A SECOND BOOK OF OPERAS
by
Henry Edward Krehbiel
CONTENTS AND INDEX
CHAPTER I
BIBLICAL OPERAS
England and the Lord Chamberlain's censorship, et Gounod's "Reine de Saba," The transmigrations of "Un Ballo in Maschera," How composers revamp their music, et seq,--Handel and Keiser, Mozart and Bertati, Beethoven's readaptations of his own works, Rossini and his "Barber of Seville," Verdi's "Nebuchadnezzar," Rossini's "Moses," "Samson et Dalila," Goldmark's "Konigin von Saba," The Biblical operas of Rubinstein, Mehul's "Joseph," Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in dramatic form, Oratorios and Lenten operas in Italy, Carissimi and Peri, Scarlatti's oratorios, Scenery and costumes in oratorios, The passage of the Red Sea and "Dal tuo stellato," Nerves wrecked by beautiful music, "Peter the Hermit" and refractory mimic troops, "Mi manca la voce" and operatic amenities, Operatic prayers and ballets, Goethe's criticism of Rossini's "Mose,"
CHAPTER II
BIBLE STORIES IN OPERA AND ORATORIO
Dr. Chrysander's theory of the undramatic nature of the Hebrew, his literature, and his life, Hebrew history and Greek mythology, Some parallels, Old Testament subjects: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, The "Kain" of Bulthaupt and d'Albert, "Tote Augen," Noah and the Deluge, Abraham, The Exodus, Mehal's "Joseph," Potiphar's wife and Richard Strauss, Raimondi's contrapuntal trilogy, Nebuchadnezzar, Judas Maccabaeus, Jephtha and his Daughter, Judith, Esther, Athalia,
CHAPTER III
RUBINSTEIN AND HIS "GEISTLICHE OPER"
Anton Rubinstein and his ideals, An ambition to emulate Wagner, "The Tower of Babel," The composer's theories and strivings, et seq.--Dean Stanley, "Die Makkabaer," "Sulamith," "Christus," "Das verlorene Paradies," "Moses," Action and stage directions, New Testament stories in opera, The Prodigal Son, Legendary material and the story of the Nativity, Christ dramas, Hebbel and Wagner, "Parsifal,"
CHAPTER IV
"SAMSON ET DALILA"
The predecessors of M. Saint-Saens, Voltaire and Rameau, Duprez and Joachim Raff, History of Saint-Saens's opera, et seq.--Henri Regnault, First performances, As oratorio and opera in New York, An inquiry into the story of Samson, Samson and Herakles, The Hebrew hero in legend, A true type for tragedy, Mythological interpretations, Saint-Saens's opera described, et seq.--A choral prologue, Local color, The character of Dalila, et seq.--Milton on her wifehood and patriotism, "Printemps qui commence," "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix," Oriental ballet music, The catastrophe,
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Second Book of Operas by Henry Edward Krehbiel
- 2: Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci
- 3: The nationalism of Boris Godounoff
- 4: First performance in America of I Giojelli
- 5: Chrysander at his home in Bergedorf
- 6: When it was revived for the Covent Garden oratorios
- 7: An inflated type of the old sacra azione
- 8: Remarked a physician to Carpani
- 9: Goethe went on to reconstruct the whole opera
- 10: That canticle of canticles of love
- 11: The librettists next came upon Cain and Abel
- 12: And Mary of Magdala leads Myrocle to him
- 13: Handel wrote his English oratorio in 1743
- 14: Rubinstein's Makkabaer still having a hold
- 15: Little wonder if Rubinstein believed that he had created
- 16: Yet different from the conventional oratorio
- 17: Rubinstein labored to put his plan into operation
- 18: Is an oratorio pure and simple
- 19: And Ponchielli's Il Figliuolo Prodigo
- 20: Rubinstein proceeded along the lines of history
- 21: Simson by Christoph Graupner Hamburg
- 22: The illustrious hostess singing the part of Dalila
- 23: The part of Dalila was taken by Mme
- 24: Herakles had excellent intellectual training
- 25: If heroic figures seem small on the operatic stage
- 26: Where a costumed group of singers presents a prologue
- 27: ' Also 'The Rogueries of Dalilah
- 28: No other certain Than Dalila
- 29: Night is falling in the valley of Sorek
- 30: Ce soir doit venir en ces lieux
- 31: Samson answers only in contrite prayer
- 32: Assad is the type though a milk and watery one
- 33: Assad is banished to the sandy waste
- 34: He revels in instrumental color
- 35: And Salome is not in the Bible
- 36: Lakme sings Oriental duets with her slave
- 37: Breaks through a bamboo fence and makes love to Lakme
- 38: At which the cast was as follows Lakme
- 39: Lakme is a child of the theatrical boards
- 40: When Cavalleria Rusticana appeared on the scene
- 41: Who makes foolish love to Columbina and
- 42: Tabarin is drunk drunker than usual
- 43: The Pagliaccio visited Paris first in 1570
- 44: This prologue is a gratuitous impertinence
- 45: Canio and Beppe wet their whistles at the tavern
- 46: At this moment Canio enters in the character of Pagliaccio
- 47: Men throw themselves upon Canio
- 48: Decided to write a Cavalleria rusticana for me
- 49: Opposite Alfio's house lived Massaro Cola
- 50: Turiddu kept off the streets by day
- 51: Alfio crouched almost to the ground
- 52: Santuzza leads in the canticle
- 53: Santuzza is quick with accusation and reproach
- 54: Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu
- 55: Cicillo rushes after her and bears her to the shore
- 56: Walter Damrosch was to have conducted
- 57: 1000 lire $200 a month from Sonzogno
- 58: Who collaborated on the book of Cavalleria rusticana
- 59: Gradually the music of samisens
- 60: His orchestral stream is muddy
- 61: This play was a farce entitled Naughty Anthony
- 62: But by that time Madama Butterfly
- 63: When the scene of the vigil is again disclosed
- 64: Kangourou trots her out for inspection and
- 65: United States Consul at Nagasaki
- 66: Suzuki awakes and begs her mistress to seek rest
- 67: Whom he had married Japanese fashion
- 68: Puccini plucked with a bolder hand
- 69: Salome lived out her mad life in a short time
- 70: Which Der Rosenkavalier recalls
- 71: Der Rosenkavalier is a comedy of lubricity merely
- 72: The spirit of the naive Viennese dance tune
- 73: Pietro Audisio Haushofmeister bei Faninal
- 74: But the children of Hellabrunn
- 75: Humperdinck had his overture ready
- 76: The musical idiom is Humperdinck's
- 77: Not operatic song in the old conception
- 78: And that even his friend Rimsky Korsakoff
- 79: Boris Godounoff bears heavily on that problem
- 80: From the drama of Boris Godounoff and the false Dmitri
- 81: Albert Reiss A Police Officer
- 82: Lortzing had a successor in the Irishman T
- 83: In reviving Andrea Chenier Mr
- 84: When Giordano composed Siberia
- 85: Heard at the Metropolitan Opera House
- 86: Wolf Ferrari is neither a Mozart nor a Verdi
- 87: These motivi are not used in the Wagnerian manner
- 88: Mascagni and his Cavalleria rusticana
