CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 





the gifted master who first extended this form' 

 (the suite], 'and made it wonderfully expressive 

 by the inexhaustible changes in the motives, as 

 well as in their connections and transformations. 

 Whilst the Italian operatic melody retained its 

 poor construction, it had, nevertheless, when 

 delivered by talented singers gifted with noble 

 voices and warm feeling, received a sensuously 

 beautiful colouring. This sweet euphony had 

 been hitherto unknown to German masters, and 

 was entirely wanting in their instrumental music. 

 Mozart first realised the charm, and whilst giving 

 to Italian opera the richer development of orches- 

 tral composition, he imparted, on the other hand, 

 the sweetness of Italian singing to orchestral 

 melody. Beethoven then took possession of the 

 rich and promising inheritance left by Haydn and 

 Mozart ; he developed the symphonic work of art 

 to such astonishing breadth of form, and filled 

 this form with such marvellously various and 

 entrancing wealth of melody, that we now stand 

 before his symphony as before a landmark of an 

 entirely new period in the history of art ; for in 

 this symphony a phenomenon has arisen, the like 

 of which has never existed in the art of any period 

 or any nation.' * 



MODERN ITALIAN OPERA. 

 While Germany occupies the central position 

 during the whole of the period of which we are 

 now writing, we must also look at other countries, 

 although we have not space even to mention the 

 names of a multitude of composers of more or less 

 repute. Among writers of Italian opera, as might 

 be expected, Mozart's influence is for some time 

 traceable. The principal of these, at the end of 

 the last century, were Paesiello and Cimarosa, the 

 latter still represented by his Matrimonio Se- 

 greto. After these, there comes Rossini (1792- 

 1868), who, although undoubtedly a genius, can 

 hardly be spoken of with much respect as a 

 musician. His // Barbiere is probably destined to 

 a long life ; its sparkling music and lively plot 

 seem to disarm all criticism, in spite of its mani- 

 fold plagiarisms and general shallowness. Paris 

 has pronounced for his William Tell, but the ver- 

 dict of Paris is no longer regarded by musicians. 

 In the majority of his compositions, everything is 

 sacrificed to vocalisation ; they possess little dra- 

 matic interest, and are not likely to retain any 

 hold on the public, now becoming educated to 

 appreciate better things than endless roulades. 

 Rossini, very unlike most musicians, was 

 one of the laziest of men ; and after writing 

 William Tell, he retired altogether from public 

 life, only composing now and again some unim- 

 portant piece 'to order.' Bellini and Donizetti, 

 Rossini's immediate followers, restricted the opera 

 more and more to a mere display of vocalisation ; 

 and their works have held their ground simply 

 through the splendid execution of one or two 

 great singers. They are ' melodious ' only in the 

 vulgar sense of the word, and rarely rise to any 

 originality. ' Italian operatic melody has remained 

 satisfied with a harmonic basis of such astounding 

 poverty that it might exist without any accom- 

 paniment whatever. It has been content also 

 with so mean a: construction of phrases that culti- 



* From Mr Dannreuther's translation of Wagner's letter, 

 Zvkunftsntusik Brief an einenfranzoiischtn Freund. 

 716 



vated musicians of the present time stand with 

 sorrowful amazement before this scanty, almost 

 childish form of art, the narrow limits of which 

 condemn even the most gifted composer, if he 

 deals with it, to a complete stability of form.'* 

 So remains Italian opera at the present time. 



OPERA REFORM GLUCK. 



The French school of music we left with Lulli. 

 This school has also developed itself through the 

 opera, and its development presents some points 

 of special interest to us, although the ultimate 

 issue has been very disappointing. Rameau (a 

 Frenchman) succeeded Lulli, and further developed 

 his style, increasing especially the importance of 

 the orchestra and the richness of the instrumen- 

 tation ; but our interest centres entirely upon 

 one figure, that of Christopher Gluck (1714-1787), 

 whose ideas as to the reform of the opera are 

 substantially the same as those now advocated 

 by the Wagner school. As a young man, Gluck 

 wrote Italian operas for Venice, Milan, and Lon- 

 don, which do not concern us, and which have 

 long since been deservedly forgotten. When 

 about thirty-four, he seems to have ceased com- 

 posing for a while, and devoted himself to thought 

 and study, the result of which became manifest in 

 his later work. Gluck's reforms were all directed 

 against artificiality, and in favour of the oneness 

 of poetry and music in the musical drama, and 

 among them was the not unimportant one that he 

 used only natural voices, and not the detestable 

 artificial soprani who had before his time taken 

 part in all operas. But his whole ideas on these 

 subjects are so admirable, and present such a 

 marked contrast not only to those of his predeces- 

 sors, but also to those of the modern Italian opera 

 writers, that it will be well to quote his own words : f 



' I wished to confine the art of music to its real 

 object that of aiding the effect of poetry, by giving 

 greater expression to the words and scenes ; but 

 without detriment to the action of the plot, and 

 without weakening the impression by useless 



ornamentation Therefore, I do not stop 



the performer in the middle of a dialogue while 

 he waits the termination of a tedious ritor- 

 nello ; nor do I allow him to pause on a word or a 

 vowel, in order to give him an opportunity of shew- 

 ing off the flexibility of his voice in a long roulade, 

 or to wait till the orchestra gives him time to 



take breath for a long cadenza In short, 



I wished to do away with those abuses which 

 common - sense and good taste had inveighed 

 against for some time past.' 



These ideas he carried out, so far as his limited 

 musical resources would allow, in Orfeo, Alceste, 

 the two iphigenies, Armide, and other works, of 

 which the first two were produced originally at 

 Vienna, but which only met with decided success 

 on their performance in Paris in 1774 and the 

 four succeeding years. They became subsequently 

 naturalised in France, and models for the suc- 

 ceeding generation of composers. A writer who 

 was at the first performance of Alceste (Vienna, 

 1767), wrote thus of it : ' I am in the land of 

 miracles. A serious melodrama with natural 

 voices, music without solfege, or rather without 



* Wagner. 



t From a dedication of his A Iceste to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

 Quoted from Schluter's History of Music (English ed.), p. 131. 



