AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to express my best thanks to the following Publishing Houses and holders of copyrights for their kind permission to include in this volume the stories of the various operas selected, and for the helpful information they have given me regarding libretti, etc.:—
Messrs. Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, Ltd., London. (For Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.)
Messrs. Boosey & Co., Ltd., London. (For Auber's Fra Diavolo, Flotow's Martha, and Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil.)
Messrs. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzic. (For Wagner's Lohengrin and Tristan and Isolda).
Messrs. Brockhaus, Leipzic. (For Humperdinck's Königskinder.)
Messrs. Chappell & Co., Ltd., London. (For Gounod's Faust.)
Messrs. Cramer & Co., Ltd., London. (For Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann.)
Covent Garden Opera House Management. (For courteous assistance.)
Herr Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10, and Herr S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, W.57. (For Strauss's Elektra and Rosenkavalier.)
(The story of Elektra is published by authorization of Herr Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10, and Herr S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, W.57. Copyright, 1908, by Adolph Fürstner, Berlin.)
(The story of Rosenkavalier is published by authorization of Herr Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10. Copyright, 1909, by Adolph Fürstner, Berlin, W.10.)
Messrs. Frederick Harris, London. (For Verdi's Il Trovatore.)
Messrs. Heugel et Cie, Paris. (For Thomas's Mignon.)
Messrs. Hutchings & Romer, London. (For Wallace's Maritana.)
Mr. Charles Manners and the Moody-Manners Opera Company. (For Tschaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.)
Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd., London. (For Beethoven's Fidelio, Bellini's La Sonnambula, Meyerbeer's Star of the North, Verdi's La Traviata and Rigoletto, and Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser.)
Messrs. Rendle & Co., Ltd., London. (For Bizet's Carmen and Gounod's Philemon and Baucis.)
Messrs. G. Ricordi & Co., London. (For Puccini's La Bohème, Madam Butterfly and Manon Lescaut.)
Messrs. Schott & Co., Ltd., London. (For Wagner's The Mastersingers, The Nibelung's Ring and Parsifal.)
Herr Josef Weinberger, Vienna. (For Wolf-Ferrari's The Jewels of the Madonna.)
G. D.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| Auber— | |
| Fra Diavolo | [ 1] |
| Balfe— | |
| The Bohemian Girl | [14] |
| Beethoven— | |
| Fidelio | [28] |
| Bellini— | |
| La Sonnambula | [38] |
| I Puritani | [46] |
| Benedict— | |
| The Lily of Killarney | [52] |
| Bizet— | |
| Carmen | [62] |
| Donizetti— | |
| Lucrezia Borgia | [73] |
| Lucia di Lammermoor | [80] |
| The Daughter of the Regiment. (La Figlia del Reggimento) | [87] |
| Flotow— | |
| Martha | [95] |
| Gounod— | |
| Faust | [105] |
| Philemon and Baucis | [115] |
| Romeo and Juliet | [125] |
| Halèvy— | |
| The Jewess. (La Juive) | [135] |
| Humperdinck— | |
| Die Königskinder (The Kingly Children) | [143] |
| Leoncavallo— | |
| I Pagliacci. (The Mountebanks) | [158] |
| Mascagni— | |
| Cavalleria Rusticana. (Rustic Chivalry) | [165] |
| Meyerbeer— | |
| Robert the Devil. (Robert le Diable) | [171] |
| The Huguenots. (Les Huguenots) | [180] |
| Star of the North. (L'Etoile du Nord) | [192] |
| Mozart— | |
| The Marriage of Figaro. (Le Nozze di Figaro) | [206] |
| Don Juan. (Don Giovanni) | [217] |
| Nicolai— | |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | [229] |
| Offenbach— | |
| The Tales of Hoffmann. (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) | [238] |
| Puccini— | |
| Manon Lescaut | [247] |
| La Bohème | [255] |
| Madam Butterfly | [270] |
| Rossini— | |
| The Barber of Seville. (Il Barbiere di Seviglia) | [282] |
| Strauss— | |
| Der Rosenkavalier. (The Rose-Bearer) | [289] |
| Elektra | [301] |
| Thomas— | |
| Mignon | [307] |
| Tschaikovsky— | |
| Eugene Onegin | [318] |
| Verdi— | |
| Ernani | [328] |
| Rigoletto | [337] |
| Il Trovatore, or the Gipsy's Vengeance. (The Troubadour) | [348] |
| La Traviata | [361] |
| The Masked Ball. (Un Ballo in Maschera) | [370] |
| Verdi—continued | |
| Aïda | [377] |
| Othello | [390] |
| Wagner— | |
| The Flying Dutchman. (Der Fliegende Holländer) | [397] |
| Tannhäuser | [406] |
| Lohengrin | [418] |
| Tristan and Isolda | [429] |
| The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) | [438] |
| The Nibelungs' Ring.(Der Ring der Nibelungen):— | |
| Part I. The Rhinegold. (Das Rheingold) | [449] |
| Part II. The Valkyrie. (Die Walküre) | [455] |
| Part III. Siegfried | [464] |
| Part IV. The Twilight of the Gods. (Die Götterdämmerung) | [472] |
| Parsifal | [480] |
| Wallace— | |
| Maritana | [495] |
| Lurline | [508] |
| Waltershausen— | |
| Colonel Chabert. (Oberst Chabert) | [513] |
| Wolf-Ferrari— | |
| The Jewels of the Madonna. (I Gioielli della Madonna) | [524] |
| Short Biographies of the Composers | |
| Auber | [536] |
| Balfe | [536] |
| Beethoven | [537] |
| Bellini | [538] |
| Benedict | [538] |
| Bizet | [539] |
| Donizetti | [540] |
| Flotow | [541] |
| Gounod | [541] |
| Halèvy | [542] |
| Humperdinck | [542] |
| Leoncavallo | [543] |
| Mascagni | [544] |
| Meyerbeer | [544] |
| Mozart | [545] |
| Nicolai | [546] |
| Offenbach | [546] |
| Puccini | [548] |
| Rossini | [548] |
| Strauss | [549] |
| Thomas | [551] |
| Tschaikovsky | [551] |
| Verdi | [552] |
| Wagner | [553] |
| Wallace | [554] |
| Waltershausen | [555] |
| Wolf-Ferrari | [555] |
| Alphabetical List of the Operas | [557] |