The Opera | Page 4

of
the ladies of his family, may be on such a level that the public of the
town, over the operatic arrangement of which he presides, may very
well be compelled to hear endless repetitions of flashy operas that have
long passed out of every respectable repertory; and in other countries
the Government official within whose jurisdiction the opera falls may,
and very often does, enforce the engagement of some musically
incompetent prima donna in whom he, or some scheming friend, takes
a particular interest.
The moral conditions of the operatic stage are no doubt far more
satisfactory than they were, and in England the general deodorisation of
the theatre has not been unfelt in opera; but even without the unworthy
motives which too often drew the bucks and the dandies of a past day
to the opera-house, the influence of the unintelligent part of the
audience upon the performers is far from good in an artistic sense. It is
this which fosters that mental condition with which all who are
acquainted with the operatic world are only too familiar. Now, just as
in the days when Marcello wrote his Teatro alla moda, there is scarcely
a singer who does not hold, and extremely few who do not express, the
opinion that all the rest of the profession is in league against them; and
by this supposition, as well as by many other circumstances, an
atmosphere is created which is wholly antagonistic to the attainment of
artistic perfection. All honour is due to the purely artistic singers who
have reached their position without intrigue, and whose influence on
their colleagues is the best stimulus to wholesome endeavour. It is
beyond question that the greater the proportion of intelligent hearers in
any audience or set of subscribers, the higher will the standard be, not
only in vocalisation, but in that combination which makes the artist as
distinguished from the mere singer. For every reason, too, it is desirable
that opera should be given, as a general rule, in the language of the
country in which the performance takes place, and although the system
of giving each work with its own original words is an ideally perfect
one for trained hearers, yet the difficulties in the way of its realisation,
and the absurdities that result from such expedients as a mixture of two
or more languages in the same piece, render it practically inexpedient
for ordinary operatic undertakings. The recognition of English as a

possible medium of vocal expression may be slow, but it is certainly
making progress, and in the last seasons at Covent Garden it was
occasionally employed even before the fashionable subscribers, who
may be presumed to have tolerated it, since they did not manifest any
disapproval of its use. Since the first edition of this book was published,
the Utopian idea, as it then seemed, of a national opera for London has
advanced considerably towards realisation, and it is certain that when it
is set on foot, the English language alone will be employed.
While opera is habitually performed in a foreign language, or, if in
English, by those who have not the art of making their words
intelligible, there will always be a demand for books that tell the story
more clearly than is to be found in the doggerel translations of the
libretti, unless audiences return with one accord to the attitude of the
amateurs of former days, who paid not the slightest attention to the plot
of the piece, provided only that their favourite singers were taking part.
Very often in that classic period the performers themselves knew
nothing and cared less about the dramatic meaning of the works in
which they appeared, and a venerable anecdote is current concerning a
certain supper party, the guests at which had all identified themselves
with one or other of the principal parts in 'Il Trovatore'. A question
being asked as to the plot of the then popular piece, it was found that
not one of the company had the vaguest notion what it was all about.
The old lady who, during the church scene in 'Faust', asked her
grand-daughter, in a spirit of humble inquiry, what the relationship was
between the two persons on the stage, is no figment of a diseased
imagination; the thing actually happened not long ago, and one is left to
wonder what impression the preceding scenes had made upon the
hearer.
Of books that profess to tell the stories of the most popular operas there
is no lack, but, as a rule, the plots are related in a 'bald and
unconvincing' style, that leaves much to be desired, and sometimes in a
confused way that necessitates a visit to the opera itself in order to clear
up the explanation. There are useful dictionaries,