1808. =Marie Felicita Malibran= (Paris). Performed in opera at the age of five. She seems to have had no rivals as a singer, and excelled in all parts which she undertook. She created an indelible impression upon all that were fortunate enough to hear her. 1809. =Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy= (Hamburg), 1809-1847. The claims of Mendelssohn as a writer of opera are not serious, and are confined to a few early and incomplete works. The best, musically, is the fragment of _Lorelei_. 1809. =F. Ricci= (Naples). Like his brother Luigi, wrote operas which have not survived their generation. 1809. =J. H. Hatton= (Liverpool). Is better known as a writer of songs than of operas. He wrote, however, a good deal of incidental music for the stage, as well as one real opera. 1810. =Robert Schumann= (Zwickau), 1810-56. Schumann’s one contribution to the field of opera is his _Genoveva_, which is seldom heard, in spite of many unquestionable beauties. 1810. =Otto Nicolai= (Königsberg). Was a capable composer and conductor. He is chiefly known to fame by his masterpiece, _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, which was produced in Berlin in 1849. 1810. =Félicien C. David= (Cadenet). A French composer of operas; is not to be confused with Ferdinand David the violinist, and friend of Mendelssohn. Félicien wrote grand operas for Paris, and his greatest success seems to have been _Lalla Rookh_ (1862). 1811. =P. J. A. Varney= (Paris). Is one of the minor lights of French Opera, his works, which are of small importance, being in the light style. 1811. =C. Ambroise Thomas= (Metz), 1811-96. Was one of the greatest representatives of modern French opera, who possessed real talent for writing for the stage. He learnt much from both Gounod and Hérold, and is best known by his operas _Mignon_ (1866) and _Hamlet_ (1868). 1812. =F. von Flotow= (Bentendorf). Is the composer of _Martha_, an ever-popular light opera; the music of this, as of his many other works, is by no means exalted, but pleases by its melodious and tuneful attractiveness. 1812. =Giulia Grisi= (Milan). Was one of the most famous operatic artists of last century, and the soprano of the “Puritani” quartet (Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache). Like so many artists of that period, her great achievements were in the works of Rossini. 1812. =Cavaliere Mario= (Cagliari). Was an even greater tenor, who eventually married Grisi. Like his wife he was the idol of the English and French capitals for many seasons.