572 



MUSIC. 



named "Le Kouet d'Omphale," has been lis- 

 tened to with approval at the Popular Con- 

 certs and at the Conservatoire in Paris, and 

 has also been successfully produced in Ger- 

 many and Russia, and by Thomas in New York. 

 Mermet's long-talked-of " Jeanne d'Arc," pro- 

 duced at the Opera on the 5th of April, was a 

 disappointment. A new requiem by Gou- 

 nod, written in a style of severe simplicity, 

 and marked by an entire absence of the fugue, 

 was given by Pasdeloup on Good-Friday. A 

 new mass by the same composer, called " La 

 Messe du Sacre Cceur," is said to contain some 

 very tine orchestral passages. Gounod's new 

 opera, " Polyeucte," though completed, and 

 eagerly expected by the Parisians this season, 

 will not be acted before tlie year of the Uni- 

 versal Exposition, 1878. "Piccolini," by Gui- 

 raud, libretto by Sardou, and " Le Moulin du 

 Vert-Galant," by Serpette, are light works, 

 which were well received. " Dimitri," an opera 

 by Victorin Joncieres, produced at the Opera, 

 contains some good passages ; and '' Les Amou- 

 reux de Catherine," an opera coinique in one 

 act, by Henri Marechul, was favorably re- 

 ceived. Offenbach's latest opera is founded 

 on Jules Verne's story, "Dr. Ox's Experi- 

 ment." A new opera by Victor Masse, " Paul 

 et Virginie," was favorably criticised. Some 

 French composers are reported to have under- 

 taken to rival Wagner in his own manner. 

 Ernest Eeyer is engaged upon an opera whose 

 story is similar to the third part of the "Ring 

 des Nibelungen ; " it will be called " Sigurt ; " 

 and M. Joncieres is engaged on the music to a 

 libretto which Louis Gallet has written, called 

 " Tristan." " Les Erinnyes," a drama by Le- 

 conte de Lisle, after ^Eschylus, has been set to 

 music by Massenet, and enacted with success. 



Pierre Benoit, the Flemish composer, has 

 produced at Antwerp a symphonic opera of 

 strong realistic character, named " Charlotte 

 Corday." 



Ponchielli's new opera, " La Gioconda," was 

 received at La Scala, in Milan, with great ap- 

 plause. " Cleopatra," by Lauro Rossi, said to 

 be composed in a higher style than the ordina- 

 ry run of modern Italian operas, was enthusi- 

 astically received at the Royal Theatre, in Tu- 

 rin. A new opera by Cagnoni is much spoken 

 of; it is called " II Duce di Tapigliano," and 

 had a great success in Turin. 



Dr. O. Bach, of Salzburg, has been preparing 

 an heroic opera, " Die Argonauten," whose 

 text is worked over from Grillparzer's trilogy, 

 " Das goldene Vliess." Edmund Kretschmer 

 lately produced an opera called " Die Folkun- 

 ger," which had considerable success ; and has 

 prepared another work, " Heinrich derLowe," 

 the libretto for which he wrote himself ; it was 

 given in Dresden in the autumn. This com- 

 poser's music bears the impress of the Wag- 

 nerian manner in a marked degree. A comic 

 opera called " Joconde," bv Carl Zeller, a young 

 Viennese amateur, has had considerable suc- 

 cess ; the libretto is based on a fanciful episode 



in the English Civil War. " Die Falkensteiner," 

 by Count Hochberg, another amateur, who 

 writes under the nom deplume of J. H. Franz, 

 was successfully produced at Hanover. Herr 

 Hiller's " Prometheus," for orchestra and cho- 

 rus, is said to be one of the finest productions 

 of the aged composer. 



The most important musical event that 

 has taken place for many a year was the 

 production of Richard Wagner's great four- 

 part opera in the theatre built specially for the 

 representation of the composer's works, at 

 Baireuth, in Bavaria, on the four consecutive 

 evenings of the 13th, 14th, 16th, and 17th of 

 August last. The successful production of this 

 stupendous work, and the acknowledgment 

 of its power and beauty by the most critical 

 musical audience ever assembled, were a com- 

 plete and unreversible justification and recog- 

 nition of the great master's art, a triumph on 

 which W 7 agner had set his honor, and which 

 was decisive to establish his supreme artistic 

 rank, and to repay the long period of neglect 

 and contempt through which the stoutest 

 spirit and highest artistic purpose had alone 

 enabled the composer to battle. The theatre 

 in Baireuth had been erected at a cost of about 

 $350,000. To fit the scenic requirements of 

 the opera, the stage-room was enormous. The 

 scenery was the most elaborate and the 

 mechanical arrangements the most compli- 

 cated ever attempted. The trials of scenery 

 commenced in the beginning of July. The ar- 

 rangements were all directed, and for the most 

 part conceived, by the composer himself. 

 There was much doubt at first as to the suc- 

 cess of some of the strange scenic effects ; but, 

 as they were finally perfected, their illusive 

 power was found to be wonderful. By a novel 

 arrangement the orchestra was entirely con- 

 cealed from the view of the audience : this 

 excellent idea has since been applied in one or 

 two other theatres in Germany. The rehears- 

 als commenced on the 14th of July. All the 

 first artists of Germany were employed in the 

 numerous roles of the trilogy. The leading 

 parts were Siegmund, acted by Niemann ; 

 Sieglinde, by Franlein Scheffsky;" Wotan, by 

 Betz; Siegfried, by Unger; and Brunnhilde, 

 by Frau Friedrich-Materna. On the days of 

 the festival the little town of Baireuth was 

 crowded with strangers. Spectators came 

 from all countries, and thousands of people 

 flocked in from the neighboring districts, who 

 never set foot inside the theatre. The prices 

 of the seats were set very high 100 Prussian 

 thalers for each performance. As many as 

 one thousand leaders of orchestras assisted at 

 the performances. There were twenty repre- 

 sentatives of royalty present, and fifty or six- 

 ty newspaper correspondents from Germany, 

 France, Italy, England, and America. The 

 performance fully corresponded to the expec- 

 tations of the composer and his friends. The 

 orchestral rendering, the singing, and the act- 

 ing, were in the highest manner of German 



