History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time Part 20

from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.

WITH ANECDOTES

OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.

BY

SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,

AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.

"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"

"WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"

VOL II.

LONDON:

WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.

1862.

(_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._)

LONDON:

LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.

CONTENTS VOLUME II.

CHAPTER XI.

PAGE

The Opera in England at the end of the Eighteenth and beginning of the Nineteenth Century 1

CHAPTER XII.

Opera in France after the departure of Gluck 34

CHAPTER XIII.

The French Opera before and after the Revolution 46

CHAPTER XIV.

Opera in Italy, Germany and Russia, during and in connection with the Republican and Napoleonic Wars.--Paisiello, Paer, Cimarosa, Mozart.--The Marriage of Figaro.--Don Giovanni 86

CHAPTER XV.

Manners and Customs at the London Opera half a century since 121

CHAPTER XVI.

Rossini and his Period 140

CHAPTER XVII.

Opera in France under the Consulate, Empire and Restoration 178

CHAPTER XVIII.

Donizetti and Bellini 226

CHAPTER XIX.

Rossini--Spohr--Beethoven--Weber and Hoffmann 282

HISTORY OF THE OPERA.

CHAPTER XI.

THE OPERA IN ENGLAND AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Hitherto I have been obliged to trace the origin and progress of the Opera in various parts of Europe. At present there is one Opera for all the world, that is to say, the same operatic works are performed every where, if not,

"De Paris a Pekin, de j.a.pon jusqu'a Rome,"

at least, in a great many other equally distant cities, and which Boileau never heard of; as, for instance, from St. Petersburgh to Philadelphia, and from New Orleans to Melbourne. But for the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, the universality of Opera would have been attained long since. The directors of the French Opera, after producing the works of Gluck and Piccinni, found it impossible, as we shall see in the next chapter, to attract the public by means of the ancient _repertoire_, and were obliged to call in the modern Italian composers to their aid. An Italian troop was engaged to perform at the Academie Royale, alternately with the French company, and the best opera buffas of Piccinni, Traetta, Paisiello, and Anfossi were represented, first in Italian, and afterwards in French. Sacchini and Salieri were engaged to compose operas on French texts specially for the Academie. In 1787, Salieri's _Tarare_ (libretto by Beaumarchais),[55] was brought out with immense success; the same year, the same theatre saw the production of Paisiello's _Il re Teodoro_, translated into French; and, also the same year, Paisiello's _Marchese di Tulipano_ was played at Versailles, by a detachment from the Italian company engaged at our own King's Theatre.