27 Italian Music

After the triumph of

Meanwhile Maestro LeoncavaUo, following implicitly the word realism, gained a wide and well deserved reputation with his while Maestro Cilea with and Gaetano Luporino with and the 'Collana di Pasqua) were well received, as also followed the prevailing artistic ten dency. It was not thus with Giacomo Puccini, who was already known before Mascagni by his and the exotic (Madame Butterfly,' he accomplished a gradual evolution towards more realistic forms, while maintaining in his art a subtle passionate fragrance that betrays its far away romantic must not suppose, however, that all the younger maestri followed exactly in the steps of Mascagni, Puccini and Leoncavallo. Each of them studied to invent something new, but in his own manner and according to his own ideas. Thus Alberto Franchetti, in his showed himself from the first to be a romanticist of the romanticists, enamored of Wagner and of the German school to which he belonged by virtue of the exact and profound study he had carried on in Germany. a splendid example of polyphonic technique, and remarkable for its brilliant orchestration, gives the gauge of Franchetti's talent, that loves grandeur rather than simplicity, and places him readily in the foremost rank. In truth, Fran chetti, together with Mascagni and Puccini, completes the famous triumvirate of younger maestri, who for some years have been the sole representatives of the most modern musical school.

But others, and not a few, may be added to those already mentioned, and they must be noticed here to complete the character of this first period, full of activity and illusions. Among the works that deserve special men tion are 'Hero and Leander,) by Luigi Manci nelli ; 'Lorenzo,' by Mascheroni; and 'Colonia libera,> by Floridia; 'Christ at the Feast of Purim,' the remarkable philos ophico-social drama by Giovanni Bovio, set to music by Maestro Giannetti; and besides these, 'La Pellegrina,' by Clementi; 'Ratcliff,> by Pizzi; 'Savitri,> by Maestro Conti,• a Marina,) by Coronaro; 'Celeste,' and 'Cortigiana,> by Scontrino and many others upon which the attention of the public has been centred, but only in fleeting fashion.

Considered as a whole, this first period of the modern movement in music had, therefore, a prevailing characteristic of realism, as is shown in the selection of subjects, and in the form of the libretto. All of which does not prevent this predominant school with the Bizetian (Bizet) characteristics from being met in the field by an almost contemporaneous school with Wagnerian proclivities, represented by Franchetti, Conti, Mancinelli and a few others. It was natural that the two schools should mutually exercise an influence on each other, and thus it happened that with reciprocal advantage the external differences in subject matter and form finally disappeared and we come to a second period which represents the fusion of the two schools. A new program seems to have been substituted for the ultra realistic and ultra-romantic order which had served their time, and the new program had a higher conception of dramatic environment and of a technique on a broader basis. The first honors in the bringing about of this evolution belong again to Mascagni, Puccini and Fran chetti. Already in 'L'Amico Eritz' and even more in (Ratcliff'— a profound artistic con ception — Mascagni knew how to inspire crude realism with a breath of sublime poetry. And if Rantzau, Silvano and Zanetto had caused a halt in his upward career, 'Iris) came just in time to reawaken the former confidence of the public. The dramatic action of is a curious and strange blending of the real and the fantastic; but Mascagni's inspiration gave it new treasures of harmony and orchestration, which made this opera the worthy rival of 'Cavalleria Rusticana.' Puccini met with sim ilar favor in his 'Tosca,> with its gloomy and violent coloring, but strongly passionate style. Franchetti, after creating in and 'Cristoforo Colombo) splendid, fantastic and historical pictures, attempted with a happy touch to portray modern epic sentiment in Leoncavallo, after making in his 'Medici) an incursion into the field of the great historical drama, and then coming back to realism in his 'La Boheme,) gave us in the modern passional opera on intimate social lines. Meanwhile in and a new and strong temperament in opera was re vealed in Maestro Giordano, who, in these much praised works showed himself to possess the theatrical vision. Finally, Maestro Cilea in 'Adrienne Lecouvreur> succeeded in captive tinccompletely the attention of the public.