A Book of Operas: Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their MusicKrehbiel, Henry Edward
History
A Book of Operas: Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music
Krehbiel, Henry Edward
Operas -- Stories, plots, etc.
Strauss's "Voce di Primavera," and Mme. Melba, Arditi's "Se saran
rose." Mme. Viardot, with a finer sense of the fitness of things,
but either forgetful or not apprehensive of the fate which befell
her father at the first performance of the opera in Rome, introduced
a Spanish song. Mme. Patti always kept a ready repertory for the
scene, with a song in the vernacular of the people for whom she was
singing to bring the enthusiasm to a climax and a finish: "Home,
Sweet Home" in New York and London, "Solovei" in St. Petersburg.
Usually she began with the bolero from "Les Vêpres Siciliennes," or
the shadow dance from "Dinorah." Mme. Seinbrich, living in a period
when the style of song of which she and Mme. Melba are still the
brightest exemplars, is not as familiar as it used to be when they
were children, also found it necessary to have an extended list of
pieces ready at hand to satisfy the rapacious public. She was wont
at first to sing Proch's Air and Variations, but that always led
to a demand for more, and whether she supplemented it with "Ah!
non giunge," from "La Sonnambula," the bolero from "The Sicilian
Vespers," "O luce di quest anima," from "Linda," or the vocalized
waltz by Strauss, the applause always was riotous, and so remained
until she sat down to the pianoforte and sang Chopin's "Maiden's
Wish," in Polish, to her own accompaniment. As for Mme. Melba, not
to be set in the shade simply because Mme. Sembrich is almost as
good a pianist as she is a singer, she supplements Arditi's waltz
or Massenet's "Sevillana" with Tosti's "Mattinata," to which she
also plays an exquisite accompaniment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account