520 



MUSIC, PROGRESS OF. 



" Schloss de 1'Orme, oder Der blaue Schuh," 

 by Kleinmichel (Dantzic, February 11); 

 " Priuz Dominik," romantic comic opera in 

 four acts, by Otto Fiebach (Dantzic, March 

 16); "Le joli Gilles," by Ferdinand Poise 

 (Brussels, February); "Toni's Scbatz," by 

 Ferdinand Poise (Berlin, December 21). 



Operettas: "Prinz und Maurer," by Oel- 

 schlegel (Klagenfurt, August); "Das Testa- 

 ment des Herzogs," by G. Seydl (Berlin, 

 Louisenstadtisches Theater); "Rafaela," by 

 Max Wolf (Pesth, Deutsches Theater); "La 

 Fauvette da Temple," by Messager (Paris, 

 Folies-Dramatiques, November 18) ; " La Bear- 

 naise," by the same (Paris, Bouffes-Parisiens, 

 December 13) ; " Der Jagdjunker," by Czibul- 

 ka (Berlin, Walhalla-Theater, December 2) ; 

 "Pluto," by Triebel (Frankfort, middle of De- 

 cember) ; "LeMariagedeTabarin," by Pauline 

 Thys (Rh,eims, Grand-Th6atre). 



The past two years were unusually fertile in 

 the production of new operas. We omit only 

 those that failed at the outset, with the excep- 

 tion of a few, where the prominence of the 

 composer offers sufficient reason for mention- 

 ing them. 



1886. Operas: "Dans les Nuages," by Le 

 Rey (Rouen, Theatre des Arts, January); 

 " Margherita," by Giro Pinsuti (Florence, Tea- 

 tro Pergola, January 16); "LesTempliers," by 

 Henry Litolff (Brussels, Theatre de la Mon- 

 naie, January 25) ; the subject of the opera, 

 which was conducted by the composer and ob- 

 tained a complete success, is based upon the 

 events during the last years of the reign of 

 Philip IV, of France; "Bianca Capello," by 

 Salomon, libretto by Jules Barbier (Antwerp, 

 February 1), with moderate success; "An- 

 dreas Hofer," by Emil Kaiser (Reichenberg, 

 February 5) ; " Sappho," by Walter Slaughter, 

 libretto by Dr. Harry Lobb (London, Opera 

 Comique, February 10), met with very favora- 

 ble reception ; " Urvasi," by Wilhelm Kienzl, 

 libretto by Alfred Godel, after a drama of 

 Kalidasa (Dresden, February 20), obtained con- 

 siderable success, aided by a most brilliant 

 mise en scdne ; " Leonora," by Serponti (Venice, 

 Teatro Fenice, March); "Der Bravo," by 

 Arthur Konnemann (Miinster, Westphalia, in 

 March) ; " Rioval," by Wiernsberger (Rheims, 

 March) ; " Dornroschen," by Ferdinand Langer 

 (Hamburg, Stadttheater, March 18), conducted 

 by the composer, with signal success; "Das 

 Sonntagskind," by Albert Dietrich, libretto by 

 Bulthaupt (Bremen f Stadttheater, March 21), 

 was well received ; the music is of a romantic 

 nature, and the last act of the opera particu- 

 larly effective ; " Palestrina," by M. E. Sachs 

 (Ratisbon, March) ; " Hirlanda," by Wilhelm 

 Bruch (Mentz, March); "Philips de Schoone," 

 Flemish opera, by G. Van Vlemmeren (Saint- 

 Nicolas, Belgium, March); "Le Roi 1'a dit," 

 by Delibes (Monte Carlo, March) ; " Loreley," 

 by Otto Fiebach, libretto by the same (Dantzic, 

 April 1), conducted by the composer, was 

 fairly successful ; " Junker Ileinz," by Carl 



von Perfal!, libretto by G. Franz, after the 

 poem " Heinrich von Schwaben," by Wilhelm 

 Hertz (Munich, April 9), is full of dramatic 

 life, was splendidly mounted, and met with 

 enthusiastic reception; "Gwendoline," by 

 Emanuel Chabrier (Brussels, April 10) ; " Sa- 

 Iamb6," by Nicolo Massa (Milan, Scala, April) ; 

 "Der Geigenmacher von Cremona," by H. 

 Trnecek (Schwerin, April); "La Figlia di 

 Jefte," by Miceli (Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 

 April) ; " Les Paques de la Reine," by Paul 

 Meriel (Toulouse, Thdatre du Capitol, April) ; 

 " Ines di Castiglia," by Seghettini (Nice, 

 April) ; " La Legende de 1'Ondine," by Georges 

 Rosenlecker (Liege Theatre Royal, April); 

 " Maitre Arnbros," by Widor, libretto by Cop- 

 p6e and Dorchain (Paris, Op6ra-Comique, May 

 C) ; the scene is laid in the wars of independ- 

 ence in the Netherlands. The opinions were 

 much divided as to the success of this work : 

 while the Wagnerites praise it as a happy fusion 

 of French manner with Wagner's style, the un- 

 biassed pronounce it heavy and unnecessarily 

 complicated. The mise en scdne was in every 

 respect excellent and truly artistic. "Flora 

 Mirabilis," by Spiro Samara (Milan, Teatro Car- 

 cano, May); "Malawika." by Felix Weingart- 

 ner (Munich, June 3), conducted by the com- 

 poser ; " The Troubadour," by Mackenzie, 

 libretto by Franz Buffer, treating the history 

 of the troubadour Guillem de Cabestanh (Lon- 

 don, Drury Lane Theatre, June 8), conducted 

 by the composer, with great success; the mu- 

 sic shows the influence of Wagner, especially 

 in the abundant use of " Leitmotive " ; the 

 instrumentation is very attractive. " Florian," 

 by Ida Walter (London, Novelty Theatre, 

 July 14); "Fornarina," by Paolo Maggi (Bar- 

 celona, August) ; " Don Cesare di Bazan," by 

 Sparapani (Milan, Teatro Manzoni, Septem- 

 ber 10), succes d'estime ; " Glamour," by W. 

 Hutchinson (Edinburgh, Theatre Royal, Sep- 

 tember), with moderate success ; " Fausta," 

 by Primo Bandini (Milan, Teatro dal Verme, 

 September 15), conducted by the composer, 

 and met with deservedly favorable reception ; 

 " Marffa," by Johannes Hager (Baron von 

 Haszlinger, Vienna, October 4), although skill- 

 fully constructed, the music lacks dramatic 

 power, and sounds antiquated it was com- 

 posed twenty -five years ago; "Myrrha," by 

 Stefano Interdonato and Ladislaus Zarstal 

 (Prague, National Theatre, October); "Jean 

 Cavalier," by Anton Langert (Nuremberg, 

 October 14) ; the scene of the opera is laid in 

 France during the revolt of the Camisards un- 

 der Louis XIV, of which Jean Cavalier was 

 one of the leaders ; the music contains many 

 beautiful details, but on the whole shows a 

 strong leaning toward various models; "Der 

 Goldmacher von Strassburg," by W. Muhl- 

 dorfer (Hamburg, Stadttheater, November 6) ; 

 " Konig Drosselbart," by M. Felix (Dr. Felix 

 Cohn, Altenburg, November 7) ; " Die Hoch- 

 zeit des Monchs," by August Klughardt (Des- 

 sau, November 10); "Otto der Schutz," by 



