It is part of a liberal education to be more or less acquainted with the lives of our great composers and the operas they wrote; and the subject is quite as interesting and practical for the women remote from musical centers as for those near them. There are two books any club can own which are invaluable; one is called The Opera, by R. A. Streatfield, which gives a sketch of each composer and an estimate of his work; the other, Two Hundred Opera Plots, by Gladys Davidson tells the story of each opera. In addition to these (and of course whatever is to be found in a good encyclopedia) the score of any opera can be bought at a music store, and a pianist can illustrate a talk with leading airs; or, if practicable, one of the modern musical machines can reproduce the voices of famous singers in their great parts.
I—RISE OF OPERA IN ITALY
The year's work should begin by one or more meetings on the Rise of Opera in Italy in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Three little operas were written, attempting to give the old Greek dramas in a musical setting. The first public performance of opera as we know it, however, was given by Peri, in Florence, with his Euridice, to honor the marriage of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV. of France; this was a sort of recitative, set to the music of a violin, a guitar, and harpsichord.
Peri was followed by Monteverde, but the latter's production of Orfeo far surpassed the former's work on the same theme. His orchestra had thirty-nine instruments, and the effect of the whole was to open a new world of music. At once opera-writing became the fashion, and in fifty years all great Italian cities had their schools of opera, and France had adopted the same ideas. The subjects of all were classical, allegorical, and pastoral, and to the recitative, alone, were added songs and arias, and the overture was developed. Some clubs might take for a year's work the subject of Italy of this period, adding the study of art and literature to that of music. A good book to use is Morton Latham's Renaissance of Music.
II—THREE GREAT COMPOSERS
At this point the history of opera divides, and three great composers are to be noted. Clubs should have a paper on each, the material drawn from the encyclopedia.
1. Lulli, though born in Italy, lived in Paris; he wrote twenty operas, all of which were splendidly produced. He used largely the form of recitative, but developed the overture, dividing it into a prelude, a fugue, and a dance.
2. Humphreys, an English composer, was sent by Charles II. to France to study; on his return he had for his pupil Henry Purcell, still considered the greatest musical genius England has produced. His Dido and Æneas is the first English opera.
3. The third great man of the time was Handel, who produced in Hamburg the opera Almira, a mixture of German and Italian ideas, but made beautiful by the charming dance music scattered through it. Later he wrote Rinaldo, and it was brought out with overwhelming success.
Clubs should give an entire meeting to Handel. Many of his well-known oratorios have selections which are more familiar than any passages from his operas, however, notably the Messiah and Elijah.