cilea=]
Other followers of Mascagni are Giordano, composer of _Andrea Chenier_;
Spinelli, chiefly known by _A Basso Porto_; and Franchetti. More
famous than these is Francesco Cilea, a young composer of promise,
whose one work that has been submitted to English audiences, _Adriana
Lecouvreur_, contains music of great beauty and charm. The method of
Mascagni is closely followed, even to the introduction of a tuneful
and charmingly scored intermezzo, but there is independence of melodic
phrase and real grip in the music. _Adriana_ was originally produced at
Milan in 1902, and was staged at Covent Garden during the autumn visit
of the San Carlo Company two years later.
[Sidenote: =Puccini=]
Undoubtedly the greatest of the modern Italian composers is Giacomo
Puccini, who has made himself famous not merely by one opera but by
several. His earlier works, _Manon Lescaut_, etc., hardly represent
him at his best, although they contain much fine music; but in _La
Bohème_ (produced in 1896), in _La Tosca_, and most of all in _Madama
Butterfly_ (1904), this clever musician has found himself and has
risen to great heights. He is most happy in the way in which his music
paints the situation to be depicted, and he has a most wonderfully
ready power of melody. The continuous use of distinctive and rhythmic
melody and the absence of any definite characterization by means of
the _leit-motif_ differentiates his work very largely from that of the
Wagner School—it is altogether on a lighter basis, but the melody has
an irresistible attractiveness, which accounts largely for the favour
which his operas are finding at the present day. Such straightforward
lyrical writing as the theme which usually accompanies Sharpless the
Consul (in _Madama Butterfly_),—
[Music]
or the more tenderly impassioned themes, such as this one from
the love duet which closes the first Act of the same opera,
Love Duet, from “Butterfly.”
[Music]
will convey some idea of the style which this composer adopts. His next
promised opera is to be upon an American subject, _The Girl of the
Golden West_.
[Illustration: LEONCAVALLO.]
[Sidenote: =German Composers=]
[Sidenote: =Goldmark, 1830=]
Germany to-day can hardly be held to have produced such an array of
familiar names, but that of Humperdinck has become famous through
his setting of the delightful fairy tale _Hansel and Gretel_. There
is, however, still living a senior to Humperdinck in the person of
Goldmark, whose _Cricket on the Hearth_ has been performed in this
country. Goldmark was born as long ago as 1830, and became famous by
his opera, _The Queen of Sheba_, produced in Vienna in 1875: he has
penned much music, and other operas, but the two above named are his
best known contributions to operatic literature.
[Sidenote: =Humperdinck=]
More interesting, because his fairy opera has been seen by almost
everyone, is Humperdinck, who has skilfully applied Wagnerian methods
to opera on a comparatively light subject. The story of _Hansel and
Gretel_, from Hans Andersen, is worked up into a charming plot, and if
some of the incidents seem, upon the modern stage, somewhat trivial and
childish, the music is so perfect in form and matter that the ear is
delighted throughout. The use of folk-songs and simple melodies which
appeal to all, is supplemented by a wonderfully capable and polyphonic
use of the orchestra, which shows the master hand in every bar of the
score.
From Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” Overture, showing three
important Motives.
[Music]
_Hansel and Gretel_ can be appreciated alike by the smallest child
and by the skilled musician, and therein lies its great charm, for
much study must usually precede appreciation of work so elaborate and
complex. Humperdinck’s succeeding works, several in number, have not
risen to the same level, either of beauty or of popularity: his recent
opera, _Die Heirat wider Willen_, was produced with a fair measure of
success under Strauss at Berlin in April 1905.
[Sidenote: =Richard Strauss=]
Richard Strauss, the well-known composer of orchestral tone poems, has
made several bids for fame in opera: his early works, such as _Guntram_
and _Feursnot_, have not called so much attention as have _Salome_,
produced at Dresden in 1906, and the _Elektra_ staged in 1909 (January
25th). Strauss writes very boldly, with the most cacophonous lack of
blend between orchestra and voice, as this example, culled at random
from _Elektra_, will show.
Fragment from Strauss’ “Elektra” (1909).
[Music]
Ich habe solche
Angst mir zittern die
Knie bei Tag und Nacht
Other living composers of German opera are Max Schillings; Weingartner,
the great orchestral conductor; Siegfried Wagner, son of the great
master; Nessler, composer of _The Trumpeter of Sákkingen_ (a
wonderfully popular work, which, however, is not of the first rank),
and many others whose fame may or may not be enduring. Modern German
opera since Wagner has hardly, with the exception of _Hansel and
Gretel_, the distinction, power, and originality which we find in the
followers of the young Italian school.
[Sidenote: =The French School=]
More famous are the men of the French school, the natural followers
of Gounod, Ambroise Thomas, and their fellows. Progress is noticeable
from the type of music which prevails in _Faust_ in the works of such
composers as Saint-Saëns, Massenet, and Bruneau, and the influence of
Wagner is quite apparent. But in French opera the traditions which
belonged to the “Académie” of old, and which have descended to the more
modern “Grand Opera,” combine with a certain Gallic grace and charm to
preserve individuality to this school.
[Sidenote: =Saint-Saëns 1835=]
Foremost among French composers in every branch of the art is that
versatile and gifted man, who has just missed becoming a genius,
Camille Saint-Saëns. Like Boito, he possesses an interesting
personality, prominent amongst his characteristics being a habit he
has of suddenly disappearing for months together from the eyes of a
world of which he has grown temporarily weary. He will then come back
from some half civilized or totally barbarous district of Africa or
elsewhere, bearing with him piles of manuscript, which soon finds a
ready publisher. The music so composed often bears some impress of
the surroundings amidst which it has been penned, which adds in no
small degree to its acceptance by the public. Saint-Saëns has written
many operas both for the Grand and the Comique stage without any very
marked success: the work best known in England is _Samson and Delilah_,
a dramatized version of the Bible story. As such, by the censorship
of stage plays that exists in England, this was not allowed to be
performed in its original condition until the year 1909; but it then
became as popular as it is on the Continent, where its beautiful and
impassioned music finds many admirers. Saint-Saëns’ _Henry VIII._
is, of his other works, the best known. The list also includes
_Proserpine_, _Ascanio_, _Phryne_, and _Les Barbares_. His last work is
_L’Ancètre_, produced at Monte Carlo in 1906.
[Sidenote: =Massenet, 1842=]
[Illustration]
Jules Massenet is the author of many operas, of which mention may
be made of _Le Roi de Lahore_, _Hérodiade_, _Manon_, _Le Cid_,
_Esclarmonde_, _Werther_, _Thaïs_, _La Navarraise_, and _Le Jongleur
de Notre Dame_. _Hérodiade_ is really a dramatic version of the Bible
story of St. John and Salome. By a few trivial alterations of names and
lines it was so altered as to pass the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship,
and was produced at Covent Garden in 1904. The general atmosphere of
the sacred subject, however, still hovered over it, and to English
taste it was unpleasing and unpopular: it is perhaps the best of the
Massenet operas, _Manon_ and _La Navarraise_ approaching it nearest
in popular esteem. His latest success is _Le Jongleur de Notre Dame_,
produced at Monte Carlo in 1902.
[Sidenote: =Bruneau, 1857=]
A most earnest and serious minded composer, who more closely follows
Gluck and Wagner in his desire for operatic truth, is Alfred Bruneau,
one of the finest of French musicians. From the first his style has
been revolutionary, and owing to crudities somewhat hard to accept; but
while sometimes musically deficient, his dramatic grip and sincerity
of purpose are so strong that there is doubtless a future before his
operas. _Le Rêve_, _L’Attaque du Moulin_, _Messidor_, and _L’Ouragan_
are the names given to his chief works, the third named of these being
perhaps the best. Bruneau was fortunate in securing the services of
the late M. Zola as his librettist, several prose-poems by the great
novelist having been entrusted to his care.
André Messager has chiefly distinguished himself by a charming light
work, _La Basoche_, which has had much attention at English hands.
Dubois, Paladihle, and others are still at work in the field of French
opera, but perhaps its most prominent modern representative is Gustave
Charpentier, whose opera _Louise_ (1900) has made a great hit, and
shows possession of great gifts from which much more may in the future
be expected. Vincent d’Indy, another of the younger school, is the
composer of a fairly successful work, _Fervaal_.
[Sidenote: =Debussy=]
Claude Debussy, a composer who has written an amount of successful
music of an unique kind, in that it employs mostly a scale of whole
tones, rather than one of tones and semitones, produced in 1902 an
opera based on Maeterlinck’s _Pelleas et Melisande_. This original and
distinctive work has become highly popular, and was performed at the
Covent Garden season of 1909. Here is a fragment showing the composer’s
curious use of whole tones.
Debussy’s “Pelleas and Melisande.”
[Music]
[Sidenote: =English Composers=]
With the exception of Sir Hubert Parry, all the chief living composers
of English nationality have made a bid for fame in Grand Opera, but
with only partial success. Those whose efforts appear to have led to
the best results are Stanford and Mackenzie. Unfortunately for us,
there is in this country less opportunity for operatic composers than
in almost any other: works when written have little chance of being
staged, unless perhaps semi-privately. Occasionally the management
of the Grand Opera invites a work from an English musician, but even
then it is sometimes coupled, as was the case with Bunning’s _Princess
Osra_, with the condition that it be performed in a foreign language.
Opera is not the hobby and delight of the man in the street, as it
is in many Continental countries, and the works that find favour
at Covent Garden seem to be chosen according to the wishes of the
boxholders and members of the syndicate. After all, it is these that
supply the sinews of war, and therefore the English public at large has
no just cause for complaint. If the English public will come forward
and support national opera schemes, as it is constantly being invited
to do, there would be some hope for English opera composers. Under
present conditions opportunity is infrequent, although when it comes it
is generally seized by those concerned.
[Sidenote: =Stanford, 1852=]
Undoubtedly the pluckiest attempts to wrest fame from grudging
audiences in this respect has been made by Sir Charles Stanford.
Undeterred by failure, indifferent success, and lack of appreciation,
he has made repeated efforts in opera. His earliest were in Germany,
where _The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan_ (Hanover) and _Savonarola_
(Hamburg) came to light. Later on came the _Canterbury Pilgrims_,
produced at Covent Garden in 1884. Some success attended the
last-named, but it was many years before it found a companion, _Shamus
O’Brien_ not appearing until 1896. Stanford is an Irishman, and the
subject particularly suited his individual temperament. The work,
confessedly less in the grand opera style than that of the romantic
comic opera, enjoyed great favour for a short time, and contained
charming music. Of still more importance is his last born, a version of
_Much Ado about Nothing_, staged at Covent Garden in 1901, the music of
which, although unequal, contains some fine moments.
[Illustration: _Photo_] [_Russell & Sons._
SIR A. C. MACKENZIE.]
[Sidenote: =Mackenzie 1847=]
Mackenzie’s operas are _Colomba_ (1883), _The Troubadour_ (1886), and
_The Cricket on the Hearth_. The last-named still awaits a hearing,
and promises to be of much interest. A lighter work of the Savoy
type was also written by this composer, and had a good run. A bid
for popularity, in the shape of a small and trifling but musically
interesting operetta, produced at one of our largest music halls in
1905, was also made by Mackenzie. Of such innovations as this, and
their purport, we may say more anon.
[Sidenote: =Cowen, 1852=]
Frederic Cowen seems to have lost heart, so far as operatic enterprise
is concerned. The list of his essays in this form of art are _The Lady
of Lyons_ (1876), _Thorgrim_ (1890), _Signa_ (1893), and _Harold_
(1895). The general opinion of these is, that while containing much
music that is genuinely charming and beautiful, there is not enough
dramatic virility or depth of idea to carry so exacting a work as a
grand opera to a successful issue.
Mr. Frederick Corder has completed many operas, only one of which,
_Nordisa_, has been produced, and this as long ago as 1886. Mr. Hamish
MacCunn, a Scotch composer, is answerable for the music to _Jeanie
Deans_ and _Diarmid_. Miss Ethel Smyth is one of the rare instances
of a member of the fairer sex rising to any point of distinction in
operatic composition: her one-act work _Der Wald_ (“The Wood”)[3]
achieved considerable success in England a few years back, and her
music is held in still higher esteem in Germany, where her last opera,
_The Wreckers_, has had great success.
[3] Performed at Covent Garden, July 1902, and distinctly Wagnerian
in style. The opening woodland scene music is as original as it
is delightful, and evidences the real ability of this native lady
composer.—ED.
[Illustration]
_Princess Osra_, produced at Covent Garden in 1902, is the work of a
young Englishman, Herbert Bunning, who simulates the modern Italian
method, and from whom more may be heard ere long. Mr. de Lara has
produced _The Light of Asia_, _Amy Rosbart_, and _Messaline_, while
other workers in this direction may include Mr. Somerville, Alick
McLean, Edward German, and Franco Leoi.
English opera suffers much from lack of opportunity, still more from
absence of individuality. Were English composers able to graft on to
their style some trace of natural characteristics, as we find the
Russians and Bohemians of to-day have done, there is little doubt but
that their productions would command a greater interest and a more
enduring success.