item: #1 of 19 id: 10521 author: Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion) title: The Primadonna A Sequel to "Fair Margaret" date: None words: 105487 flesch: 83 summary: The American man of business was puzzled, for he was a good judge of humanity, and was sure that when the Englishman said that he had never seen Van Torp he was telling the literal truth. 'At the French ball to which Madame kindly allowed me to go, the valet of Mr. Van Torp approached me.' keywords: bamberger; business; child; cordova; day; door; eyes; face; feist; friend; girl; good; greek; griggs; half; hand; head; house; lady; lady maud; left; life; like; little; logotheti; look; madame; man; margaret; matter; maud; men; miss; moment; money; new; people; right; room; sort; table; things; think; thought; time; tone; van torp; voice; want; way; woman; world; years cache: 10521.txt plain text: 10521.txt item: #2 of 19 id: 1487 author: Shaw, Bernard title: The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring date: None words: 41547 flesch: 59 summary: No doubt his outburst gratified the pettier feelings which great men have in common with small ones; but he was not a man to indulge in such gratifications, or indeed to feel them as gratifications, if he had not arrived at a profound philosophical contempt for the inadequacy of the men who were trying to wield Nothung, and who had done less work for Wagner's own art than a single German King and he, too, only a mad one. The Mastersingers, a work full of health, fun and happiness, contains not a single bar of love music that can be described as passionate: the hero of it is a widower who cobbles shoes, writes verses, and contents himself with looking on at the sweetheartings of his customers. keywords: act; alberic; art; brynhild; day; death; drama; fafnir; german; giants; godhead; gods; gold; good; gunther; hagen; hero; human; law; life; loki; love; man; men; mimmy; music; night; opera; order; people; power; rhine; ring; set; siegfried; sword; theme; thought; time; wagner; way; work; world; wotan; years cache: 1487.txt plain text: 1487.txt item: #3 of 19 id: 15369 author: Runciman, John F. title: Old Scores and New Readings: Discussions on Music & Certain Musicians date: None words: 54466 flesch: 56 summary: These twenty bars are as great music as anything in the world: they even leave Senta's declaration in the Dutchman far behind; they are at once triumphant and charged with a pathos nearly unendurable in its intensity. He has been reproved for it by the eminent Hullah, who prettily alludes to it as a defect from which other music composed at the time suffers; but the truth is, you might as well call rhyme a defect of the couplet or the absence of rhyme a defect of blank verse. keywords: act; bach; bayreuth; beauty; beethoven; century; composer; day; death; drama; emotion; english; expression; fact; feeling; form; german; handel; life; love; man; melody; men; mozart; music; new; note; opera; parsifal; passion; purcell; scene; second; sense; set; siegfried; songs; symphony; things; thought; time; voice; wagner; way; weber; work; world cache: 15369.txt plain text: 15369.txt item: #4 of 19 id: 16248 author: Streatfeild, R. A. (Richard Alexander) title: The Opera A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory. date: None words: 95838 flesch: 63 summary: (a large guitar), _lira grande_, _liuto grosso_, and _gravicembalo_ or harpsichord, which filled in the harmonies indicated by the figured bass. The author finds much to praise in every school; he is neither impatient of old opera nor intolerant of new developments which have yet to prove their value; and he makes us feel that he is not only an enthusiastic lover of opera as a whole, but a cultivated musician. keywords: act; beauty; brünnhilde; castle; century; composer; count; country; daughter; day; days; death; der; development; die; don; drama; england; english; father; faust; form; french; genius; german; gluck; gounod; hand; handel; history; house; influence; interest; italian; italy; king; libretto; life; love; marriage; massenet; master; means; melody; meyerbeer; modern; mozart; music; new; opera; orchestration; order; paris; passion; people; period; place; plot; point; power; production; rossini; scene; school; score; second; shows; siegfried; son; spite; stage; story; style; subject; success; sullivan; time; und; verdi; wagner; way; weber; wife; work; world; years; young cache: 16248.txt plain text: 16248.txt item: #5 of 19 id: 16488 author: Gilman, Lawrence title: Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande A Guide to the Opera with Musical Examples from the Score date: None words: 16204 flesch: 72 summary: The score of _Pelléas et Mélisande_ ill brooks the short and ruthless method of the thematic annotator. Mélisande_ theme (page 212, measure 4). keywords: act; arkël; debussy; drama; fate; golaud; illustration; maeterlinck; measure; motive; music; mélisande; new; orchestra; page; pelléas; scene; strings; theme; yniold cache: 16488.txt plain text: 16488.txt item: #6 of 19 id: 175 author: Leroux, Gaston title: The Phantom of the Opera date: None words: 86484 flesch: 87 summary: He was quite reassured as to the fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could have doubted the word of the weeping Erik that night. I am very fond of you, M. Raoul, you know. keywords: angel; asked; box; chagny; christine; christine daae; daae; day; death; door; dressing; erik; evening; eyes; face; ghost; giry; good; hand; head; house; lake; left; look; love; man; managers; mme; moment; moncharmin; music; night; opera; persian; raoul; richard; room; stage; thought; time; voice; wall; water; way cache: 175.txt plain text: 175.txt item: #7 of 19 id: 19958 author: Henderson, W. J. (William James) title: Some Forerunners of Italian Opera date: None words: 35517 flesch: 62 summary: This same feeling speedily found its way into Italian music, even that composed by the Netherland masters who had settled in Italy. embodiment of Arcadian ideal, 63, 65 Paganism, Italian medieval, 62 Pageant of St. John's Day, Florence, 28 Pageants, relation to Sacre Rappresentazioni, 27 Part singing, its popularity in fifteenth century, 103 Passion, early performances of, 17 French fourteenth century version, 17 Pastoral drama, 170 Peri, Jacopo, 216, 219 Petrarch, 59 Philosophy, its effect on medieval literature, 64 Poliziano, Angelo, 52, 55 sketch of career, 68 et seq. Procession, succeeds dance, 3 Prompter, 200 Realism, Italian, 61 Recitar alla lira, 114, 170 Recitative, in liturgical drama, 10 in first secular plays, 114 Florentine, 118, 212, 224 beginnings, 177 in comic opera, 181 impulses leading to modern, 207 et seq. Caccini's, 224, 225, 229 Peri's, 227, 229 Romano, Giulio, 39 Sacre Rappresentazioni, 13, 21 et seq. music of, 24 time of origin, 27 sources of, 27 their construction and performance, 29 scenic effects, 30 as forerunners of opera, 32 Saint Uliva, sacred play, 29 Sannazzaro, Jacopo, his Arcadia, 62 Scene painting, in early plays, 93 Scenic effects, in Sacre Rappresentazioni, 30 in Poliziano's Orfeo, 86, 93 Schalmei, 145 Sensualism, esthetic in Italy, 61 Singing, development of technic, 214, 215 Solo, superseded by part song, 117 in madrigal drama, 198, 205 vocal, 114, 119, 222 et seq., 227 adapted from part songs, 119 et seq. florid element abused, 222 Songs, arranged for lute accompaniment, 121 Spectacular, element in early plays, 93, 155, 166 in early dramatic music, 158 predominance of the, 160 et seq. in music of sixteenth century, 207 et seq. in music of sixteenth century, revolt against, 212 Striggio, Alessandro, 51, 185 his art work, 185 Table music, 139 Tasso, Aminto, music of, 172 Technic, vocal, 214 Thoroughbass, 154, 232 Todi, Jacopone da, 23 Tromboncino, Bartolomeo, 46, 115 Ugolino, Baccio, original _Orfeo_, 79, 87 Vecchi, Orazio, 190 et seq. artistic theories, 192 Viadana, Ludovico, 232 Vierges sages et Vierges folles, 6 et seq. keywords: art; author; caccini; century; character; church; court; dance; development; drama; fifteenth; footnote; form; frottola; history; instruments; italian; italy; lyric; madrigal; manner; mantua; music; new; opera; orchestra; orfeo; orpheus; parts; performance; period; play; poliziano; scene; seq; singers; singing; solo; song; stage; style; text; time; use; voices; work; years cache: 19958.txt plain text: 19958.txt item: #8 of 19 id: 25838 author: Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion) title: Fair Margaret: A Portrait date: None words: 101673 flesch: 84 summary: Margaret Donne was in her dressing-room, quite unaware that anything was going to occur beyond the first great ordeal of singing to a full house, a matter which was of itself enough to fill the day and to bring even Margaret's solid nerves to a state of tension which she had not anticipated. 'You look hot,' observed Margaret, with an exasperating smile. keywords: bonanni; course; day; dear; donne; door; eyes; face; girl; good; greek; half; hand; head; heart; house; left; life; little; logotheti; look; love; lushington; madame; madame bonanni; man; margaret; margaret donne; men; miss; moment; money; mother; mrs; paris; people; right; room; rushmore; schreiermeyer; sing; stage; things; think; thought; time; tone; voice; way; woman; world cache: 25838.txt plain text: 25838.txt item: #9 of 19 id: 31880 author: Scrici title: Physiology of the Opera date: None words: 18830 flesch: 59 summary: The last-named person wears an air of great reluctance at thus being detained on the stage, instead of being permitted to go home to his _patés_ and _fricasées_. The sister begins to assure her brother of the inestimable amount of pleasure he has lost by loitering at the horrid club, instead of accompanying her to the _delicious_ opera. keywords: audience; basso; brown; donna; gentlemen; good; harry; head; illustration; king; ladies; lady; man; miss; moment; night; opera; outlaw; place; smith; stage; tenor; time; tyrant; voice; way; young cache: 31880.txt plain text: 31880.txt item: #10 of 19 id: 32979 author: Van Vechten, Carl title: Interpreters date: None words: 38179 flesch: 69 summary: It may be sufficient to recall to the reader--who, in remembering, may recapture the thrill--the effect she produces with the poignant lines beginning _Amour, puissant amour_ at the close of the third act of _Armide_, the dull, spent quality of the voice emitted over the words _ I found the text of _Armide_ particularly difficult because it was in old French, and because it was in verse. keywords: act; art; artists; ballet; carmen; chaliapine; day; drama; effect; elektra; farrar; fremstad; french; garden; good; house; interpretation; like; louise; mary; metropolitan; miss; mme; music; new; new york; nijinsky; olive; opera; paris; performance; public; répertoire; rôle; salome; scene; second; singer; singing; stage; theatre; time; voice; way; woman; work; york cache: 32979.txt plain text: 32979.txt item: #11 of 19 id: 34302 author: Galloway, William Johnson title: The Operatic Problem date: None words: 16503 flesch: 59 summary: It is plainly set out that the director must produce in the course of the year _un grand ouvrage_, _un petit ouvrage_, and a ballet of so many acts each--total, eight, nine or ten acts, according to the stipulations. Judging from the name _adobbo_, it must be a relic of a time when attendance comprised some kind of fixing you up in your box. keywords: art; day; director; english; francs; german; house; italy; music; musical; national; new; number; opera; opera house; operatic; performances; period; public; season; state; theatres; time; works; year cache: 34302.txt plain text: 34302.txt item: #12 of 19 id: 35162 author: Lardner, Ring title: Gullible's Travels, Etc. date: None words: 45547 flesch: 96 summary: All the actors had been smuggled in from Europe and they wasn't none o' them that could talk English. You took the words out o' my mouth, says Bill. keywords: ast; bess; bessie; bishop; chance; come; day; dollars; evenin; garrett; gettin; goin'; good; hatch; home; look; man; messenger; missus; mrs; nothin'; people; play; right; room; round; set; somethin'; table; thought; time; w'ile; want; way; wife cache: 35162.txt plain text: 35162.txt item: #13 of 19 id: 36143 author: Mapleson, James Henry title: The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888, vol I date: None words: 78154 flesch: 69 summary: On one occasion we had to perform _L'Africaine_ on consecutive nights in New York and Philadelphia, which entailed the removal of the whole of the scenery and dresses, likewise the transport of the whole of the supernumeraries, ballet, etc., numbering altogether 400 persons; and we had, moreover, to return the same evening after the performance to New York, in which city the work was to be repeated the following night. The production of _L'Africaine_, which was new to Baltimore, was a marked success. keywords: act; albani; close; company; concert; costa; course; day; days; donna; drury; engagement; evening; faust; following; garden; gerster; giuglini; grand; great; gye; half; having; hotel; house; lane; london; madame; majesty; manager; mapleson; matter; mdlle; mdme; money; morning; music; new; night; nilsson; o'clock; occasion; opera; operatic; orchestra; order; patti; performance; place; prima; public; room; royal; season; second; signor; singing; smith; stage; success; tenor; theatre; time; titiens; work; years; york cache: 36143.txt plain text: 36143.txt item: #14 of 19 id: 36144 author: Mapleson, James Henry title: The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888, vol II date: None words: 74462 flesch: 70 summary: Titiens, Thérèse, Vol. I., 9, 12, 18, 19, 23, 26, 27, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 68, 72, 77, 78, 81, 82, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 100, 101, 103, 104, 109, 112, 117, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 128, 139, 140, 143, 146, 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 161, 162, 166, 167, 177, 178, 190, 193, 194, 196; Vol. II., 15, 25, 268, 282, 290, 300. Trebelli, Mdme., Vol I., 43, 58, 59, 60, 68, 72, 73, 77, 79, 89, 101, 104, 129, 131, 139, 140, 146, 154, 155, 156, 160, 190, 199, 220, 221, 240; Vol. II., 3, 30, 250, 255, 268, 296. V. Vachot, Mdlle., Vol. I., 261, 262, 263. Grisi, Mdme., Vol. I., 9, 26, 33, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93; Vol II., 300. Guarducci, Mdlle., Vol. I., 17, 18, 19, 22; Vol. II., 296. Gunz, Dr., Vol. I., 95; Vol. II., 298. Gye, Mr. Ernest, Vol. I., 305, 310, 320, 321, 322, 325; Vol. II., 1, 3, 4, 5, 81, 82, 84, 85. Gye, Commander, Vol. I., 288, 290, 303, 304. Gye, Messrs., Vol. I., 260, 287. Gye, Mr., Vol. I., 8, 9, 13, 14, 33, 36, 41, 42, 67, 70, 71, 72, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 153, 154, 160; Vol. II., 285. keywords: academy; american; artists; audience; case; chicago; chorus; city; colonel; company; concert; course; day; days; defendant; dollars; engagement; evening; following; francisco; general; gerster; grand; hauk; having; hotel; house; italian; left; line; london; manager; mapleson; mdlle; mdme; money; morning; music; new; night; opera; orchestra; order; patti; people; performance; place; public; ravelli; receipts; return; san; season; signor; singers; stage; success; theatre; tickets; time; train; vol; way; week; years; york cache: 36144.txt plain text: 36144.txt item: #15 of 19 id: 38268 author: Gilman, Lawrence title: Aspects of Modern Opera: Estimates and Inquiries date: None words: 19686 flesch: 48 summary: Spurning the elaborate and lovely art of the contrapuntists, they found themselves in the sufficiently hopeless situation of artists filled with passionate convictions but without tools--in other words, they aspired to write dramatic music for single voices and instruments with nothing to aid them save a rudimentary harmonic system and an almost non-existent orchestra, and with virtually no perception of the possibilities of melodic effect. Yet I am willing to assert deliberately, and with a perfectly clear sense of all that the words denote and imply, that the score of Pelléas is richer in inner musical substance, in ideas that are at once new and valuable, than anything that has come out of modern music since Wagner wrote his final page a quarter of a century ago. keywords: art; beauty; day; debussy; drama; effect; expression; kind; lyric; modern; music; mélisande; opera; pelléas; puccini; quality; salome; scene; score; strauss; voice; wagner; work cache: 38268.txt plain text: 38268.txt item: #16 of 19 id: 38534 author: Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland) title: The Great Musicians: Rossini and His School date: None words: 42663 flesch: 77 summary: But when _Tancredi_ was first brought out _opera seria_ consisted almost entirely of recitative, relieved here and there and only at long intervals by solo airs. Rossini composed it for the Teatro Valle of Rome, where it was produced for the carnival of 1817, on the 26th of December, 1816, precisely one year after _Torvaldo e Dorliska_, nearly one year after the _Barber_, a few months after _Otello_, and a few months before _La Gazza Ladra_. keywords: 8vo; act; air; author; barber; bellini; character; cloth; comic; composer; crown; crown 8vo; day; demy; donizetti; edges; edition; english; extra; french; history; illustrated; illustrations; italy; life; london; mozart; music; naples; new; opera; page; parts; pieces; post; post 8vo; public; rossini; second; series; singer; stage; style; subject; success; theatre; time; verdi; vols; words; work; years cache: 38534.txt plain text: 38534.txt item: #17 of 19 id: 46587 author: Newmarch, Rosa title: The Russian Opera date: None words: 91961 flesch: 62 summary: But the faults which are visible to the critic seemed virtues to the Russian public, and _Judith_ enjoyed a popular success rivalling even that of _ These musicians were originally of two classes: minstrels and _gusslee_ players (harpists), such as the famous Skald, Bayan; and the _Skomorokhi_, or mummers, who sang and juggled for the diversion of the people. keywords: act; art; balakirev; boris; borodin; century; character; chorus; circle; composer; country; court; cui; dargomijsky; day; death; drama; early; enthusiasm; father; folk; following; form; french; genius; glinka; good; great; history; house; idea; igor; influence; interest; italian; ivan; king; korsakov; libretto; life; love; moscow; moussorgsky; music; musical; national; new; night; opera; opera company; opera house; people; performance; period; petersburg; place; poem; poushkin; prince; public; rimsky; rubinstein; russian; scene; school; second; serov; singing; songs; spirit; stassov; style; subject; success; tchaikovsky; theatre; time; tsar; wagner; way; words; work; years; young cache: 46587.txt plain text: 46587.txt item: #18 of 19 id: 5995 author: Krehbiel, Henry Edward title: Chapters of Opera Being historical and critical observations and records concerning the lyric drama in New York from its earliest days down to the present time date: None words: 140665 flesch: 61 summary: There will scarcely ever be a critic who will say of it as one of the composers now set down as a classic said of the first opera of a colleague, that first operas, like first litters of puppies, ought properly to be drowned. I wonder how many of my readers think of this cheap device of singers and managers when they read about the honoraria received by opera singers to-day! keywords: abbey; academy; act; american; american opera; art; artists; audience; beginning; campanini; career; carmen; century; chapter; character; city; colonel; composer; concert; conductor; conried; court opera; damrosch; day; death; december; die; directors; drama; effect; end; english opera; enterprise; fact; faust; february; french; garcia; garden; german; good; grau; hammerstein; herr; history; institution; interest; italian; january; life; list; lohengrin; london; long; love; management; manager; manhattan opera; manner; mapleson; march; maretzek; metropolitan opera; miss; mme; music; new york; night; november; number; opening; opera company; opera house; opera manager; opera season; operas; operatic; orchestra; original; paris; patti; people; performances; period; place opera; play; production; public; record; repertory; representations; sang; scene; score; season; season mr; season season; second; seidl; set; siegfried; signor; singers; singing; stage; stockholders; story; subscription; subscription season; success; tannhäuser; tenor; theater; things; time; tristan; verdi; voice; von; wagner; way; weeks; william; work; world; years; york season cache: 5995.txt plain text: 5995.txt item: #19 of 19 id: 7834 author: Hight, George Ainslie title: Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde": An Essay on the Wagnerian Drama date: None words: 55610 flesch: 66 summary: Persuaded that the motives and characters of men must be known before their actions can be understood, and that these can only be revealed in music, he has given us in _Tristan_ music such as no mortal ear ever heard before or since; but action there is little or none. But Wagner always treats it with such consummate grace and refinement that it ceases to be repulsive and appears in its own uncorrupted beauty, as in the _Venus_ music and in the flower-maiden scene in _Parsifal_. keywords: art; artist; beauty; beethoven; brangäne; character; day; death; die; drama; end; english; expression; footnote; form; german; great; isolde; italian; king; know; language; life; love; man; marke; melody; men; mind; moment; motive; movement; music; natural; nature; people; poetry; rhythm; scene; second; sense; song; stage; story; subject; text; things; thought; time; tristan; und; wagner; way; words; work; world cache: 7834.txt plain text: 7834.txt