The Opera | Page 5

too, notably the
excellent 'Opern-Handbuch' of Dr Riemann, which gives the names and
dates of production of every opera of any note; but the German scientist

does not always condescend to the detailed narration of the stories,
though he gives the sources from which they may have been derived.
Mr Streatfeild has hit upon the happy idea of combining the mere
story-telling part of his task with a survey of the history of opera from
its beginning early in the seventeenth century to the present day. In the
course of this historical narrative, the plots of all operas that made a
great mark in the past, or that have any chance of being revived in the
present, are related clearly and succinctly, and with a rare and
delightful absence of prejudice. The author finds much to praise in
every school; he is neither impatient of old opera nor intolerant of new
developments which have yet to prove their value; and he makes us feel
that he is not only an enthusiastic lover of opera as a whole, but a
cultivated musician. The historical plan adopted, in contradistinction to
the arrangement by which the operas are grouped under their titles in
alphabetical order, involves perhaps a little extra trouble to the casual
reader; but by the aid of the index, any opera concerning which the
casual reader desires to be informed can be found in its proper place,
and the chief facts regarding its origin and production are given there as
well as the story of its action.
J.A. FULLER-MAITLAND
_June 1907_

THE OPERA


CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNINGS OF OPERA
PERI--MONTEVERDE--CAVALLI--CESTI--CAMBERT--LULLI--P
URCELL-- KEISER--SCARLATTI--HANDEL

The early history of many forms of art is wrapped in obscurity. Even in
music, the youngest of the arts, the precise origin of many modern
developments is largely a matter of conjecture. The history of opera,
fortunately for the historian, is an exception to the rule. All the
circumstances which combine to produce the idea of opera are known
to us, and every detail of its genesis is established beyond the
possibility of doubt.
The invention of opera partook largely of the nature of an accident.
Late in the sixteenth century a few Florentine amateurs, fired with the
enthusiasm for Greek art which was at that time the ruling passion of
every cultivated spirit in Italy, set themselves the task of reconstructing
the conditions of the Athenian drama. The result of their labours,
regarded as an attempted revival of the lost glories of Greek tragedy,
was a complete failure; but, unknown to themselves, they produced the
germ of that art-form which, as years passed on, was destined, in their
own country at least, to reign alone in the affections of the people, and
to take the place, so far as the altered conditions permitted, of the
national drama which they had fondly hoped to recreate.
The foundations of the new art-form rested upon the theory that the
drama of the Greeks was throughout declaimed to a musical
accompaniment. The reformers, therefore, dismissed spoken dialogue
from their drama, and employed in its place a species of free
declamation or recitative, which they called musica parlante. The first
work in which the new style of composition was used was the 'Dafne'
of Jacopo Peri, which was privately performed in 1597. No trace of this
work survives, nor of the musical dramas by Emilio del Cavaliere and
Vincenzo Galilei to which the closing years of the sixteenth century
gave birth. But it is best to regard these privately performed works
merely as experiments, and to date the actual foundation of opera from
the year 1600, when a public performance of Peri's 'Euridice' was given
at Florence in honour of the marriage of Maria de' Medici and Henry
IV. of France. A few years later a printed edition of this work was
published at Venice, a copy of which is now in the library of the British
Museum, and in recent times it has been reprinted, so that those who
are curious in these matters can study this protoplasmic opera at their

leisure. Expect for a few bars of insignificant chorus, the whole work
consists of the accompanied recitative, which was the invention of
these Florentine reformers. The voices are accompanied by a violin,
chitarone (a large guitar), lira grande, liuto grosso, and gravicembalo
or harpsichord, which filled in the harmonies indicated by the figured
bass. The instrumental portions of the work are poor and thin, and the
chief beauty lies in the vocal part, which is often really pathetic and
expressive. Peri evidently tried to give musical form to the ordinary
inflections of the human voice, how successfully may be seen in the
Lament of Orpheus which Mr. Morton Latham has reprinted in his
'Renaissance of Music,' The original edition of