The principal numbers of the first act are Vladimir’s romance, in the sentimental vein, “Lost is the Dream that bound me”; the reporter’s (Julian) jolly descriptive song, “With my Notebook in my Hand”; the pompously martial entrance song of General Kantschakoff, “Thunder! Lightning! who goes there?” which forcibly recalls General Boum’s “Pif, paf, pouf” song in Offenbach’s “Grand Duchess”; Lydia’s sleighing-song, “When the Snow a Veil is flinging”; and the quartette in the next scene, “Not a Look shall tell,” in the mock Italian style. The second act opens with the characteristic toilet chorus in the harem, “Washing, dressing, brushing, combing.” The remaining most striking numbers are Izzet’s song and dance, “I pine but for Progress”; the pretty duet for Vladimir and Lydia, “New Doubts, New Fears”; the effective sextette, “’Tis well; then learn that this young Russian”; the brilliant kismet duet for Izzet and Julian, “We are simply what Fortune pleases”; the sextette in the finale, “Silver Tinklings, ringing brightly,” known as the Bell Sextette; and the characteristic music to the Karagois, or Turkish shadow pantomime, which forms a second finale. The leading numbers of the last act are Lydia’s bell song, “Chime, ye Bells,” accompanied by the ringing of bells on the stage, and distant shots; the trio for Lydia, Vladimir, and Julian, “Again, Love, we meet,” which is one of the most effective bits in the opera; and the brilliant closing chorus, “Joy, Joy, Joy, to the Bride.”
Boccaccio.
[Opéra comique, in three acts; text by Zell and Genée. First produced at the Carl Theatre, Vienna, February 1, 1879.]
PERSONAGES.
Boccaccio, novelist and poet. Leonetto, his friend and student. Pietro, Prince of Palermo. Lutteringhi, a cooper. Lambertuccio, a grocer. Scalza, a barber. Fratelli, a bookseller. Checco, a beggar. Fresco, the cooper’s apprentice. Fiametta, Lambertuccio’s adopted daughter. Beatrice, Scalza’s daughter. Isabella, Lutteringhi’s wife. Peronella, Lambertuccio’s sister. Filippa. Oretta.
[Beggars, students, citizens, coopers, courtiers, etc.]
The scene is laid in Florence; time, near the close of the fourteenth century.
Suppé is fond of introducing real characters among the personages of his operas, and in this one, which has become such a favorite, sharing equally in popularity with “Fatinitza,” we find Boccaccio of the “Decameron,” and the Fiametta whom he has immortalized in it (the Princess Maria of Naples, with whom he fell violently in love) masquerading as the adopted daughter of Lambertuccio, the grocer. In the opera he is rewarded with her hand in the finale. In reality, Maria, the Fiametta of the “Decameron,” was already the wife of another when Boccaccio was enamoured of her. She died long before her lover, but her memory was cherished by him, as in the case of Beatrice and Dante, and to her we owe undoubtedly the collection of tales in the “Decameron” which furnished such abundant material to subsequent poets, story-tellers, and dramatists.
The story of the opera is a simple one. Pietro, the Prince of Palermo, is to be married to Fiametta in accordance with the wishes of his father, and goes to Florence for that purpose. The Duke, her father, for reasons of his own, has had her reared as the adopted daughter of Lambertuccio, a grocer, who was not aware of her royal birth and intends that she shall marry Pietro, to whom she was betrothed in infancy. On his way to Florence Pietro falls in with a madcap lot of students, whose leader is Boccaccio, and he joins them in many of their pranks. Boccaccio himself has incurred the anger of the Florentine men for having ridiculed them in his stories, and he too is in love with Fiametta. Pietro among his other adventures has made love to a married woman whom the students induced him to believe was the niece instead of the wife of Lutteringhi, the cooper. He has the misfortune before presenting himself to the Duke and Fiametta to be mistaken for Boccaccio and to receive a sound beating. In the dénouement, when he is about to be united to Fiametta for reasons of state, Boccaccio, knowing that he is loved by her, arranges a play in which the misdeeds of Pietro are set forth in such strong light that she refuses the latter and gives her hand to the poet.
The most popular numbers in the opera are the serenade to Beatrice, “Lovely Charmer, hear these Sounds”; Boccaccio’s song with chorus, “I see a Gay Young Fellow standing nigh”; the charming duet for Fiametta and Peronetta, “Listen to the Bells’ Sweet Chime”; Fiametta’s romanza, “If I have but Affection”; the duet for Boccaccio and Fiametta, “A Poor Blind Man implores your Aid”; Leonetto’s song, opening the second act, “The Girl of my Heart’s a Treasure”; the cooper’s rollicking song, “My Wife has a Scolding Tongue”; the coquette song by Isabella, “Young Maidens must beware”; the “cretin” song by Boccaccio, “When they ask me for the News”; the graceful waltz song by Fiametta, “Blissful Tidings, reassuring”; the rollicking drinking-song of Pietro, “See the Goblet flash and sparkle”; the duet for Boccaccio and Fiametta, “Mia bella fiorentina,” in the Italian style; and the sextette, “Ye Foolish Men,” which leads up to the finale of the last act.
The Beautiful Galatea.
[Opéra comique, in two acts; text by Zell and Genée. First produced in Vienna, 1865.]
PERSONAGES.
Galatea, the statue. Ganymede, Greek boy. Pygmalion, sculptor. Midas, art patron.
[Chorus of Grecians.]
The scene is laid in Greece; time, mythological.
The opera of “Die Schöne Galatea” (“The Beautiful Galatea”), though of slight construction, is one of Suppé’s most melodious works, while the story is a clever setting of the familiar mythological romance in a somewhat modern frame, in which respect it resembles the stories of Helen of Troy and Orpheus and Eurydice, which Offenbach so cleverly travestied. The first act opens with a graceful chorus of Grecians on their way to worship at the temple of Venus, at dawn (“Aurora is awaking in Heaven above”). Ganymede, Pygmalion’s servant, declines to go with them, preferring to sleep, and bids them good-by with a lullaby (“With Violets, with Roses, let the Temple be decked”). His master, Pygmalion, who has finished a statue of Galatea, his ideal, also goes to the temple, and Ganymede decides to take a nap. His slumbers are interrupted, however, by Midas, a professional art patron, who has heard of the statue and informs Ganymede that he is ready to buy it, but first wishes to see it. The servant declares it is impossible, as his master is in love with it. Midas makes a further appeal to him in a long descriptive arietta (“My Dear Father Gordias”) in which he boasts of his abilities, his patronage, and his conquests. He finally bribes Ganymede to show it to him, and as he stands gazing at it and praising its loveliness, Pygmalion, who has suddenly returned, enters and upbraids them. After a spirited trio, “Boiling Rage I feel within me,” Ganymede takes to his heels and Midas is driven out. When Pygmalion is alone with the statue, a sudden impulse moves him to destroy it because it has been polluted by Midas’s glances, but his hand is stayed as he hears the chorus of the returning worshippers, and he makes an impassioned appeal to Venus (“Venus, oh, see, I fly to thee”) to give life to the marble. Venus answers his prayer. The statue comes to life, and Galatea falls in love with Pygmalion, the first man she has seen, which gives an opportunity for a charming number, the Awakening Duet (“I feel so warm, so sweet”), and for a solo closing the act (“Lightly sways and gently sweeps”).
The second act opens with the couplets of Ganymede (“We Grecians”), at the close of which he espies Galatea gathering flowers. As soon as the fickle Galatea sees Ganymede, she falls in love with him because he is younger and handsomer than Pygmalion. As they are discoursing admiringly, Midas appears and recognizes Galatea, and proceeds to woo her with offers of jewels. A pretty trio follows, “See the Trinkets I have brought you.” She accepts his trinkets and his money, but declines to accept him. As they are negotiating, Pygmalion returns. Ganymede once more takes to his heels, and Galatea conceals Midas by putting him on the pedestal behind the screen where she had stood. She then hides her jewels, and tells Pygmalion she is hungry. Ganymede is summoned and arranges the table, and they sit down, the servant with them at Galatea’s request. She sings a brilliant drinking-song (“Bright in Glass the Foaming Fluid pass”), in which Pygmalion and Ganymede join. During the banquet Midas is discovered behind the screen, and Pygmalion also learns of Galatea’s fickle conduct later, when he surprises her and Ganymede in a pretty love scene (“Ah, I’m drawn to Thee”). By this time Pygmalion is so enraged that he prays Venus to let her become a statue again. The goddess graciously consents, and the sculptor promptly gets rid of Galatea by selling her to Midas.