S7 



OXOMATOPEIA. 



OPERA. 



S3 



skinned, two-bladed, and yellow are chiefly grown for pickling. The 

 Portugal and Spanish can only be produced in England by means of 

 transplanting, and growing for two summers. In Portugal it is sown 

 in November and transplanted in April or May. The Potato or Under- 

 ffround Onion forms numerous bulbs below the surface, which attain 

 maturity early in the summer. The Tree or Bulb-bearing Onion bears 

 instead of flowers, small bulbs, which, being planted in spring, produce 

 ground onions of good size, and very high flavoured. 



ONOMATOPE'IA (om/taTyrotta, ovofumnrofyim), which literally 

 means " the making of words," is the name given to those words which 

 are formed, or supposed to be formed, by an imitation of natural 

 sounds. Thus the words " to neigh," " to murmur," " to bleat," " to 

 creak," and many others, are supposed to be merely imitations of 

 natural sounds ; but the number of such words has been greatly 

 exaggerated by some grammarians. Aristophanes imitates the croak- 

 ing of the frogs by 0pKKi Koat xtxif (' Frogs,' 1. 209), and Ennius 

 the sound of the trumpet by the word taralaniara. (Servius on ' n.,' 

 if. 509.) 



ONOXETIN". [Osoxrx.] 



ONONIN (Cj.Hj.O^). A colourless crystalline, inodorous and 

 tasteless body, extracted from the root of the Onmit tpinota. It is 

 insoluble in water and ether, soluble in alcohol, and neutral in it 

 reaction*. Treated with boiling caustic potash it is transformed into 

 tmotpin and formic acid : 



c.,H at o,, 



Ononin. 



2HO = C tt n, t O,, 

 Onospin. 



C,H,0. 



Formic acid. 



By the action of dilute acids ononin yields owmetin (C M H,,.0 1S '), a 

 colourless crystalline and neutral body insoluble in water. It dissolves 

 in ammonia, and the solution when exposed to the air becomes of a 

 beautiful bright green colour. 



oXn.si'IN. [ONONIN.] 



OPACITY is a condition of bodies by which they are incapable of 

 transmitting light through them. It seems to depend upon the nature 

 or disposition of the particles of bodies, but it* precise cause is, at 

 present, far from being understood. According to Newton, opacity 

 may arise from the unequal densities of the particles of certain sub- 

 stances, in consequence of which the rays of light on entering those 

 substance* suffer such refractions and reflections as compel them there 

 to remain, and cause them to be finally absorbed ; while, in bodies of a 

 homogeneous nature, as glass, diamond, Ac., the light experience* so 

 much less of these irregular action* that, except when the thickness of 

 the medium is very great, it is enabled to pass quite through them. 



The entire absorption of all the light which enters a mbstance, 

 merely by the multiplied refractions or reflections which it undergoes 

 within the mass, is difficult to conceive; and the advocates of the 

 nndulatory theory ascribe opacity to the unfitnes* of the pores, or 

 intervals between the molecules of a body, for permitting the vibrations 

 of the particle* of ether) without disturbing the molecules, which 

 thus appropriate to themselves the ru ri'ra which would otherwise 

 have belonged to the transmitted ethereal vibrations. The same 

 persons consider transparency to consist in such a disposition of the 

 molecules of a body that the incident waves of ether can be propagated 

 with a certain degree of freedom through the mass : some impediment 

 to the propagation of the waves may exist in the most transparent 

 substances ; and hence when such substances have more than a certain 

 thickness, the waves cease to be transmitted through them. [TRANS- 

 PARENCY ; ABSORPTION or LIGHT.] 



OPERA (ItaL, tcort), a regular drama set to music, always accom- 

 panied by scenic representation, frequently by machinery, and some- 

 times by dancing. It appears (according to Doni) to have originated 

 at Florence towards the end of the 16th century. The true opera, as 

 found on all the Italian stage*, whether in Italy or elsewhere, and a* 

 performed in the French language at the Academic Imperiale, admit* no 

 speaking ; all is recitation or air, Ac. ; while what i* called opera in the 

 national theatres of Germany and Kngland, as well as the French opera 

 eonuqtu, i* of a mixed kind partly spoken, partly sung. In Italy the 

 opera is divided into four kinds, namely, the tarred, the teriota, the 

 temi'ttritat, and the btffa or cvmir. In France the division is into 

 the yrand'opira and optra conique. In Germany the division* are 

 more numerous, embracing the grand opera, the teriont, the Ira-jir, the 

 hen,if, the runumlir, the atUyorifal, the military melodrama, the comic, 

 and others. 



The constituent* of an opera, says Rousseau, are the poem, the 

 music, and the decoration*. The poetry addresses itself to the mind, 

 the music to the ear, the painting to the eye ; and it is the duty of the 

 three to unite their powers, in order to move and make an impression 

 on the heart. The truth is, that the poetry of an opera ha* long ceased 

 to be considered otherwise than as a vehicle for music, and, but for the 

 scenery and decorations, the saying of the Abbo Arnaud, that the 

 Italian opera it a cimeert, of trkic/i the drama a <Ae pretext, w 

 applicable to nine in ten of all productions of the kind that have 

 sppeared during the last seventy or eighty year*. 



The moment that the opera appeared out of it* native country, and 

 especially when it reached the British shores, it was attacked by a host 

 of critics and wite. Addison and Swift were among the first to level 

 the shaft* of ridicule at it, and were followed by Pope, Young, and 



many others. Addison lived to retract his opinion ; for some of the 

 absurdities which the opera in its infant state presented were soon 

 corrected, though certainly enough remained, and must for ever 

 remain, to sanction the objections of those who tried, or may still 

 judge, the melodrama by the cold stubborn laws of unpoetical proba- 

 bility. 



This species of entertainment, though susceptible of much improve- 

 ment, has not stood quite Btill while everything else, or nearly 

 everything, has been advancing. That prominent feature, however, in 

 the musical drama, which from the very first proved so obnoxious to 

 ridicule, continues unaltered the recitative, which provoked tho 

 satire of our forefathers, and is yet rather tolerated than approved by 

 the many if a fault, is, we believe, a fault not imputable to the 

 moderns, but to those whom it has hitherto been thought right to 

 consider as the models of dramatic propriety and poetical taste. This 

 leads to an inquiry concerning the origin of the melodrama that is, 

 the musical drama, or opera. 



That the opera, properly so called, whether Italian or French, is the 

 offspring of the Greek drama, an opinion that for years past has been 

 gaining ground, is supported by the most learned and able writers on 

 the subject, and seems likely ere long to be universally adopted. 

 The first that we have met with who has touched on this point is the 

 " philosopher of Malmesbury," Hobbes, who, in a letter to Sir William 

 D'Avenant, says, " There is, besides the grace of style, another cause 

 why the ancient poets chose to write in measured language, which is 

 this : their poems were made at first with intention to have them sung, 

 as well epic as dramatic (which custom hath long time been laid aside, 

 but began to be retired in part nflale yean in Italy), and could not be 

 made commensurable to the voice or instruments in prose the ways 

 and motions whereof are so uncertain and undistinguished (like the 

 way and motion of a ship in the sea), as not only to discompose the 

 best composers, but also to disappoint sometimes the most attentive 

 reader, and put him to hunt counter for the sense. It was therefore 

 necessary for poets in those times to compose in verse." This letter is 

 dated Paris, 1650 ; consequently, written anterior to the establishment 

 of the Acade'mie Royale, or French opera. 



Dryden, in the beginning of the preface to his 'Albion and Albanius," 

 rather hastily calls the opera "a modern invention, though built upon 

 the foundation of the ethnic worship," and conjectures that it wns 

 borrowed from the Spanish Moors ; but in a postscript to the same he 

 corrects himself in the following rather awkwardly expressed manner : 

 " Possibly the Italians went not so far as Spain for the invention of 

 their operas ; they might have it in their own country, and that by 

 gathering up the shipwrecks of the Athenian and Roman theatres, 

 which we know were adorned with scenes, music, dances, and machines, 

 especially the Grecian." The learned Jesuit, Pore Menestrier, in his 

 work ' Des Representation* en Musique,' maintains that the ancient 

 tragedies were chanted. Metastasio, in his ' Estratto delta Poetica 

 d'Aristotile,' expresses a most decided opinion that the Greek and 

 Roman dramas, both tragedies and comedies, were sung, and cites in 

 proof of this numerous classical authorities. Pye, in his ' Commentary 

 on the Poetic of Aristotle,' while disputing some of the inferences ul 

 Metastasio, is obliged, though unwillingly, to acknowledge that the 

 opera " most probably " is " a lineal and legitimate offspring of the 

 Greek bagedy," and that the vastness of the Roman theatre " turned 

 the necessary means of modulating the voice into a real musical 

 accompaniment ; " that is to say. the magnitude of the place rendered 

 chanting or recitative unavoidable. 



After collating what has been stated by various authors as to the 

 date of its origin, we are persuaded that no regular opera was 

 produced and publicly performed till Ottavia Rinuccini wrote and 

 Jacopo Peri composed the drama of 'Euridice' for the nuptials of 

 Henri IV. of France and Mary of Medici*. This was represented in a 

 very splendid manner at Florence, in 1600, and there published in the 

 same year. Dr. Berni tells us (' Hist.' iv. 25) that he was never able to 

 find more than one copy of Peri's ' Euridice,' which was in the library 

 of the Marcheee Rinuccini, a descendant of the poet. Having the 

 good fortune to possess thia very rare work, which is now before us, 

 we can corroborate what the musical historian has said of it, that it is 

 printed in score and barred, two very uncommon circumstances at the 

 time of it* publication ; that the recitative seems to have been not 

 only the model of subsequent composers of early Italian operas, but of 

 the French operas of Lull! ; that figures are often placed over the base 

 to indicate the harmony ; that the time changes as frequently as in the 

 old French serious operas; and though the word ana occurs, it is 

 difficult to distinguish air from recitative by any superiority of melody, 

 except in the choruses. There is no overture to this, but a musical 

 prologue of seven stanzas instead, sung in the character of Tragedy. 

 Peri, in an address to his readers (A leltwi), gives an account of his 

 orchestra, which was placed behind the scenes, and consisted of a 

 liarpsichord, a large guitar, a lira ijrande (that is, a viol da Gamlia, 

 ling to Burney), and an arch-lute. 



The Bolognese dispute with the Florentines the honour of having 

 first produced a musical drama, but it appears that the ' Euridice ' was 

 performed in their city the year after it had been produced at Florence. 

 The opera was introduced at Venice in 1637, at Naples in 1646, and at 

 Rome in 1671. 



Tlie Italian Opera inivle its way to London by slow and cautious 



