Front matter
Reading edition
ISOLDA SNATCHED THE CUP FROM HIS TREMBLING HAND, & DRANK.
STORIES FROM THE OPERAS
BY GLADYS DAVIDSON Author of "Two Hundred Opera Plots," "The Old Testament Story" PHILADELPHIA J. B. Lippincott Company Printed in Great Britain
PREFACE
Owing to the appreciation which has been accorded to my three series of "Stories from the Operas," it has been decided to re-issue the collection in one volume, and to include in this additional stories of new and popular operas recently produced in England.
The plan of the work, as before, is to present all the incidents of each libretto in the clear, readable form of a short story; and it is hoped that the combined volume will continue to prove of interest, not only to opera-goers but to all lovers of dramatic tales. The three volumes have been entirely reset and re-collated in a manner which it is hoped will make them easier for reference.
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