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TALES FROM THE OPERAS.

EDITED BY

GEORGE FREDERICK PARDON.
AUTHOR OF “THE FACES IN THE FIRE, ETC., ETC., ETC.”





NEW YORK.
CARLETON, PUBLISHER, 413 BROADWAY.
LONDON: JAMES BLACKWOOD.
M DCCC LXIV.

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TO

MAX MARETZEK,


THIS

AMERICAN EDITION OF AN ENGLISH WORK

IS

I N S C R I B E D.

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PREFACE.

The want of a book, which, while preserving all the force and spirit ofthe original Operas, attempts the relation of the several narratives ina graphic and pleasing style, has often, probably, been felt by thepatrons of the lyric drama. To supply such a want, and to provide allclasses of readers with an accurate and succinct knowledge of theincidents on which are founded our most celebrated Operas, is the objectof the following pages. Whether the experiment has been successfullycarried out, the public, and the critics, must decide. Few who havelistened to the tragic story of Lucrezia; few who have wept with Normaor laughed with Figaro, but will, it is believed, welcome their oldfavorites of the theatre in their new literary costume. As it wasmanifestly impossible to unravel the plots of all the famous Operas inone little book, only such of them have been detailed as are intimatelyknown to American audiences.

It is but right to add that these tales have had their origin, mainly inthe published Books of the Operas, aided always by a familiaracquaintance with the Operas themselves, as they have been placed on the{8}boards of European and American theatres.

CONTENTS.