[ILLUSTRATIONS]
| PAGE | |
| Mary Garden as Sapho | [Frontispiece] |
| Louise Homer as Orpheus in "Orpheus and Eurydice" | [10] |
| Hempel (Susanna), Matzenauer (The Countess), and Farrar (Cherubino) in "Le Nozze di Figaro" | [26] |
| Scotti as Don Giovanni | [34] |
| Sembrich as Zerlina in "Don Giovanni" | [35] |
| Scotti as Don Giovanni | [42] |
| Alten and Goritz as Papagena and Papageno in "The Magic Flute" | [43] |
| Matzenauer as Fidelio | [56] |
| Farrar as Elizabeth in "Tannhäuser" | [108] |
| "Tannhäuser," Finale, Act II. Tannhäuser (Maclennan), Elizabeth (Fornia), Wolfram (Dean), The Landgrave (Cranston) | [109] |
| Sembach as Lohengrin | [122] |
| Schumann-Heink as Ortrud in "Lohengrin" | [123] |
| Emma Eames as Elsa in "Lohengrin" | [128] |
| Louise Homer as Fricka in "The Ring of the Nibelung" | [129] |
| Lilli Lehmann as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre" | [166] |
| "The Valkyr" Act I. Hunding (Parker), Sieglinde (Rennyson), and Siegmund (Maclennan) | [167] |
| Fremstad as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre" | [172] |
| Fremstad as Sieglinde in "Die Walküre" | [173] |
| Weil as Wotan in "Die Walküre" | [178] |
| "Die Walküre" Act III. Brünnhilde (Margaret Crawford) | [179] |
| Édouard de Reszke as Hagen in "Götterdämmerung" | [210] |
| Jean de Reszke as Siegfried in "Götterdämmerung" | [211] |
| Nordica as Isolde | [228] |
| Lilli Lehmann as Isolde | [236] |
| Jean de Reszke as Tristan | [237] |
| Gadski as Isolde | [242] |
| Ternina as Isolde | [243] |
| Emil Fischer as Hans Sachs in "Die Meistersinger" | [248] |
| Weil and Goritz as Hans Sachs and Beckmesser in "Die Meistersinger" | [249] |
| The Grail-Bearer | [272] |
| Winckelmann and Materna as Parsifal and Kundry | [273] |
| Scaria as Gurnemanz | [273] |
| Sammarco as Figaro in "The Barber of Seville" | [298] |
| Galli-Curci as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" | [302] |
| Sembrich as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" | [303] |
| Hempel (Adina) and Caruso (Nemorino) in "L'Elisir d'Amore" | [336] |
| Caruso as Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" | [348] |
| Galli-Curci as Lucia in "Lucia di Lammermoor" | [349] |
| Galli-Curci as Gilda in "Rigoletto" | [392] |
| Caruso as the Duke in "Rigoletto" | [393] |
| The Quartet in "Rigoletto." The Duke (Sheehan), Maddalena (Albright), Gilda (Easton), Rigoletto (Goff) | [400] |
| Riccardo Martin as Manrico in "Il Trovatore" | [401] |
| Schumann-Heink as Azucena in "Il Trovatore" | [410] |
| Galli-Curci as Violetta in "La Traviata" | [411] |
| Farrar as Violetta in "La Traviata" | [420] |
| Scotti as Germont in "La Traviata" | [421] |
| Emma Eames as Aïda | [442] |
| Saléza as Rhadames in "Aïda" | [443] |
| Louise Homer as Amneris in "Aïda" | [448] |
| Rosina Galli in the Ballet of "Aïda" | [449] |
| Alda as Desdemona in "Otello" | [460] |
| Amato as Barnaba in "La Gioconda" | [461] |
| Caruso as Enzo in "La Gioconda" | [488] |
| Louise Homer as Laura in "La Gioconda" | [489] |
| Plançon as Saint Bris in "The Huguenots" | [508] |
| Jean de Reszke as Raoul in "The Huguenots" | [509] |
| Ober and De Luca; Caruso and Hempel in "Martha" | [548] |
| Plançon as Méphistophélès in "Faust" | [549] |
| Galli-Curci as Juliette in "Roméo et Juliette" | [578] |
| Calvé as Carmen with Sparkes as Frasquita, and Braslau as Mercedes | [579] |
| Caruso as Don José in "Carmen" | [590] |
| Caruso as Don José in "Carmen" | [591] |
| Calvé as Carmen | [594] |
| Amato as Escamillo in "Carmen" | [595] |
| Gadski as Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana" | [614] |
| Bori as Iris | [615] |
| Caruso as Canio in "I Pagliacci" | [630] |
| Farrar as Nedda in "I Pagliacci" | [631] |
| Farrar as Mimi in "La Bohème" | [644] |
| Café Momus Scene, "La Bohème." Act II. Mimi (Rennyson), Musette (Joel), Rudolph (Sheehan) | [645] |
| Cavalieri as Tosca | [656] |
| Scotti as Scarpia | [657] |
| Emma Eames as Tosca | [660] |
| Caruso as Mario in "Tosca" | [661] |
| Farrar as Tosca | [664] |
| "Madama Butterfly." Act I. (Francis Maclennan, Renée Vivienne, and Thomas Richards) | [665] |
| Farrar as Cio-Cio-San in "Madama Butterfly" | [668] |
| Destinn as Minnie, Caruso as Johnson, and Amato as Jack Rance in "The Girl of the Golden West" | [669] |
| Alda as Francesca, and Martinelli as Paolo in "Francesca da Rimini" | [682] |
| Bori and Ferrari-Fontana in "The Love of Three Kings" | [683] |
| Farrar as Catherine in "Mme. Sans-Gêne" | [710] |
| Galli-Curci as Lakmé | [711] |
| Caruso as Samson in "Samson and Dalila" | [726] |
| Mary Garden as Grisélidis | [727] |
| Mary Garden as Thaïs | [730] |
| Farrar and Amato as Thaïs and Athanaël | [731] |
| Farrar as Thaïs | [734] |
| Farrar and Amato as Thaïs and Athanaël | [735] |
| Caruso as Des Grieux in "Manon" | [738] |
| Mary Garden in "Le Jongleur de Nôtre Dame" | [739] |
| Mary Garden as Louise | [750] |
| Lucienne Bréval as Salammbô | [751] |
| Mary Garden as Mélisande in "Pelléas and Mélisande" | [754] |
| Farrar as the Goose Girl in "Königskinder" | [776] |
| Van Dyck and Mattfeld as Hänsel and Gretel | [777] |
| Mary Garden as Salome | [802] |
| Hempel as the Princess and Ober as Octavian in "Der Rosenkavalier" | [803] |
| Scene from the Ballet in "Prince Igor" (with Rosina Galli) | [820] |
| Anna Case as Feodor, Didur as Boris, and Sparkes as Xenia in "Boris Godounoff" | [821] |
The Complete Opera Book
[Schools of Opera]
THERE are three great schools of opera,—Italian, French, and German. None other has developed sufficiently to require comment in this brief chapter.
Of the three standard schools, the Italian is the most frankly melodious. When at its best, Italian vocal melody ravishes the senses. When not at its best, it merely tickles the ear and offends common sense. "Aïda" was a turning point in Italian music. Before Verdi composed "Aïda," Italian opera, despite its many beauties, was largely a thing of temperament, inspirationally, but often also carelessly set forth. Now, Italian opera composers no longer accept any libretto thrust at them. They think out their scores more carefully; they produce works in which due attention is paid to both vocal and orchestral effect. The older composers still represented in the repertoire are Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. The last-named, however, also reaches well over into the modern school of Italian opera, whose foremost living exponent is Puccini.