La-scia-mi, la-scia-mi pian-ge-re ch'io so per-che io so, io so, io so per-che. La-scia-mi pian-ge-re, la-scia-mi pian-ge-re ch'io so per-che, per-che, ch'io so perche, La-scia-mi pian-ge-re ch'io so per-che, io so, io so, io so per-che. Del-le mie la-gri-me La sor-te per-fi-da Sa-zia non e, sa-zia non e. Del-le mie la-gri-me La sor-te per-fi-da Sa-zia non e, Del-le mie la-gri-me La sor-te per-fi-da Sa-zia non e no, no, no, no, no, sa-zia non e. _Da capo._ La-scia-mi....] CHAPTER XIX. BEGINNINGS OF OPERA IN FRANCE AND GERMANY. I. From Florence the art of dramatic song spread to all other parts of the world, yet not so rapidly as would have been supposed. For it was not until nearly half of the century had already elapsed that opera made a beginning in France, the country where ruled the unfortunate princess for whose nuptials the first opera had been written. French opera grew out of the ballet. This term, which at present is restricted to entertainments in which dancing is the principal feature, and the story is entirely told in pantomime, had formerly a more extended signification. It was equivalent to the English term "Mask," a play in which dancing, songs and even dialogue found place. This light and sprightly form of drama has been favored in France from a remote period. As early as the first quarter of the seventeenth century Antoine Boesset (1585-1643) composed ballets for the entertainments of the king, Louis XIII. His son succeeded him at the court of Louis XIV. Some of the ballets of the elder Boesset were produced in 1635, and in these we must find the beginnings of French opera, if indeed we do not go back still farther, and find it in the play of "Robin and Marian," written by Adam de la Halle. In fact, dramatic entertainment has been indigenous in France from an early date, and it is by no means easy to say that at any particular moment the line was crossed where modern opera begins. The ballets of Boesset were, no doubt, slight upon the dramatic side, having even less of serious intention in the music than the lightest of comic opera of the present day.