Origin of opera—Melody in music—The first opera, Dafne—Monteverde's advances—Early opera orchestration—Gluck's reformed style in Orfeo and Alceste—A complete structure—Verdi's starting-point—Wagner's methods—Verdi's early operas—Don Carlos and an altered style—Its reception—A third or matured period method—Its characteristics—Aïda, Otello, and Falstaff—Verdi's disciples—Opera as a social need, past and present—Its reasonable decline—Verdi's ultimate position—His lasting works Page 273
VERDI LITERATURE
Its scantiness—Restricted scope for the writer and historian—English ideas of Italian opera—English books on Verdi—German historian's measure—Recent English press notices—Foreign journalistic criticism—Italian writings Page 293
ILLUSTRATIONS
| [Giuseppe Verdi] | Frontispiece |
| [Antonio Barezzi] | Facing Page 14 |
| [Margherita Barezzi] | Facing Page 40 |
| [Giovanni Provesi] | Facing Page 160 |
| [Giulio Ricordi] | Facing Page 216 |