FLOTOW
Friedrich von Flotow was born at Teutondorf, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 26th April, 1812; died at Darmstadt, 23rd January, 1883. He received his musical education at Paris, where he early began to write operas. His first real success was scored with Stradella, produced at Hamburg in 1844. Martha was produced in 1847, and quickly won the composer world-wide fame. It was produced in England at the Royal Italian Opera in 1858, and instantly obtained popularity with the English public. Flotow wrote several other operas, none of which are well known in England.
GOUNOD
Charles François Gounod was born at Paris, 17th June, 1818; died there 18th October, 1893. He entered the Conservatoire in 1836, and took the Grand Prix de Rome in 1839. In Rome he was appointed Honorary Maestre di Capella for life. After several years of study, he produced his Messe Solennelle in G, some portions of which were brought out in London in 1851. He held in Paris, from 1852-60, the post of conductor of the Orphéon. He wrote operas from 1851. Faust was produced at the Theatre Lyrique in 1859, and placed him at once in the first rank of his profession. Amongst his other best known operas are:—Roméo et Juliette (1867), Sapho (1851), Philemon et Baucis (1860), Cinq-Mars (1877), etc. In 1882 he produced an oratorio, The Redemption, at the Birmingham Musical Festival; and he also wrote much church music.
HALÃVY
Jacques François Fromental Halèvy was born in Paris, 27th May, 1799; died at Nice, 1862. Showing great musical ability in his early years, he entered the Conservatoire when only ten years old, and studied under Cavot, Berton, and Lambert, and for five years received lessons in counterpoint from Cherubini. He also studied for two years at Rome, and later became a popular teacher, numbering amongst his most celebrated pupils, Gounod and Bizet. He met with no important success until the year 1835, when he produced two operas:—La Juive, presented 23rd February, and L'Eclair, presented 16th December. La Juive was an immediate success, and won for its composer a first place amongst French musicians. Fifteen years later, this opera was produced at Covent Garden, where it also met with great appreciation and success. La Juive is the only one of Halèvy's operas that still enjoys European fame, though he wrote many others, the most worthy of mention being La Reine de Chypre (1841), Les Mousquetaires (1846), Guido et Ginevra, and Le Val d'Andorre.
HUMPERDINCK
Engelbert Humperdinck was born 1st September, 1854, at Siegburg, in the Rhine Provinces. His musical education was received first at the Gymnasium of Paderborn, and afterwards at the Cologne Conservatoire, where he was entered in 1872. In 1876, he won the Mozart Stipendium, and proceeded to Munich. In 1879, he won the Mendelssohn Stiftung of Berlin; after which he visited Italy, where he made the acquaintance of Wagner at Naples, and became so friendly with the great composer that he afterwards helped him with the production of Parsifal at Bayreuth. In 1881, he won the Meyerbeer prize of Berlin; and after having produced a number of compositions for the orchestra, he produced his masterpiece opera, Hansel und Gretel, the libretto of which was written by his sister, Adelheid Wette. This beautiful fairy opera was produced first at Weimar in 1894; and the first production of it in London was in 1895. It met with great success, and was followed in 1896 by the charming allegorical opera, Die Königskinder, and in 1902 by Dornröschen. In 1896, Humperdinck was created Professor by the Kaiser; and in 1905, his opera, Die Heirath Wider Willen, was produced at Berlin. He also wrote the incidental music for Maeterlinck's beautiful allegorical play, The Blue Bird. Humperdinck's operas are remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of their subjects, and for the exquisite delicacy of their musical treatment.