A Book of Operas, page 1 by Henry Edward Krehbiel
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A BOOK OF OPERAS
THEIR HISTORIES, THEIR PLOTS, AND THEIR MUSIC
BY HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL
TO
LUGIEN WULSIN
AN OLD FRIEND
"Old friends are best."--SELDEN.
"I love everything that's old,--old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine."--GOLDSMITH.
"Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust! Old authors to read!"--MELCHIOR.
Chapter I
"Il Barbiere di Siviglia"
First performance of Italian opera in the United States--Production of Rossini's opera in Rome, London, Paris, and New York--Thomas Phillipps and his English version--Miss Leesugg and Mrs. Holman--Emanuel Garcia and his troupe--Malibran--Early operas in America--Colman's "Spanish Barber"--Other Figaro operas--How Rossini came to Write "Il Barbiere" --The story of a fiasco--Garcia and his Spanish song--"Segui, o caro" --Giorgi-Righetti--The plot of the opera--The overture--"Ecco ridente in cielo"--"Una voce poco fà,"--Rossini and Patti--The lesson scene and what singers have done with it--Grisi, Alboni, Catalani, Bosio, Gassier, Patti, Sembrich, Melba, and Viardot--An echo of Haydn.
Chapter II
"Le Nozze di Figaro"
Beaumarchais and his Figaro comedies--"Le Nozze" a sequel to "Il Barbiere"--Mozart and Rossini--Their operas compared--Opposition to Beaumarchais's "Marriage de Figaro"--Moral grossness of Mozart's opera--A relic of feudalism--Humor of the horns--A merry overture --The story of the opera--Cherubino,--"Non so più cosa son"-- Benucci and the air "Non più andrai"--"Voi che sapete"--A marvellous finale--The song to the zephyr--A Spanish fandango--"Deh vieni non tardar."