it is still given. In this abridged shape, and with the addition of
the waltz now placed in the finale, it was brought out in London with
Titiens, Giuglini, Santley, and Trebelli in the cast. In English it is
always given under the title of "Mirella." The first scene opens in a
mulberry grove, where Mireille is rallied by the village girls upon
her attachment to Vincenzo, the basket-maker, and is also warned by
Tavena, the fortune-teller, against yielding to her love, as she
foresees that her father, Raimondo, will never consent to the union.
In the next scene she meets Vincenzo, and the warning of Tavena is
soon forgotten. The lovers renew their pledges, and agree to meet at
the Chapel of the Virgin if their plans are thwarted. The second act
introduces us to a merrymaking at Arles, where Mireille is informed by
Tavena that Vincenzo has a rival in Urias, a wild herdsman, who has
openly declared his love for her, and asked her hand of her father.
Mireille repulses him when he brings the father's consent. Ambrogio,
Vincenzo's father, accompanied by his daughter, Vincenzina, also waits
upon Raimondo and intercedes in his son's behalf, but is sternly
refused. Mireille, who has overheard the interview, declares to her
father her irrevocable attachment for Vincenzo. Her declaration throws
him into such a rage that he is about to strike her, but she disarms
his anger by appealing to the memory of her mother.
The last act opens on a barren, sunburnt plain. Andreluno appears,
singing a pastoral song to the accompaniment of his bagpipe, followed
by Mireille, who is toiling across the hot sands to meet her lover at
the Chapel of the Virgin. She is met by Tavena, who assures her that
Vincenzo will keep his appointment, and then returns to Arles to plead
with the father in Mireille's behalf. The poor girl toils on through
the heat, and at last arrives nearly prostrated by sunstroke. Vincenzo
soon appears, and is shortly followed by Raimondo, who, seeing the sad
condition of his daughter, is moved to pity and gives his consent to
the union of the lovers. The sudden joyful change of affairs restores
her wandering senses and the happy pair are united.
The music is in no sense dramatic, but lyric and pastoral throughout,
and is specially marked by the beautiful French chansons with which it
abounds. The first act opens with a delightful pastoral chorus of the
maidens under the mulberry-trees ("Facciam carole, o giovinette"),
which is very fresh and graceful. The second begins with an equally
delightful chorus and farandole ("La Farandola tutti consola"),
followed by the beautiful Provençal folk-song, "Dolce una brezza,
intorno olezza," which is full of local color. Tavena sings a quaint
fortune-teller's roundelay ("La stagione arriva"), and in the next
scene Mireille has a number of rare beauty ("Ah! piu non temo fato "),
in which she declares her unalterable attachment to Vincenzo. The
finale of this act, with its strong aria ("Qui mi prostro innanzi
ate"), is very spirited, and in fact may be considered the only
dramatic episode in the whole work. The third act opens with the
quaint little song of Andreluno, the shepherd boy ("L'alba
tranquilla"), with oboe accompaniment. It also contains a plaintive
song for tenor ("Ah! se de preghi miei"), and closes with a waltz song
("O d'amor messagera"), which is fairly gorgeous in bravura effects,
and Hanslick says was a concession to Miolan-Carvalho, like the jewel
song in "Faust" and the waltz song in "Romeo and Juliet." In the
original libretto the song had its place in the first act, and indeed
numerous changes have been made in the libretto since the opera first
appeared; as in the original, Mireille dies in the arms of her lover,
and Urias, Vincenzo's rival, is drowned in the Rhone. When it first
appeared, however, great objection was made to several of the
situations, and the libretto was declared fantastic and uninteresting;
hence the changes. As a lyric drama, delightfully picturing the
quaintness and simplicity of provincial life, not alone in the
tunefulness of the music, but also in its pastoral naïveté and what
may be termed its folk-characteristics, it will hold a high place upon
the stage as long as young and fresh voices can be found to sing it.
HALEVY.
Jacques François Fromenthal Elias Halevy was born at Paris, May 27,
1799, of Israelitish parents, whose name was originally Levy. He
entered the Conservatory in 1809, and in 1819 obtained the Grand Prize
for his cantata of "Hermione." After his arrival in Italy he wrote
several minor pieces, but his music did not attract public attention
until his return to Paris, when his three-act opera, "Clari," brought
out Dec. 9, 1828, with Malibran in the principal rôle, made a success.
"Le Dilettante d'Avignon" (a satire on Italian librettos), "Manon
Lescaut" (a ballet in three acts), "La Langue Musicàle," "La
Tentation," and "Les Souvenirs" rapidly followed "Clari," with
alternating successes and failures. In 1835 his great work, "La
Juive," appeared, and in the same year, "L'Éclair," one of his most
charming operas, written without chorus for two tenors and two
sopranos. It was considered at the time a marvellous feat that he
should have produced two such opposite works in the same year, and
great hopes were entertained that he would surpass them. These hopes
failed, however. He subsequently wrote over twenty operas, among them
"Guido et Ginevra" (1838); "Charles VI." (1842); "La Reine de Chypre"
(1842); "Les Mousquetaires de la Reine" (1846); "Le Val d'Andorre"
(1848); "La Tempête" (1853): "Le Juif Errant" (1855), and others; but
"La Juive" and "L'Éclair" remained his masterpieces, and procured him
admission into the Institute. He was also a professor in the
Conservatory, and among his pupils were Gounod, Massé, Bazin,
Duvernoy, Bizet, and others. He enjoyed many honors, and died March
17, 1862. A De Profundis was sung on the occasion of his funeral,
written by four of his pupils, MM. Gounod, Massé, Bazin, and Cohen. As
a composer he was influenced largely by Meyerbeer, and is remarkable
rather for his large dramatic effects than for his melody.
THE JEWESS
"La Juive," a grand opera in five acts, words by Scribe, originally
written for Rossini and rejected in favor of "William Tell," was
produced for the first time at the Académie, Paris, Feb. 23, 1835,
with the following cast of the principal parts:--
RACHEL Mlle. CORNELIA FALCON.
EUDOXIA Mme. DORUS-GRAS.
ELEAZAR M. NOURRIT.
CARDINAL M. LEVASSEUR.
It was first produced in England in French, July 29, 1846, and in
Italian under the title of "La Ebrea," July 25, 1850. In this country
it is most familiar in the German version. The scene of the opera is
laid in Constance, time, 1414. Leopold, a prince of the empire,
returning from the wars, is enamoured of Rachel, a beautiful Jewess,
daughter of Eleazar the goldsmith. The better to carry out his plans,
he calls himself Samuel, and pretends to be a Jewish painter.
Circumstances, however, dispel the illusion, and Rachel learns that he
is no other than Leopold, husband of the princess Eudoxia. Overcome
with indignation at the discovery of his perfidy, she publicly
denounces his crime, and the Cardinal excommunicates Leopold, and
pronounces his malediction on Rachel and her father. Rachel, Eleazar,
and Leopold are thrown into prison to await the execution of the
sentence of death. During their imprisonment Eudoxia intercedes with
Rachel to save Leopold's life, and at last, moved by the grief of the
rightful wife, she publicly recants her statement. Leopold is
banished, but Rachel and her father are again condemned to death for
conspiring against the life of a Christian. Eleazar determines to be
revenged in the moment of death upon the Cardinal, who has sentenced
them, and who is at the head of a church which he hates; and just
before they are thrown into a caldron of fire, reveals to the
spectators that Rachel is not his own, but an adopted daughter, saved
from the ruins of the Cardinal's burning palace, and that she is his
child.
The opera of "The Jewess" is pre-eminently spectacular, and its music
is dramatic and declamatory rather than melodious. The prominent
numbers of the first act are the solemn declaration of the Cardinal
("Wenn ew'ger Hass"), in which he replies to Eleazar's hatred of the
Christian; the romance sung by Leopold ("Fern vom Liebchen weilen"),
which is in the nature of a serenade to Rachel; the drinking-song of
the people at the fountain, which is flowing wine ("Eilt herbei"); and
the splendid chorus and march ("Leht, es nahet sich der Zug") which
preludes the imposing pageantry music of the Emperor's arrival,
closing with the triumphant Te Deum to organ accompaniment and the
greeting to the Emperor, "Hosanna, unser Kaiser hoch."
The second act opens with the celebration of the Passover in Eleazar's
house, and introduces a very solemn and impressive prayer
("Allmächt'ger blicke gnädig"). In the next scene there is a
passionate ensemble and duet for Eudoxia and Leopold ("Ich will ihn
seh'n"), which is followed by a second spirited duet between Rachel
and Leopold ("Als mein Herz"); an intensely dramatic aria ("Ach!
Vater! Halt ein!"), in which she claims her share of Leopold's guilt;
and the final grand trio of anathema pronounced by Eleazar.
The third act is principally devoted to the festivities of the royal
pageants, and closes with the anathema of the Cardinal ("Ihr, die ihr
Gottes Zorn"), which is a concerted number of magnificent power and
spirited dramatic effect. The fourth act contains a grand duet between
Eleazar and the Cardinal ("Hört ich recht?"), and closes with one of
the most powerful scenas ever written for tenor ("Das Todesurtheil
sprich"), in which Eleazar welcomes death and hurls defiance at the
Christians. The last act is occupied with the tragic dénouement, which
affords splendid opportunities for action, and is accompanied by very
dramatic music to the close, often rising to real sublimity. In the
pageantry of the stage, in the expression of high and passionate
sentiment, in elaborateness of treatment, and in broad and powerful
dramatic effect, "The Jewess" is one of the strongest operas in the
modern repertory.
HUMPERDINCK.
Engelbert Humperdinck, the latest star in the German musical
firmament, was born, Sept. 1, 1854, at Siegburg on the Rhine, and
received his earliest musical training at the Cologne Conservatory. He
made such rapid progress in his studies, showing special proficiency
in composition, that he carried off in succession the three prizes of
the Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Meyerbeer stipends. These enabled him to
continue his lessons at Munich, and afterwards in Italy. While in
Naples, in 1880, he attracted the attention of Richard Wagner as a
rising genius, and two years later had the honor of an invitation to
go to Venice as his guest, upon the occasion of the performance of
Wagner's only symphony. In 1885 he went to Barcelona, Spain, where he
taught composition, and was the director of a quartette at the Royal
Conservatory for two years. In 1887 he returned to Cologne, and since
1890 has been identified with a Conservatory at Frankfort-on-the-Main.
In addition to the opera "Hansel and Gretel," which has given him a
world-wide fame, he produced, a few years ago, a chorus ballad, "Das
Glück von Edenhall," and a cantata, "Die Wallfahrt nach Kevelaar,"
based upon Heine's poem, and scored for soloists, chorus, and
orchestra. He has also written several songs and piano pieces, and, it
is now reported, is engaged upon a dramatic composition called "The
Royal Children." He is regarded in Germany as the one composer who
gives promise of continuing and developing the scheme of the
music-drama as it was propounded by Wagner.
HANSEL AND GRETEL.
"Hansel and Gretel," a fairy opera in three acts, words by Adelheid
Wette, was first produced in Germany in 1894. In January, 1895, it was
performed in London by the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company, rendered
into English by Constance Bache; and in the fall of the same year it
had its first representation in New York, at Daly's Theatre, with the
following cast:--
PETER, a broom-maker Mr. JACQUES BARS.
GERTRUDE, his wife Miss ALICE GORDON.
THE WITCH Miss LOUISE MEISSLINGER.
HANSEL Miss MARIE ELBA.
GRETEL Miss JEANNE DOUSTE.
SANDMAN, the Sleep Fairy Miss CECILE BRANI.
DEWMAN, the Dawn Fairy Miss EDITH JOHNSTON.
The story is taken from one of Grimm's well-known fairy tales, and the
text was written by the composer's sister, Adelheid Wette. It was Frau
Wette's intention to arrange the story in dramatic form for the
amusement of her children, her brother lending his co-operation by
writing a few little melodies, of a simple nature, to accompany the
performance. When he had read it, however, the story took his fancy,
and its dramatic possibilities so appealed to him that he determined
to give it an operatic setting with full orchestral score, and thus
placed it in the higher sphere of world performance by an art which
not alone reveals the highest type of genial German sentimentality,
but, curiously enough, applied to this simple little story of angels,
witches, and the two babes in the woods the same musical methods which
Wagner has employed in telling the stories of gods and demigods.
Perhaps its highest praise was sounded by Siegfried Wagner, son of
Richard Wagner, who declared that "Hansel and Gretel" was the most
important German opera since "Parsifal," notwithstanding its
childishness and simplicity.
After a beautifully instrumented prelude, which has already become a
favorite concert piece, the curtain rises upon the home of Peter, the
broom-maker. The parents are away seeking for food, and Hansel and
Gretel have been left in the cottage with instructions to knit and
make brooms. There is a charming dialogue between the two children,
beginning with a doleful lament over their poverty, and ending with an
outburst of childish hilarity in song and dancing,--a veritable romp
in music,--which is suddenly interrupted by the return of Gertrude,
the mother, empty-handed, who chides them for their behavior, and in
her anger upsets a jug of milk which was the only hope of supper in
the house. With an energetic outburst of recitative she sends them
into the forest, telling them not to return until they have filled
their basket with strawberries. After lamenting her loss, and mourning
over her many troubles, she falls asleep, but is awakened by the
return of Peter, who has been more fortunate, and has brought home
some provisions. A rollicking scene ensues, but suddenly he misses the
children, and breaks out in a fit of rage when he is informed that
they have gone into the forest. To the accompaniment of most gruesome
and characteristic music he tells his wife of the witch who haunts the
woods, and who, living in a honey-cake house, entices little children
to it, bakes them into gingerbread in her oven, and then devours them.
The second act, "In the Forest," is preluded by a characteristic
instrumental number, "The Witches' Ride." The children are discovered
near the Ilsenstein, among the fir-trees, making garlands, listening
to the cuckoos, and mocking them in a beautiful duet with echo
accompaniment. At last, however, they realize that they are lost; and
in the midst of their fear, which is intensified by strange sights and
sounds, the Sandman, or sleep fairy, approaches them, strews sand in
their eyes, and sings them to sleep with a most delicious lullaby,
after they have recited their prayer, "When at night I go to sleep,
fourteen Angels watch do keep." As they sleep the mist rolls away, the
forest background disappears, and the fourteen angels come down a sort
of Jacob's ladder and surround the children, while other angels
perform a stately dance, grouping themselves in picturesque tableau as
the curtain falls.
The third act is entitled "The Witch's House." The children are still
sleeping, but the angels have vanished. The Dawn-Fairy steps forward
and shakes dewdrops from a bluebell over them, accompanying the action
with a delightful song, "I'm up with early Dawning." Gretel is the
first to wake, and rouses Hansel by tickling him with a leaf, at the
same time singing a veritable tickling melody, and then telling him
what she has seen in her dream. In place of the fir-trees they
discover the witch's house at the Ilsenstein, with an oven on one side
and on the other a cage, both joined to the house by a curious fence
of gingerbread figures. The house itself is constructed of sweets and
creams. Attracted by its delicious fragrance and toothsomeness, the
hungry children break off a piece and are nibbling at it, when the old
witch within surprises and captures them. After a series of
incantations, and much riding upon her broomstick, which are vividly
portrayed in the music, she prepares to cook Gretel in the oven; but
while looking into it the children deftly tumble her into the fire.
The witch waltz, danced by the children and full of joyous abandon,
follows. To a most vivid accompaniment, Hansel rushes into the house
and throws fruit, nuts, and sweetmeats into Gretel's apron. Meanwhile
the oven falls into bits, and a crowd of children swarms around them,
released from their gingerbread disguises, and sing a swelling chorus
of gratitude as two of the boys drag the witch from the ruins of the
oven in the form of a big gingerbread-cake. The father and mother
appear. Their long quest is ended. The family join in singing a pious
little hymn, "When past bearing is our grief, God the Lord will send
relief;" and the children dance joyously around the reunited group.
The story is only a little child's tale, but it is wedded to music of
the highest order. The union has been made so deftly, the motives are
so charming and take their places so skilfully, and the music is so
scholarly and characteristic throughout, that no one has yet
considered this union as incongruous. In this respect "Hansel and
Gretel" is a distinct creation in the operatic world.
LEONCAVALLO.
Ruggiero Leoncavallo, a promising representative of the young Italian
school, was born in Naples, March 8, 1858. He first studied with Siri,
and afterwards learned harmony and the piano from Simonetti. While a
student at the Naples Conservatory he was advised by Rossi, one of his
teachers, to devote himself to opera. In pursuance of this counsel, he
went to Bologna, and there wrote his first opera, "Tommaso
Chatterton," which still remains in manuscript and unperformed. Then
followed a series of "wander years," during which he visited many
European countries, giving lessons in singing and upon the piano, and
meeting with varying fortunes. In all these years, however, he
cherished the plan of producing a trilogy in the Wagnerian manner with
a groundwork from Florentine history. In a letter he says: "I
subdivided the historical periods in the following way: first part, 'I
Medici,' from the accession of Sextus IV. to the Pazzi conspiracy;
second part, 'Savonorola,' from the investiture of Fra Benedetto to
the death of Savonorola; third part, 'Cesare Borgia,' from the death
of the Duke of Candia to that of Alexander VI." The first part was
completed and performed in Milan in November, 1893, and was a failure,
notwithstanding its effective instrumentation. It was not so, however,
with the little two-act opera "I Pagliacci," which was produced May
21, 1892, at Milan, and met with an instantaneous and enthusiastic
success. His next work was a chorus with orchestral accompaniment, the
text based upon Balzac's rhapsodical and highly wrought "Seraphita,"
which was performed at Milan in 1894. It has been recently reported
that the Emperor of Germany has given him a commission to produce an
opera upon a national subject, "Roland of Berlin." Of his works, "I
Pagliacci" is the only one known in the United States. It has met with
great favor here, and has become standard in the Italian repertory.
I PAGLIACCI.
"I Pagliacci," an Italian opera in two acts, words by the composer,
Ruggiero Leoncavallo, was first performed at Milan, May 21, 1892, and
was introduced in this country in the spring of 1894, Mme. Arnoldson,
Mme. Calvé, and Signors Ancona, Gromzeski, Guetary, and De Lucia
taking the principal parts. The scene is laid in Calabria during the
Feast of the Assumption. The Pagliacci are a troupe of itinerant
mountebanks, the characters being Nedda, the Columbine, who is wife of
Canio, or Punchinello, master of the troupe; Tonio, the Clown; Beppe,
the Harlequin; and Silvio, a villager.
The first act opens with the picturesque arrival of the troupe in the
village, and the preparations for a performance in the rustic theatre,
with which the peasants are overjoyed. The tragic element of the
composition is apparent at once, and the action moves swiftly on to
the fearful dénouement. Tonio, the clown, is in love with Nedda, and
before the performance makes advances to her, which she resents by
slashing him across the face with Beppe's riding-whip. He rushes off
vowing revenge, and upon his return overhears Nedda declaring her
passion for Silvio, a young peasant, and arranging to elope with him.
Tonio thereupon seeks Canio, and tells him of his wife's infidelity.
Canio hurries to the spot, encounters Nedda; but Silvio has fled, and
she refuses to give his name. He attempts to stab her, but is
prevented by Beppe, and the act closes with the final preparation for
the show, the grief-stricken husband donning the motley in gloomy and
foreboding silence.
The second act opens with Tonio beating the big drum, and the people
crowding to the show, among them Silvio, who manages to make an
appointment with Nedda while she is collecting the money. The curtain
of the little theatre rises, disclosing a small room barely furnished.
The play to be performed is almost an identical picture of the real
situation in the unfortunate little troupe. Columbine, who is to
poison her husband, Punchinello, is entertaining her lover, Harlequin,
while Taddeo, the clown, watches for Punchinello's return. When Canio
finally appears the mimic tragedy becomes one in reality. Inflamed
with passion, he rushes upon Nedda, and demands the name of her lover.
She still refuses to tell. He draws his dagger. Nedda, conscious of
her danger, calls upon Silvio in the audience to save her; but it is
too late. Her husband kills her, and Silvio, who rushes upon the
stage, is killed with the same dagger. With a wild cry full of hate,
jealousy, and despair, the unfortunate Canio tells the audience "La
commedia è finita" ("The comedy is finished"). The curtain falls upon
the tragedy, and the excited audience disperses.
The story is peculiarly Italian in its motive, though the composer has
been charged with taking it from "La Femme de Tabarin," by the French
novelist, Catulle Mendès. Be this as it may, Leoncavallo's version has
the merit of brevity, conciseness, ingenuity, and swift action,
closing in a dénouement of great tragic power and capable, in the
hands of a good actor, of being made very effective. The composer has
not alone been charged with borrowing the story, but also with
plagiarizing the music. So far as the accusation of plagiarism is
concerned, however, it hardly involves anything more serious than
those curious resemblances which are so often found in musical
compositions. As a whole, the opera is melodious, forceful, full of
snap and go, and intensely dramatic, and is without a dull moment from
the prologue ("Si può? Signore") sung before the curtain by Tonio to
that last despairing outcry of Canio ("La commedia è finita"), upon
which the curtain falls. The prominent numbers are the prologue
already referred to; Nedda's beautiful cavatina in the second scene
("O, che volo d'angello"); her duet with Silvio in the third scene ("E
allor perchè"); the passionate declamation of Canio at the close of
the first act ("Recitur! mentre preso dal delirio"); the serenade of
Beppe in the second act ("O Colombino, il tenero"); and the graceful
dance-music which plays so singular a part in this fierce struggle of
the passions, which forms the motive of the closing scenes.
MASCAGNI.