THE
STANDARD LIGHT OPERAS
THEIR PLOTS AND THEIR MUSIC

A Handbook

By GEORGE P. UPTON
AUTHOR OF “THE STANDARD OPERAS,” ETC.

CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1902

Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1902

Published September 13, 1902

TO MY FRIEND
CHARLES C. CURTISS

PREFACE.

The present volume, “The Standard LightOperas,” has been prepared not only with thehope that it may supply a popular want in thesedays when the light opera is so much in vogue,but also with the purpose of completing the serieswhich the author has already compiled, includingthe opera, oratorio, cantata, and symphony. It hasbeen somewhat difficult to select from the “embarrassmentof riches” in the material offered bythe profusion of operettas, musical comedies, andlegitimate light operas which have been producedduring the last few years, and which are still turnedout with almost bewildering rapidity. Still moredifficult is it to determine accurately those amongthem which are standard. A few of the lighterworks which are contained in the original edition ofthe “Standard Operas” have been recast, as theyproperly belong in a work of this kind, and as theymay answer the needs of those who have not theformer volume. The opera comique and the operabouffe are also represented by the best of theirclass, those whose text is clearly objectionable being[viii]omitted. The entire list of the characteristic and delightfuloperettas by the late Sir Alexander Sullivanis included, and some of the musical comedieswhich have a strong hold upon popular admiration.The operas have not been analyzed with that closenessof detail which characterizes the “StandardOperas,” as they do not call for treatment of thatkind, and in many cases the leading numbers areonly suggested. They are described rather thancriticised, and as they have been compiled solely forthe use of the general public they have been presentedas untechnically as possible. They are intendedto heighten popular enjoyment rather thanto supply information for musicians, and as a vademecum for the opera-goer rather than a referencefor the musical student.

G. P. U.

Chicago, August, 1902.

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