TuE ITALIANS AND TIIE FRENCH.
While supplying the world with operas and composers, Italy grew careless of her product. Too great a prosperity usually breeds decadence, and the business of music is no exception ; besides, the Italians were exporting their music and im porting none. The fertility of every nation has an end. Soon poverty threatened musical Italy, though she produced some remarkable men. Domenica Cimarosa (1749-1801) was unfortunate in that he was followed by Rossini .(1792-1868), whose operas soon displaced those of his less gifted predecessor. Rossini had the fertile gift, of melody, but lacked the ambition to develop his gifts. He wrote melody and let the action look out for itself. This was a distinct step back ward to the ante-Gluck period, and it is re markable to note how rapidly the vices of the old Italian school sprang into life again and thrived. The flourish became the thing: the singer's agility was a virtue: the ear was tickled and the eye insulted. In lighter opera this did not matter so much, and Rossini left the world at least one masterpiece and a model in this form: 11 barbiere di Sirialia. His successor, Giovanni Parini (1796-1867), tried to stem the flippant tendency which crept into opera: but in this work he was overshadowed by both Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) and Vincenzo Rellini (1802-35), who slaved for the dramatic in opera. They achieved it. all the while flatter ing the public with the flourish to which Rossini had accustomed it. for a very few operas, such as Don. Pasqualc,Lueia di Lammermoor, and Norma, their names have disappeared from the roster of opera houses to-day. They lead the way to Verdi, however. Ile, on account of the masterly works of his last period, will be treated later. In France the Gluek theories of opera had been driven home so sensationally that they were not dislodged in a hurry. After Gluck's death the work was carried on by his pupils, Antonio Sali eri ( 175(1-1825). and Saeehini (1734-86), who kept alive his master's bless without accomplishing anything remarkable himself. Then come the stately Cherubini (1760-1842), and Gasparo Spontini (1774-1851), who has been called the last classicist of the lyric stage. Soon after wards, :tuber (1782-1871), who had previously worked for the Opera-Comique. sprang into the arena of grand opera with La muette de Portici, also known as ilasaniello, and sent Gluck classic traditions flying. This shock was still upon the people when Rossini's Guillaume Tell appeared— the most pretentious work attempted by this composer—and then the Romantic Period of 1830 possessed the Parisians heart and soul, bringing with it a lordly figure in the history of opera—Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864).
Meyerbeer bad a most remarkable genius for adaptation, combined with a shrewd technical mastery and a keen business insight. All these fitted the period, and lie was careful to see that they did. By writing what pleased lie controlled the operatic situation of France absolutely. His librettist was Scribe, a man of sprawling talent, and the two knew to a beat how quickly the Parisian's pulse throbbed. The success of Robert he Diable was simply stupendous, and Meyerbeer held French opera in the palm of his hand. His
hold on the public did not relax with his later works, and even the music-liver of to-day ac knowledges the tremendous moments in Les Huguenots and Le Proplii'le hut his last work, L'Africaine, betrays the sameness of his methods, though there is a decided advance on the technical side of the orchestra. Meyerbeer was a master of sensational effect; his operas are not lacking in it. and they are full of bombast : to this end he em ployed a large and fully equipped orchestra. If to-day there is much in his works which is ob solete, there still remains gh to convince the just critic that here was a man of great talent who molded himself so accurately to fit the time that one is frequently misled into believing that he was a product of the early thirties in Paris. In contrast to this honor-crammed career is the one of Hector Berlioz (1803-69), that strange. willful genius who yielded not a jot to popular llis operas are fantastic ereations that have never appealed to managers of opera houses: in fact. his douhle work. 1.02 had to wait until 1893 for its premiere. lie also com posed a sprightly musical comedy. Watt-ice et Wat'diet. It is most unlikely that. his operas ever wit) become repertory pieces; when they were written they were considered too much in advance of their time, and now Mohan] Wag ner's music dramas have made most of the nd vaneed works teem old-fashioned.
.7aeques Fromenthal lIalc.vy (1799-18621 bridges the gap between Meyerbecr and Charles Francois Gouniod (1818-93), whose Faust is probably the most popular of French operas. His later work, of equal pretensions.Romuo rt Juliettc.is marred by its sentimentality. A word about the French Opera-Combine: It was naturally the ehild of Italian opera buffa, and in time gained impor tance as an art form. Its earlier composers —Phi'blot- (1720-95), Monsigny (17:29-1817), Gretry (1741.1813), wrote light, pleasing music. Mehui (1763-1817), who was a pupil of Gluck, introduced sonic ideas bordering on the serious, as did BoleIdiot (1775-1834). Then came -tuber and llerold ( 1791-1833 ) . who raised t he standard considerably. It grew entirely serious when the unique operettas of Offenbach attracted the jocose element to the Opera-Bouffe. The Opera-Comique had branched out before, but Offenbach drew the dividing line phiinly. Since then some of the works written for the Opera-Comique differ from those at the Grand Opera only in that the dia logue in the former is spoken. not sung. Among its serious contributors were Gounod with .11ireille, Ambroise Thomas with Mignon, and Bizet with the masterpiece of them all, Carmen. This work is a (-lassie, and where it is performed with sung dialogue rears its bead high above some of the more pretentious works of the Grand Opera school. Among more recent contributors to the repertory of the Opera-Comique are Delibes. Masse, 1)e Joneieres, Alassenet, Godard. Saint-SaUns, Lain, Bruneau, Dimly. and Char pentier. Sonic of the latter have even done with the old-time formula of spoken recitative. and now there is little theoretical difference be tween works produced at the Comique and the Opera.