THE STANDARD OPERAS (12TH EDITION)***
E-text prepared by David Newman, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg Online Disributed Proofreading Team
THE STANDARD OPERAS
Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers
A Handbook
by
GEORGE P. UPTON
Twelfth Edition
Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company
1897
PREFACE.
The object of the compiler of this Handbook is to present to the reader a brief but comprehensive sketch of each of the operas contained in the modern repertory which are likely to be given during regular seasons. To this end he has consulted the best authorities, adding to the material thus collected his own observations, and in each case presented a necessarily brief sketch of the composer, the story of each opera, the general character of the music, its prominent scenes and numbers,--the latter in the text most familiar to opera-goers,--the date of first performances, with a statement of the original cast wherever it has been possible to obtain it, and such historical information concerning the opera and its composition as will be of interest to the reader. The work has been prepared for the general public rather than for musicians; and with this purpose in view, technicalities have been avoided as far as possible, the aim being to give musically uneducated lovers of opera a clear understanding of the works they are likely to hear, and thus heighten their enjoyment. In a word, the operas are described rather than criticised, and the work is presented with as much thoroughness as seemed possible considering the necessarily brief space allotted to each. In the preparation of the Handbook, the compiler acknowledges his indebtedness to Grove's excellent "Dictionary of Music" for dates and other statistical information; and he has also made free use of standard musical works in his library for historical events connected with the performance and composition of the operas. It only remains to submit this work to opera-goers with the hope that it may add to their enjoyment and prove a valuable addition to their libraries.--G.P.U.
CHICAGO, August, 1885.
CONTENTS.
AUBER
FRA DIAVOLO
MASANIELLO
THE CROWN DIAMONDS
BALFE
THE BOHEMIAN GIRL
THE ROSE OF CASTILE
BEETHOVEN
FIDELIO
BELLINI
NORMA
LA SONNAMBULA
I PURITANI
BIZET
CARMEN
BOIELDIEU
LA DAME BLANCHE
BOITO
MEPHISTOPHELES
DELIBES
LAKME
DONIZETTI
THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT
LA FAVORITA
DON PASQUALE
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
L'ELISIR D'AMORE
LUCREZIA BORGIA
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