The HTML version of this text produced by Bob Frone can be found
at <http://www.intac.com/~rfrone/operas/Books/oper-books.htm>
Plain text adaption by Andrew Sly.
"Old friends are best."—SELDEN.
"I love everything that's old,—old friends, old times, old manners,old books, old wine."—GOLDSMITH.
"Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust!
Old authors to read!"—MELCHIOR.
First performance of Italian opera in the United States—Production ofRossini's opera in Rome, London, Paris, and New York—Thomas Phillippsand his English version—Miss Leesugg and Mrs. Holman—Emanuel Garciaand his troupe—Malibran—Early operas in America—Colman's "SpanishBarber"—Other Figaro operas—How Rossini came to Write "Il Barbiere"—The story of a fiasco—Garcia and his Spanish song—"Segui, o caro"—Giorgi-Righetti—The plot of the opera—The overture—"Ecco ridentein cielo"—"Una voce poco fà,"—Rossini and Patti—The lesson sceneand what singers have done with it—Grisi, Alboni, Catalani, Bosio,Gassier, Patti, Sembrich, Melba, and Viardot—An echo of Haydn.
Beaumarchais and his Figaro comedies—"Le Nozze" a sequel to "IlBarbiere"—Mozart and Rossini—Their operas compared—Oppositionto Beaumarchais's "Marriage de Figaro"—Moral grossness of Mozart'sopera—A relic of feudalism—Humor of the horns—A merry overture—The story of the opera—Cherubino,—"Non so più cosa son"—Benucci and the air "Non più andrai"—"Voi che sapete"—A marvellousfinale—The song to the zephyr—A Spanish fandango—"Deh vieni nontardar."
The oldest German opera current in America—Beethoven's appreciationof Mozart's opera—Its Teutonism—Otto Jahn's estimate—Papageno, theGerman Punch—Emanuel Schikaneder—Wieland and the original of thestory of the opera—How "Die Zanberflöte" came to be written—Thestory of "Lulu"—Mozart and freemasonry—The overture to the opera—The fugue theme and a theme from a sonata by Clementi—The opera'splay—"O Isis und Osiris"—"Hellish rage" and fiorituri—The song ofthe Two Men in Armor—Goethe and the libretto of "Die Zauberflöte"—How the opera should be viewed.
The oldest Italian operas in the American repertory—Mozart as aninfluence—What great composers have said about "Don Giovanni,"—Beethoven—Rossini—Gounod—Wagner—History of the opera—Da Ponte'spilferings—Bertati and Gazzaniga's "Convitato di Pietra"—How theoverture to "Don Giovanni" was written—First performances of theopera in Prague, Vienna, London, and New York—Garcia and Da Ponte—Malibran—English versions of the opera—The Spanish tale of DonJuan Tenorio—Dramatic versions—The tragical note in the overture—The plot of the opera—Gounod on the beautiful in Mozart's music—Leporello's catalogue—"Batti, batti o bel Masetto"—The threedances in the first finale—The last scene—Mozart quotes from hiscontemporaries—The original close of the opera.
An opera based on conjugal love—"Fidelio," "Orfeo," and "Alceste"—Beethoven a Sincere moralist—Technical history of "Fidelio,"—Thesubject treated by Paër and Gaveaux—Beethov