Verdi: man and musician; his biography with especial reference to his English experiences;

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LIBRARY OF
WELLESLEY COLLEGE

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VERDI

MAN AND MUSICIAN

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

'THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC."

'THE GREAT TONE POETS."

'CHERUBINI" ("GREAT MUSICIANS'
SERIES).

'PHASES OF MUSICAL ENGLAND."

'ADVICE TO SINGERS." (12th Thousand.
Etc. Etc.

VERDI:

Man and Musician

His Biography with Especial

Reference to his English

Experiences

By

Frederick y, Crowest

Author of
" 'The Great Tone Poets,''' etc.

JOHN MILNE

12 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND

LONDON

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To
MADAME AD E LIN A PATTI NICOLINI

EMPRESS OF SONG

Whose Transcetident Vocal and Histrionic Powers

HAVE

Contributed so largely to an adequate appreciation
of the genius of

FEED I

This Monograph of the Master is
by Expressed Permissioti

DEDICA TED

CONTENTS

PACE

CHAPTER I

BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND CHILD-LIFE

Verdi's birth and birth-place — Dispute as to his town-
ship— Baptismal certificate — His parentage — The
parents' circumstances — The osteria kept by them
— A regular market-man — A mixed business —
Verdi's early surroundings and influences — Verdi
not a musical wonder or show-child — His natural
child-life — Enchanted with street organ — Quiet
manner as a child — x\colyte at Roncole Church —
Enraptured with the organ music — Is bought a
spinet — Practises incessantly— Gratuitous spinet
repairs — To school at Busseto — Slender board and
curriculum — First musical instruction — An apt
pupil . . . ... .1

CHAPTER II

CLERK, STUDENT, AND PROFESSOR

Verdi goes into the world — Office-boy in Barezzi's
establishment — Congenial surroundings — An ex-
ceptional employer — Vei'di becomes a pupil of
Provesi— A painstaking" copyist — Verdi wanted for
a priest — Latin elements— Appointed organist of
Roncole — A record salary — Barezzi's encourage-
ment of Verdi's tastes — Father Seletti and Verdi's
organ-playing — • Provesi's status and friendship
towards Verdi — Milan training for Verdi — Refused
at the Cojiservatob-e — Experience and training
needed — Study under Vincenzo Lavigna of La
Scala — Death of Provesi, and assumption of his
Busseto duties by Verdi . . . .16

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER III

COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND FIRST OPERATIC
SUCCESS

Verdi is engaged to Margarita Barezzi — His marriage
— Seeks a wider field in Milan — An emergency
conductor — Conductor of the Milan Philharmonic
Society — His first opera, Oberfo, Conte di San
Bonifacio — Terms for production — Its success — A
triple commission — A woman's sacrifice — Clouds —
Death of his wife and children — Un Giorno di Regno
produced — A failure — Verdi disgusted with music
— Destroys Merelli contract — The Nabiicco libretto
forced on Verdi — Induced to set the book — Pro-
duction oi Nabiicco with success — Opposition from
the critics — Mr. Lumley gives Nabucco in London
— Its performance and reception . . .27

CHAPTER IV

SUCCESS, AND INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND

Verdi's position assured — Selected to compose ■nxvopera
d'obbligo — The terms — / Lonibardi alia Prima
Crociata — Its dramatis personce and argument —
Reception at La Scala — A new triumph for Verdi
— I Lombardi m London, iZ^b—Eniani — Political
effect of E7-nani — Official interference — Verdi first
introduced into England — Mr. Lumley's production
oi Ernani dX Her Majesty's Theatre — The reception
of the opera — Criticism on Ernani — AtJiencEum
and Ernani ...... 49

CHAPTER V

FIRST PERIOD WORKS

I Due Foscari — Its argument — Failure of the opera in
Rome, Paris, and London — Giovanna d^ Arco — A
moderate success — Alzira — Atiila — More political

CONTENTS ix

enthusiasm— ^ ////a given at Her Majesty's Theatre
by Mr. Lumley — Its cool reception — The Times
and AthettcEum critics on Attila — Exceptional
activity of Verdi — Macbeth — Jerusalem in Paris —
I Masnadieri ^x'i.V given at Her Majesty's Theatre
— Jenny Lind in its cast — Plot of the opera — The
work a failure everywhere — The critics on / Mas-
nadieri — Mr. Lumley offers Verdi the conductor-
ship at Her Majesty's Theatre — // Corsaro — La
Batiaglia di Legitano — Luisa Miller — Mr. Chorley
on Luisa Miller — Its hbretto — Reception of the
work in Naples, London, and Paris . . 70

CHAPTER VI

RIGOLETTO TO AIDA — SECOND PERIOD OPERAS

Turning-point in A'erdi's career — The libretto of
Rigoletto — Production of Rigoletto in Venice,
London, and Paris — Great success of the opera —
AthejKxum and The Times on Rigoletto — "Ztz
Donna e mobile'''' — A second period style — //
Trovatore written for Rome — The libretto — Its
reception at the Apollo Theatre — The work pro-
duced at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden
— Its cast, and Graziani's singing therein —
Lightning study of the Azitcena role — AtJienaiim
and The Times on // Trovatore — La Traviata —
The libretto and argument — The first performance
at Venice a fiasco — Judgment reversed — Brilliant
success of the opera in London — Piccolomini's im-
personation of Violetta — Mr. Lumley's testimony —
The Press and La Traviata — Athenceum and The
Titnes criticism of La Traviata — Les l^'cpres
Siciliames — Prima donna runs away — Reception
of the opera in Paris and London — Verdi in
Germany — The Times criticism — Simojt Boc-
canegra a failure — U71 Balto itt Maschera—TroMhXe
with the authorities — Production and success of

CONTENTS

Un Ballo in Maschera — Its reception in London —
The Times on the opera — La Forza del Destitto un-
successful . . . . . .104

CHAPTER VII

REQUIEM MASS AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS

Verdi as a sacred music composer — Share in the
" Rossini " mass — Failure of a patch-work effort —
Missa de Requiem produced — Splendid reception —
Performed at the Royal Albert Hall — Structure
of the work — Von Biilo^v's opinion — Divided
opinions on its style and merit — Its character-
Modern Italian Church style — Northern versus
Southern Church music — Verdi's early com-
positions— E minor Quartet for strings — V Inno
delle Nazioni — Its performance at Her Majesty's
Theatre — Verdi's slender share in orchestral music
— National temperament involved — Thematic
method inconsistent with Italian national life . 150

CHAPTER VIII

THIRD PERIOD OPERAS

A matured style — Methuselah of opera — The last link
— Aida — A higher art plane — Ismail Pacha com-
missions Aida — Its libretto — Production at Cairo
— The argument — Patti as Aida — ■ Athenceufit
criticism of Aida — Otcllo — Scene in Milan — The
initial cast — Its production and reception in
London and Paris — Athcticeum review of Otello —
Its story — Vocal and instrumental qualities —
Falstaff^h. surprise defeated — Boito — Falstaff
produced at La Scala — In Y ra.ncQ— Faistaff at
Covent Garden — The comedy and its music —
AtJienaum opinion of Falstaff — A crowning
triumph ...... 167

CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX

POLITICIAN AND CITIZEN

A born politician — Attempt to draw Verdi — The
revolutionary ring of Verdi's music — Signer Basevi
on this feature — National and political honours and
distinctions — An inactive senator — England's
neglect — The composer's nature and character —
Bluntness of speech — A dissatisfied auditor —
Verdi's alleged parsimony — Verdi and the curate
^The gossips and his fortune — Life at St. Agata
villa — An "eighty-two" word -portrait — Verdi's
old-age vigour — Love of flowers — His hobby at
the Genoa palaszo — Independence of character .

CHAPTER X

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF STYLE

Verdi's popularity — An important personality in music
■ — Most successful composer of the nineteenth
century — Verdi's opportuneness — Keynote of future
struck in Nabucco — Its characteristics — Dis-
tinguishing features of Verdi's music — Stereotyped
pattern operas — Change of style imminent in
Luisa Miller — Altered second period style of
Rigoletto — This maintained in // Trovatore — La
Traviata forebodings — Basevi's charge of an
altered style therein — La Traviata and debutantes
— True Verdi style in Les Vcpres Siciliennes — Sinwjt
Boccanegra and U71 Ballo in Maschera — Third
period works — Aida — Alleged Wagner influence —
Mistaken criticism — Orchestration of Otello — Its
style and technigtte compared with Aida — Falstaff
■ — Its position as an opera — A saviour of Italian art
— 'Wi^ Illustrated London Ncivs defends Verdi from
early critics — Later critics silenced — Verdi vindi-
cated ......

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER XI

EFFECT UPON AND PLACE IN OPERA

Origin of opera — Melody in music — The first opera,
Dafne — Monteverde's advances — Early opera
orchestration — Gluck's reformed style in Orfeo and
Alceste — A complete structure — Verdi's starting-
point — Wagner's methods — Verdi's early operas —
Don Carlos and an altered style — Its reception —
A third or matured period method — Its character-
istics— Aida^ Otcllo, and Falstaff—M&x^^s disciples
— Opera as a social need, past and present— Its
reasonable decline — Verdi's ultimate position — His
lasting works ..... 273

CHAPTER XII

VERDI LITERATURE

Its scantiness — Restricted scope for the writer and
historian— English ideas of Italian opera — English
books on Verdi — German historian's measure —
Recent English press notices — Foreign journalistic
criticism — Italian writings . . . . 293

PREFACE

This work is an attempt to tell, in a popular
key, the story of Verdi's remarkable career,
A connected chronological account of this
composer's life is needed ; and a plain un-
varnished narrative will best coincide with the
temperament and habit of one who, through-
out a long life, has been singularly abhorrent
of pomp and vanity.

In the literature concernino- Verdi, the ereat
man's English experiences have been studiously
neglected. We learn about Verdi in Italy,
also in France ; but scarcely anything is re-
corded respecting Verdi in England — the land
which, more than any other country, served
to make and enrich Verdi. It is to show
more of the English side of the famous
maestrds career that the present book is
written. It may, probably will be, long years
ere Italy will have another such son to
worship. A tone-worker like Verdi is rare.
Then, few great composers who have appealed

xiv PREFACE

to the English public have lived to see their
works received and appreciated to the extent
that Verdi has ; and it is unparalleled in the
history of musical art, to find a musician, when
a septuagenarian and octogenarian, giving to
the world compositions which, for conception
and freshness, far surpass the scores written
by him in the vigour of middle age.

It would be ungracious indeed were I to
neglect to express the very deep obligation
which I am under to the illustrious inaestro
for the handsome and specially signed portrait
which adorns this volume. Not less am I
indebted to the Messrs. Ricordi for all the
kind assistance and encouragement which
they have afforded me during the preparation
of this work.

F. J. C.

London, June 1897.

aV

CHAPTER I

BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND CHILD-LIFE

Verdi's birth and birth-place — Dispute as to his township —
Baptismal certificate — His parentage — The parents'
circumstances — The osteria kept by them- — A regular
market-man — A mixed business — Verdi's early sur-
roundings and influences — Verdi not a musical wonder
or show-child — His natural child-life — Enchanted with
street organ — Quiet manner as a child — Acolyte at
Roncole Church — Enraptured with the organ music —
Is bought a spinet — Practises incessantly — Gratuitous
spinet repairs — To school at Busseto— Slender board and
curriculum — First musical instruction — An apt pupil.

Verdi was born at Roncole, an unpreten-
tious settlement, sparsely inhabited, hard by
Busseto, which, in its turn, is at the foot of the
Appenine range, and some seventeen miles
north-west of Parma, in Italy. The red-
letter day, since such it deservedly is, on
which this universal melodist first saw the
light was the loth October 1813. Terrible
events shadowed his infancy. In 18 14 the
village was sacked by the invading allies.

B

2 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Then the frightened women took refuge in
the church — safe, as they beHeved, near the
imasfe of the Virgin — until the soldiers forced
the doors, and slew women and children till
the floor reeked with blood. One woman,
with infant at breast, flew to the belfry and
hid there, thus saving herself and her child.
The child was the infant Verdi !

Whenever a son of man is born into the
world who, in the mysterious course of events,
turns out to be what mankind calls "great,"
there is inevitably a community jealous to
claim ownership of the illustrious one, alive
or dead. The subject may have lingered
through troublous long seasons, craving vainly
for the stimulus of even scanty recogni-
tion. He has only to become "great" to
find hosts of persevering friends. Verdi
having risen to great eminence, more than
one locality has claimed him. He has been
styled '' il cigno di Bttsseto','^ and " il maestro
Parmigimio " ; but he was neither the swan
of Busseto nor the master of the town of

1 Rossini used to be styled the " Swan of Pesaro," but in
his old age he laughed at this compliment, and endorsed a
Mass which he had composed as the work of " the old Ape of
Pesaro," thus parodying the " swan " or cig7io sobriquet which
had been given him.

BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE 3

cheeses. Roncole alone is entitled to the
sonship of Verdi ; and as both Parma and
her smaller sister town, Busseto, have dis-
puted his parentage, the point of interest has
been very properly investigated. The result
is that the question has been decided once
and for all. A certificate written in Latin
has been traced, which establishes beyond
dispute both the time and place of Verdi's
birth. The following is the text of the
original document : —

"Anno Dom. 1813 die 11 Octobris — Ego
Carolus Montanari Praepositus Runcularum
baptizavi Infantem hodie vespere hora sexta
natum ex Carolo Verdi q'" Josepho et ex
Aloisia Utini fiilia Caroli, hujus parocciae
jugalibus, cui nomina imposui — Fortuninus
Joseph, Franciscus — Patrini fuere Dominus
Petrus Casali q^ Felicis et Barbara Bersani
filia Angioli, ambo hujus parocciae."

This dog Latin, translated into English,
runs as follows: — "In the year of our Lord
18 1 3, on the nth day of October, I, Charles
Montanari, placed in charge of Roncole, did
at the sixth hour of this evening baptize the
infant son of Charles Verdi and Louisa Utini,
daughter of Charles, married in this parish.

4 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

under the name of Fortuninus Joseph Fran-
ciscus. The sponsors were Father Peter
Casali q*^ FeHcis and Barbara Bersani, daughter
of Angiolus, both of this parish."^

The abode in which the infant Verdi first
opened his eyes was one of the best known
and most frequented among a cluster of
cottages inhabited by labouring folk who
found work and small wage in the immediate
neighbourhood of Roncole, a three miles'
stretch from Busseto. It was a tumble-down
stone-and- mortar- mixture building of low
pitch.

Padre Carlo Verdi and his good wife Luigia
Utini were the licensed keepers of this small
osteria, whereat wine, spirits, and malt, with
their close relations pipes and tobacco, were
matters of trade between Boniface or la sig-
nora and the frugal contadini who lived in and
about Roncole. Wine and music ! Another
illustration of the curious union between
harmony and alcohol — a connection which
harmless as it really is, has been discouraged
and taken fearfully to heart by a sensitive

^ There is in existence another Certificate of this musician's
birth. This is in the Registry of the £^tat Civile of the Com-
mune of Busseto for the year 1813, and is written in French,
Italy being at the time under French rule.

THE VERDI HOME 5

sort of people, but which has never yet been
satisfactorily disproved or accounted for by all
the Good Templar philosophy. Bacchanalian
aids were not the only commodities dealt
in by the honest, though illiterate Carlo
Verdi and his brave wife. The inn stood
also as the local d^pot for such unromantic
necessaries of existence as sugar, coffee,
matches, oil, cheese, and sausage — all in-
dispensable items in housekeeping, even in
Italy.

The business air pervading the home of
Verdi's childhood seems not to have affected
his young mind, and, pecuniarily profitable as
such an establishment for the sale of the liquids
and solids of life may have been, the future
musician does not appear to have shown any
disposition towards becoming a vendor of un-
romantic necessaries or alcoholic unnecessaries
of life. Happily, the fire of genius — the/^?/?
sacrd — was in Verdi.

Verdi maggiore was distinctly a retail
trader, running, with great good-nature, what
are vulgarly known as " ticks " with the Ron-
colese. He went to market once a week, to
buy in wholesale quantities grocery of one
Antonio Barezzi, storekeeper, distiller, etc.,

6 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

who, as circumstances proved, was to figure
prominently in the Verdi ddnoue^nent.

It is a sorry reflection that several of our
greatest musicians have had poverty and un-
toward circumstances as a "set off," as it
would seem to be, for their bounteous musical
gifts. A study of the lives of the great tone
poets will reveal the saddening but not astonish-
ing truth that, while the world's fairest min-
strels have been shaping melodies and har-
monies to gladden hearts and brighten homes
for all ages, they themselves have frequently
been enduring lives of misery, and sometimes
want. Verdi at no part of his career has ever
been in abject poverty, but his was by no
means a luxurious early life, nor was his home
particularly predisposed towards music. At
first, there was not a pianoforte in it, nor can
it be said that Verdi passed his childhood
amongst surroundings to favour the muse, such
as the paint pots, canvases, and stage lights
upon which Weber's young imagination fed.
The social and physical conditions in and
around Busseto were ill calculated to inspire
the mind with anything approaching the sub-
lime or the ideal, the poetic or the beautiful ;
and there seemed to be insuperable difficulties

ITALY AND MUSIC 7

in the way of the son of the chandler's shop-
keeper ever becoming a musician of any im-
portance. But many most surprising episodes
were to unfold themselves. This unpretentious
spot of Italian soil was to prove the cradle of the
revolutioniser of Italy's national music-drama.
To-day it is incontrovertible that in Verdi's
music, especially in his later writings, there
is far more than could ever have been ex-
pected of any Italian master. His melody is
the pure chastened current of the sunny South,
and no one of his countrymen has written
loftier operatic music than that in Aida and
Falstaff. Much of the flow and beauty
throughout his compositions must, of course,
be accounted for by the inability of any Italian
son of art to compose else but luscious melody,
while the life and gaiety, together with that
irresistible "go" which so distinguish Verdi's
tunes and colourings, may have borrowed their
genesis out of the lively times and good
humour that prevailed at that earliest home —
the inn.

The unsophisticated Italian loves music
much as a lark loves liberty, and it is not in
Italy, as it used to be here, regarded as
degrading to aspire to being a vii'tuoso. No

8 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

other occupation is so natural to the son of
the South as music, and although Italians are
keen business people when they once taste
commercial success — even if it be of ice-
cream born — yet they make better musicians.
Verdi senior did not press his son into the
service of Orpheus, and no steps appear to
have been taken towards forcing the offspring
into becoming a manipulator of chords and
cadences. Young Verdi enjoyed a perfectly
natural child-life, playing with children indoors
and out of doors until he was old enough
to be sent to school. He was no forced
exotic.

There is a feature sometimes attaching to
the lives of great musicians which, happily, in
the case of Verdi does not require to be put
forward. He proved no wonder -child or
prodigy who — adroitly boomed — made the
round of Europe with advantage financially
and corresponding disadvantage musically.
From the outset his career has been perfectly
legitimate, and free from episodes or situations
partaking of the supernatural — no circum-
stances presenting themselves to impede his
quiet progress along the artistic way which he
seems to have been content to travel.

ITINERANT'S ADVICE 9

What will he become ? This is the
question, pregnant with bhssful uncertainty,
which nearly every decent parent has to ask
himself of a young hopeful. Doubtless Verdi
senior applied the interrogatory to himself
respecting Giuseppe, but it has not transpired
that the subject of the inquiry furnished much
solution to the problem, beyond the fact that
he was always overcome when he heard
street-organ music. No sooner did an organ-
grinder appear in Roncole, with his instru-
ment, than young Verdi became an attentive
auditor, following the itinerant musician from
door to door until fetched away. This was
the first hint he gave of musical aptitude, and
probably no one would have predicted that
he would one day furnish melodies, almost
without end, for these instruments of torture
in each quarter of the globe. One particular
favourite with little Verdi was a tottering
violinist known as Bagasset, who used to
play the fiddle much to the little fellow's
delight. This obscure musician urged the
osUrza-keeper to make a musician of his son,
and is said to have received many favours
from the son since he became famous. The
old itinerant, very grateful, used to exclaim,

10 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

"Ah! maestro, I saw you when you were
very httle ; but now ! "

The Verdi who was to create such streams
of sparkHng melody, and need an Act of Par-
liament ^ to stop them, was a quiet thoughtful
little fellow as a child, possessing none of that
boisterous element common to boys. That
serious expression seen in the composer's face,
the first impression that a glance at any of his
present-day portraits would convey, was there
when a child. Intelligent, reserved, and quiet,
everybody loved him.

Perhaps it was this good and melancholy
temperament that attracted the attention of
the parish priest, and which led to Verdi's
receiving the appointment of acolyte at the
village church of Le Roncole. He was now
seven years old, and it was in connection with
his office as " server " that we are introduced
to the first episode, a really dramatic one, in
his career. One day the ecclesiastic was cele-
brating the Mass with young Verdi as his
assistant, but the boy, instead of following the
service attentively with the priest, which no
acolyte ever does, got so carried away by the

1 Mr. Michael T. Bass, M.P., " Bill for the Better Regula-
tion of Street Music in the Metropolitan Police District."

HIS FIRST PIANO ii

music that flowed from the organ that he
forgot all else. "Water," whispered the
priest to the acolyte, who did not respond ;
and, concluding that his request was not heard,
the celebrant repeated the word " water."
Still there was no response, when, turning
round, he found the server gazing in wonder-
ment at the organ! "Water," demanded the
priest for the third time, at the same moment
accompanying the order with such a violent
and well-directed movement of the foot, that
little Verdi was pitched headlong down the
altar steps. In falling he struck his head,
and had to be carried in an unconscious state
to the vestry. A somewhat forcible music
lesson !

Possibly it was this incident, and the child's
unbounded delight at the organ music which
he heard in the street, that set the father
thinking of his son's musical possibilities, for
at about this time, 1820, the innkeeper of
Roncole added a spinet or pianoforte to his
worldly possessions. This indispensable item
of household belongings was purchased for
the especial benefit of the boy-child, thus
pointing to some indications of budding musical
aptness on his part. More soon followed !

12 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Younor Verdi went to the instrument at all
hours, early and late, playing scales and
discoverinof chords and harmonious combina-
tions. Sometimes he would forget or lose
one of his favourite chords, and then there
was an outburst of genuine native passion
that stood in strange contrast to his usual
quiet demeanour. A story goes that once,
when he was labouring under one of these fits
of temper, he seized a hammer and commenced
belabouring the keyboard. The noise attracted
the attention of his father, who stemmed his
son's impetuosity with a sound box on the
ears, which stopped the craze for pianoforte
butchering. On the whole, however, every
one was pleased with the little fellow's devotion
to the instrument, and one friend went so far
even as to repair it for him gratuitously, when it
wanted new jacks, leathers, and pedals, which
it soon did, owing to the boy's phenomenal
wear and tear of the instrument. This spinet
remained one of Verdi's most treasured pos-
sessions. It was stored at the villa at St.
Agata, and no doubt has often recalled to
the veteran's mind moments and feelings of
his childhood. Inside it is an inscription, a
testimonial creditable alike to the application

TO SCHOOL 13

of the little musician as also to the goodness
of the generous local tradesman, who, conscious,
perhaps, of a future greatness for the child,
had become one of his admirers. It runs : "I,
Stephen Cavaletti, added these hammers (or
jacks) anew, supplied them with leather, and
fitted the pedals. These, together with the
hammers, I give as a present for the industry
which the boy Giuseppe Verdi evinces for
learning to play the instrument ; this is of
itself reward enough to me for my trouble.
Anno Domini 182 1."

It was when he was about eight years of
age that little Verdi's education became a
subject for active consideration. His parents'
deliberations ended in the resolve to send him
to a school in Busseto. By virtue of an
acquaintance with one Pugnatta, a cobbler, the
future composer of the Trovatore and Fal-
staffysfdiS boarded, lodged, and tutored at the
principal academical institution in Busseto, all
at the not extravagant charge of threepence
per diem! How this was managed history
relateth not. Young Verdi's receptive facul-
ties did not need to be severely extended,
therefore, to spell " quits " to padre Verdi's
generosity in the matter of letters and "keep"

14 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

for Giuseppe. After events abundantly prove
that the Httle harmonist was not slothful in
grappling the mysteries of reading, writing,
and arithmetic. Whether, added to a fair
knowledge of the three Rs, he, like most
boys, made an acquaintance with another R,
of pliable and impressive properties, is not
known.

Concurrently with the scholastic training,
Verdi's father provided some regular musical
instruction for his son. The local organist
of, and the greatest authority upon music in,
Roncole was one Baistrocchi, and to him
young Verdi was entrusted for the first train-
inof in music that he received. The terms for
the music lessons were not extravagant, and
were requited by a system of Dr. and Cr.
account at the inn. Nevertheless, the in-
struction imparted was sound and solid, young
Verdi proving smart at music. The measure
of the musical merits of Baistrocchi has not
transpired, and the world is uninformed as to
whether he knew much, or little, musically ;
but whatever store of harmonious erudition
was possessed by him he poured into his
young charge. At the end of twelve months
Baistrocchi felt bound to confess that Verdi

Barezzi,

MUSICAL APPETITE 15

knew all that he had to teach him. Thus,
either the teacher had an unusually small
store of information to impart, or the student
possessed an abnormal appetite for musical
learning.

CHAPTER II

CLERK, STUDENT, AND PROFESSOR

Verdi goes into the world — Office-boy in Barezzi's establish-
ment— Congenial surroundings — An exceptional employer
— Verdi becomes a pupil of Provesi — A painstaking
copyist — Verdi wanted for a priest— Latin elements —
Appointed organist of Roncole — A record salary —
Barezzi's encouragement of Verdi's tastes — Father Seletti
and Verdi's organ-playing — Provesi's status and friend-
ship towards Verdi — Milan training for Verdi — Refused
at the Conservatoire — Experience and training needed
— Study under Vincenzo Lavigna of La Scala — Death
of Provesi, and assumption of his Busseto duties by
Verdi.

When ten years of age, Verdi went into the
world. Could the parent have foreseen the
future that lay in store for his boy, he might
have given him a little more learning, and
have risked being a little the poorer. He
saw nothing, however. His child had been
to school, and could read, write, and add
figures — an ample education for the son of a
poor locandiere ! Beside which the parents
at no time entertained any greater musical

ANTONIO BAREZZI 17

ambition than that their boy might, one day,
become organist of the village church !

When the industrious parent used to trudge
from Roncole to Busseto to replenish the
"general" department of his business, it was
to purchase from the wholesale grocer's store
which, as we have seen, was presided over by
Antonio Barezzi. It was a flourishing concern,
and its owner was a fairly rich man. What
was worth more than his money, however,
was a good disposition and kindliness which
endeared him to his traders. Verdi senior
was an especially welcome visitor. With him
the storekeeper gossiped, the conversation
turning betimes upon the little fellow at home
and his budding musical tendencies. Music
and culture, it should be stated, were dear to
Barezzi, and had placed him at the head of
everything musical in Busseto. Thus he was
President of the local Philharmonic Society,
for which he held open house for rehearsals
and meetings. Barezzi's instrumental ability
was considerable, and he could perform on the
flute, clarionet, French horn, and ophicleide.

As luck would have it, young Verdi was to
be thrown into the service of this Barezzi. In
the course of their gossipings, innkeeper had
c

1 8 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

hinted to merchant that the son would have
to be bestirring himself; and Barezzi, having
a vacancy for an office - boy, offered to try
Giuseppe. The matter was speedily arranged,
and the boy soon proved that he could make
himself useful to Barezzi — merchant in spirits,
drugs, drysaltery, and spices.

The average business man views a predilec-
tion for music, or indeed for any art study, as
fatal to duty and discipline. Not so Barezzi.
He encouraged the musical proclivities of the
office - boy, and, as we shall discover, most
generously and materially assisted him towards
an inevitable artist career. In time he beo-an
to regard Verdi as one of his family, and
allowed him the use of the pianoforte.

Let us see what happened. Without
neglecting his daily duties in the office, young
Verdi availed himself of every moment of
spare time to add to his musical know-
ledge and practice. He seldom missed an
opportunity of attending the rehearsals held
in Barezzi's house, or the public concerts
given by the Philharmonic Society under
the conductorship of Giovanni Provesi,
organist and bandmaster of the duomo of
Busseto. In return Verdi copied the instru-

COWL V. BATON 19

mental parts for the various performers, work-
ing at "string" and "brass" parts with a
neatness and accuracy that quite won the
hearts of those who had to play therefrom.
Some people would declare such copying to
be inconceivable drudgery, but young Verdi
relished the excellent insight into orchestra-
tion which such practice afforded him. Provesi,
on his part, was so pleased that he gave the
lad some gratuitous instruction, of which Verdi
took such advantage that at the end of two or
three years the master frankly owned, like
Baistrocchi, that the pupil knew as much as he
himself did.

No wonder that Provesi, struck with the
lad's musical promise, one day advised him
to think of music as a profession. It so hap-
pened, however, that the lad just then was
dangerously near to becoming a knight of the
cowl instead of the baton. The priests had
got hold of him, and one ecclesiastic, Seletti
by name, had commenced to teach him the
Latin tongue, with the view, some day, of
making a priest of him ! Thus Verdi might
have been for ever meditating in the cloister,
instead of ministering to great demands,
choreographic and otherwise, of a modern

20 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

lyric drama stage! "What do you want to
study music for?" said the priest, at the same
time backing up the query with the not very
comforting nor accurately prophetic warning
that he would " never become organist of
Busseto " — a position which he did subse-
quently fill. " You have a gift for Latin, and
must be a priest," was the confessor's parting
shot.

Now the organist of Roncole died, creating
a vacancy. Officialism and bumbledom, usu-
ally connected with organ elections, did not
operate here. All concerned were agreed
that, although young, the son of townsman
Verdi was musically and morally fitted for the
post, and he was thereto appointed. The
salary was not overpowering, the exact
payment being ^i:i2s. yearly! Thus the
parents' wish was gratified, for their little
son was duly appointed in Baistrocchi's stead,
and from his eleventh to his eighteenth year
Verdi performed his duties in the dusty old
organ - loft at Roncole, supplementing his
salary with small fees for such additional
services as baptisms, marriages, and funerals.
Every Sunday and Feast-day he trudged on
foot from Busseto to Roncole to perform his

AT THE ORGAN 21

duties. Sometimes it was scarcely daybreak,
and on one of these excursions he fell into a
ditch, and would assuredly have been drowned,
or frozen to death, save for the timely aid of a
peasant woman, who had heard his groans.

How long Verdi remained in the employ
of Barezzi has not transpired, but important
subsequent events prove that he retained the
friendship and esteem of the merchant long
after being released of the tedium of bills
and quantities calculations. He continued to
receive musical training from Provesi until
he was sixteen years of age, and it is not im-
probable that his generous employer, observ-
ing the musical inclinations of his clerk, allowed
him to drift naturally into a harmonious haven.
A story told of the young musician this while
is ominous. It came to pass that Father
Seletti, who would have the born-opera-com-
poser a monk, was officiating at mass on an
occasion when Verdi happened to be deputiz-
ing at the Busseto organ. Struck with the
unusually beautiful organ music, the priest at
the close of the service expressed a desire to
see the organist. Behold his amazement on
discovering his scholar whom he had been
seeking to estrange from harmony to theo-

22 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

logy ! " Whose music were you playing ? '
inquired Seletti. " It was beautiful." Verdi,
feeling shy, informed the priest that he had
brought no music with him, and had been
improvising. " So I played as I felt," he
added. '* Ah ! " exclaimed Seletti, " I advised
you wrongly. You must be no priest, but a
musician."

Provesi had an extensive musical practice
in and around Busseto, to which he gradually
introduced Verdi. More and more frequently
he deputized for Provesi, and the sight must
have been worth seeing, of the diminutive
organist, fifteen years old, on the high seat in
the great organ-loft in the dim cathedral of
Busseto — all unconscious, as every one else was,
of the great future before him. When, from
advancing years, Provesi resigned the con-
ductorship of the Philharmonic Society of the
town, Verdi was unanimously selected for the
vacancy. His chief delight was to compose
pieces for the Society and to perform them.
These early compositions are preserved among
the archives of Busseto.

The master musician is not an easily
moulded quantity. He has first to traverse the
whole surface of musical science ; even then,

GROCER AND GENTLEMAN 23

Nature may have denied to him those gifts of
colour and glow which are the wings of music,
and lacking which, he may remain for ever a
mathematical musical machine, too many of
whom, loaded with academical degrees and
distinctions, and the consequent array of
scholastic millinery, have been given to the
world.

Verdi's ambition was to become a successful
opera composer, but ere he could succeed,
there were branches of study which could only
be mastered in an establishment such as the
Conservatoire at Milan. To it Verdi's friends,
notably Provesi (who prophesied that one
day Verdi would become a great master),
urged him to go. There was one undeni-
able obstacle — the money ! This difficulty
was, however, eventually overcome. One of
the Busseto institutions was the " Monte de
Pieta," which granted premiums to assist pro-
mising students in prosecuting their studies.
Verdi's petition was sent up, and with the
wheels of benevolent machinery turning, as
usual, slowly, the decision was long delayed.
At this crisis stepped in Barezzi, grocer and
gentleman, as he proved, who agreed to
advance the money, pending the decision of

24 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

the institution. This enabled Verdi to turn
his face towards Milan. He did not forget
the kindness, but returned Barezzi the money,
in full, from the first savings he was able to
make from his art.

It is a grim commentary upon the usual
way of managing the things of this life, to
witness a man who has made melody for the
whole world for now over half a century being
refused an entrance scholarship at the train-
ing institution of his own land! It is a fact,
nevertheless, that Verdi was actually denied
admittance to the Conservatoire di Musica of
Milan, on the ground of his showing no special
aptitude for music ! Yet the world goes on,
gaping and wondering at its monotonous
mediocrity, while seven-eighths of its energy
is being exhausted in repairing the conse-
quences of the genius of its blunderers, who
somehow are generally and everywhere in
power, and rampant. Chiefly from shame, the
rejection of Verdi at the Conservatoire has
been industriously excused, but the mistake
shall always stand to the discredit of Francesco
Basili, the then Principal. Men like Verdi —
men of metal — may be hindered, but are
rarely defeated by obstacles, or long -refused

UNDER LAVIGNA 25

justice. Verdi had fixed his heart and eyes on
a mark which he has never left, and in this
respect, if in no other, he is a model for every
earnest struggling student.

Verdi had now to look elsewhere for that
training which he had hoped to obtain at
Milan. "Think no more about the Conserva-
toire,'' said his friend Rolla to him. " Choose
a master in the town ; I recommend Lavigna."

Vincenzo Lavigna was an excellent musician,
and conductor at the theatre of La Scala. To
him, accordingly, Verdi went for practical stage
experience and familiarity with dramatic art
principles. This was in 1831, when the pupil
was eighteen years old. Lavigna could not
have desired a more exemplary pupil than
Verdi was, and the master lost no time before
taking his charge into the broad expanse
of practical theatre work. All the drudgery
of harmony, counterpoint and composition
generally, had been learned and committed to
heart long before ; it was practice and ex-
perience in the higher grades of planning and
spacing libretti, and the scoring of scenas
and concerted numbers for operas, that Verdi
needed. This Lavigna could and did give
him. Verdi, on his part, showed such aptitude

26 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

for dramatic composition that Lavigna was
greatly pleased, "He is a fine fellow," said
Lavigna to Signor Barezzi, who had called to
inquire as to the progress of his proUgd ;
" Giuseppe is prudent, studious, and intelligent,
and some day will do honour to myself and to
our country."

The death, in 1833, of Provesi, the guiding
musical spirit of Busseto, meant another episode
in Verdi's career. By the conditions of the
loan from the trustees of the " Monte di Pieta "
of Busseto, he was to return home from Milan
to take up Provesi's duties. Such a heritage
of work, including the post of organist at the
duomo, the conductorship of the Musical
Society of Busseto, much private teaching,
etc., kept Verdi well employed ; but it did not
deter him from a regular and assiduous pro-
secution of his operatic studies. He worked
with an almost unbounded will and pride in
Busseto. Why ? Because there was present
there a power which fired him with enthusiasm
and ambition ; otherwise the call from Milan
might have been a difficult step for him to
take ; one word, however, will explain all —
Verdi was in love !

CHAPTER III

COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND FIRST OPERATIC
SUCCESS

Verdi is engaged to Margarita Barezzi — His marriage— Seeks
a wider field in Milan — An emergency conductor — Con-
ductor of the Milan Philharmonic Society- — ^ His first
opera, Oberto, Conte di Sajt Bonifacio — ^Terms for pro-
duction— Its success — A triple commission — A woman's
sacrifice — Clouds — Death of his wife and children —
Un Giorno di Regno produced — A failure — Verdi dis-
gusted with music — Destroys Merelli contract — The
Nabiicco libretto forced on Verdi — Induced to set the
book — Production of Nabucco with success — Opposi-
tion from the critics — Mr. Lumley gives Nabucco in
London — Its performance and reception.

When Verdi took the office stool in Barezzi's
counting - house, there was little reason to
suppose that he would get much beyond it ;
but he was to become somethinof more than
an employd. He was often invited to join the
family circle, and so became acquainted with
the eldest daughter, Margarita — a girl of beau-
tiful disposition, with whom Verdi fell violently
in love. The young lady returned his affec-

28 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

tion, and Signor Barezzi, with his usual kindly
feeling towards Verdi, not opposing the en-
gagement— albeit Verdi was extremely poor — •
the young people were married in 1836,
Upon this occasion all Busseto turned out
en fete.

Now had Verdi every incentive to work,
for his young wife bore him a son and a
daughter within two years of their marriage,
and he longed for an operatic success that
would add to his slender income. The pros-
pect of a large family, and no means to sup-
port it with, was a painful piece of mathematics,
the solution of which depended entirely upon
himself. Alas ! could he but have foreseen
his almost immediate release from such love
chains !

While thus musing, the hre kindled. Verdi
made up his mind to relinquish working in
Busseto and try his fortune in Milan. Ac-
cordingly, in 1838, he, with his wife and
children, set out for that musical centre,
carrying their belongings with them, and
with his stock-in-trade — a score of a musical
melodrama entitled Oberto, Conte di S. Boni-
facio— under his arm. This composition was
his first attempt at a complete opera. Every

A CONDUCTOR 29

pains had been taken with the score ; and not
only was each note Verdi's own, but the full
score, and all the vocal and instrumental
parts, had been copied out with his own hand.
What labour ! and yet the hard (we might
say thick) headed man rejoices in the belief
that musicians, big and little, are a lazy lot !

None too speedily, an opening presented
itself at the Milan Philharmonic Society.
Haydn's C7^eation was to be given, and the
conductor had failed to put in an appearance.
Suddenly Verdi was espied, whereupon Masini,
a director, approached and begged him to take
the conductorship that evening. In those
days conducting was managed, not with a
baton and a rostrum, but from the pianoforte
in the orchestra, and Masini considerately
informed Verdi that if he would play the bass
part merely, even that would be sufficient !
Verdi acquiesced, and, amid starings and titter-
ings, made for the conductor's seat and score.
"I shall never forget," Verdi has said, "the
sort of sarcastic approval that crossed the faces
of the knowing ones. My young, thin, and
shabbily-attired person was little calculated,
perhaps, to inspire confidence." Yet Verdi
astonished everybody. He gave not only the

30 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

bass line, but the whole of the pianoforte part,
bringing the performance to a successful
termination. Not from that night need he
have been without an appointment as a
musical conductor ; indeed, it was shortly
afterwards that the conductorship of the
Milan Philharmonic Society was offered to,
and accepted by Verdi.

Possessed almost by the demon of the stage,
Verdi sorely wanted a trial for his opera. To
obtain a first hearing then, however, meant
the surmounting of considerable obstacles.
The avenues of art were not open as they
now are — when a season is made up almost
wholly of "first nights," and when wealthy or
well-backed aspirants can have, not only their
own theatres, but their own critics, and even
their own newspapers and audiences. Such
is money! Eventually Verdi got what he
wanted. Oberto, Conte di S. Bonifacio was to
be produced at La Scala theatre in the spring
of 1839 ; but even this arrangement was put off
because a singer fell ill. Sick at heart, Verdi
was retreating to Busseto, when the im-
presario of La Scala sent for him un-
expectedly. Signor Bartolomeo Merelli had
heard from the singers who had been studying

OBERTO 31

Oberto respecting the uncommon quality of
its music, and the opinions of the vocaHsts
Signora Strepponi and Signor Ronconi were
not to be lightly regarded. The outcome of
the interview was an agreement by which
Verdi's opera was to be put upon the stage
during the next season at Merelli's expense
— Verdi in the meanwhile making certain
alterations in the score, chiefly because of a
change of artists from those for whom it was
originally written. Merelli was to divide with
Verdi any sum for which the score might be
sold, in the event of the opera proving a
success. He jumped at the offer, for in
those days the fashion was for impresarii to
demand, and to receive, large sums from
unknown composers wishing to have their
operas brought forward. Tempo^'a 7mUant2ir.
Nowadays the difficulty with managers is
to find the talent! Oberto was duly pro-
duced on the 17th November 1839, the
principal singers being Mesdames Raineri —
Marini, and Alfred Shaw, while Signori Salvi
and Marini filled the tenor and bass parts
respectively. The opera saw several repre-
sentations, and a further proof of its merit is
seen in the fact that music-publisher Ricordi

32 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

gave Verdi two thousand Austrian liri, or
about ^70 sterling, for the copyright of the
work.

Verdi's next experience was a commission.
Shortly after the production of Oberto,
i77ipresmdo Merelli, who " ran " the Milan
and Vienna opera-houses, approached Verdi
respecting the composition of three operas —
one every eight months, for the sum of ^134
for each opera, with an equal division of any
amount arising from the sale of the copyrights.

This contract came opportunely, for Verdi
was on the verge of appealing to his father-in-
law for a ^10 loan wherewith to pay rent
overdue for his modest apartment. Now,
Merelli was asked to make an advance, " on
account," but he would not. Weak and
dispirited after a long illness, Verdi was
greatly distressed at the thought of failing
to meet his rent. Here, however, came
man's blessed balm when desperate moments
face him — in the womanly unselfishness of a
brave wife. Seeing her husband's anxiety,
Sigfnora Verdi collected her trinkets, went
out and raised money upon them, bringing
it all to Verdi. " How she managed it,"
related Verdi afterwards, " I know not ; but

ALONE! ALONE! 33

such an act of affection went to my heart. I
resolved not to rest until I had got back
every article, and restored it to the dear
one.

Cloud and sunshine, these are the alter-
nating portions of the mortal's lot. No sooner
did Verdi begin to feel easier at the prospect
of earning some four hundred pounds by these
three operas than his home was suddenly
darkened. With the swiftness of a rushing
avalanche all that was brightest in his home
was swept away. Ere he could realise it, he
had lost his wife, son, and daughter. Verdi
tells the terrible story as only the sufferer
himself can. " My bambino (little boy) fell
ill early in April (1840), and the doctors failing
to discover the mischief, the poor little fellow
got weaker and weaker, and passed away
finally in the arms of his mother. She was
heart-broken. Immediately our little daughter
was seized with an illness which also terminated
fatally. This was not all. At the beginning
of June my dear wife was cast down with
brain fever, until, on the 19th, a third corpse
was borne from my house. Alone ! alone !
In a little over two months three coffins, all
that I loved and cherished most on earth,

D

34 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

were taken from me. I had no longer a
family ! "

Here was room for grief. What a situation
for one tied by an agreement to compose a
comic opera, the score of which was already
overdue ! It was impossible. Yet bills were
flowing in, and to meet these Verdi must,
despite all terrible anguish, fulfil his engage-
ment. He did. Among the libretti which
Merelli had submitted was one renamed Un
Giorno di Regno. This Verdi set to music.
It was produced at La Scala Theatre on the
5th September following his wife's death,
and was a failure. No wonder that Verdi
desponded, and begged of Merelli that he
would cancel the agreement, which he did,
tearing the document to pieces. Verdi's
resolute intention was never to compose
another note ! Ah ! By some force of fate
Verdi, many weeks afterwards, quite by
accident, stumbled across Merelli, and although
the composer was still obdurate, ere the two
parted a libretto by Solera was forced into
Verdi's coat-pocket, upon the chance, as
Merelli put it, of his looking at and being
tempted to set the book.

Strange to say, this " Nebuchadnezzar "

NABUCCO 35

libretto took hold of Verdi. Arriving home,
the composer tossed the manuscript on to the
table. It opened of itself at a truly felicitous
passage, ** Fly, O thought, on golden wings,"
which so interested Verdi that he read on.
Finally, the whole poem was in his mind, and
so disturbed his rest that he determined to
return the book next day to Merelli. The
impresario would not have it, and told him to
take the libretto away and keep it until he
/Could find the will to set it.

Nabucco was replete with beautiful passages,
which, one by one, were set by Verdi, until, in
the autumn of 1841, the entire opera was
finished. Two stipulations Verdi now insisted
upon. Signora Strepponi and Signor Ronconi
were to sing in Nabucco, and the work was to
be produced during the Carnival time. Merelli
declared he could not manage the scenery in
the time ; but Verdi would not hear of waiting
for new scenery, and consenting to risk the
production with whatever chance canvas the re-
sources of the theatre supplied, Nabucco found
its way into La Scala bills for the 1842 season.

The opera was given on 9th March, and
both Signora Strepponi and Signor Ronconi
sang in it.

36 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

"With this score," subsequently related
Verdi to Signor Giulio Ricordi, " my musical
career really began. With all impediments
and difficulties Nabucco was undoubtedly born
under a lucky star. All that might have been
against it proved in its favour. It is a wonder
that Merelli did not send me and my opera to
the devil, after the furious letter which I sent
him. The second-hand costumes, made to
look equal to new, were splendid, while the
old scenery, renovated by Perrani, might have
been painted for the occasion."

Nabucco took everybody by surprise. It
was a species of melodic vein and choral com-
bination that the Milanese dilettanti had never
before heard ; such instrumentation, too ; such
novel and impressive effects were not within
the memory of the oldest habitud of La Scala.
The Italians could not resist its peculiar
" carrying-along " power. The work was
unanimously declared the true ideal of what a
tragic musical drama should be. Little wonder
that during its rehearsals the workmen stopped
to listen to the music of the new piece. Many
years afterwards, in his success, Verdi referred
to this incident in sympathetic words : —

"Ah!" said Verdi, "the people have

WORKMEN APPLAUD 37

always been my best friends, from the very
beginning. It was a handful of carpenters
who gave me my first real assurance of
success."

I scented a story, and asked for details.

"It was after I had dragged on in poverty
and disappointment for a long time in Busseto,
and had been laughed at by all the publishers,
and shown to the door by all the impresarios.
I had lost all real confidence and courage, but
through sheer obstinacy I succeeded in getting
Nabucco — so the title of Nabticodonosor is
commonly contracted in Italy — rehearsed at
the Scala in Milan. The artistes were sing-
ing as badly as they knew how, and the
orchestra seemed bent only on drowning the
noise of the workmen who were busy making
alterations in the building. Presently the
chorus began to sing, as carelessly as before,
the 'Va, pensiero,' but before they had got
through half a dozen bars the theatre was as
still as a church. The men had left off their
work one by one, and there they were sitting
about on the ladders and scaffolding, listening !
When the number was finished, they broke
out into the noisiest applause I have ever
heard, crying ' Bravo, bravo, viva il maestro I '

38 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

and beating on the woodwork with their tools.
Then I knew what the future had in store for
me."^

Some idea of the novel character of the
Nabucco music may be gathered from the
discovery that the usual chorus of La Scala
was adjudged too small to give effect to it.
Merelli, apprised of this, would not hear of
increasing the staff because of the expense.
Then a friend volunteered the extra cost.
'• No, no ! " thundered in Verdi. " The
chorus rmist be increased. It is indispensable.
I will pay the extra singers myself." And he
did ! The success oi Nabucco was remarkable.
No such "first night" had marked La Scala
for many years, the occupants of the stalls
and pit rising to their feet out of sheer en-
thusiasm when they first heard the music.
" I hoped for a success," said Verdi ; " but
such a success — never ! "

The next day all Italy talked of Verdi.
Donizetti, whose melodious wealth had swayed
the Italians, as it subsequently did the English,
was among the astonished ones. He had
deferred a journey in order to hear Nabucco,

1 Dr. Villiers Stanford in 77/1? Daily Graphic, 14th January
1893.

N ABU ceo IN LONDON 39

and was so impressed by it, that nought but the
expressions ; " It's fine ! Uncommonly fine ! "
could be heard escaping his lips. With Nabucco
the impressionable Italians were agreeably
warned that a master-mind was amongst them.

Verdi sold the score of Nabucco to Ricordi
for 3000 Austrian liri, or ^102, of which, by
the terms of the contract, Merelli the impre-
sario was to share one half. He generously
returned Verdi 1000 liri.

In the year 1846 Nabucco was brought to
London. Mr. Benjamin Lumley elected to
open the season with it. Her Majesty's
theatre had been newly painted and embel-
lished, and all London was on the tiptoe of
excitement at the prospect of the inauguration
of the new salle. No more striking novelty
than Nabucco could have been selected,
perhaps, since the work had already become
popular on the Continent, and had in some
places created 2, furore. The English public,
it should be stated, already knew Verdi
through Ernajti, which opera, as the reader
will learn later on, had been performed in
London the previous year, and had startled
the susceptibilities of our critics. The object
in presenting this Nabucco by Verdi was

40 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

to afford the public an opportunity of a
further judgment upon the ear - arresting
composer of Ernani. In obedience to a
prevalent sentiment precluding the slightest
connection of a Biblical subject with stage
representation, Nabiicco had to be rechrist-
ened. It received the alias ''Nino, Re
d Assyria^' and was brought forward.

" In a popular sense," writes Mr. Lumley,
" the opera was a decided success ; the choral
melodies especially suiting the public taste.
The libretto, although faulty in many respects,
was dramatic, and afforded scope for fine
acting and artistic emotion. Nabiicco, in
short, floated on the sea of the Anglo-Italian
stage where, whilst one current was always
rushing towards novelty, another tended to
wreck all novelty whatever, in the interests of
so-called ' classicism.' Much had been done
to place the opera with splendour on the stage,
but though it pleased on the whole, no decided
success attended the venture of the two new
ladies. Sanchioli, wild, vehement, and some-
what coarse, attracted and excited by her
' power, spirit, and fire,' but she failed to
charm. As a 'declaiming, passionate vocalist'
she created an effect ; but the very qualities

Margherita Barezzi

NABUCCO ARTISTS 41

which had rendered her so popular with an
ItaHan audience, acted somewhat repulsively
upon English opera - goers. The lack of
refinement in her style was not, in their eyes,
redeemed by the merit of energy. The
electric impulse that communicated itself to
the Italians, fell comparatively powerless on
the British temperament. Sanchioli, however,
was in many respects the ' right woman in
the right place ' in this melodramatic opera.
The other lady. Mademoiselle Corbari, though
destined in after times to please greatly as an
altra-prima on the Anglo- Italian stage, and
though she was considered from the first
charming, even ' fascinating ' in her simpli-
city and grace, was not yet acknowledged as a
leading vocalist. The nervousness and inex-
perience of a novice, which she showed at that
stage of her career, somewhat lessened the
success due to a sweet voice and feeling style,
though the prayer allotted to her character
Fenena, was encored nightly. Fornasari
pleased those who remained of his old enthu-
siastic admirers, by his emphatic dramatic
action and vigorous declamation, and thus far
worked towards the success of Verdi's opera. "^

^ Reininisceiices of the Opera^ P- ^45 (Lumley).

42 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

The libretto of Nino or Nabucco is based
upon the history of the Assyrians and
Babylonians at the epoch when these two
nations were distinct. Ninus, the son of
Belus, the first Assyrian monarch, is en-
gaged in exterminating the Babylonians.
He profanes their temple, insults their faith,
and finally falls a victim to the vengeance
of Isis. He goes mad. His supposed
daughter, Abigail, obtains possession of the
kingdom, to the exclusion of his lawful
heiress, Fenena, who is about to be sacrificed
with the Babylonians, whose faith she has
embraced, when Ninus, repenting of his evil
deeds, recovers his reason in time to save her
from death, and the drama winds up with the
submission of the proud monarch and his
whole court to Isis.

" This opera," wrote a capable critic at the
time, " the first by which the young composer
achieved his exalted reputation, and which
has been received abroad with enthusiasm, is
a most remarkable work. It is characterised
by merits of the highest order. This is
shown in the splendid finale of the first act,
commencing with the charming terzettino
which has been for some time already a

NABUCCO CRITICISM 43

favourite with English dilettanti ; the canon
preceding the punishment of Nino, in the
second act ; the duet * Oh ! di qual onta '
between the latter and Abigail in the third
act, in which the voices are made to combine
in the most exquisite manner ; the charming
chorus, ' Va, pensiero,' flowing and plaintive ;
and the final prayer * Terribil hide,'
sung without instrumental accompaniment.
These morceaux require to be studied in
detail for their beauties to be fully appre-
ciated ; but they nevertheless produce, at
first hearing, an effect which pieces abound-
ing, as they do, in imagination and remark-
able excellence of construction, do not always
obtain. They are more highly characteristic.
The opening chorus, * Gli arredi festivi giu
cadoiio infranti' is severe and characteristic,
and altogether peculiar in its construction.
The first aria of Orotaspe is very remarkable
in point of composition. The first part of the
solo of Abigail, which is much admired, did
not produce at first hearing any deep impres-
sion on ourselves ; the second part is very
good, and characteristic of the vengeful
Amazon. The prayer for soprano at the end
of the opera, ' Oh, dischinso e il firniamento,'

44 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

is a charming little bit of melody. In fine, in
the music of the opera the composer has
shown himself possessed of all the legitimate
sources of success. It bears the stamp of
genius and deep thought, and its effect upon
the public proved that its merits were appre-
ciated." ^

This favourable view, however, was far
from being endorsed by all the leading critics
— inasmuch as it was with Nino that Verdi
experienced more of his early and remarkable
castigations in the English press.

Henry FothergillChorley, English musician,
art critic, novelist, verse writer, journalist,
dramatist, general writer, traveller, etc., was
musical critic of the AthencEum from 1833 to
1 87 1, a period which covers Verdi's career
down to the production oi A'lda, and it is fair
to assume, therefore, that the contributions,
signed and unsigned, which appeared in the
AthencBum were the views and expressions of
that gentleman — deceased. James William
Davison, English composer and writer (1813-
1885), was musical critic of The Times to the
day of his death, so that that gentleman, also
deceased, may be credited with the emanations

1 Illustrated London News, 14th March 1846.

ATHEN^UM ON NABUCCO 45

respecting Verdi and his doings which ap-
peared in its columns. Now, when Nabucco, in
its Anglicised form as Nino, was produced here,
the former critic wrote : " Our first hearing of
the Nino has done nothing to change our judg-
ment of the limited nature of Signor Verdi's
resources. . . . Signor Verdi is ' nothing if
not noisy,' and by perpetually putting his
energies in one and the same direction, tempts
us, out of contradiction, to long for the
sweetest piece of sickliness which Paisiello
put forth. . . . He has hitherto shown no
power as a melodist. Neither in Ernani
nor in / Lombardi, nor in the work intro-
duced on Tuesday [Nino) is there a single air
of which the ear will not lose hold. . . .
The composer's music becomes almost intoler-
able owing to his immoderate employment of
brass instruments, which, to be in any respect
sufferable, calls for great compensating force
and richness in the stringed quartette. . . .
How long Signor Verdi's reputation will last
seems to us very questionable." ^ Of these
remarks we would say that Verdi and his
reputation both live to-day !

It need hardly be pointed out that the

^ Athe?icEU7n^ 7th March 1846.

46 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

critical faculty in its perspicacity and highest
degree are wholly wanting in this criticism.
Verdi has shown himself to be a born melodist ;
his reputation for his melodies has been great
and world-wide, even those of such early
operas as Ernani and / Lombardi are still
with us — to wit, that lovely excerpt " Come
poteva 2in angelo " from the latter work ; while
the orchestral excessiveness charged to him,
thus early, was just the thing for which thirty
years later, when A'ida was produced, he
was by many musical minds declared to
be indebted to Wagner, and abused con-
sequently.

The Times criticism on Nino was less
despairing. " The melodies " (we were told)
" are not remarkable, but the rich instrument-
ation, and the effective massing of the voices
do not fail to produce their impression, and a
' run ' for some time may be confidently pre-
dicted." ^

Mr. Lumley revived Nino [Nabucco)
towards the close of his memorable and vicis-
situdinous management. It was during the
1857 season. Mademoiselle Spezia made a
decided mark in the part of Abigail, but the

1 The Times ^ 4th March 1846.

AN IDEAL WORK 47

object of interest was Signor Corsi, who
made his ddbut on the occasion.

" This celebrated singer," Mr. Lumley in-
forms us, " had acquired so high a reputation
in Italy as the legitimate successor to Georgio
Ronconi, in the execution of lyrical parts of
dramatic power, that the liveliest curiosity
was excited by his first appearance." ^ Signor
Corsi failed, however, to establish his claim to
public favour either as a singer or actor.
Curiously enough, this same season witnessed
the production of the work under the name of
Anato by the rival London opera company,
under Mr. Gye, at the Lyceum Theatre.

Nowadays we hear little of Nabucco. The
world can well afford to go on with one opera
the less, even though it be a good one ; but
fifty years have worked a vast change in
operatic values, and, although the revival of
Nabucco might not be called for now, it must
not be forgotten that, when it first appeared,
it was, as an able critic has put it, " almost
the only specimen the operatic stage has of
late years furnished of a true ideal of the
tragic drama." "

^ Reminiscences of tJie Opera, p. 416.

^ Musical Recollections of the last Half-Centu?y (1850
Season), May 31.

48 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

Much that Nabucco contained demonstrated
the fully - trained composer, the scientific
musician, and the able contrapuntist. The
splendid chorus ''Gli arredifestivi^' sung by all
the voices, and taken up by the basses alone ;
the charming chorus of virgins, '''Gran Nume,''
beginning pianissimo and swelling up to a
glorious burst of harmony ; and the grand
crescendo chorus Deli ! /' empri, these mani-
fested indisputable originality and learning.
Other notable numbers proved to be the
chorus " Lo vedesti^' and the " // maledetto non
ha fratellV movement; while the caiione for
five voices, " Suppressatt gi istanti^' the scena,
" O mia figlia'" (which Fornasari was wont to
render so feelingly), and the duet " Oh di qual
onta aggravesi," are remarkable examples of
characteristic musical composition, sure indi-
cations of greater artistic triumphs by their
author. Among the many orchestral points
of Nabucco, the harp accompaniment in the
Virgins' chorus, and the employment of the
brass instruments in the great crescendos are
particularly novel and effective. Little
wonder that such a work struck the keynote
to Verdi's future greatness.

CHAPTER IV

SUCCESS AND INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND

Verdi's position assured — Selected to compose an opera cT
obbligo— The. terms — / Lombardi alia Prima Crociata —
Its dramatis persoiice and argument- — Reception at La
Scala — A new triumph for Verdi — / Lombardi in London,
1846 — Ernani—V (i\\\\ca\. effect of Ernani — Official inter-
ference — Verdi first introduced into England — Mr.
Lumley's production oi Ernani 2X Her Majesty's Theatre
— The reception of the opera — Criticism on Ernani —
AthencBum and Ernani.

Now, at the age of twenty -nine years, was
Verdi's future practically assured. His ambi-
tion had been to produce an opera that would
win the applause of his countrymen. This
was attained sooner, perhaps, than Verdi
expected it. With this desire more than
fulfilled, the son of the obscure innkeeper
of Roncole was being talked of in the same
breath as the maestri Donizetti, Mercadante,
and Pacini. Would that his beloved wife
and children could have been with him to
have shared this success !

E

50 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

A great honour was now to be his. By the
vote of the La Scala Theatre direction, Verdi
was chosen to be the composer of the opera
dobbligo for the Carnival time — that new
opera which an impresario is bound, by the
terms of his agreement with the municipality,
to find and produce during each season.
Merelli conveyed the news to Verdi, tender-
ing him a blank agreement form and saying,
" Fill it up ; all that you require will be carried
out."

Verdi consulted Signora Giuseppina Strep-
poni, the young and attractive tragedienne
who had performed so admirably as Abigail
in Nabticco (she afterwards became Madame
Verdi). Her advice to the composer was to
"■ look out for himself," but to be reasonable,
suggesting similar terms to those paid to
Bellini for Norma. Verdi asked, therefore,
eight thousand Austrian liri (^272 sterling),
and the bargain was struck.

Within eleven months Verdi was on La
Scala boards with his fourth opera, a work
which deserves lengthy notice because of the
hold it has always had over English audiences.
Signor Solera had prepared what, from an
Italian point of view, was an excellent libretto,

/ LOMBARDI 51

based upon a poem by Grossi, covering the
epoch of the First Crusade. The dramatis
personcE of / Lombardi alia Prima Crociata
ran :

Pagano, Arvino, sons of PhoHo, the Prince
of Rhodes; Viclinda, wife of Arvino; Griselda,
daughter of Arvino ; Acciano, tyrant of An-
tioch ; Sofia, his wife ; Oronte, his son ; Prior
of the city of Milan ; Pirro, armour-bearer to
Arvino; monks, priors, people, armour-bearers,
Persian ambassadors, Medes, Damascenes,
and Chaldeans, warriors, crusaders, ladies of
the harem, and pilgrims.

The scene of the first act is laid in Milan ;
the second in and near Antioch ; the third
and fourth near Jerusalem.

Briefly, its story or argument is this.
Pagano and Arvino are the sons of one of
the Lombard conquerors of Rhodes. Pagano,
deeply enamoured with Viclinda, and enraged
at her preference for his brother, attacked,
wounded him, and then fled his country. As
the curtain rises, the monks and the people
are seen assembled before the Church of
Ambrose, in the island of Rhodes, to cele-
brate the return of the pardoned culprit. He
arrives, and his injured brother cordially for-

52 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

gives and embraces him. But in the heart of
the latter the same unquenchable feelings still
rankle. He once more meditates the destruc-
tion of his brother and the possession of his
sister-in-law. At night he invades, with an
armed band, his abode ; but in the dark he
mistakes his victim, and kills his own father
instead of his brother. Remorse takes posses-
sion of his heart, and he flies to a wilderness
in Palestine to expiate his crime, and under
the garb of a hermit he acquires a great
reputation for sanctity. Years of repentance
have elapsed ; it is the moment when all
Christian knights and princes have been
summoned to the First Crusade, and Arvino
and his followers have landed in Palestine,
obedient to the call of Peter the Hermit.
Here he soon hies to the holy recluse
(Pagano) in his mountain retreat, seeking
from the hermit counsel and consolation in
his sorrows, for the Saracen chief of Antioch,
in the conflict, has carried away his daughter.
Pagano, concealed by his garb, promises a
termination to his brother's sorrows which he
knows he can effect ; for Pirro, formerly his
squire and confidant, now a repentant rene-
gade, has promised to yield Antioch, where

/ LOMBARDI LIBRETTO 53

he holds a command, to the Christian bands.
In that city Griselda is immured ; she is in
the harem of Oronte, but protected by his
mother, Sofia (secretly a Christian), and
passionately loved by her son, who, under
the double influence of love and conviction,
determines to become a convert to her faith.
Griselda forgets her Christian friends, and
listens but too fondly to the vows of her
Saracen lover ; but Antioch is betra^^ed to the
Christians, led by Arvino and Pagano ; all the
Saracens are put to death ; and Griselda, by her
lamentations over the fate of her true lover,
brings down on her head the wrath of her
father. In the retreat where she has taken
refuge from his anger, her lover, Oronte, who
has escaped from his enemies, reappears in the
disguise of a Lombard, The lovers fly to-
gether, but being pursued by the Christians,
Oronte receives a fatal wound ; Pagano comes
and takes him to his cell, and there the Saracen
prince dies a Christian convert ; whilst Griselda
in her despair, through divine interposition, is
consoled by a vision of Paradise. Pagano,
who has become the guardian spirit of his
injured brother, accompanies him to the siege
of Jerusalem, and is wounded to death in de-

54 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

fending him. As he dies, he removes his
cowl and reveals his name. His death forms
the final catastrophe of the opera.

On the iith February 1843, crowds were
flocking to the Milan Theatre to hear /
Lombardi — the new opera by the composer
who had driven the remembrance of Bellini,
Donizetti, and Rossini from the heads of the
Milanese. Unusual interest was aroused
because the authorities, suspecting political
suggestions, had sought to stop the repre-
sentation of the opera. The people even
brought their provisions with them, and when
the moment for the performance came, a
frightful odour of garlic pervaded the theatre !
The patriotic subject pleased everybody, and
the rendering had not proceeded far before
undoubted expressions of approval issued from
all parts of the house. The feverish audience
detected readily exact analogies to their own
political circumstances. Verdi, "saviour of
his country," as some would have it, had kept
up the sentiment of the Nabucco music — a
sentiment which had an unmistakable revolu-
tionary flavour and ring, soon to be mightily
emphasized — and the issue was never in doubt.
Soloists, chorus, and orchestra quickly had

PATRIOTIC MUSIC 55

their feelings echoed by the Milanese public
at large.

Another triumph. Moved by the stirring
music and the unstinted exertions of the
principal singers, Signora Frezzolini and
Signori Guasco and Derivis, the auditors
were so overcome that they re-demanded
number after number. The clamouring for
the quintet was such that the police inter-
fered and would not suffer it to be repeated ;
then the chorus, "O Signore dal tetto natio,'[
in the fourth act brought the listeners
once more to their feet ; nor would they be
appeased until they had heard it three
times.

If only for its fortuitous association with
the awakening of Lombardo - Venetia to a
sense of national unity and independence,
this opera must always be interesting. But
/ Lombardi abounds in vocal treasures, and
contains some of Verdi's best early work.
Take, for instance, the lovely tenor cavatina
''La niia letizia infondere,'' and the cabaletta
" Come poteva un angelo," which Oronte
sings in scene 2 of the second act, and
which Signor Gardoni used to render with
much charm and beauty of voice. Little

56 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

wonder that such melodies and music pre-
disposed the Italians towards the new young
musician.

/ Lombardi was certainly an advance upon
Nabucco. Apart from its political associations,
it contained vocal and instrumental attractions
which the public were justified in expecting
from the composer of Nabucco. It met with
a succ^s cHestime only on its production in
London, but this had more to do with party
feeling in operatic matters at the time than
with the actual merits of the work. The new
and striking properties which distinguished
Nabucco were still more marked in / Lovt-
bardi — so much so, indeed, that it has sur-
vived many operas and can be listened to
with pleasure to-day.

In the 1846 season — Tuesday the 12th
March — Mr. Lumley gave the subscribers
of Her Majesty's Theatre / Lombai'di,
with the artists Grisi, Mario, and Fornasari,
and scenery and dresses which at the time
were considered unsurpassed. It was the
first performance of Verdi's new opera in
this country.

" Here was again a success ! " writes Mr.
Lumley ; " nay, a great and noisy success —

/ LOMBARDI IN LONDON 57

but yet a doubtful one. After the compara-
tive unanimity with which Nabucco had been
received, it seemed necessary for the forces
of the opposition to recommence the attack
against a school which now threatened to
make its way with the town. Party spirit
on the subject was again rife. Whilst, by
the anti-Verdians, / Lombardi was declared
to be flimsy, trashy, worthless, the Verdi
party, and the adherents of the modern
Italian school, pronounced it to be full of
power, vigour, and originality. The one
portion asserted that it was utterly devoid
of melody — the other, that it was replete with
melody of the most charming kind ; the one
again insisted that it was the worst work of
the aspirant — the other, that it was the young
composer's chef dceuvre. And in the midst
of this conflict — so analogous to the old feud
between the parties of Gluck and Piccini —
public opinion, as usual, seemed undecided
and wavering, uttering its old formula of,
"Well, I don't know." The music, too, was
weighed down by a rambling, ill-constructed,
uninteresting libretto ; and it is really difficult,
under such conditions, to sunder the merit of
the musical "setting" from the merit of the

58 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

text. / Lombardi, however, was played fre-
quently, and to crowded houses."^

/ Lombardi speedily travelled over Europe.
As we have seen, it soon reached England,
and having been adapted for the French stage,
it was produced on the 26th November 1847
at the Grand Opera of Paris under the title of
Jerusalem. In its new garb, it was a failure,
despite splendid singing and effective scenery.
What a farcical proceeding, then, to attempt to
foist this version upon the Italians under the
name oi Jerusalemme !

It is not surprising that Verdi was now
sought after by inipresarii and managers, ever
on the outlook for talent and a work that may
restore the too often distorted fortunes of a
theatre. More than one European manager
was beseeching him ; but eventually the man-
agement of the Fenice theatre secured Verdi's
next opera. This proved to be Ernani, pro-
duced on the 9th March 1844. Verdi chose
his own subject, and entrusted Victor Hugo's
drama to Piave, who subsequently became
the composer's permanent librettist. The
result was a tolerably good book, which Verdi
set in happy vein. Its first night decided its

^ Reminiscences of the Opera, p. 148.

ERNANI 59

fate. Ernani was received with unstinted
admiration and approval. The artists who
created the parts were Signora Loewe (Elvira),
who quarrelled with Verdi about her part ;
Signor Guasco (Ernani) ; and Signor Selva
(Silva), the latter a singer whom the noble who
owned the Fenice thought unworthy to appear
on his boards, despite Verdi's recommendation,
because he had been singing at a second-rate
theatre !

During the nine months following the first
performance of Ernani, it was produced on
no less than fifteen different stages.

One or two episodes — amusing, if vexatious
— attended its production. The police got
wind of some exciting element in the opera,
and stepped in at the last minute, objecting to
several numbers, and refusing to allow a sham
conspiracy to be enacted on the stage. Verdi
had to give way and face the additional work
and trouble ; yet, after all, the Venetians got
political capital out of the work, and when the
spirited chorus, ''Si ridesti il Leon di Castiglia,''
burst forth, their patriotic feelings overcame
them. Another incident had to do with
artistic principle. In the last act Silva had to
blow upon the horn ; but a susceptible aristo-

6o VERDI : MAN AND MUSICL\N

crat could not bear the idea, and remonstrated
with the composer, urging that it would
desecrate the theatre !

Ernani, as we have remarked, was the
work by which Verdi was first introduced to
the British public ; and it is, therefore, of
especial interest to English readers. It in-
volved a dispute among musical people such
as has only been equalled by the famous
Gluck and Piccini feud (1776) just referred to,
or that great controversy engendered by
Wagner's music and doctrines, the wrangle
that gave us the term " music of the future,"
that spiteful innuendo which the enemies of the
master invented to indicate the fit location of
his music, and which epithet Wagner himself
adopted as exactly describing an art and teach-
ings which a debilitated and distempered age
was too feeble to understand.

No one was more concerned in this musical
stir than the zealous and assiduous Mr.
Lumley, who had his heart and fortune in the
affairs of the opera - house, Her Majesty's
Theatre : —

Industrious importer ! who dost bring
Legs that can dance, and voices that can sing,
From ev'rywhere you possibly can catch 'em ;
Let others try, they never yet could match 'em.

FIRST ENGLISH HEARING 6i

The stumbling-blocks were the bigoted
lovers of the old school, who, dissatisfied with
all that had been given them, were, like that
hero in fiction, always clamouring for "more,"
which, when obtained, they always pronounced
unsatisfactory. " The season," states Mr.
Lumley, " was announced to open with the
Ernani of Verdi, a composer as yet unknown
to the mass of the musical English public.
But he had been crowned triumphantly, and
had achieved the most signal successes in
Italy. Ernani was generally pronounced, at
that period, one of the best, if not the best, of
his many applauded operas. It would have
been strange if the announcement of the first
production of one of Verdi's works upon the
Anglo- Italian stage had failed to excite the
attention and interest of the musical world.
At all events, it was the duty, as well as the
policy, of the management to bring forward
the greatest novelty of the day. Novelty
sure to be called for with indignant re-
monstrance if not laid before the sub-
scribers, however it might be scouted (ac-
cording to custom) when it did make its
appearance.

"After some unavoidable delay, the season

62 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

opened on the 8th March (1845) with the
promised opera of Ernani. That it excited
the general enthusiasm awarded to it so lavishly
in Italy cannot be asserted ; that it was a
failure may be emphatically denied. The
general result of this first introduction of
Verdi to the English public was a feeling of
hesitation and doubt ; or, as some one drolly
said at the time, the ' Well, I don't know's '
had it ! The English are tardy in the apprecia-
tion of any kind of novelty, and the reception
of Verdi's opera was only in accordance with
the national habit. It is well known that a
taste for this composer's music has survived
all the opposition of an earlier period, and that
he is now generally popular among the musical
amateurs in this country. Whatever their
intrinsic merits, his operas have achieved a
widely-spread success, as provincial theatres
and music - halls can testify throughout the
land ; and there can be no doubt that, what-
ever his alleged shortcomings in some respects,
he has at command passion, fire, and strong
dramatic effect.

" On the first production, then, of Er-
nani, the public seemed as yet unprepared to
eive a verdict of its own as to the merits of

o

ERNANI CRITICISM 63

the young composer, now first placed in Eng-
land on his trial." ^

The principal singers at this first represen-
tation in England were — Madame Rita Borio,
prima donna; Moriani, the tenor; Signor
Botelli, baritone ; and Fornasari, as the old
Castillian noble. The audience, if not the
critics, were delighted with the work. The
characters so musically individualised, the new
and attractive orchestration, the motivi dis-
tinguishing the singer, the perfect ensemble,
the well-proportioned whole opera — all these
thoroughly Verdinian characteristics were
seized upon and admired. " Encore followed
encore from the rising of the curtain. . . .
Solos, duets, and trios were applauded with
equal fervour, but the concerted pieces created
the most surprise and admiration. . , , The
ensembles possess a novelty and an impassioned
fervour unprecedented." ^

In a retrospect of the season's opera, a
talented critic wrote of E^'-nani as follows : —
"We were then introduced to a composer
engaging in Italy surprising popularity, one
whose works have been brought out at almost

o

^ Retniniscences of the Opera, p. 103.
- Illustrated London News, 15th March 1845.

64 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

all the great continental theatres, whose pro-
ductions in his native country met with the
most enthusiastic admiration — Verdi. It can-
not, therefore, be wondered at that the pre-
sent able management of Her Majesty's
Theatre should have fixed upon the works of
this composer to bring before the English
public. Ernani did full justice to its brilliant
reputation. It presents the real type of
the lyrical tragedy, where feeling finds its
appropriate expression in music. Musical
judges allotted to it the palm of sterling
merit, but the leaning of public taste was
against the probabilities of its obtaining
here the high favour it has elsewhere en-
joyed.

" The meritricious sentimental style of the
modern school to which, of late years, we have
become so accustomed was a bad preparation
for the full appreciation of such work as this.
Ernani, however, at first only half understood,
gradually worked its way into the public
favour, and was given a greater number of
times than any opera of the season ; finally, it
might be pronounced completely successful ;
but yet, on the whole, the result of the pro-
duction of this opera was not such as to

ENGLISH AUDIENCES 65

encourage the management to substitute an-
other work of this composer, / Lonibardi, for
more estabhshed favourites. We are sorry
for this ; we grieve to see in the EngHsh
musical pubHc so Httle encouragement for
novelty in art, and an unwilHngness to patron-
ise works which have not received the some-
times questionable fiat of approbation from
the audiences of former seasons, not a whit
more infallible than the present. English
audiences will rarely judge for themselves in
matters of art. They wail that Fashion
should have openly set her seal on works
which should claim a fair and unbiassed
judgment.

" At present Verdi is the only composer of
real and sterling merit in that land of song
(Italy) ; for though Rossini still lives, his pen
is idle, or only occasionally employed on short
compositions of a totally different nature from
those with which he has for years delighted
the world. . . . Donizetti, his successor, is
silent. Should Ernani or any other work
of this young composer be brought forward
next year (1846), its success will probably be
far more decided ; for attention has become
awakened on this point, and a purer musical

F

66 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

taste is gradually forming in England, as else-
where." ^

Ernani was brought forward in the follow-
ing year, when one among the few critics
not antagonistic towards Verdi wrote as
follows : —

"It was with much pleasure that we heard
Ernani again. This opera is of that stamp
which constantly gains upon the mind. The
two finales of the first and second acts are
chef d'ceuv res of composition. When the ear
has become sufficiently accustomed to their
sounds to follow the varied melodies introduced
to them with such wonderful skill, the effect
is indescribable. The sensations called forth
by such music as this, when listened to with
unswerving attention, are far more profound,
though of a different nature, than those elicited
by the hearing of the most pleasing melody.
Combinations of the human voice and of in-
struments must always, if skilfully managed,
produce a powerful effect, and this is especially
the case with these V^o finales, in which every
bar has a meaning, and in which consequently,
at each hearing, some fresh beauty is revealed.
. . . The duet between Ernani and Elvira,

^ Illustrated London News, 23rd August 1845.

ATHEN^UM ON ERNANI 6;

the trio at the end of the opera, and the aria
' Ernani involamV are also deserving of much
admiration."^

Ernani was conceived in much the same
vein as Nabucco and / Loinbardi. It was on
the continental Italian opera lines, as seen in
the operas of his countrymen before him. The
personality of Verdi was somewhat more em-
phatic, but the national model had not been
left either in form or in expression. " Full of
plagiarisms as was every number of that
opera," records one of the divided, distracted
critics, " it took more or less with the public
because of the large amount of tune with which
it abounded, whilst the constant succession
of passage after passage in unison excited
some degree of curiosity on account of its
novelty."^

Undoubtedly Ernani was an advance upon
Nabucco 2j\di.I Lombardi. In 1848 this opera
came again under the notice of the censor of
the AthencBtijn, but it did not tend to alter
his views respecting Verdi musically.

"It is not many years," we read, "since

^ Illustrated London News, 21st March 1846.
2 Musical Recollectiotts of the Last Half-Century, vol. ii.
p. 162.

68 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Signer Verdi was in this country, among the
myriad strangers who are attracted by the
'season,' struggle vainly for a hearing, and
retire unnoticed. . . . For new melody we
have searched in vain ; nor have we even
found any varieties of form, indicating an
original fancy at work as characteristically as
in one of Pacini's or Mercadante's or Donizetti's
better cavatinas. All seems worn and hack-
neyed and unmeaning. . . . ' Ernani! Ernani!
involami,' is a song of executive pretension,
written apparently for one of those mezzo-
soprano voices of extensive compass which
poor Malibran brought into fashion. There
is a good deal of what may be called pompous
assurance, both in the andantino, and in the
final movement, and an accomplished singer
could doubtless work an encore with it. Signor
Verdi's concerted music strikes us as a
shade worthier and more individual than his
songs. . . . We cannot conclude these brief
remarks, incomplete for obvious reasons, as
a judgment, without saying that flimsy as we
fancy Signor Verdi's science, and devoid as
he seems to be of that fresh and sweet melody,
which we shall never cease to relish and
welcome, there is a certain aspiration in his

A. ADAM ON ERNANI 69

works which deserves recognition, and may
lead him to produce compositions which will
command success."^

This could hardly be styled encouraging
criticism on a work which had, and has since
been received with the greatest success
throughout Italy, in Paris, and in London,
and which has enjoyed a legitimate and fairly
enduring popularity, remembering always how
changeable a thing opera at its best is.
Adolphe Adam, writing o{ Ernani in Paris, has
said, " Of all the operas of Verdi represented in
Paris, Ernani is the one which has obtained
the most success. I cannot say why, for I
am quite as fond of the others, and I do not
think this success is to be attributed especially
to the excellent execution it has received."-
The obvious and only conclusion being that
the music itself was the true operating force.

^ AthejtcEUtn, 26th February 1848.
- The Life and Works of Verdi (Pougin — Matthew), p. 169.

CHAPTER V

FIRST PERIOD WORKS

I Due Foscari — Its argument — Failure of the opera in Rome,
Paris, and London — Giovaiitia d'' Arco — A moderate
success — Alzira — Attila — More political enthusiasm —
Attila given at Her Majesty's Theatre by Mr. Lumley —
Its cool reception — The Titnes and Athencsuin critics on
Attila — Exceptional activity of Verdi — Macbeth —
Jerusalem in Paris — / Masnadieri first given at Her
Majesty's Theatre — Jenny Lind in its caste — Plot of the
opera — The work a failure everywhere — The critics on
/ Masnadieri — Mr. Lumley offers Verdi the conductor-
ship at Her Majesty's Theatre — // Corsaro — La Battaglia
di Legnano — Luisa Miller — Mr. Chorley on Luisa Miller
— Its libretto — Reception of the work in Naples, London,
and Paris.

/ Due Foscari was Verdi's next opera. His
collaborateur Piave had a libretto well seasoned
with that sensational element characteristic
of the Italian dramatic lyric stage. . Here is
its story : —

In 1423 Francisco Foscari was raised to
the ducal chair of Venice, notwithstanding
the opposition of Peter Lorredano. The
latter constantly opposed him in the Council,

I DUE FOSCARI 71

and that in such a manner, that on one
occasion Foscari, irritated, exclaimed, '* He
could not believe he was really Doge so long
as Peter Lorredano lived." By a fatal
coincidence, a few months afterwards, Peter
and his brother Mark died suddenly, and
public report said they had been poisoned.
James Lorredano, Peter's brother, believed
the tale, and sculptured the names of the
Foscari on their tomb, and inserted them in
his ledger as his debtors for two lives —
waiting with the greatest sang-froid for the
moment when he should be enabled to make
them pay. The Doge had four sons ; three
died, and Jacopo the fourth, husband to
Lucretia Contarini, being accused of receiving
presents from foreign princes, was imprisoned
according to the laws of Venice, first at
Naples in Romania, and afterwards at
Treviso. It happened in the meantime that
Ermolaus Donato, chief of the Council of Ten,
who had condemned Jacopo, was assassinated
on the night of the 5th November 1450, on
his return to his palace, from a sitting of the
Council. As Olivia, Jacopo's servant, had been
seen at Venice a few days previously, and on
the very day after the crime had been com-

72 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

mitted he had pubHcly mentioned it at the
Mestra boat, suspicion fell on the Foscari.
The master of the boat and Jacopo's servant
were immediately carried to Venice, where
they were put to the torture, but in vain ;
they were then banished for life to Candia.
For five years in succession had Jacopo sought
for his pardon without obtaining it, and, un-
able longer to live without revisiting his
beloved country, he wrote to the Duke of
Milan, Francisco Sforza, begging of him to
intercede with the Council on his behalf. The
letter fell into the hands of the Ten ; and
Jacopo, being taken to Venice and tortured,
confessed that he had written it with the sole
desire of revisiting his country, at the risk of
being sent back to prison. He was condemned
to remain for life in Candia, to be closely con-
fined for the first year, and threatened with
death if he wrote any more letters of the same
description. The unfortunate octogenarian
Doge, who had conducted himself with Roman
fortitude at the judgment and torturing of his
son, was allowed to see him in private before
his departure, to advise him to be obedient
and resigned to the will of the Republic. In
the meantime Nicolo Errizo, a Venetian noble-

FOSCARI LIBRETTO 73

man, died, and on his death-bed acknowledged
himself the murderer of Donate. He wished
his confession to be published to exculpate
Jacopo Foscari, Several of the principal
senators had previously felt disposed to plead
for his pardon, but unhappily, while this was
taking place, he breathed his last in his
Candian prison.

The miserable father lived in solitude with
a heart full of sorrow ; he was seldom seen at
the Council. Jacopo Lorredano, in the year
1457, was raised to the dignity of Decemvir,
and believing that his hour of vengeance had
arrived, carried on his plots so secretly that
the Doge was forced at last to abdicate his
ducal chair. Twice in the course of the time
he held the office Foscari had wished to resien
it, but so disinclined were they to yield to his
wishes that they obliged him to swear that he
would die in the exercise of his power.

Notwithstanding this, he was compelled to
leave the ducal palace, and returned, as a simple
individual, to his private residence, refusing a
large pension offered to him from the public
purse.

The 31st October 1457, while listening to
the sound of the bells announcing the election

74 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

of his successor, Pascal Malpiero, he was so
violently affected that he expired. He was
buried with as great splendour as if he had
died a Doge, while Malpiero was attired
merely in the simple dress of a senator. It
is said that Jacopo Lorredano, when this took
place, wrote in his ledger opposite the words
we have already mentioned the following
sentence — " The Foscari have paid 7ne ! "

Out of this argument was evolved a serious
opera in four acts, which was produced at the
Argentine Theatre at Rome on the 3rd Nov-
ember 1844. It proved a complete failure.
Though composed immediately after E7^nani,
it possessed little of the spontaneity and fresh-
ness of that work ; so little that the Romans
were astounded, and stayed away from the
theatre.

In 1846 the work was given in Paris, when
Signori Mario and Coletti, with Madame Grisi,
sought to establish the opera ; but the work
would never "go."

The year following Mr. Lumley introduced
it at Her Majesty's Theatre for the opening
night of the season. " The opera given for
the first time in this country, the Due
Foscari of Verdi, and the singer, Madame

GIOVANNA U ARCO 7$

Montenegro, a Spanish lady of good family,
with a clear soprano voice of some compass,
and an attractive person, pleased, without
exciting any marked sensation. Coletti, in
the character of the Doge, one of his most
famous parts, was, by general accord, pro-
nounced to be an admirable, not to say a
great, artist ; while Fraschini, by his energy
and power, contributed to the effect of the
ensemble r ^

Yet again was the work a failure. The
English operatic public, however, did not want
a new opera just then. What it sorely needed
was Jenny Lind !

Giovanna d'Arco, produced at La Scala
Theatre, Milan, on the 15th February 1845,
and in which Erminia Frezzolini appeared,
"in all the brilliancy of her radiant youth, of
her patrician beauty, of her incomparable
voice, and of her marvellous talent,"^ followed
I Due Foscari. It was a temporary success,
owing to the admirable exertions of the
Tuscan cantatrice, whose personal and musi-
cal charms considerably aided the exalted
part of the heroine. She inspired not a

^ Reininisce7ices of the Opera, p. 180.
2 The Life and Works of Verdi (Pougin— Matthew), p. 92.

76 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

little fervour, something akin probably to
that remarkable enthusiasm prompted by the
woman-soldier of France, whose imperishable
doings saved the throne of Charles VII.

The opera contained several fine numbers,
but although the Milanese received it kindly,
nay, went out of their way to fete its com-
poser, it never really "took." Some of
Verdi's best writing is to be found m Joan of
Arc, yet it was not born under a lucky star.
Its overture was rescued, and this Verdi
(Handel-like) affixed to his operas Les Vepres
Siciliennes and Aroldo.

Alzira, produced with indifferent success-
at the San Carlo Theatre at Naples on the
1 2th August 1845, succeeded Giovanna
dArco, and then came Attila. This was
Verdi's most successful work since Ernajti.
The management of the Fenice had bar-
gained with Verdi for another opera, and
Attila was the result.

The scene of the opera is placed principally
at Aquileja, a Roman colony on the Adriatic,
which from its grandeur was honoured by the
ancients by the appellation of "RomaSecunda."
Attila, having overcome and desolated this
great city, amidst his rejoicings is surprised by

ATTILA LIBRETTO 77

a band of Aquilejan virgins led by Odabella,
daughter of the Lord of Aquileja, who has
been killed in the battle. She defies Attila,
who, struck by her beauty, asks what boon
he can bestow upon her. She claims his sword,
intending to avenge her father's death — to
behave, in fact, as Judith did to Holofernes.
But she falters, and returns to the barbarian
camp, the object of Attila's admiration. Her
lover, Foresto, and Ezio, the leader of the
defeated Romans, reappear, and plan the
poisoning of Attila, for which purpose the
services of Odabella are sought. She, how-
ever, has consented to share Attila's throne,
but hardly are the nuptial rites celebrated than
she is upbraided by Foresto and Ezio. Then
a revulsion of feeling overcomes her ; she
thinks of her father, her lover, and her country,
and in a fit of despairing anger she stabs
Attila to the heart.

Poet Solera supplied the libretto, and when,
on 17th March 1846, an expectant audience
thronged every part of the theatre, it was to
listen to the unfolding of an excellent work.
The warmth of its reception surpassed that
accorded to Nadtccco, and again was political
fire aroused within the Venetians.

78 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

The opera soon went the round of the
Italian stages, and two years later (1848)
Attila was brought to London. Mr. Lumley
at Her Majesty's Theatre was straining every
nerve to provide attractions that would interest
his critical (also let it be added, hypercritical)
subscribers, and counteract the opposition
from the rival "Royal Italian Opera" enter-
prise at Covent Garden Theatre. For his
ante-Easter season he paraded Attila — " the
opera" as he says, "in which I had first
heard and been charmed with the rich voice
and dramatic qualities of Sophie Cruvelli at
Padua. This was, in fact, the opera in which
she first appeared upon any stage. None,
perhaps, of Verdi's works had kindled more
enthusiasm in Italy or crowned the fortunate
composer with more abundant laurels than his
Attila. Its fame was great in the native
land of the composer. In catering for novelty,
therefore, the director of Her Majesty's
Theatre must be held to have done well in
producing a work of so great repute, and in
placing before his subscribers the leading
opera of the day upon the Italian stage. To
prove with what good will this was done, the
opera had been ' mounted ' with great scenic

ATTILA IN LONDON 79

splendour, and with every * appliance ' likely
to produce effect. Attila was produced
on Tuesday the 14th March. Cruvelli sang
'con fuoco' Her fine, fresh, ringing voice
'told.' Beletti displayed unusual histrionic
talent, besides all that steadiness and excellence
of ' school ' which helped to earn him his
reputation in this country. Gardoni was in
the cast, whilst Cuzzani accepted a second
tenor part. On every side were zeal, talent,
and good-will employed successfully to execute
a work which many cities of Italy had pro-
nounced to be Verdi's masterpiece. But
although Verdi had already commenced to
make his way to English favour, and this by
means of that vigour and dramatic fire which
unquestionably belonged to him, the public
displayed an unwonted unanimity of sulkiness
upon the production of Attila. They would
have 'none of it.' Consequently Attila
proved a failure. Music and libretto dis-
pleased alike." ^

" This is one of Verdi's more recent
operas," wrote a critic, "and met in Italy with
the success which works of his (almost the
only composer of eminence left to that land

1 Remmiscences of the Opera (Lumley), p. 214.

8o VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

of music) are sure to command. The work
itself possesses the beauties and defects pecu-
liar to Verdi — a certain grandeur of concep-
tion and power of dramatic effect is even
more striking here than in many other of the
maestro s compositions. There is a warmth,
spirit, and energy in the music which carries
away the listener, which excites and inspires ;
at the same time there is a want of softness
and repose which is, in this opera, more than
usually perceptible. The too frequent use of
the drums and the brass instruments is the
great fault we have to find in this work."^

The Attila music was as horrible to the
senses of the AthencEinn critic as was that of
Nino. "As for the music," we are informed,
" were we to carry out and apply Charles
Lamb's principle of being ' modest for a
modest man,' the fit review thereof would be
a charivari. The force of noise can hardly
further go ; unless we are to resort to the
device of Sarti's cannon, fired to time his
Russian ' Te Deum ' on the taking of Ocsakow,
or imitate the anvil chorus which Spontini, we
have heard, introduced in one of his operas.
It is something to have touched the limits of

^ Illustrated London Nezvs, i8th March 1848.

ATTILA CRITICISM 8i

the outrageous style ; but this, we think, we
have now done, unless the more recent
Alzira and Macbeth of the composer contain
double parts for the ophicleides or like extra
seasonings. . . . The melodies are old and
unlovely to a degree which is almost imperti-
nent, and / Masnadieri itself was not more
devoid of the discourse which enchants the
ear than this Gothic opera. May we never
hear its like again." ^

Again we find The Times less "sweeping"
respecting Attila, albeit not detecting pro-
mise of that grand future which was before
Verdi, and which his great genius, his own
unaided efforts — amid such remorseless criti-
cal opposition — have enabled him to attain.

" Less excelling in melody than any Italian
composer of name," we read of Verdi, " he
has always chosen to rely rather on the effect
of the ensemble than on the isolated displays
of the principal singers. His love of ensemble
is, however, not attended by any great contra-
puntal knowledge. The effects that he pro-
duces rather arise from an increase of the
mass of sound than from skilful harmonious
combination. . . . That the arias, duets, etc.,

^ AthencEwn^ i8th March 1848.
G

82 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

should be commonplaces, mere repetitions of
Donizetti and Bellini and Verdi himself, was
naturally to be anticipated, as he is rarely
strons: in such niorcemix. But there is a want
of dramatic colouring, even in his ensemble ;
and for the most part we discern little appre-
hension of character, and little regard to the
peculiarities of situation." ^

In the light of subsequent events such
criticism is not perspicuous. If Verdi had
no " contrapuntal knowledge " and " lacked
dramatic colouring" power at the age of
thirty-two, after learning his art, when and
where did he acquire all that tremendous
wealth in these departments as seen in Ai'da,
Otello, and Falstaff, and even in earlier
operas ? Is it not probable that Verdi knew
more about the matter than the critics, and
understood better than they what the public
wanted, what it could swallow, and composed
accordingly ? Was the musical taste in this
country such, for instance, fifty years ago,
that opera -frequenters would have relished
even Otello ? Verdi was probably right in
giving a sick patient a pill, not a horse-ball.

In 1847 a spell of unusual industry

1 The Ti?nes, 15th March 1848.

MACBETH 83

overtook Verdi. Opera after opera came
with remarkable rapidity. Macbeth was
produced at Florence in March 1847, and
immediately proved a success. It was Verdi's
first effort with a Shakesperian subject. The
Florentines were unanimous in their approval
of the music, the interpretation of which was
considerably aided by an admirable Lady
Macbeth — Signora Barbieri-Nini. The score
was taken to Milan, and pleased so much that
the Milanese, among other doings, represented
Verdi practically as having crushed all other
Italian composers ; while poor Rossini in
particular was, dragon-like, under the foot of
his great rival ! Subsequently, the work was
given in Venice, where it met with a reception
which Verdi himself could scarcely have
expected. It was just before the Revolution
of 1848, and when Palma, as Macduff, sang

the air : —

" La Patria tradita
Piangendo c" invita " ;

it so excited the Venetians that they joined in
to the full of their voices and showed such
other manifestations of uncontrollable feelings,
that not only the police, but the military had
to be called in.

84 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

The composer was now due with an opera
for Mr. Lumley ; a work to be written
expressly for England, and / Masnadieri
was the result. That persevering and to-be-
pitied iiiipresario s version of the affair runs
thus : —

** Of the expected new operas to be pro-
duced on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre,
that of Verdi alone remained available. For
many years I had been in correspondence
with the young Italian composer, for the
purpose of obtaining from him a work
destined for the London boards. An opera
on the subject of " King Lear " had already
been promised by Verdi, the principal part
being intended for Signor Lablache. But,
on that occasion, the serious illness of the
composer had prevented the execution of the
desiofn. Verdi now offered his / Masnadieri,
composed upon the subject of Schiller's well-
known play, Die Railber, and with this pro-
posal I was obliged to close. On Thursday,
2nd July 1847, ^ Masnadieri (after wearying
rehearsals, conducted by the composer him-
self), was brought out, with a cast that
included Lablache, Gardoni, Colletti, Bouche,
and, above all, Jenny Lind, who was to

/ MASNADIERI 85

appear for the second time only in her career,
in a thoroughly original part composed ex-
pressly for her. The house was filled to
overflowing on the night of the first repre-
sentation. The opera was given with every
appearance of a triumphant success ; the
composer and all the singers receiving the
highest honours — indeed, all the artists dis-
tinguished themselves in their several parts.
Jenny Lind acted admirably, and sang the
airs allotted to her exquisitely. But yet the
Masnadieri could not be considered a success.
That by its production I had adopted the
right course was unquestionable. I had
induced an Italian composer, whose reputation
stood on the highest pinnacle of continental
fame, to compose an opera expressly for my
theatre, as well as to superintend its pro-
duction. More I could not have done to
gratify the patrons of Italian music, who
desired to hear new works. It may be
stated in confirmation of the judgment of
the London audience, that / Masnadieri was
never successful on any Italian stage. The
libretto was even worse constructed than is
usually the case with adaptations of foreign
dramas to the purpose of Italian opera. To

86 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Her Majesty's Theatre the work was singularly
ill-suited. The interest which ought to have
been centred in Mademoiselle Lind was
thrown on Gardoni ; whilst Lablache, as the
imprisoned father, had to do about the only
thing he could not do to perfection — having
to represent a man nearly starved to death." ^

Poor Mr. Lumley ! For the benefit of a
generation who will not set eyes on Signor
Lablache, it should be stated that he was of
Herculean proportions, a giant in height, and
so portly that he made a superb Falstaff.
His voice shook the walls of Her Majesty's
Theatre, and he had a heart as big as some
men's bodies.

It is well to know something of this "ex-
cessive " book. Two brothers, Carlo and
Francesco, are the sons of Maximilian Moor,
an old Bohemian noble. The younger brother
Francesco is envious of the fortunate first-
born, and poisons his father's heart against
him. Carlo driven from home, joins a robber
band, and Francesco impatient to reap the
fruits of his wickedness seeks to accelerate the
old man's death by telling him that his first-
born has met with his death. Francesco's

^ Reminiscences of the Opera, p. 192.

JENNY LIND 87

next scheme is to Implore Amalia, the be-
trothed wife of Carlo, to marry him, but she
resents his odious suit. Quite by chance she
meets Carlo, to whom she tells everything,
and as he, in one of his raids in the forest, has
discovered his father almost starved to death
in a cave, the desire for vengeance cannot be
restrained. He summons his co-outlaws, who
swear to avenge the wrongs of the infamous
Francesco. This done. Carlo reveals himself
to his father and bride, but the horrible
revelation that he is a robber does not hinder
their sympathy and tenderness towards Carlo.
Amalia offers to marry him just as he is, bound
by oath to outlawry. This is impossible.
Maddened by despair, he thrusts his poniard
into her bosom, and thus meets her appeals
for relief by death. Thus ends this most
tragic story ; the music keeping pace with
the varied emotions of horror, of melancholy,
and tenderness, which the subject alternately
excites.

There were beautiful numbers in / Masna-
dieri, or "The Brigands," notably the grand
scena " Tzc del mio Carlo al seno,'' with its
cabaletta " Carlo Vive,'' which Jenny Lind
could sing entrancingly ; the duet between

88 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

Amalia and Francesco ; the air " Lo, squardo','
deliciously accompanied by the wind instru-
ments ; the quartet " Tigre feroce" ; the tenor
air " <9 mio castel paterno^' wherein Gardoni's
beautiful voice, and manner, were so notice-
able ; the trio in which the superlative powers
of Jenny Lind, Gardoni, and Lablache were
united ; and, to name one more number, the
air " Volasti alma beati,'' with its beautiful
harp accompaniment. Notwithstanding many
attractions, it was a dead failure, and only kept
the boards two or three nights. '' I Masna-
dierV,' an authority afterwards wrote, "turned
out a miserable failure, as it deserved to do,
since it could but, at all events, as was rightly
said, increase Signor Verdi's discredit with
every one who had an ear, and was decidedly
the worst opera that was ever given at Her
Majesty's Theatre, the music being in every
respect inferior even to that of / Due
Foscarir ^

All the critics did not decry the opera.
Writing of / Masnadieri the Illustrated
London News said of it : — " The story is in
many respects a horrible one ; it represents

1 Musical Recollections of the Last Half -Century^ vol. ii. p.
195-

VERDI IN LONDON 89

passions and crimes which, if they are un-
happily not untrue to human nature, are yet
better excluded from theatrical representation,
and cannot be considered as within the scope
of the tragic art ; with all this, however, for the
groundwork of an opera it is exceedingly
effective, and admirably suited to the character
of Verdi's music, which is here dramatic in
the extreme, and somewhat excels the master-
pieces of Meyerbeer and other composers of
the German " Romantic School " of music. . . .
The opera was highly successful. The
talented maestro, on appearing in the orchestra
to conduct his clever work, was received with
three rounds of applause. He was called
before the curtain after the first and third
acts, and at the conclusion of the opera amidst
the most vehement applause. The house was
crowded to excess, and was honoured by the
presence of Her Majesty and Prince Albert,
the Queen- Dowager, and the Duchess of
Cambridge."^

/ Masnadieri gave the leaders of public
musical taste another chance — a legitimate
opportunity which they did not fail to embrace.
The opera was one of those decided failures

^ Illustrated London News, 24th July 1847.

90 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

which occur betimes in every walk of art, very
often giving the He direct to the maker's
estimate of his work. Gounod, for instance,
used constantly to express, and has done so
within our hearing, that Mireille was his best
opera. Yet the public has set its seal upon
Faust, a work that has brought more money
to impresarial coffers than any other opera
that could be instanced. Who has heard
Mireille, compared with the thousands who
have listened to the beautiful and picturesque
music oi Faust, elevating in its very loveliness ?
I Masnadieri, to quote the AthencEum, ''at all
events, must increase Signor Verdi's discredit
with every one who has an ear. We take it
to be the worst opera which has been given
in our time at Her Majesty's Theatre. . . .
There is not one grand concerted piece — a
condition hard upon a composer whose only
originality has been shown in his concerted
music, . . . The performance must be re-
corded as the failure of a work which richly
deserved to fail, in spite of much noisy
applause."^ "Since our last," continued the
AthencBum in a subsequent notice, '^ I Masna-
dieri has been played and sang twice. Surely

1 AthencBtim, 24th July 1847.

DISGUSTED WITH CRITICS 91

the question of our good (or bad) taste in
rejecting // Maestro as an authority is finally
settled, and the field is left open for an Italian
composer. Signor Verdi has left England."

Our comment upon this piece of prophetic
egotism is that the master is to-day admired
by the artistic universe, is unrivalled by any
living master of music, and for a while, at
least, will be unsurpassed, if ever closely
approached, by a composer of his own
country.

The Times s notice of / Masnadieri was
more favourable. To find some glimmer-
ing of good, therefore, in a Verdi score
of this period affords, certainly, relieving
reading. Jenny Lind's singing is par-
ticularly noted, and strangely enough, airs,
duets, cabalette, etc. (involving that melodic
fancy and invention said to be so wholly
wanting in Verdi), are expressly cited as
" points " of the opera, to wit — " The duet with
Gardoni in the third act was another piece of
great effect, and the pleasing cabaletta ' Lassu
resplendere ' earned the singers a call." ^

Verdi rushed from England disg^usted with
the critics ; but to be fair to that sagacious

^ The Times., 23rd July 1847.

92 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

regiment, in this instance, their verdict was
well found ; for nowhere was / Masnadieri
successful, not even when as Les Brigands it
was produced in France in 1870. This took
place at L'Athenee Theatre, when Made-
moiselle Marimon filled the part of Amalie.

The failure of / Masnadiei^i did not lessen
Mr. Lumley's unbounded faith in Verdi ; and
when Signor Costa threw down the bdlon
(this opera being the last he conducted at Her
Majesty's) to assume the post oi chef dor ckestre
at the rival Covent Garden house, Mr. Lumley
offered the young Italian maestro the vacancy.
A tempting offer of a large salary, a three
years' engagement, and the right to put a new
opera of his own composition upon the stage
each year was made. What tremendous art
issues hung in the balance ! A consent from
Verdi, and his later works might never have
been written, for the turmoil of a conductor's
life knocks out of a man all energy for com-
position ; besides which, when once the baton
is taken up, the creative faculty invariably dis-
appears. Fortunately, the maestro could reply
only in the negative, since he was pledged to
write two new operas for Lucca the publisher,
and a theatre engagement would prevent his

LESSER OPERAS 93

fulfilling this contract, the cancelling of which
Lucca would not entertain.

The end of this business was that Verdi, on
the ne sutor ultra crepida77i principle, stuck to
his last, and instead of turning conductor
remained composer. '^

In a short time there appeared // Corsaro
and La Battaglia di Legnano, which ad-
vanced their composer's reputation but little.
// Corsaro was first given at the Grand
Theatre, Trieste, on the 25th October
1848. It had words by Piave, based upon
Byron ; and Lucca, the publisher, paid Verdi
;^8oo for the score, but it was never a suc-
cess. A somewhat better reception fell to
La Battaglia di Legnano, produced at Rome
in 1849, because it afforded the sensitive
Italians a further political outlet. The libretto
was patriotic in its drift, and Verdi, true to
himself, had imparted to the music an ardent
aggressive character, which had already won
political friends.

Verdi's next opera, however, was to make
amends for these scores. The management
of the San Carlo Theatre at Naples, the

^ It will be remembered that Michael William Balfe eventu-
ally took Signor Costa's place at Her Majesty's Theatre.

94 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

exchequer of which was not in a healthy state,
had arranged with Verdi for a new opera, the
price for which was to be ^510. The Hbretto
was by M. Cammerano, and has been adjudged
as one of the best of opera books. It tells of
Luisa Miller, the daughter of an old soldier,
who has two lovers, the favoured one being
Rudolpho, the son of Count Walter, the lord
of the village, of whose rank, however, she
and her father are ignorant until the latter is
informed of it by Wurm, the Count's Castellan,
Luisa's rejected suitor, who out of jealousy also
informs the old Count Walter of his son's
attachment. The Count, on hearing the news,
is enraged, and insists upon his son marrying
his cousin Federica, the widow of the Duke of
Oldstheim, to secure which he imprisons the
old soldier Miller, only releasing him upon
Rudolpho's threatening to divulge a murder
which his father has committed. In the
second act Wurm is met urging Luisa to write
a letter renouncing Rudolpho, the conditions
upon which the Count will release her father,
which letter is to prefer the choice of Wurm,
and to be witnessed. The document is then
taken to Rudolpho, who, maddened, challenges
Wurm; while the Count, to accentuate matters,

LUIS A MILLER 95

pretends that he is now willing for his son to
marry Luisa, but that, as she has betrayed him,
he should show his revenge by marrying the
Duchess. All advanced tenor singers will
recall the fine recitative, " Ok ! fede negar
potessi agli occhi miei ! " and aria, " Qttando
le sere al placido^' in which Rudolpho's
anguish is expressed at this crisis of the story.
The third act introduces Luisa in the greatest
despair, praying for death as a relief to her
grief. Here Rudolpho appears, and learning
from Luisa's own lips that she wrote the letter,
puts poison into a cup, drinks it himself, and
offers it to Luisa, who takes a draught. Know-
ing that her last hour is come, she reveals the
plot, when Rudolpho's cries of despair are so
intense that Miller, villagers, and Wurm rush
to the scene. Suddenly Rudolpho stabs Wurm,
and then lays himself down to die by the side of
Luisa. The whole is a shocking story, but not
more horrible and repulsive than the Rigoletto,
Traviata, and Trovatore libretti.

Verdi finished the score, and leaving Paris,
where the cholera had broken out, he reached
Naples in time to find the San Carlo house in
a state of bankruptcy. The production of, as
well as the payment for, the opera was delayed ;

g6 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

but eventually, Ltiisa Miller came out on the
8th December 1849. Verdi was present at
the first performance, and while standing on
the stage surrounded with friends, had a
somewhat ominous experience. A side scene
suddenly fell, and would have crushed Verdi,
but for his presence of mind in throwing him-
self back. A superstitious story attributes the
accident, and the cold reception of the last act
of the opera, compared with the boisterous
triumph of the others, to the influence of an
evil genius — -jettatore — in the person of one
Capecelatro, who, evading vigilance, had gained
admission to the theatre and to the presence
of the composer, just as he had succeeded in
doing when Alzira was so coolly received.

It has to be observed that the Neapolitans
are renowned for their superstition, and that
Capecelatro was credited with possessing the
evil eye.

Withal Luisa Miller was a success at
Naples, if not later on in London and Paris.
Madame Gazzaniga took the part, singing the
music superbly, and on all sides it was agreed
that the composition was one of Verdi's
grandest efforts. Later opinions have some-
what confirmed this, while not a few con-

PICCOLOMINI 97

noisseurs have regarded Lttisa Miller as the
most coherent and consistent of the composer's
works, excepting always his latest operas.

Luisa Miller was another of the operas
which Mr. Lumley produced during his un-
fortunate reign at Her Majesty's Theatre.
Here is the account of its introduction : —

"On Tuesday the 8th June (1858) was
given for the first time on the Anglo- Italian
boards, Verdi's opera of Lttisa Miller, and
both Mademoiselle Piccolomini and Madame
Alboni were included in the "cast." Of this
work some Italian critics had been accustomed
to speak as the chef d'oeuvre of this favourite
composer. But the production of Luisa
Miller did not greatly benefit the manage-
ment. The ' Little Lady ' (Piccolomini) dis-
played all her attractive qualities as an actress,
and as an actress reaped her harvest of
applause. But by general accord, on the
part of Verdi-ites, the opera was declared to
be the weakest of his many productions. It
was considered to be wanting in melody, a
charge seldom brought against Signor Verdi.
There were no particular salient points to be
looked forward to as the gra^ids bouqiiets of
Signor Verdi's musical fireworks, as is the

H

98 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

case in most of his other operas. The libretto,
also, founded upon Schiller's early tragedy of
Kabale tmd Liebe, a subject, it might be
thought, highly favourable to lyrical working
out, had lost so much of its true dramatic
metal in passing through the crucible of the
Italian poeta, that it had come out a mass of
unattractive and unsightly ore. Passages of
interest and passion could not be altogether
wanting with a subject in which the dramatic
instincts of the composer could not be utterly
silent ; but the true element, both musically
and dramatically speaking, was evidently
absent, at least to English minds. Signor
Giuglini sang the one pleasing romanza to
the delight of a crowded audience ; and
Alboni poured forth her mellifluous notes in
an interpolated cavatina ; but Lttisa Miller
failed to win the suffrages of the frequenters
of Her Majesty's Theatre. It lingered,
hoping for success * against hope,' on the
boards of Her Majesty's Theatre for a very
few nights, and then fled them to return no
more.

An able critic, writing of this feature of the
1858 season, says : —

1 Reminiscences of the Opera (Lumley), p. 442.

LUIS A MILLER FAILURE 99

" The only real novelty that Mr. Lumley
ventured to mount and bring forward was
Verdi's Luisa Miller . . . the result of which
was unequivocal failure, for dull and mawkish
as is the work itself, Mademoiselle Piccolo-
mini had not the slightest pretension to have
been thrust into the leading character, and
Madame Alboni made nothing of the small
part of the Duchess Fredrica, although she
evidently tried to do so, by substituting a
cavatina for the original duet of the opera.
Giuglini alone was appreciated, the music
being somewhat suited to his style ; but he
began to manifest the bad taste of relying
upon long breaths, loud A's, and other mere-
tricious devices, instead of singing legitimately
and sensibly. Beneventano, Vialetti, and
Castelli, who undertook the other parts,
trenched so closely upon the grotesque, that
they produced amusement rather than pleasure.
In spite of its being said that Ltnsa Miller
had thoroughly succeeded, its immediate with-
drawal from the bills positively enough proved
the contrary." ^

Ltiisa Miller found no favour in the eyes
of the AthencBum critic.

^ J\Insical Recollections of Hie Last Half-Century^ vol. ii. p. 320.

100 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

" There is little from first to last in
the music to reconcile us to the composer.
... As regards the solo music, Luisa Miller
contains nothing so good. . . . The heroine
might be Gilda, Violetta, or Abigaille for any
touch that marks her life or her country. . . .
The want of local colour, however, might be
overlooked (in consideration of the master's
school and country), were there any compen-
sating beauty of melody. Everything that
is not trite in the score is unpleasant. . . .
The songs are in the known Verdi patterns,
full of fever, empty of feeling. . . . The music
of / Due Foscari was meagre and dismal
enough, but the music of Ltnsa Miller, so
far as idea is concerned, seems yet more
meagre and dismal."^

In these and similar terms did Mr. Chorley
dismiss Luisa Miller. Nor was The Times
criticism more hopeful, since that summed up
the opera " as an uninterrupted series of
commonplaces, pale, monotonous, and dreary,
which may fairly be symbolised as the sweep-
ings of our composer's study or the rinsings
of his wine - bottles. . . . The music of
Luisa Miller is not worth the consideration

^ Athenceii7n, 12th June 1858.

LUIS A MILLER CRITICISED loi

to which an ambitious failure might be
entitled." ^

If Verdi studied his press notices at all
attentively — Press Cutting Agencies were not
institutions of those days — he could have been
under no apprehension as to what two at least
of the English journals thought of his en-
deavours. Yet, here was the opera containing
among other beautiful music that really fine
piece of declamatory song-writing, the recita-
tive and romanza " Qttando le sere al placido''
Any one fortunate enough to have heard the
late Gardoni sing this beautiful song — neigh-
bours in Duke Street, Portland Place, where
Gardoni several years back lodged in the
same house with Pinsuti, often heard it —
would assuredly apply to it some better epithet
than " wine-bottle rinsings" or "sweepings."
Thousands of pounds in royalties are to-day
being paid on maudlin, semi-religious, and
other songs which, for sterling musical worth
and merit, are no more to be compared with
this one song by Verdi than a rush-light is to
be likened to the illumining power of the
glorious mid-day orb.

Not even in his Recollections was Mr.

^ The Times, 14th June 1858.

102 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICL^N

Chorley able to forget his bete noir. Speaking
of the 1858 season, he says : "Also there was
presented a third work, new to our Italian
stage, Signor Verdi's Luisa Miller. ... It
has seemed to me that, as one among Signor
Verdi's operas, Ltdsa Miller, taken on its own
terms, of fire, faggot, and rack, is the weakest
of the weak. There are staccato screams in
it enough to content any lover of shocking
excitement ; but the entire texture of the
music implies (I can but fancy) either a feeble
mistake, or else a want of power on the part
of an artificer who, obviously (as Signor
Verdi does) demanding situation and passion
and agony to kindle the fire under his
cauldron, has, also, only one alphabet, one
grammar, one dictionary, whatsoever the scene,
whatsoever the country — one cantabile, one
spasmodic bravura, one feverish crescendo, as
the average tools, by pressure of which the
stress on the public is to be strained out." ^

Feeble criticism, indeed, so far as the
genius of penetration is concerned, but
powerful enough in all conscience in its
egotism and exuberance of etymology.

It was given on the 7th December 1852

* Chorley's Musical Recollections, vol. ii. p. 297.

PATTI 103

at the Theatre Itab'en in Paris, when Made-
moiselle Sophie Cruvelli (La Baronne Vigier)
took the title 7^ole, but neither Cruvelli, nor,
a few weeks later, the admirable Bosio, could
give wings to the work. As recently as 1874
Madame Adelina Patti achieved a genuine
success with the part, albeit she was badly
supported by her colleagues in the cast.
During the London Italian Opera season of
that year, Madame Patti, much to her credit,
added this work to her already extensive
rdpertoire.

Two operas — one Sliffelio, produced un-
successfully at Trieste on the i6th November
1850, the other, // Finto Stanislas, belonging
to the same year — require mentioning only,
before we pass to the period of those suc-
cessful operas which brought Verdi universal
fame.

CHAPTER VI

RIGOLETTO TO AID A SECOND PERIOD OPERAS

Turning-point in Verdi's career — The libretto of Rigoletto —
Production of Rigoletto in Venice, London, and Paris —
Great success of the opera — Athenaiim and The Times
on Rigoletto — "Z^ Do7ina e mobile" — A Second period
style — // Trovatore written for Rome — The libretto — Its
reception at the Apollo Theatre — The work produced at
the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden — Its cast and
Graziani's singing therein — Lightning study of the Azu-
cena role — Athenceiim and The Times on // Trovatore —
La Traviata — The libretto and argument — The first per-
formance at Venice z. fiasco — Judgment reversed — Brilliant
success of the opera in London — Piccolomini's impersona-
tion of Violetta — Mr. Lumley's testimony — The Press and
La Traviata — Athenceu7n and The Times criticism of La
Traviata — Les Vepres Siciliemtes — Prifna dotma runs
away — Reception of the opera in Paris and London —
Verdi in Germany — The Times criticism — Simon Boc-
cafiegra a failure — Un Ballo in Maschera — Trouble with
the authorities — Production and success of Un Ballo in
Maschera — Its reception in London — The Times on the
opera — La Forza del Destino unsuccessful.

We here reach a period in the composer's
career where unmistakable signs of a change
in Verdi's musical manner present themselves.
Verdi was a born musician. So too, were

RIGOLETTO 105

Bellini and Donizetti, but Verdi, by industry
and study, has done immeasurably more for
Italy's art than these or any other of her sons.
A musical progressivist, he has ever been on
^ttie art march. Not content with writing
opera after opera of the normal Bellini stamp,
we find him at this stage improving upon his
model, and engaging in the construction of a
series of opera compositions which, analysts
declare, constitute a Second period in Verdi's
artistic development. The first of these works
was Rigoletto.

Verdi had entered into an agreement with
impresario Lasina to write another opera for
the Fenice Theatre, and Piave had prepared
a libretto based upon Victor Hugo's drama,
Le Roi smmtse. Everybody knows the
tragedy, and that it was suppressed lest the
cap should fit, because the principal part of
Frangois Premier showed a depraved libertine,
whose capers were not unreflected in Royalty.
The libretto provoked the Austrian supervi-
sion, and brought in the police. The original
title of the book was La Maledizione, but this
was dropped. It closely follows the French
play, the locality and the personages only
being changed. There is the deformed jester

io6 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

or fool of the Court, who is prostrated by a
malediction from a father whom he has mocked,
and who is punished for his witticism by Gilda,
his daughter, being made the victim of his
Sovereign. This unfortunate girl is then seen
giving up her own life to save that of her
betrayer, the Duke having been entrapped
into a lone house to be assassinated by the
jester's orders.

Eventually, all points being arranged,
Verdi set to work upon Rigoletto, Buffone di
Corte, which was produced with signal success
on the nth March 1851. That world-famed
melody ^^ La Doinia e mobile''^ made an instan-
taneous hit, and has been hummed and sung
to death in every quarter of the globe ever
since. To make quite sure that the public
should not get wind of this tune before the
night of the performance, Verdi did not put
it upon paper until within a few hours of the
time when M irate, the tenor, had to sing it.

As soon as it could be arranged, the opera
was introduced at London and Paris, being
brought forward at the Italian Opera, Co vent
Garden, for the 1853 season, and at the
Theatre Italien in the French capital on
the 19th January 1857. Rigoletto was a

RONCONI 107

brilliant success in London ; indeed, of three
operatic novelties which Mr. Gye produced in
that season, it was the only one that proved
attractive or profitable. On this occasion the
cast was : — Gilda, Madame Bosio ; Duke of
Mantua, Signor Mario ; Rigoletto, Signor
Ronconi ; Sparafitcile, Signor Tagliafico ;
while subordinate characters were repre-
sented by Mile. Didiee (Magdalen), Madame
Temple, Signor Polonini, and others. Mario's
singing was splendid, and the acting of Ron-
coni was greatly admired. " Great as was the
histrionic genius of Ronconi admitted to
be, his Rigoletto has combined displays of
comedy and tragedy that can only recall the
well-known picture of Garrick between Thalia
and Melpomene. Let us instance the scene
in the Ducal palace in the second act " (wrote
an eye-witness) " in which Rigoletto strives to
smile with the courtiers, whilst his heart is
breaking at the abduction of his child — an
abduction in which he himself has been made,
innocently, to assist. The expression of Ron-
coni's face in this scene, one-half of the face a
court jester, the other half that of the bereaved
father, can never be forgotten."^

1 Ilhistrated London News, 21st May 1853.

io8 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

" In Paris a French translation of Rigoletto
was equally well received.

The musical characteristics oS. Rigoletto were
immediately discerned and discussed. The
general drift of the criticism was that in
Rigoletto melody was wanting, that there were
no fine concerted pieces, and that the opera
possessed everything save living properties.
The truth was, Verdi was expressing himself
in something of a new language that had yet
to be learned.

Here is what an impartial critic thought of
Rigoletto at the time of its production : —

" We have never been the champions nor
the detractors of Verdi, and we recognise in
Rigoletto a higher order of beauty than struck
us even in Ernani and the Dtte Foscari, and
an abandonment, at the same time, of his most
palpable defects. Rigoletto cannot be ranked,
however, as a masterpiece ; it is full of plagiar-
isms and faults, and yet abounds with the most
captivating music." ^

The following is what the AthencBum had
to say of Rigoletto, a work which, by the bye,
was performed at the Royal Italian Opera,
Covent Garden, as recently as last season, when

1 Illustrated London News, 21st May 1853.

ATHEN^UM CRITICISM 109

it was received with well-nigh unbounded ap-
plause and real pleasure: — "Such eiffect as
Rigoletto produces is produced not by its
dramatic propriety of sound to sense. There
is hardly one phrase in the part of the Buffoon
which might not belong to Signor Verdi's
Doge in / Due Foscari or to his Nabucco.
The music of combination and dramatic action,
again, is puerile and queer — odd modulations
being perpetually wrenched out with the vain
hope of disguising the intrinsic meagreness of
the ideas, and flutes being used for violins, or
vice versa, apparently not to charm the listener
but to make him stare. Thus, the opening
ball scene, accompanied throughout by or-
chestras on the stage, the abduction Jinale, the
scene between Rigoletto and the courtiers,
and the storm in the last act, are alike miser-
able in their meagre patchiness and want of
meaning. . . . Signor Verdi is less violent in
his instrumentation in Rigoletto than he was
in his earlier operas ; but he has not here
arrived at the music of intellect and expression,
which is French or German, as distinguished
from the music of melody, which is Italian. . , .
The air of display for Gilda in the garden
scene, called in the published copies of the

no VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

music a Poiacca, though in common tempo, is
as ineffective a mixture of commonplace and
eccentricity as it ever fell to the lot of 2. prima
donna to deliver." ^

The Times spoke thus of Rigoletto : — " The
imitations and plagiarisms from other com-
posers are frequent, while there is not a single
elaborate and well-conducted finale, or even
movceau r ensemble. In aiming at simplicity,
Signor Verdi has hit frivolity. In other operas
he has often, with a certain degree of success
hidden poverty of idea under a pompous dis-
play of instruments ; but in the present,
abandoning that artifice, and relying upon the
strength of his melodic invention, he has tri-
umphantly demonstrated that he has very few
ideas that can be pronounced original. In
short, with one exception [Ltnsa Miller),
Rigoletto is the most feeble opera of Signor
Verdi with which we have the advantage to
be acquainted, the most uninspired, the barest,
and the most destitute of ingenious contrivance.
To enter into an analysis would be a loss of
time and space." ^

And yet, after forty years or more of musi-

^ Athenaiim, 21st May 1853.
2 The Twies, i6th May 1853.

AN ART LINK iii

cal progress, a crowded fashionable house, to
say nothing of the wisdom of the management,
will assemble to give its time, attention, and
money to listen to an opera which, if we are
to believe these two sapient leading critics of
a past age, was scarcely worth the paper upon
which it was written ! Both old and new
journalism to-day appears to have everything
to say in favour oi Rigoletto ! Instead of
the opera dying, it has proved, we repeat,
one of the most admired of Verdi's early
works, and we who are living the years of
this closing nineteenth century can see what
a fitting connecting link Rigoletto forms
between Verdi's First and Third period
works. The composer bridges us quietly
over from impulsive musical youth to a ripe
artistic fulness which, natural as it all seems
to us who can look back upon Verdi's gradual
development towards perfection of style, must
have bewildered his closely scrutinising con-
temporaries. No previous work of his had
shown similar masterly force and origin-
ality. Apart from the evergreen ""La Donna
e mobile " air, such attractive numbers as the
soprano romance, and the soprano, tenor, and
bass duos in the second act, are beauties of

112 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the opera that will always tend to keep it on
the stage ; while no praise would be too much
to bestow upon the quartuor in the last act,
a piece of concerted music which competent
judges are agreed would of itself be sufficient
to stamp Verdi as a composer of rare fancy
and imagination.

Since its style and merit were maintained
in several works that followed it, this opera
well lends itself as the starting-point of a
Second era in Verdi's career as a leading
composer for the Italian lyric stage.

Rigoletto was the first of a series of fine
examples of dramatic art, which brought
world-wide fame and ample profit to Verdi,
lifting him, at the same time, into the first
rank of operatic composers. In the face of
its alleged defects — absence of melody and
concerted pieces, together with a subdued, re-
stricted orchestration — the audiences accepted
it, the general feeling being that it stood
unsurpassed by any Italian opera. Every
habitud of the opera-house to-day is familiar
with the sparkling beauties of Rigoletto, and
fittingly enough, the opera finds a place in
almost every season's programme. The
strongest proof of its merits, however, is the

IL TROVATORE 113

fact that performances of the work, extending
over a period of forty years, have neither
diminished its attractiveness nor prejudiced a
new and rising generation against either the
book or the music. Several of Verdi's early
operas have weathered the test of time and
fashion bravely, especially if we remember
the evanescent nature of opera generally ; but
not one, not the Trovatore among his early
works, is more highly regarded by musical
people to-day than is Rigoletto, the Court
Jester.

With the composer's next opera we meet
Verdi the melodic universalist.

It was at the Apollo Theatre in Rome
that the Trovatore first saw the light on the
19th January 1853. Cammarano the Italian
poet found subject in El Trovador, a brilliant
drama by Guttierez, a talented Spanish
author of only nineteen summers. The
story, a revoltingly horrible one, is well
known. A gipsy woman put to death by a
nobleman on a charge of witchcraft, has a
daughter to whom she bequeaths the task of
avenging her death. The daughter steals
the Count's younger child, and brings him
up as her own, instilling into his mind a
I

114 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

hatred of his own brother, whom he knows
not to be such. The brothers become rivals
in love ; the reputed son of the gipsy (who
has risen to distinction) being preferred by
the object of their passion. The quarrel be-
comes deadly ; the younger brother falls into
the hands of the elder, who orders his execu-
tion. The gipsy witnesses the death of her
supposed son ; and when the axe has fallen,
turns exultingly to the Count exclaiming,
" My mother is avenged ; you have murdered
your own brother ! " The lady who is be-
loved by the rival brothers, unable to save
her lover's life, swallows poison. The epoch
is the fifteenth century.

Undaunted by frailties of his collaborateur,
the maestro went to work, and in a short
time // Trovatore was clothed in musical
garb. What that harmonious garment proved
the world well knows — too well, say some
who, like the late Mr. Babbage, mathematician
and calculator, have been almost driven to
death by organ-grinders. Whatever was con-
fused and improbable in the book was amply
atoned for by the music, for Verdi set it to
some of his most passionate-human melody
and harmony.

ELECTRICAL MUSIC 115

The first representation was awaited with
feverish excitement, akin to the musical
sensibilities of the Italian people. The day-
proved wet and cold, but not sufficiently so
to damp the ardour of the enthusiastic
Romans. At early morn the theatre doors
were besieged, and as the hour of the perfor-
mance drew near the pitch of fervour was
intense. Eventually the crowd got into the
theatre, packing it from floor to ceiling with
marvellous rapidity and dangerous discomfort.
Then amid alternate periods of strained
attention and agitation, the opera was per-
formed. Each scene and situation brought
down thunders of applause until the very
walls echoed with the shoutings. Outside,
the people took up the cry, and there arose
such shouts of " Long live Verdi ! " '* Verdi
and Italy!" "Italy's greatest composer!"
"Viva Verdi ! " as could be heard again inside
the theatre.

The artists at this memorable performance
were Signore Penco (Leonora) and Goggi ;
and Signori Grossi (Manrico), Baucarde,
Guicciardi, and Balderi.

The spread of the Trovatore music was
electrical. Theatre after theatre produced

ii6 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the work, so eagerly did subscribers and
patrons clamour. At Naples three houses
were giving the opera at about the same
time.

It was at this time that Verdi was meeting
with a determined opposition from a brother
craftsman from whom better treatment might
reasonably have been expected. " In Naples,"
states an eye-witness, " Mercadante reigned
supreme. He would not listen to the sound
of Verdi's name. He declared even Rigoletto
was bosh, — you know I was then singing Gilda
at the Teatro Nuova ; — he had the Court and
the highest society for his patrons, and
managed to set everybody against poor Verdi.
Things went so far that he organised a cabal
against him at Court, and when Trovatore —
which by the way, after Rome, the people
would have — was brought out at San Carlo,
Mercadante had so ingratiated himself with
the censor Lord Chamberlain, and I don't know
who else, that they only allowed two acts of
Trovatore to be sung, and there was a perfect
revolution in the town until the third and
fourth acts were accorded by the manage-
ment. I was the first one to sing the full
score at little TeatroNuovo. The subscribers

IN GERMANY 117

who were three nights at San Carlo were
the other three nights at my theatre ; and to
my dying day I shall never forget the success
it had ! Happily Teatro Nuova was the first
in the field with the complete opera. ... It
is impossible to conceive the tricks and cabals
against Verdi put up by old Mercadante.
One would have thought that as he was old
and nearing his grave, and as his last opera
at San Carlo had been a failure, he would
have had some consideration for the young
and struggling artist ; but, on the contrary,
he kept Verdi out of Naples as long as he
could. The people finally wouldn't stand it
any longer ; they weren't going to put up
even with Mercadante at his best when there
was a fresh new composer taking Italy by
storm — when every Italian capital was sing-
ing his operas, and Naples, according to
all, the very seat of fine arts, the only city
deprived of hearing Verdi and acclaiming his
works." ^

Not only in Italy did the Trovatore " take."
It went the round of the European capitals in
an unprecedentedly short time, and nowhere
was it admired more than in that stronghold

^ Ve?-di : Milan and " Othello " (Roosevelt), p. 49.

ii8 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

of contrapuntal prejudice, Germany, where its
alluring melodies proved simply irresistible.

In 1854 it was given at the Paris Theatre
Italien, and the following year saw its pro-
duction in London. The management of the
Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, brought
it forward on Thursday, nth May, when it
was received with warm applause, which in-
creased with every representation. On this
occasion the principal parts were filled by
Madame Viardot^ (Azucena), Mdlle. Jenny

^ Apropos of this distinguished cantatrice, sister to the
immortal Malibran, an interesting narrative is related in con-
nection with the first production of // Trovat07-e in Paris,
where, by the way, it soon had no less than one hundred
representations. Verdi himself has told the tale. "The
morning arriving for the first performance, Madame Alboni
announced that she was ill, and the opera could not be given
that night. What was to be done ? Every one was waiting ;
every seat was sold. I was in despair. Happily, I thought
of Madame Viardot. I said to myself, ' She is the only
woman in the world who, at a moment's notice, can take the
part, if she will only consent to do it.'

" I tore off to her house. It was early in the morning.
' Mon cher,' she said, ' what on earth has brought you at this
hour ? '

" I hastily told her the cause. ' Alboni is ill.'

" ' But what can I do ? ' she said.

" ' You must sing it,' I cried.

" She interrupted, ' I have been so busy, I haven't even
seen the music ; I haven't looked at it.'

" ' There it is,' I said, producing a roll. ' It is very easy ; it
will be nothing to you.' So, laughing and chatting, and pro-
testing that she couldn't, I sat down to the piano. We ran

GRAZIANI 119

Ney (Leonora), Signor Tamberlik (Manrico)
and Signor Graziani (Conte di Luna), who
did full justice to Verdi's captivating music.

Referring to this remarkable performance,
an experienced writer says : —

" The favourable impression Graziani had
made in the Ernani induced the management
to put him forward in another of Verdi's
operas, // Trovatore, a work which has brought
more money into theatrical treasuries than
any other production of modern times. If
Graziani had sung nothing else in this opera
than the air ' // balen del suo sorriso,'' as the
Conte di Luna, he would have permanently
established himself; yet whoever witnessed
the clumsy manner in which he ' loafed ' down
to the footlights as the symphony of this air
was being played — as he still does — could by
no means have anticipated anything else than
a manifestation of the most positive vulgarity,
instead of hearing the beautiful voice and

the music of Azucena over from beginning to end two or three
times. In the afternoon we had another rehearsal, and that
evening she sang the part with overwhelming success.

" ' That is what we call a quick study,' said Verdi, laughing,
' to learn such a role in the space of eight hours, dress it, and
go on the stage and sing it ; but then, you must remember
there is only one Pauline Viardot in all this world ' " ( Verdi :
Milan aftd " Othello " (Roosevelt), p. 49).

120 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

suave cantabile with which he invested that
somewhat commonplace, yet not the less
popular, invention. Mdlle. Ney was the
Leonora on this occasion, and was singing
and acting with care, according to the habit
of German stage usage, but nothing more.
The event of the evening, however, was
Madame Viardot's Azucena, the part she had
' created ' in Paris, and one of the most re-
markable performances of its time. The
savage, credulous, restless Spanish gipsy,
strong in her instincts, but whose reason
amounts to little beyond a few broken ideas
of revenge, was manifested in every word,
look, and gesture. Since Pasta and Rubini
left the stage, nothing of nicer vocal finish,
and nothing in dramatic utterance more true
and beautiful than her delivery of the andan-
tino, ' Si la stanchezza,' had ever been listened
to. The Royal Italian Opera had never,
indeed, heard such singing as hers in such
music, which lay thoroughly within her com-
pass, the middle portion of which had gained
both body and sweetness. Tamberlik under-
took the part of the Trovatore, and gained
ground with his audience as the opera pro-
ceeded ; but his magnificent voice gave un-

MERIT SOMEWHERE 121

welcome evidence of wear and tear in its
diminished resonance, when he desired to use
it to advantage in the most exacting passages."^
It will be allowed, we suspect, that no
dramatic-lyric work is so well known, or has
enjoyed a more amazing popularity than has
Verdi's opera of The Troubadour. Whatever
may be its merits and demerits, it is unques-
tionably a work which has delighted a genera-
tion fast passing away ; while it bids fair to
afford equal pleasure to a new and rising one,
judging by the hearty reception given to the
opera at recent performances. For long and
long have ominous words been uttered pre-
dicting the decline and death of // Trovatore,
with all Italian opera of its kin. But behold
it is alive and well ! Thanks to the efforts of
" apostles " of music like Hullah and others,
musical education has gone on apace since //
Trovatore first appeared here ; but with all
this, and all the classicism which it has been
fashionable to ape in music, there yet remains
something in Verdi's opera that still attracts,
not merely the " mob," but educated people.
This suggests merit of some kind. What
said critics forty years ago : —

1 Musical Recollections of the Last Ha/f-Ccniuf-y, vol. ii. p. 2S0.

122 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

" By the choice of his subjects," says the
Athenceum, " we sometimes can gauge a
composer, as well as by his melodies. Bellini
may have known even less of the scientific
processes of composition than Signor Verdi
(whom report declares to be a thoughtful,
cultivated gentleman, as anxious according to
his measure of light for dramatic reality m
opera as Herr Wagner himself), nevertheless
Bellini contrived to appropriate two of the
best Italian books ever written, those of
Norma and La Sonnainbula. . . . But in //
Trovatore, as throughout every opera by the
master with which we are acquainted, these
gleams of purpose and intelligence are re-
lieved and contrasted against a general
ground of commonplace, than which little
more monotonous in its mannerism can be
conceived. The dash which may be found in
the cabaletta ' Ditale amor' with its staccati and
its sighs and sobbings, and its snatch at high
notes by way of brilliancy, is as old as
Ernani. The cantabile for the tenor, in |-
time, and with a plurality of flats for key, has
been written for tenor and baritone one hun-
dred times, if once, by Donizetti. The
movement of the stretto to * Cruda Sorte ' in

TROVATORE CRITICISM 123

Signer Rossini's Ricciardo e Zoraide, the em-
ployment of principal voices in unison,
whether it be placed or misplaced, are anew
resorted to here, with a coolness nothing
short of curious, in one who believes that he
has a mission and professes to write a
' system.' " ^

The Tiines notice of // Trovatore was
more appreciative than usual. There was a
desire to find something good in the musician,
and although the criticism hardly conveys the
idea that the work referred to would ever
attain the extraordinary popularity which it
has done, a popularity extending to this hour,
yet it must, in justice, be noted that certain
favourable points in the work did appeal to,
and were duly chronicled by the critic. Not
that we can admit that the notice was one to
induce the composer to feel at ease. A spirit
of antagonism to Italian art still reigns, and
throughout it seems to ring out the old
familiar theme, that no good thing could
come out of Italy. Nor could it have greatly
served Verdi's art-progress.

" // Trovatore," to quote a few of its strains,
" though it exhibits Signor Verdi in his best

1 Athenccuin, 12th May 1855.

124 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

holiday attire, is hardly destined to raise him
in the estimation of real judges. . . . The
kind, and degree of merit, the direct influence
of his music, and its chance of outliving an
ephemeral reputation are questions apart. . . .
He is neither a Rossini, nor an Auber, nor
a Meyerbeer ; far from it ; but he is not, as
some would insist, a nonentity, almost as far
indeed from that as from the other. . . .
The weaker part of the first act " (we are
told) " is the trio, where the Count (Signor
Graziani) surprises the troubadour in the
presence of Leonora, which is rambling and
incoherent, and after all but an apology
for a trio, since the tenor and soprano
are in unison almost throughout. The
last movement is vulgar and commonplace,
ill-written for the voices, and extremely
noisy." ^

This is what the Ilhistrated London News
thought of // Trovatore : —

" The production of // Trovatore at the
Royal Italian Opera has been attended with
complete success. . . . On its first performance
(on Thursday) it was received with warm
applause, and on the Saturday and Tuesday

1 The Times, 14th May 1855.

A FAVOURED OPERA 125

following its reception was more and more
enthusiastic. It is evident that the Trovatore
will be a permanent addition to the repertoire
of the theatre. We expected this. Verdi's
latest opera had not only been received with
acclamations in his own country ; it had
achieved triumphs in the principal theatres
of Germany ; and, last of all, in Paris ; and
it was not likely that London would reverse
the judgment pronounced by the most authori-
tative tribunals of the Continent. Verdi
has long been popular as a dramatic composer;
and his popularity has been literal — gained by
the voice of the multitude in opposition to
that of criticism. W^hile writers learned in
musical lore have been labouring to prove
that Verdi is a shallow pretender, his operas
have been giving delight to thousands in
every part of Europe."^

Wherever performed, in Italy, France,
Germany, Russia, or England, the tale has
always been the same respecting the Trovatore.
It has been truly enjoyed by the public who
have flocked to hear it ; and those pieces
which are favourites now were favourites
from the first. It did not pretend to be a

^ 19th May 1855.

126 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

classic, but times and oft it has done the trick
for managers in filling their coffers ; and
after all, any legitimate work which accom-
plishes this for many years together must
not be lightly regarded. Even to-day, forty
years and more after its first production, //
Trovatore when well presented never fails to
make a deep impression upon audiences. In
the 1895 season it was given (May 18) at the
Covent Garden Opera with Signer Tamagno
in the title-role, when the entire opera was
listened to with breathless attention. The
enthusiasm was unbounded, and the favourite
old work roused as much excitement as if it
had been a brand new opera.

La Traviata, a name familiar almost as the
Trovatore, was the title of the composer's next
opera. The maestro had witnessed younger
Dumas' La Dante aux Came lias, that none
too delicate play, which, in its day, startled
even the Parisians, and he suggested the
work to Piave the librettist as an opera book.
The Traviata was to satisfy an engagement
with the direction of the Fenice Theatre, and
by working double tides, i.e. during the while
he was composing // Trovatore, Verdi had
the score ready for production on the 6th

LA TR A VI AT A 127

March 1855, some ten weeks after the Trova-
tore " first night."

Opera-goers are familiar with the pathetic
story and the sorrows of the erring, interest-
ing heroine. La Traviata, i.e. the outcast or
lost one, is a youthful beauty and reigning
favourite, who gives a splendid entertainment
at her house. Among the gay company is a
young gentleman, Alfredo by name, who really
loves her, and who inspires her with a similar
attachment. Actuated by a pure and mutual
passion, they retire to the country, where they
live together in happy seclusion. One day, in
Alfredo's absence, Violetta receives a visit from
a venerable old gentleman, who announces him-
self as the father of her lover. He represents
to her the ruinous consequences of his son's
present course of life, and urges her to save
him, by consenting to leave him. Resolving
to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of
his welfare, she departs on the instant for
Paris, leaving him in the belief that she is
faithless, and has forsaken him for another.
She returns to her former life, and afterwards
meets her lost lover at a party given by one
of her friends. Alfredo is furious at the sio^ht
of her, insults her grossly, challenges the man

128 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

whom he considers his successful rival, and
the poor girl is carried fainting from the
apartment. Her heart is now broken, and
nothing remains for her but to die. In the
last scene, she is in her bedchamber, extremely
weak, but sustained by hope, for her lover's
father moved by her sufferings has written to
say that he will bring his son to her. They
arrive. The lover flies to her and for a
moment there is rapture ; but the shock is
fatal. The dying flame goes out, and she
dies of joy in his arms.

The success of // Trovatore had brought
Verdi immense popularity throughout Europe.
Great things therefore were expected at this
performance oiLa Travzata. Signora Donatelli
was the Violetta, Signori Graziani and Varesi
filling the parts of the lover and the father
respectively. The work was a failure !

" La Traviata last night was 2. fiasco. Am
I to blame, or the singers ? Time will prove,"
wrote Verdi to friend Muzio. The fiasco
might have been avoided had all the con-
tributing circumstances been as evident as the
astonishing disparity that existed between the
imaginary Violetta and the lady filling that
role, who to a commanding stature added a

A NOTABLE DEBUT 129

splendid physique with embonpoint, weighing
some twelve stone, which made it madness to
imagine that the ravages of a galloping con-
sumption had left her but a few short hours to
live ! Of course, the house burst into a roar,
and went off into an uncontrollable fit of
laughter that drove everybody off the stage.

Verdi was distracted, but felt confident that
this judgment could be reversed. He made
alterations, substituted Louis XI I L costumes
for "swallow-tail and white choker" dress,
and with a new cast, including a Violetta
that could be encompassed, the work was
given at the San Beneditto Theatre. The
dclat was immense, La Traviata that had
been hissed and hooted was acclaimed to the
skies. Speedily it spread over Italy, and in
the following year was brought to London.
The irresistibly affecting story — one which the
sternest moralist could barely listen to un-
moved— was chosen by Mile. Piccolomini for
her London ddbut in the 1856 season. To
quote Mr. Lumley's own words : —

" Mile. Piccolomini, a young Italian lady
of high lineage, made her curtsey on the
boards of Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday
the 24th May in Verdi's opera La Traviata^

K

130 VERDI; MAN AND MUSICIAN

since become so famous and (it may be said
at once, in spite of all that may be stated
hereafter) so great a favourite, but produced
for the first time on that occasion on the
Anglo- Italian boards. The enthusiasm she
created was immense. It spread like wild-
fire. Once more frantic crowds struggled in
the lobbies of the theatre, once more dresses
were torn and hats crushed in the conflict,
once more a mania possessed the public.
Marietta Piccolomini became the ' rage.'
From the moment of her ddbut the fortunes
of the theatre were secured for the season."^
" Opera and singer both were new," con-
tinues Mr. Lumley. " Curiosity and interest
were excited both for the one and the other.
There was an overflowing house. As through
the coming season, so through her first night
was the charming young lady's success un-
questionable. After a warm reception, such
as English audiences are wont to give by way
of welcome to a meritorious stranger, Mile.
Piccolomini was to be heard and judged, and
(what, as it turned out, was more to the
purpose), she was to be seen. Applause
followed her opening efforts. The charm of

1 Reminiscences of the Opera (Lumley), p. 375.

"CHARMING PICCOLOMINI" 131

manner had begun to work. The second act
produced at its conclusion a burst of genuine
enthusiasm. At the end of the opera it was
a frenzy. The whole house rose to congratu-
late the singer when recalled. The charm
was complete. The vivacity of acting
(especially in the death-scene of the finale)
had worked their spell. Marietta Piccolomini
was adopted at once as the pet (and afterwards
how much petted !) child of Her Majesty's
Theatre.

" Verdi's music now shared the same fate as
its fortunate exponent. It pleased, it was
run after, it became one of the most popular
compositions of the time. It is true that
musical * purists ' cavilled and criticised
severely ; that anti-Verdists denounced it with
all the epithets of their stereotyped vocabulary
as * trashy, flimsy, and meretricious ' ; but,
in spite of opposition and of bigotry, it not
only attracted (perhaps even more than any
other of Verdi's operas) countless crowds when
the favourite ' charming little Piccolomini '
was its exponent, but achieved a marked and
lasting popularity at other theatres, as well as
in every music hall throughout the land.
Notwithstanding the accusation that the

132 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

* Traviata was weak and commonplace,' the
' catching ' melody and, above all, the dramatic
force and expression of a composer whose
principal merit consisted in the peculiarity
that he really was dramatic, gained upon the
masses. It attained considerable popularity,
moreover, in spite of a dangerous and equivocal
subject ; one which was denounced from the
pulpit, denounced by mighty authority in the
press, denounced even at one time by popular
sentiment itself."^

Quite a contrast to the state of things
when the work was howled at by the merry
Venetians !

On the night of its first performance in
this country, the caste included, besides Mile.
Piccolomini, Signori Calzolari and Beneven-
tano, who filled the parts of the lover and
father respectively.

A critic, one by no means usually ill-dis-
posed towards Verdi, wrote of the performance
as follows : —

"A new production from the prolific pen of
Maestro Verdi is a thing to which we are
pretty well accustomed, and it happens that
the new production in question. La Traviata,

^ Reminiscences of the Opera (Lumley), p. yn.

MORAL INDIGNATION 133

is the weakest, as it is the last, of his numerous
progeny. It has pretty tunes, for every Itahan
has more or less the gift of melody ; but even
the tunes are trite and common, bespeaking
an exhausted invention, while there are no
vestiges of the constructed skill, none of the
masterly pieces of concerted music, which we
find in the Trovatore or in Rigolettor^

A section of the English press made a dead
set against the opera, but the test of time has
given the lie to detractors. Despite the
heroine's damaged reputation, the music has
proved sufficiently good, lasting, and attractive
to keep the opera on the English boards, not
to mention Continental theatres, for full forty
years. The " highly immoral " story did not
prove destructive to England's youth and age.
The British character survived it !

When La Traviata was ready to be played
before the British public, there was a great
outburst of moral indignation. Mr. Lumley
gives his version of the affair : " Permission
was in vain demanded of the Lord Chamber-
lain to allow adaptations of the drama to
appear upon the English stage. That this
prohibition should have been enforced on a

1 Illustrated Lotidon News, 31st May 1856.

134 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

stage where George Barnwell, and more
especially Jane Shore (the heroine of which
old tragedy is also a sympathetic Traviata,
who dies a miserable death), are upheld as
' fine old legitimate ' plays, and were once
produced on the chief assemblage of the youth
of the age at Christmastide, did not appear
very consistent or even logical ; and the
Traviata appeared. And a considerable
surprise (in spite of all previous minor
* grumblings ') fell upon the public when it
found its favourite opera morally crushed to
the earth by the mighty thunder of the press.
The * foul and hideous horrors ' of the Traviata
were held up as proper objects for ' deep and
unmitigated censure' in the leading journal.
One clap of thunder followed on the other.
In a long letter I published an elaborate
defence of my opera against the accusation of
its blatant ' immorality.' This letter appeared
duly in the columns of The Times, as an
appendix to a still more crushing denunciation.
Minor journals flashed their own smaller
lightnings in sympathetic response to this
storm from the ' Thunderer.' But the public
was not to be lectured out of its treat. It
would not consider its morality endangered.

MORE CASTIGATION 135

It still flocked to Verdi's opera, and the fascin-
ating Piccolomini." ^

The Times easily disposed of Verdi's share
in the work. "The book," the criticism runs,
" is of far more consequence than the music,
which, except so far as it affords a vehicle for
the utterance of the dialogue, is of no value
whatever, and, moreover, because it is essentially
as a dramatic vocalist that the brilliant success
of Mile. Piccolomini was achieved. . . . For
the present, it will be sufficient to treat La
Traviata as a play set to music. To Dumas
fils, who invented the situations, and Mile.
Piccolomini, who delineated the emotions of
the principal character, belong the honours of
a triumph with which the composer has as
little to do as possible." ^

The AthencBuni lost no time in " going for "
Verdi over La Traviata. The first process was
an examination of the "arranged score of Signor
Verdi's setting of the Dame aux Camelias,''
whereupon the critic was in a position to say :
"It seems written in the composer's later
manner, grouping with his Rigoletto and
Trovatore, without being equal to the latter

1 Reminiscences of the Opera (Lumley), p. 379.
2 The Times, 26th May 1856.

136 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

opera ; to demand from its heroine a less ex-
tensive soprano voice than Signor Verdi
usually demands ; to contain in th^Jinale to its
second act a good specimen of those pompous
slow movements in which the newer Italian
maestro has wrought out a pattern indicated
by Donizetti ; also throughout an unusual pro-
portion of music in triple, or waltz tempo. . . .
The masquerade music is yia;*/^ and trivial. . . .
There is some of Signor Verdi's effective in-
strumentation in the opening of the final
terzetto. All these good points summed up,
the new opera, as a whole, is poor and pale —
consumptive music, which can only be relished
in the absence of some healthier novelty." "^

Subsequently, when the Lord Chamberlain
of the period came down upon La Traviata
on account of its questionable story, we read :
*' Neither Signor Verdi's music (which is
Signor Verdi's poorest) nor Mile. Piccolomini's
singing (which every one concedes is on a very
small scale) have made the fame and the
furore of the opera, and the lady. . . . The
music of La Traviata is trashy ; the young
Italian lady cannot do justice to the music,
such as it is. Hence it follows that the opera

^ Athe?icEH)n, 3rd May 1856.

LA TRAVIATA TO-DAY 137

and the lady can only establish themselves
in proportion as Londoners rejoice in a
prurient story prettily acted . . . granted that
La Traviata at her Majesty's Theatre has
been the poorest music, poorly sung, which
has been allowed to pass for the sake of its
'dear improper story,' " etc/

Whatever the story, whatever the music
of La Traviata it still lives as an opera, and
is among the best of its class. This is due
again, we believe, to the quality of the music,
not to the nature of the story, for surely Lon-
doners did not, forty years back, — nor would
they now — betake themselves with their wives
and daughters to the theatre to enjoy a lust-
ful, itching story. The Traviata contains \
much of that warm, emotional, melodic pro-
fuseness which the public likes, and which it
demands, when it throws off its working garb
to take a little pleasure, sadly as, we are told,
it takes this. The popular nature of the
music, its freedom from technical and theatrical
perplexity, which the public at large is glad to
be without, its ever-changing colour, variety
and expression — all this contributes to the y
vitality of La Traviata. Has it been, too,

^ Athenccum, i6th August 1856.

138 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the sensuous nature of the story which has
led so many nervous ddbittantes, highly attuned
in temperament, to select the role to win an
artistic fame in, perhaps, the highest, as it is
the most difficult of all art pursuits ? We
believe not.

Poor Traviata ! Troubles did not end
with Mr. Chorley, for three years after that
gentleman's decease we read : — •

" How many Traviatas of how many
countries have died on the lyric stage since
the lugubrious and equivocal three-act opera
was produced at Venice in March 1853? . . .
It would be a curious calculation to count the
number of prime donne who have taken to
this disagreeable part. ... A nice discussion
as to the degree of sauciness or of bashful-
ness with which the vocalists who enact the
Traviata should invest the consumptive lady,
who coughs pianissimo and sings fo7'tissinio in
her death-scene."^

Les Vdpres Siciliennes was produced at the
Grand Op^ra, Paris, on the 13th June 1855;
so that this composition, with the Trovatore
and La Traviata, must have been occupying
Verdi's mind at one and the same period.

^ Athe7ia;mn, 9th May 1874.

CRUVELLI 139

This was Verdi's first work written ex-
pressly for the French stage, and it was the
more strange, therefore, to find him, an Italian
composer, choosing as a subject the massacre
of the French by the Sicilians ; yet Verdi
could scarcely refuse Scribe's story of the
wholesale slaughter of 1282.

An amusing incident delayed the produc-
tion of the work, for Mile. Sophie Cruvelli,
for some unexplained reason, ran away and
could not be found. When at last she was
traced, it was to the Strasburg theatre, where
the runaway was captured and quietly escorted
to Paris. A warm reception awaited her ; but
it so happened that her first words on her
re^itrde were those of Valentine in Les Hugue-
nots: "Tell me the result of your daring
journey," — -an a propos which fairly defeated
those who were going to hiss and hoot !
They laughed heartily and cheered instead,
reflecting over some fresh announcement of
Les Vdpres Siciliennes. At length this came.
Month after month had been spent in re-
hearsals, but at last all was ready. The
reception given to the opera was of the most
enthusiastic description. Mile. Cruvelli receiv-
ing a perfect storm of applause for her efforts

140 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

in the representation. Other artists in the
cast were Mile. Saunier and Messieurs Guey-
mard, Boulo, Bonnehee, Obin, and Coulon.

/ Vespri Siciliani- — ^to give the opera its
Italian title — pleased the French immensely ;
but the Italians cared not greatly for its
music, even when adapted to a new poem
entitled Giovanna di Guzman.

In the year 1859 it was brought to London,
and presented at Drury Lane Theatre (27th
July), being mounted with great care and
creditable splendour. The principal artists,
who performed with great effect, were Madame
Titiens and Signori Mongini and Fagotti, and
at the time the opera was adjudged by the
dilettanti one of the happiest efforts of its
composer ; although, as events have proved,
the later English judgment has not set a
particularly high value upon this work.

Writing for the Parisian stage, Verdi
appears to have deemed it necessary to copy
the grandiose style of the Grand Opera, to
which he sacrificed that vein of sweet, natural,
Italian melody which had won him his success.
" Several morceaux,'' wrote a critic of this
London introduction, " were much applauded,
but the performance went off heavily as a whole ;

LES VEPRES SICILIENNES 141

and we hardly think that those who sat it out
will feel much tempted to do so again. Five
acts of a ponderous French tragMie lyrique are
generally too much for English patience, unless
sweeping measures of curtailment are resorted
to ; and this might be very advantageously
done in the case of the V^pres Siciliennes.''' -^

One who was present thus writes of the
circumstances : '* But one novelty was given
— Les Vdpres Siciliennes — which I had heard
four years previously at the Grand Opera,
Paris, with Mile. Cruvelli as the heroine.
It failed here, as elsewhere, to maintain the
reputation which Verdi had won by his
Trovatore, Traviata, and one or two other
works of minor importance. In the absence
of Mile. Cruvelli, who had retired from the
stage, Mile. Titiens undertook the part of
the heroine ; but although she laboured con-
scientiously to make something of it, it com-
pletely beat her, and she has been wise
enough never again to waste her powers upon
crudities that betray nothing else than lean-
ness and want of resource by reason of their
noise and eccentricity." ^

■^ Illustrated Lo?tdo?t Ncius, 30th July 1S59.
^ Musical Recollectiofis of the Last Half -Century^ vol. ii. p. 325.

142 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

The Times was good enough to allow next
day that the work was produced " with incon-
testable success." In criticising the music
subsequently, The TzV/^^i^' critic said: " Though
the piece of itself, in spite of its melodramatic
and spectacular character, appears somewhat
heavy and spun out, it is enriched with many
of Signor Verdi's happiest thoughts. ... In
short, it may reasonably be concluded that
the Vespri Siciliani will maintain its place
amongst the best operas of its composer." ^

Verdi, perhaps, made obeisance for such
appreciation from The Times critic, who from
the first, it should in fairness be remarked,
had spoken less disparagingly of Verdi's
prospects as a musician than had the
AthencBurn critic. The prediction, however,
that / Vespri Siciliani would maintain its
place among the best operas of its composer,
was singularly unfortunate as a piece of
critical forecast, inasmuch as it has been sadly
falsified. The reasons for this need not be
discussed ; suffice it to say that thousands
who know and delight in the Trovatore,
La Traviata, and Rigoletto music, have not
heard the Sicilian Vespers. Thousands more

1 The Times, ist August 1859.

SIMON BOCCANEGRA 143

could not even distinguish the opera by its
name.

The score that followed Les V^pres Sici-
liennes was Simon Boccanegra. The manage-
ment of the Fenice theatre sought another
work from the first Italian master of the day,
and Simon Boccanegra was the consequence.
Once more the libretto was by Piave. This
opera, produced on the 12th March 1857,
proved a failure, a result that was attributed
partly to the unsuitability of the leading
singers, and partly to the feeble book. Later
on, an attempt was made by Boito and Verdi
to recast it ; but neither Milan nor Paris
would lend ears to the opera. Yet the follow-
ing year it was given at Naples with
enthusiasm. " Its first performance took
place," wrote a critic, " on the 28th November
1858, and was crowned with the most com-
plete success. The audience was densely
crowded, and so brimful of enthusiasm that
the maestro was called for seventeen times in
course of the evening."^ One of its best
vocal numbers is the scena, " Sento avvampar
nell animal' with the aria, " Cielo pietoso,
rendilaj' a thoroughly characteristic Verdinian

^ Illustrated LoJido7i News, nth December 1858.

144 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

song, and one which might well be found in
every tenor vocalist's repertoire.

Let it not be thought that Verdi was wan-
ing. Only a few months elapsed, and the
7naestro was ready with a work, Un Ballo
in Masckera, which was to prove another
triumph.

The original title was Gustave III., but the
police, watchful of Verdi, and freshened by the
Orsini attempt upon Napoleon III.'s life,
positively refused to permit an assassination
scene to be played. Verdi was furious, and
declined to adapt his music to other words,
whereupon the management of the San Carlo
Theatre at Naples (who had originally con-
tracted for this work) sued Verdi for 200,000
francs damages. Soon the public learned the
news. Then was there something resembling
a revolution ; thousands of excited Neapolitans
followed the musician wherever he went,
shouting " Viva Verdi f' So heated did the
feeling grow, steeped as it was with virulent
political animosity, that the situation became
dangerous, and eventually the authorities were
glad to allow Verdi to depart " out of their
coasts " with his opera under his arm. It next
turned up at Rome. Jacovacci, the impresario

UN BALLO IN MASCHERA 145

of the Teatro Apollo, wanted a novelty, and
hearing of the squabble at Naples, sought
Verdi and offered to take the opera. The
official element insisted upon so77ie alteration,
but finally the opera was produced on 17th
February 1859, and met with a splendid re-
ception, once more sending Verdi's name and
tunes over all Europe. The artists were,
Mesdames Julienne Dejeau, Scotti, and
Sbriscia, with Signori Fraschini and Giraldoni,
but Verdi was not satisfied with their inter-
pretation of his score.

On the 15th June 1861, Un Ballo in Mas-
chera was produced at the Royal Opera,
Lyceum, and met with an enthusiastic recep-
tion. The subject is the same as that of
Auber's celebrated opera Gustavtis III. —
the assassination of the King of Sweden at a
masked ball. Undoubtedly it is one of the
best of Verdi's Second period operas. The
audience were delighted with the music, and
all good judges perceived that the work was
in every sense a grand opera.

Un Ballo in Masckera, when produced for
the first time in England, brought The Times
again to the fore. " It presents enough," the
review ran, " to show his (Verdi's) talent still

L

146 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

ripening, and his inventive faculty in its
prime ; but it cannot be regarded as ' his
Guillawne Tell,' Rigoletto being out of all
comparison a better work, while // Trovatore
and La Traviata (to say nothing of those
earlier compositions Nabticco and Ernani)
\ contain isolated passages of marked superi-
ority. . . . Unquestionable as are the merits
of his score, piece after piece demonstrates his
musical inferiority to Auber. . . . To describe
the opera scene after scene would be a work
of supererogation. Its pretensions as a whole
are not of a sort to call for technical analysis,
or even to bear a very close scrutiny ; while
the beauties by which it is enriched (and they
are frequent) se de'roztlent, as the French say,
so easily, reveal themselves with such com-
placency, start out from the canvas, in short,
in such bold relief and endowed with so marked
an individuality, that they render themselves
familiar at a glance, and put that into shade
which, after all, is scarcely worth bringing to
light — we mean the general framework in
which they are set. Those pieces which are
not the most likely to become popular, but
which in the majority of instances are also,
from a musical point of view, decidedly the

AN ODIOUS COMPARISON 147

best, may be summed up in a * catalogue '
not over raisonn^e.'' ^

This criticism, unmarked though it be by
any evident sympathy with Verdi's muse,
might pass as a somewhat favourable estimate
of an effort of Verdi's, But it is illogical.
Upon reference to what appeared in The
Times eight years before, respecting Rigoletto,
we fail to trace a good word. "A very few
(words) will suffice to recall its beauties. Its
faults we have not space to describe. The
continental critics have informed us that
Rigoletto presented a transformation in Signor
Verdi's style as complete as that of Beethoven
when the Second Symphony was succeeded by
the Eroica. A very attentive hearing, how-
ever, left us convinced that Signor Verdi's
style in Rigoletto was much the same as in
his other operas. There is certainly no differ-
ence. . . . Verdi is as essentially Verdi as in
Nabucco and Er7iani, with the proviso that in
Nabucco and Ernani there are stirring tunes
and flowing melodies which are nowhere to be
met with in Rigoletto!'"

Such language, and that which appears
on page no is plain, unmistakable, emphatic.

^ The Times^ 17th June 1861. ^ ii,id,^ i6th May 1853.

148 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

How, then, shall we read the line of compara-
tive comment upon Un Ballo hi Masckera —
" Rigoletto being out of all comparison a better
work " ?

One more opera, and we must close this
chapter. This was La Fo7^za del Destino,
the libretto of which by Piave was borrowed
from a Spanish drama entitled Don Alvar.
The work was a commission from the
Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg, and was
produced there on the loth November 1862.
It was only a succ^s d'esHme, the Court of
Russia and the Muscovite populace not being
greatly moved by it. Yet it was well rendered
by Mesdames Barbot and Nautier-Didiee, with
Signori Tamberlik, Graziani, Debassini, and
Angelini. Precisely the same fate that
attended the work in the Russian capital
befel it at La Scala, Milan, in 1869, as well
as at the Paris Theatre Italien seven years
later.

There was not a little that was restless and
novel in La Forza del Destino, which probably
accounts for its cool reception from those who
were ready enough to welcome another of the
old and approved Verdi operas. That change
of style which was, later on, to show itself

LA FORZA DEL DESTINO 149

so unmistakably in A'ida, Otello, and Falstaff
was beginning to possess the composer's
mind. Sufficient of the new manner oozed
out in La Forza del Destino for critics and
analysts now to point to that opera as the
work in which Verdi's Third style first begins
to be traceable, and it can scarcely be sur-
prising that an unprepared public failed to
be impressed with the first hintings at a new
style which had yet to be placed before the
musical world in a matured and comprehend-
able state.

With this work, Verdi appeared to bid
farewell for ever to the operatic stage ; but, as
all the world knows, a long artistic silence
meant merely a retirement for the gathering
up of resources that were to burst forth and
bring Verdi into a perfect blaze of popularity.

CHAPTER VII

REQUIEM MASS AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS

Verdi as a sacred music composer — Share in the " Rossini "
Mass — Failure of a patchwork &'iiox\.—Missa da Requiem
produced — Splendid reception — Performed at the Royal
Albert Hall — Structure of the work— Von Billow's opinion
— Divided opinions on its style and merit — Its character —
Modern Italian Church style — Northern versus Southern
Church music — Verdi's early compositions — E minor
Quartet for Strings — Z' Ifino deUe Nasioni — Its perform-
ance at Her Majesty's Theatre — Verdi's slender share in
orchestral music — National temperament involved —
Thematic method inconsistent with Italian national life.

Verdi must not be overlooked as a writer of
sacred music. Hundreds of composers have
contributed more freely than he has to the
store of ecclesiastical music, and although
strict Church musicians might contend that,
from many points of view, any consideration of
Verdi as a sacred composer would be unneces-
sary, yet, withal, there is ample reason for
considering and comparing the religious, as
distinct from the secular, musician in Verdi.
Like his great compatriot Rossini, who,

MUSICAL PATCHWORK 151

towards the close of his career, composed a
Stabat Mater that has provoked, perhaps, more
criticism than any other piece of Church music,
Verdi has signalled his later years with a
sacred composition which has also been the
subject of much discussion.

In order to do honour to Rossini, whose
death was being deplored, some of Italy's
sons conceived the notion of a grand Mass to
be performed once every hundred years, on the
centenary of Rossini's death, and nowhere else
save at the Cathedral of Bologna. There
was, at least, the charm of novelty in such an
idea, and considering the period of time that
was to elapse between the performances, the
prospect of the music ever becoming hackneyed
was certainly remote. But the greatest diffi-
culty, the serious patchwork venture of such
a mixed composition, does not appear to have
entered the heads of the promoters. Thirteen
numbers for a Mass were given out to the
leading Italian composers, who entered into
the spirit of the plan with an unanimity worthy
of a better cause, and such numbers were duly
completed ; but when it came to the tacking
together of these pieces, the result was a
thorough Joseph's coat, as vari-coloured as that

152 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

famous garment, and so unsatisfactory that
the committee decided that it would never do,
even for a once-a-century performance.

Then came the question of a way out of
the difficulty. Who should be entrusted with
the commission for a complete work ? Now
the thirteenth number — a lucky quantity on
this occasion — was the Libera me in C minor,
by Verdi, which so attracted the attention of
Signor Mazzucato of Milan, that he begged
Verdi to take upon himself the responsibility
of composing a complete Requiem Mass. This
suggestion seems to have clung to him, for,
as all the world knows, he eventually gave us
that 7nagnum opus with which most amateurs
in this country are already familiar. Strangely
enough, Rossini's name dropped out of
association with the new mass, which, when
it was produced, was to honour the memory of
Manzoni, Italian poet-patriot, who, full of years,
joined the ever-increasing majority on 22nd
May 1873.

The first performance of this Missa da
Reqtiiem took place in the church of San
Marco at Milan on the 22nd May 1874, to
mark the anniversary of the death of Manzoni,
the composer's old friend, whom — to quote

REQUIEM MASS 153

Verdi's own words — " I regarded so much as
a writer, and venerated as a man — one who
was a model of virtue and patriotism."
Musicians and dilettanti from all parts of the
world attended this notable performance, which
Verdi conducted in person. There was an
orchestra of one hundred executants, and a
chorus of some hundred and twenty singers,
while the soli parts were entrusted to
Mesdames Stolz and Waldmann, with Signori
Capponi and Maini; and since these musicians
were leading performers, gathered from all
parts of Italy, the effect of such a combined
artist-effort was striking and enthusiastic in-
deed. The fine mass was splendidly performed,
and as number after number was unfolded
before the rapt congregation, its impressive-
ness and grandeur held every listener spell-
bound. The solemn beauty of the " Offer-
toriuni,'' '' Sanctus,'' and ''Dies Itcb'' proved
specially noticeable, and must have seriously
suggested to the late Dr. von Blilow, who
was present criticising the work, that beautiful
part-writing was an art not altogether unknown
to the Italian musician.

The pent-up interest in the score was,
however, soon to give vent. In order to

154 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

afford many others an opportunity of hearing
the mass, and of expressing their feeUngs
spontaneously, Verdi permitted it to be
performed three times at La Scala Theatre,
undertaking, good-naturedly, to conduct the
first performance. Then on Monday, the
25th May, the theatre was crammed with an
audience which — no longer restrained by
sacred surroundings — shouted applause from
beginning to end of the work. Several of the
numbers were encored, and more than once
the vast crowd of people rose en masse crying,
" Viva Verdi!''

In 1874 (4th June) the work was given in
Paris, at one of the Salle Favart " Matinees
Spirituelles," when the same solo singers as
at Milan rendered the mass superbly. Later
on it was brought to England, and a memor-
able performance of it took place at the Royal
Albert Hall, when Verdi himself wielded the
baton. This was on Saturday afternoon, 15th
May 1875. The soloists were Madame Stolz
(soprano), Madame Waldmann (contralto),
Signor Masini (tenor), and Signor Medini
(bass), who were supported by the powerful
choral and instrumental resources for which this
great music hall is famous. The exact com-

MUSICAL OPINIONS 155

plement of the band was 150, while the chorus
numbered some 500 to 600 singers. Upon
making his appearance Verdi, as may be im-
agined, received a tremendous ovation, for he
had not been in London since 1847, when
he attended the production of his opera /
Masnadieri at the Royal Italian Opera. The
master proved a good conductor, his style and
method as a chef d'orchestre being as firm and
assuring for his forces as it was attractive and
instructive to the audience that watched his
beat. The performance was in every sense a
success, and marked with all that enthusiasm
which the presence of a great artist always
provokes, albeit the effects realised in Milan
and Paris were, it was generally admitted, not
attained in so vast a hall. The numbers that
seemed to please most were the '' Lachrymosa
dies ilia,''' the '' Agntis Dei'' duet, and the
double chorus *' Sandusy

From this and subsequent renderings of
the Requiem, the general English public have
formed whatever judgment it may now enter-
tain of the work. These opinions are not
necessarily correct, since they are based, as
unscientific opinions about music generally
are, upon the attractiveness rather than on the

156 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

intrinsic worth of the music as Church or
ecclesiastical art-work.

The Mass is comprised in the following
seven numbers : —

1. ''Requiem''' and '' Kyrie'' for quartet
and chorus.

2. "Dies Ires'' — in four parts, solo and
chorus, with trio for soprano, contralto, and
tenor.

3. " Offertorium."

4. " Sanctus " — fugue, with double chorus.

5. ''Agnus Dei" — duet and chorus, soprano
and contralto.

6. " Lux y^terna " — trio for soprano, tenor,
and bass.

7. "Libera me" — soprano solo, chorus, and
fugue finale.

These combine to make up a fairly perfect
example of the modern Italian grand mass.

The late Dr. Hans von Billow declared
this work to be a monstrosity, and when it
was performed at the Paris Opera Comique,
although the enthusiasm quite equalled that
evoked at Milan, the opinion in the foyer was
divided as to whether the mass was a sacred
or a secular work ! Here was a serious blot
for a great man's composition which aimed at

A MONSTROSITY! 157

being sacred, both in intent and tone. Fear-
lessly the purists persisted in their charge that
the work was purely secular and operatic in
style. Other alleged defects of the mass were
subsequently discovered. For instance, one
writer declared that " there are more than a
hundred mistakes in the progression of the
parts." Was all this true ?

When, at the age of sixty-one, Verdi sur-
prised the musical world (which, up to that
time, had known him only as an opera com-
poser) with a composition for the Church,
anxiety was great to catch the ravishing
melodist as a creator of ecclesiastical music.
This done, it was possible to admit that the
style of the great Reqttiem was elevated,
even pathetic, in its religious expression,
replete with youthful fire. Soli, ensembles,
and choruses were, by their masterly poly-
phony, adjudged worthy of Mendelssohn
himself. Some ground for such praise really
existed, for here and there Verdi, in the
Requiem, even approaches Mozart in depth
of feeling, while his manner of expression is
allied to the modern classical school.

Indisputably, however, Verdi's Requiem is
an Italian mass, both in character and colour.

158 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Its prevailing features are identical with those
of the Stabat Mater and the Messe Solennelle
of Rossini. There is local colour, the atmo-
sphere of which can never be dispelled ;
besides, too, comes a flood of luxuriant, en-
trancing melody, characteristic of the Italian
operatic school. All southern nations, the
Italians especially, love sound for the sensuous
effect it produces. They love not laboured
theoretical art. Is this admissible in Church
music ? Rapturous, unctuous music is not
permanently strengthening and soul-raising.
Emotionally, it carries to a great height, only
to lead to a reaction, and to some lower
estimate of music that captivates but does
not elevate. In the Requiem, there is abund-
ant theoretical workmanship — more such evi-
dence than is usually met with in modern
Italian Church music ; yet, although this was
the studied purpose of the musician, it has
not enabled Verdi to rid himself of character-
istics which stamp southern musical art as
plainly as they do the architecture and the
person. Sensuous and exciting music is
acceptable enough in its way, but it does not
constitute good Church music. It is this
character, inseparable from the Italian nature,

ITALIAN CHURCH MUSIC 159

that forbids an unqualified acceptation of the
Missa da Requiem as a contribution to the
store of best Church music. None but the
wildest partizans could deny, however, that
in this mass Verdi has given to the world
some of the finest music he ever wrote ; he
has, moreover, furnished abundant proof of
his scholarship as a theorist, showing that he
really was able to do more than string tempt-
ing melodies together to please the capacities
of the polloi.

While approved musical taste remains
what it is, and does not degenerate, modern
Italian Church music will not be highly
regarded for use jn the sanctuary. Northern
and southern Europe are much wider apart
in Church musical style than they are
geographically ; and all sound musicians know
where to look for that style and expression
which most nearly approach the ecclesiastical
ideal. The stila fttgata is nobler and sterner
than the straightforward melody sumptuously
accompanied, so that the Haydn, Mozart, and
Beethoven mass, and the oratorii of Bach,
Handel, Mendelssohn, and Spohr, furnish a
far more appropriate, and adequate, sacred
musical manner than does anything that is

i6o VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Italian. With the Teuton style come mysti-
cism and reverence ; with the Italian passion
and secularism, the latter ill-suited indeed
to profound doctrines propounded at Church
altars. A melody may be as ample a medium
for religious expression as an eight - voice
fugue ; hence, it is not imperative that Italian
musicians should practise writing oratorios
on a wholesale scale before essaying Church
music. It is not the medium, however, that
we are contending against. Some of the
greatest, grandest prayers have been ex-
pressed in simplest song. It is the colouring
element, the atmosphere, pervading southern
Church music which, being operatic, renders
such music inadmissible by the side of German
and English religious art. This objectionable
feature stamps Verdi's Requiem from begin-
ning to end. The score is impregnated with
the world, and not with the cloister. The
Italian worshipper must have movement and
action, rather than reflection, even in his
devotional music. As we think, the con-
templative mood rather than the persuasive
is the one to inspire, as well as to promote,
a due appreciation of lofty things, and a
religious service. This, Teuton music sup-

Provesi.

A LIVING SCORE i6i

plies, but the modern Italian article does not.
The old Italian masters remembered the altar,
not the stage, so that the masses of musicians
like Palestrina, Marcello, Caldara, and Lotti
are infinitely more reverent in tone and
reach than their modern successors. Let it
not be forgotten, en passant, that the Germans
stand indebted to the Italians for the fugue,
transmitted to them in some instances, in as
fully developed a manner as could be desired,
and in certain features unsurpassable in its
completeness.

If Verdi's Requiem, however, does not
attain to perfection as Church music, it is,
nevertheless, a grand work, a masterpiece
in originality and scholarly treatment that
will always be listened to with admiration,
whether in oratory or concert hall. Like
Rossini's Stabat Mater, it will doubtless be
rendered from time to time by choral bodies
in quest of effective performing works ; but
no sound Church musician will ever seriously
regard it as an example of what Church
music should be, or is ever likely to become.
Probably it will be one of the scores that,
with his Third period operas, will best pre-
serve Verdi's name, but it will never carry

M

i62 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the maestro into the company of the world's
great sacred composers.

Besides this contribution to sacred music,
Verdi composed other works outside his uni-
versally known operas. He was not the busy,
successful, creative musician at one bound.
Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen he
wrote several marches for a brass band, some
short symphonies, six concertos, and varia-
tions for pianoforte, which he used to play him-
self; many serenatas, cantatas, arias, duets,
trios, a small Stabat Mater, and some Church
compositions. During the three years that he
remained at Milan, he composed two sym-
phonies, and a cantata, and upon his return to
Busseto he wrote a mass, a vesper, and three
Tantum Ergos, besides composing music to
Manzoni's tragedies. In 1880 a Paternoster ior
five voices fell from his pen ; andanAve Maria
for soprano solo is a cherished composition.

With one notable exception, Verdi, having
taken to vocal composition, never left it for
essays in the realm of instrumental music. This
exception is a Quartet in E minor for strings,
which has been played on more than one occa-
sion at the Monday Popular Concerts. It must
be admitted to be an unequal work — the first and

L IN NO DELLE NAZIONI 163

last movements having but little interest, while
the second and third are more spontaneous and
attractive. It is not likely to become a classic,
however, nor will interest attach to it so much
for its merit and worth as for its being the
single piece of chamber music with which the
English public are familiar from the pen of the
famous Trovatore master. But for an enforced
leisure this quartet might never have been
written. Verdi was at Naples superintending
the rehearsal of one of his operas, when
suddenly one of the principal singers was
seized with an indisposition. This brought
matters to a standstill ; when, not to be idle,
Verdi set about the composition of this quartet.
All these early compositions, save the
symphonies, the tragedies, and quartet music,
are lost, but as they were probably more
adapted for civic archives, as samples of youth-
ful industry, rather than as inspirations of
genius, this is not to be greatly deplored. It
remains to be added that — with Auber (France),
Meyerbeer (Germany), Sterndale Bennett
(England) — Verdi (Italy) wrote the cantata
" Z,' Iiino delle NazionV for the International
Exhibition of 1862 ; but the work was not
performed at the Exhibition because of some

1 64 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

expression of feeling on the part of the late
Sir Michael Costa. The final rejection of it
by the Commissioners gave rise to much com-
ment at the time. It was subsequently given
at Her Majesty's Theatre, 24th May 1862, and
repeated the following Tuesday.

The scene is supposed to be the interior of
the new Crystal Palace on the opening day,
when people of all nations are assembled
under the wondrous roof.

Musically its form is a solo rendered by
one of the people, to which the whole gather-
ing join in universal chorus.

" The cantata," we are told, "was admirably
got up and performed. The solo part was
magnificently sung by Mdlle. Titiens ; and the
chorus, two hundred and fifty strong, included
the most eminent members of the company.
On the first night the reception of the per-
formance was enthusiastic. The whole piece
was encored, and repeated with increased
spirit and effect. Signor Verdi was called for
several times, and when he presented himself,
led forward first by Mdlle. Titiens, and then
by Signor Giuglini, he was received with
reiterated acclamations."^

^ Illustrated London News, 31st May 1863.

ITALIAN MUSICAL TEMPERAMENT 165

In the instrumental department of music
Verdi has accomplished, as indeed he has
attempted, but little. This is in keeping with
the habit of his countrymen. Italians possess
neither the industry nor the application
requisite to plan and build a vast orchestral
conception. They bask under an azure sky,
while other men slave in the privacy of their
closets and studios. It is reserved for the
Teuton, with all his wondrous plodding, to
frame and make grand tone-poems, lavish with
ideal intent and richest colour, which become
subjects of admiration and wonder the more
it is realised that orchestral resource alone is
the agent employed. The southern climate
does not conduce to exertion and serious
application ; and the Italian, necessarily, wants
some rousing to enter the lists with the
weather-bound Teuton, in the construction of
laborious examples of art demanding the
exercise of the highest orchestral study and
exposition. Further, Italians have an instinct-
ive tendency towards vocal music. They can
create it as naturally as they sing it, and it is
no concern to them to write a melody, or
sketch a lightly-contrived orchestral piece in
the snug corner of a cafe, or behind the shelter-

i66 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

ing blind of a sun-pierced osteria. Fugue,
canon, double counterpoint, charm not the
Italians. They don't catch the meaning of
the term development in theoretical art, and if
they succeed in a distinct rhythm, simply
harmonised, with a well-balanced period, the
musical desire is satisfied. Without develop-
ment there can be no such thing as a great
orchestral structure. A theme must be taken
and worked out in the wondrous Beethoven
fashion ere anything instrumental worth the
name of a symphony or overture can be
evolved. All this means musical patience
and application, which Italians have not ;
otherwise overtures to Italian operas would
be something else than melodies of the opera,
announced to the audience at the outset, in
order to acquaint them with choice tunes that
are to follow.

CHAPTER VIII

THIRD PERIOD OPERAS

A matured style — Methusaleh of Opera — The last link — Aida
— A higher art plane — Ismail Pacha commissions Aida —
Its libretto — Production at Cairo — The argument — Patti
as Aida — At/iencEtan criticism oi Aida — Otello — Scene in
Milan — The initial cast — Its production and reception in
London and Paris — AthencBtim review of Otello — Its story
— Vocal and instrumental qualities — Falstaff—K surprise
defeated — Boito — Falstaff produced at La Scala — In
France — Falstaff dX Covent Garden — The comedy and its
music — Athenceum opinion of Falstaff — A crowning
triumph.

We venture upon the Third and last, the
''mature" period in Verdi's great career. It
forms a truly interesting phase of a long
life, because it has proved productive of his
best music. This later work places Verdi
at the head of his profession, and among the
most remarkable men of the century. That,
when verging on sixty years of age, he
should submit Azda, an opera abounding in
the strength, vitality, and freedom of youth,
constituted a musical event that was greeted

i68 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

with enthusiasm by the whole artistic world ;
but it was regarded as something more extra-
ordinary when, fifteen years later, the great
creative faculty of the master found vent in
Otello. This achievement won the admiration
of lovers of art and letters throughout the
globe. Yet that stroke was to be surpassed.
Five years later, when the maestro was eighty
years of age, to the astonishment of every-
body, Falstaff was given to the world. No
wonder that Verdi has been styled the "grand
old man " of music.

The genesis of A'ida was on this wise.
Ismail Pacha, Khedive of Egypt, desired a
novelty for the inauguration of the new
Italian theatre at Cairo, and sought a brand-
new opera, on the composer's own terms.
Verdi — consulting pupil Muzio — named the
sum of ;^4000 sterling, to which the Khedive
agreed. The feeling was towards a work
with local colour and interest ; hence the
A'ida book — the joint production of Mariette
Bey, M. C. du Code, and Signor Ghislanzoni
— was decided upon.

In a few months the score was completed ;
meanwhile the scenery and costumes were
being prepared in Paris. But there proved to

AID A AT CAIRO 169

be no heed for haste. The Franco-German
war broke out, and for several months the art
of painter and costumier was locked up in the
besieged city. At length the eventful day for
the production of A'tda came round, however,
and the work was given for the first time
publicly, at the Cairo theatre, on Sunday,
24th January 1 87 1 . The cast was as follows : —
A'z'da, Madame Pozzoni-Anastasi ; Ainndris,
Madame Grossi ; Radames, Signor Mongini ;
Ranifis, Signor Medini ; Amonasro, Signor
Costa ; King, Signor Steller, with Signor
Bottesini as conductor, because Verdi, having
a horror of the sea and given to mal de mer,
could not be induced to make the journey to
Cairo. The final rehearsal lasted from seven
in the evening until half-past three the next
morning, while the performance itself was one
of the most gorgeous that had graced even the
Egyptian capital. Crowds were turned from
the doors, and those who had seats might have
sold them, to use a common and hardly accurate
expression, for their weight in gold.

Notabilities of every country were there,
sharing the evident enthusiasm of the Khedive,
who, when the representation was concluded,
sent a telegram to Verdi congratulating him

170 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

heartily upon the success and excellence of the
work. The excitement was immense, and the
salvoes of applause that greeted number after
number of the opera were easily heard outside
the walls of the theatre, There was only one
opinion about A'ida, On all sides it was ad-
judged a masterpiece, the finest work that had
been issued from the master's pen. From
Cairo A'ida was taken to La Scala Theatre
(17th February 1872), and subsequently it was
presented at the Theatre Italien in Paris,
where in three successive seasons it had some
seventy representations. In 1876 it was pro-
duced for the first time in England at Covent
Garden Theatre ; and a French version of the
opera was also given at the Paris Opera on
22nd March 1880.

The scene of the opera is laid at Memphis
and at Thebes during the rule of the Pharaohs
over Egypt. Aida, daughter of Amonasro,
King of Ethiopia, having fallen into the hands
of the Egyptians, is brought back a prisoner
into Egypt, where her grace and beauty win
for her a place as slave to Amneris, the
Egyptian king's daughter. In this association
she is seen by Radames, a captain, and event-
ually commander - in - chief of the Egyptian

AIDA LIBRETTO 171

troops. Amneris, entertaining a secret affec-
tion for this young soldier in her father's
service, becomes alarmed on finding that the
bearing of Aida shows her to be similarly-
affected. Her jealousy is aroused, and she
vows vengeance on her rival. Amonasro
then comes into prominence. A prisoner in
one of the battles between the Egyptians and
the Ethiopians, he is brought to Egypt, no
one save Aida knowing his rank, for he was
fighting as an officer merely. As a reward for
his martial services, the Egyptian king offers
Radames his daughter's hand in marriage,
which, seeing that he is deeply in love with
Aida, places him in a difficult position. Amon-
asro meanwhile gets scent of the affection be-
tween Aida and Radames, and discovering
their trysting- place, urges his daughter to
induce Radames to betray his country. This
he does, and being seized, is tried, found
guilty, and condemned by the sacred council
to be buried alive. Amneris, the king's
daughter, secures for him her father's pardon,
on his consenting to abandon Aida for ever.
This he refuses to do, for he prefers the slave
to the mistress. On the stone being lowered
which is to immure him in a living tomb, he is

172 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

seen with Aida by his side, she having con-
trived to penetrate into the dark vault of the
Temple of Phtha in order to prove her con-
stancy and love, by sharing his fate, and like
Romeo and Juliet, dying together. Such is
briefly the story of the A'ida libretto.

A close study of the plot shows it to be
neither strictly logical nor consistent ; at the
same time the book abounds with striking and
sensational situations, appreciated alike by
musicians and dramatists.

That empress of song, Madame Patti,
created the principal character in A'ida when
it was first given in this country on the 23rd
June 1876. The other principal singers were
Mdlle. Ernestina Gindale (Amneris), Signori
Nicolini (Radames), Graziani (Amonasro),
Capponi (Ramfis), and M. Feitlinger (King
of Egypt). As every frequenter of the opera
who can recall that eventful night will remem-
ber, it was a brilliant night. The Royal box
was fully tenanted, including the Prince and
Princess of Wales, with the Princes Albert
Ernest and Georofe Frederick. The cantatrice
thrilled the audience by the purity and tender-
ness of her singing, notably in her delivery of
Aida's agonised soliloquy in the third act. In

CHANGED CRITICAL ATTITUDE 173

no previous part had she shown greater
powers, and the assumption of the part placed
her in the front rank of lyric tragediennes. On
all sides it was admitted that Verdi had achieved
a great and unexampled success. The main
topic was the new order of Verdi's music in
A'z'da, of which more in another chapter.

In 1876 something much like a change of
front takes place on the part of the Athenceum.
It no longer gives Verdi his congS, but blames
the English directors for allowing four years
to elapse before producing A'ida: — " The repu-
tation of Signor Verdi ought to have induced
the directors to bring out, as promptly as
possible, any new opera by him."^ Referring
to A'ida the notice runs : — " The consecration
scene, in which Radames is invested with the
command of the Egyptian army, is highly
dramatic ; still finer is the finale of the second
act. Here are found the most telling points,
for the composer revels in the expression of
extreme emotion ; he has varied and conflicting
passions to set ; there is the glorification of the
return of a victorious general with his army ;
there is the lament of the Ethiopian prisoners ;
there is the exultation of Amneris at her father,

^ Athencetim, ist July 1876.

174 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the King, having awarded her to Radames as
the prize for his valour ; there are the sup-
pressed tones of vengeance of Amonasro,who is
not recognised as the Ethiopian monarch and
warrior in his thraldom ; and there is the deep
despair of Aida at losing Radames, and her
grief at her father being in the hands of his
enemies. The effect of the ensemble is most
imposing ; the parts are well and distinctly
defined, and to the individual bursts are added
the choral and orchestral combinations. This
finale is the grandest number in the entire
score ; there is no other situation in which
there is such variety and power. There are
no less than six duets in the four acts, but in
no one of them is there consistent and coherent
writing ; there are isolated breaks of beauty,
such as passages here and there in the duet
between Aida and Amneris, 'Amore! amore!'
in the second act, in which the Egyptian
princess discovers that she has a rival in her
Ethiopian slave, who is a prisoner ; and in the
two duets in the third act, the first between
Aida and her father Amonasro, in which she
is forced to turn spy in the subsequent duo
with her lover Radames, and induce him to
disclose the secret pass by which his

ATHEN^UM ON AID A 175

troops may be attacked by the enemy.
The two duets in the last act — the first in
which Amneris endeavours to persuade Ra-
dames to sue for pardon, and the second in
the vault under the temple between Aida and
Radames, ' Morir ! si pura e bella ' — are also
excellent. There are few solos. The first is
for the tenor, ' Celeste Aida ' ; the second is
the scena of Aida, ' L' insana parola,' when
she learns that Radames is to be the chief to
attack her father's army ; the third is the
romanza of Aida in the third act, ' O cieli
azzurri,' recalling the beauties of her own
country ; and the final solo is that of Amneris
while listening to the trial and condemnation
in the vault of Radames for his treason. The
characteristics of these solos are peculiarly
those of Signor Verdi, but their finest
features forcibly recall airs which he has com-
posed from other operas — thus the Miserere
theme of the Trovatore is paraphrased more
than once. The work is very heavily scored —
over-instrumented in the brass particularly, and
it would exact double the number and twice
the tone of the strings at Covent Garden to
counterbalance the blatant efTects. But there
are also some remarkably interesting parts in

176 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the orchestration ; the prelude or overture
is short, but it conveys the notion of the
Eastern story which follows. It is dreamy and
charmingly coloured; the March is magnificent,
and is sure to be played by our military bands
even if they do not possess the six long
Egyptian trumpets used by Signor Verdi. . . .
It is true that the composer in seeking for
scientific combinations has not shown his
former spontaneity, and that his themes are at
times commonplace, while his instrumentation
generally is too ponderous ; but there are
redeeming features in the elaborate score
sufficient to prove that he still maintains that
peculiar ascendency over the sympathies of
audiences which asserts itself in striking situa-
tions so vividly. In short, Signor Verdi has
the faculty, amidst trivialities, of never writing
an opera in which there is not some display of
emotional and sensational power." ^

Of this criticism it is but fair to the AthencBuni
to state that, as regards the " excessive orches-
tration," it is consistent with one of the late Mr.
Chorley's old charges ; but in all other respects
the apostate Verdi appears now to have claims
both for the fullest admiration and attention.

^ AthencEum, ist July 1876.

OTELLO 177

A curious episode in connection with the
publication of Ai'da was the provocation it
gave to one Signor Vincenzo Sassaroli,
who was most surprisingly perturbed because
of the success of the opera and the Requiem
mass. He could not conceive how publisher
and public could see anything in such
music, and he went so far as to write to
Ricordi challenging a setting of the A'ida
libretto, which he would undertake upon cer-
tain conditions. The avowed object of the
challenge was to prove to the world of art that
the book could be set better than it had been !

Passing over Montezuma, in five acts,
which Verdi completed in 1878, and which
was given for the first time at La Scala, Milan,
we come to the master's next great Shake-
spearean setting — Otello.

Otello, a lyric drama in four acts, with a
book by Arrigo Boito, proved the second of
the composer's matured period works. It was
on the 5th February 1887 that Milan — Otello-
polis, as it had been for the nonce christened
— was all astir because that Otello was to be
positively performed. Soon after daybreak
the whole city was a mass of mixed, excited
humanity — faces known and unknown from

N

178 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

every part of the world — all bent on one
eternal theme, Verdi and Otello. Ere 7 p.m.
that evening La Scala was packed from pit to
dome with perhaps the most brilliant audience
that had ever filled the famous theatre.
Faccio was to conduct, and no sooner did the
distinguished leader appear than thunders of
applause burst from all parts of the house, so
feverishly expectant was every one concerning
the music that was about to be unfolded. No
overture, but a few preliminary bars of tempest
music, and the curtain rose to a scene on the
island of Cyprus, with lago, Roderigo, and
Cassio in evidence.

It was an open secret that an excellent
libretto had been prepared by Boito, one to
which the strictest of Shakespearean students
could hardly take exception ; and as number
after number of the music proceeded, it became
equally apparent that another great opera was
born to the world. True, Boito had ignored
the first act of the immortal bard's drama, and
thus robbed Verdi of the chance of setting
that fine declamatory passage : " Most noble,
grave, and reverend seigneurs"; but the
librettist had to curtail somewhere, and this
first act was the rejected one.

OTELLO CAST 179

The cast on this eventful night included
Signora Romilda Pantaleoni (Desdemona),
Signer Tamagno (Otello), M. Maurel (lago),
with Signori Fornari and Paroli as Roderigo
and Cassio respectively, the part of Emilia
being filled by Mdlle. Petrovich — artists who,
on the whole, did justice to the masterly music
put into their mouths. At the conclusion of
the performance Verdi was called forward
some twenty times amid a scene of enthusiasm,
and the waving of hats and handkerchiefs,
indescribable. The excited people yoked
themselves to the maestro s carriage, and drew
him at a vexatiously slow pace (in order that
he might catch the applause) to his hotel ; and
those who retired to rest that night did so to
the accompaniment of singing and cries for
Verdi, which had not ceased when all good
people should have been asleep. There was
a perfect Otel/o-W&rdi mania.

Verdi admittedly had written another grand
opera, and the great problem was how, at the
age of seventy-four, the composer could pro-
duce such a masterpiece. In design and
execution it was equal if not superior to
A'ida — far surpassing in construction any of
his First or Second period works. No dis-

i8o VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

sentient voices could be raised in the general
chorus of praise, the opinion being that from
first to last the music was as extraordinary as
it was magnificent. There was grandeur, as
there was learning ; and when the technical
skill did not attract the attention, it was the
surpassing beauty, the seemingly inspired
nature of the music that won both heart
and ear.

It is not surprising that all the European
capitals clamoured to hear a work of such
masterly force and skill, and it is creditable
to our country's art instincts to find that the
opera was given at the Lyceum Theatre in
July 1889, or within little more than two years
after its production at Milan. The chief
singers included SignoraCataneo(Desdemona),
with Signori Tamagno (Otello), Paroli (Cassio),
and M. Maurel (lago). Then an excellent
exposition of the work resulted.

On this occasion the Athencsunt stated : —
"Verdi in A'ida cut himself adrift from the
conventionalities of Italian opera, and pro-
duced a work almost perfectly beautiful, glow-
ing with Oriental colour, and dependent to a
very slight extent upon the special devices of
Wagnerian music drama. In Otello we miss

ATHEN^UM ON OTELLO i8i

the special characteristics which lend such a
charm to A'lda, and are disposed to judge it
with severity on account of the composer's
rashness in selecting a Shakspearean subject.
. . . The first point that strikes the hearer with
regard to the music is its essentially modern
character combined with its freedom from
direct Wagnerian influences. Verdi in his
latest score has adopted even less of Wagner's
peculiar methods than he did in A'ida. Much
has been made of the so-called ' kiss ' motive,
and we may note a harsh progression in con-
secutive fifths and octaves which appears two
or three times, and is apparently intended to
suggest the torture of jealousy, but of Leit-
motive in the accepted sense there is not one.
. . . From hence to the close the music is
fragmentary, but intensely dramatic, and as
impressive as any operatic music ever penned.
An exquisitely touching effect is produced by
the use made of the love theme from the
first act, and, speaking generally, this final
scene is a worthy crown to a work which,
if not the finest Verdi has written, is at any
rate a splendid example of modern Italian
art."^

^ Athenceum, 13th July 18S9.

1 82 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Yet, if such criticism were insufficient to
prove that there was, as there had been all
along, something of merit in Verdi and his
music, we find it accentuated two years later
when Otello was given at the Royal Italian
Opera, Covent Garden. On this occasion
we are told : — " If the score is less equal in
inspiration and less remarkable for glowing
picturesqueness than that oi A'tda, it is worthy
to rank with that beautiful work, and more-
over affords ample proof that a composer of
genius can satisfy the requirements of modern
opera ; that is to say, give full play to the
dramatic flow of the story without slavishly
following the special devices of Wagnerian
music drama. In this sense Otello may be
regarded as a model for composers of opera
seria apart from its own intrinsic value, which
is very great." ^

On the 1 2th October 1894 a French version
of Otello was given at the Paris Opera, when
Verdi himself attended, superintended the re-
hearsals, and conducted. All Paris was strongly
represented on this gala occasion, and no pains
or expense were spared upon the performance.
The presence of the veteran composer in the

1 Athenceum, i8th July 1891.

VERDI IN PARIS 183

conductor's seat naturally gave zest to this
performance, and it is doubtful whether a
more enthusiastic reception was ever ex-
perienced by Verdi. Applause followed
applause, until it was abundantly clear that
Verdi had secured another triumph, and that
Paris, as well as London and Milan, had
approved of the composer's masterly achieve-
ments in Otello.

Wherever performed, the especially beauti-
ful numbers of the work have speedily been
detected. In the first act, which sounds some-
what on Verdi's conventional lines, the storm
prayer, the festal music, and a love duet are
particularly fine. The second act includes a
great scene for I ago, a duet between Cassio
and lago, and a quartet, the whole finishing
with a stirring duet between Otello and lago.
This act is full of declamation, which though
helped on by the cantilena passages, and
beginning with the garden fete to the sound
of mandolini, seems a little monotonous.
The quartet, however, between Desdemona,
Otello, lago, and Emilia, is extremely interest-
ing, and supplies as fine a piece of choral
writing as Verdi has ever penned. In the
third act is an abundance of picturesque

i84 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

theatrical music, such as Verdi could well
write, for it is one of his great gifts to know
exactly what the public prefer. An inter-
polation in the original text now provides the
"handkerchief" trio for Cassio, Otello, and
I ago, which in music and poetry is one of the
best pieces in the opera. This is followed by
a pathetic duet between Desdemona and her
jealous lord, and after much fine dramatic
writing, suggested in the main by the masterly
additions which Boito has made to the original
text in this act, we reach the conclusion where
I ago, with his foot on the Moor's heart,
answers the chorus with malignant triumph.
"The lion is here!" This is a highly
dramatic, superb situation in the opera, and
never fails to elicit the loudest applause.
Desdemona's " Willow " song, with its horn
and bassoon accompaniment, has rarely
been equalled by Verdi; while the ''Ave
Maria, ' partly in monotone, and partly in
cantilena phrases accompanied by the strings,
is of most exquisite heavenly nature. In the
fourth and concluding Act, Otello kills his
wife, spares I ago, and stabs himself, and this
is generally acknowledged as the finest part
of the work. It abounds with beautiful.

OTELLO ORCHESTRATION 185

luxuriant music, in Verdi's choicest vein, while
its intense dramatic character is unsurpassed
by anything in the range of opera music. In
it, Verdi and all his vast dramatic-musical
powers rise to their fullest height.

Considered as a whole, Otello must be
accounted a very fine opera, a model of opera
seria amid all the influence, fashion, and
revolution in modern music. Its various
beautiful soli pieces, its bold and vigorous
choruses, the grand finales, the highly finished
duets and quartets, and lastly, but not least,
its declamatory music, with the striking and
effective recitatives — all this renders the vocal
portion well-nigh beyond criticism. The
orchestration is particularly remarkable. Here
Verdi has surpassed himself, and given us
page after page of dramatic tone-painting of
the highest order. Rarely has any opera
composer shown us anything so dramatic as
the finale representing the reception of the
delegates from Venice, and the Moor's insult-
ing treatment of his wife. In the first act,
the tempest music is wonderfully effective and
well conceived, and the second act is full of
masterly instrumental device and combination.
The grand workings of the orchestra in the

1 86 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

" Credo " in this Act could not be surpassed.
This same high standard is, on the whole,
maintained throughout the third act ; while
the composer's vocal and instrumental work in
the fourth and concluding act is admitted
by all judges to be one of the grandest
instances of modern orchestral manipulation.

Great as Verdi had been before the pro-
duction of Otello, and greater still as he
became through Otello, there remained yet a
further measure of greatness for the justly-
famed Italian art king. Those who appreciated
and wondered at, to say nothing of listening
with delight and amazement to, the superlative
musical beauties of Ai'da and Otello, had yet
greater things in store for them. When the
composer was busy upon the Otello music,
the villagers and others in and around Busseto
knew that the master was employed upon
serious music. He wore a troubled look, and
the expression of his face was one of tragic
austerity. Brusque, wrapped up, impatient,
he was far from pleasant to deal with, so
different from his usual courteous manner and
bearing towards the residents. Later, there
was a change. A smile played about the
composer's lips, he was jovial, open mannered,

FALSTAFF 187

happy. The peasants and others about the
hamlet declared that the composer was in a
merry mood ; they surmised, and rightly
enough, that he was engaged upon some
comedy music. This was Falstaff.

The idea of a lyrical comedy taken from
Shakespeare haunted Verdi some time before
he wrote Falstaff. He spoke to M. Maurel
about it, and the latter, in 1890, sent him the
version of The Taming of the Shrew arranged
by Paul Delair for Coquelin the elder. Verdi
returned the manuscript, and wrote from
Genoa, saying it was superb, and that he
envied the musician whose lot it would be to
compose to it ; but, as far as he was concerned
it was too late. Nearly two years afterwards
he told Maurel why it was too late : " Boito
and I had planned a lyrical comedy, now nearly
finished. It is to be called Falstaff^

Verdi composed the music between 1890
and 1892, and the opera was produced for the
first time at La Scala, Milan, on 9th February
1893. It was hailed, and justly so, with
enthusiasm, as one of the most remarkable
works that ever met the ear inside the walls
of that historic opera-house. Musicians from
all parts of the world sped to Milan to hear

1 88 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the score concerning which gossip had long
been busy — so busy, as to be annoying to
Verdi, who wished this, his first comic opera,
to burst as a surprise upon the musical world
in its complete and final form, instead of being
made the subject of anticipation and discussion
for at least two years beforehand.

Boito's libretto is, perhaps, the best written
and planned book ever presented to a com-
poser. The subject is one of Shakespeare's
best, and the librettist has throughout kept
Shakespeare to the front, respecting the great
dramatist in the most laudable manner. There
is little new and little missing in the story,
and our old Windsor friends, as jovial and
merry as ever, are with us, even in their
quaint, fanciful Italian language. There is
the jovial, noisy, conceited, amorous Sir John ;
the villainous, time - serving Bardolph and
Pistol ; the upright, but jealous Ford ; the
fussy Dr. Caius ; the sentimental Fenton ; the
truly sweet Anne Page ; and last, but not
least, the gay, joke-loving, "merry wives,"
Mistress Ford and Mistress Page.

In all there are three acts, opening with
the interior of the Garter Inn, and closing
with the midnight revelry at Heme's Oak,

FALSTAFF FIRST NIGHT 189

the belabouring of Falstaff, etc. Did we
state that the music is fully worthy of Shake-
speare's comedy, that would express the matter
in a few words, yet something more needs to
be told of a work that may be cited as a
companion opera to Wagner's Die Meister-
singer. Falstaff is an astounding tour de
force, reflecting alike the artistic versatility of
the librettist, and the consummate, matured
powers of the composer. On this point the
critics — and it might be added, the musicians
— of all nations are agreed. The Shake-
spearean spirit has been caught by the com-
poser in wonderful fashion, and the English
flavour is found and preserved throughout
the opera to an unmistakable degree.

One who was present on the eventful
night of its first performance wrote : —

" Even setting aside the Milanese them-
selves, it would be impossible to conceive an
audience more representative of the best
elements in music, art, politics, and society.
Critics were there from all parts of Europe —
indeed, one might almost say from all parts
of the world. The Italian Royal family were
represented by the Duke of Aosta and Princess
Letitia ; the Government by Signor Martini,

190 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Minister of Public Instruction; the 'new
school ' in Italy by Signor Mascagni, to whom,
as it was with Verdi himself, honour has come
early ; and society in general by MM. Leon
Cavallo, Bazzini, Marchetti, Puccini, and a
host of other notabilities. The ladies had
done honour to the occasion, in characteristic
fashion, by donning their most elaborate
dresses, and thereby adding immeasurably to
the bright and cheerful aspect of the house.
The performance began amid absolute still-
ness, the more desirable as, like Otello, the
new opera has neither overture nor prelude."

" This is the last work of my life," he said
angrily, striding, a tall, gaunt figure, up and
down his large drawing-room, and pushing
back the long gray hair from his wrinkled
forehead with an impatient gesture. " I am
writing it for my own amusement ; the public
would have known nothing at all about it,
had it not been for that Mefistofole of a Boito."
This little joke of his own, more perfect in
Italian than in English, put him into a good
■ humour again, and on my asking him what his
complaint was against his clever librettist, he
told me the whole story. They had been
dining at the Hotel Milan with Ricordi, the

FALSTAFF CAST 191

music publisher, his wife, and one or two
more. When dessert was on the table Ricordi,
turning to Boito, inquired when his '■' Nerone^'
an opera for which the Italian public has
been waiting for the last five years, would be
ready. Boito replied that it had been laid
aside in view of a work of much greater
importance, and then rising, with his glass in
his hand, looked towards Verdi and said,
laughing, " Here's to your fat-paunched hero."
Inquiries, of course, followed, and in this way
the subject of the new opera became known.
" I should not have forgiven Boito his indis-
cretion," Verdi continued, " had he not written
me a first-rate libretto. The music that I
have put to it is in some passages so droll,
that it has often made me laugh while writing
it."^

The artists entrusted with the first render-
ing of this chef d'oeuvre were Signora Pasqua
(Mrs. Quickly), Signorine Emma Zilli (Mrs.
Ford), Virginia Guerrini (Mrs. Page), and
Adelina Stehle (" Sweet Anne ") ; with Signori
Garbin (Fenton), Pini-Corsi (Ford), Pelle-
galli-Rosetti (Bardolph), Arimondi (Pistol),
Armandi (Caius), and M. Maurel (Falstaff).

^ The Daily Graphic^ 14th January 1S93.

192 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Signer Mascheroni conducted, and one after
another the successive beauties of the work
were poured forth amid a scene of excitement
such as can only be witnessed in La Scala, and
which was unprecedented even there. The
interest of the audience was arrested from
the first scene ; but, as climax after climax
was reached, the enthusiasm of the brilliant
assemblage began to lose bounds, until, at the
close of the opera, there was such a tumultu-
ous applause, such calls for Verdi, as to be
deafening. No fewer than thirty times was
Verdi called on during the performance.

There was but one admission to make —
Verdi, doyen of composers, past-grandmaster
of music, had crowned his artistic career with
the finest, the most scholarly work that ever
issued from his pen. Little wonder that the
people almost carried him back to his hotel,
that they cried for him from the crowded
streets, that they called him, time after time,
to the balcony of his apartment in order that
he might receive their acclamations.

King Humbert sent the eminent composer
the following telegram : — " The Queen and
myself, being unable to attend the first per-
formance of Falstaff, anticipate the applause

FALSTAFF IN PARIS 193

about to greet this fresh proof of an inex-
haustible genius, by sending you our best
wishes and the expression of our great admir-
ation. May you be preserved for many years
to come, to the honour of art, to our affections,
and to enjoy the recognition of Italy, which,
even in her saddest days, found patriotic com-
fort in your triumphs."

From that day to this, interest in Falstaff
has never ceased, the point most dwelt upon
being the remarkable freshness, the youth and
gaiety, the fun and frolic, on every page of the
music. Could it be old-age work ? or, was it
that with his decline in physical powers Verdi's
mental capacity was reaching greater perfec-
tion, suggesting perhaps the splendid spectacle
of an after condition when, it is to be hoped
for all of us, the mental portion of these sorry
frames of ours will be doing its perfect work
undeterred, unhampered.

Paris had the work at the Opera Comique
in April 1894, when the performance was
rendered more interesting by the presence of
the composer himself, who received a tribute
of enthusiastic applause from a crowded house
containing two thousand of the most notable
representatives of the Parisian world. The
o

194 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

scene was a very striking one when Verdi, in
his eighty-first year, yet carrying his age ex-
ceedingly well, was led forward between Victor
Maurel and Mile. Delna, the two principal
interpreters of this version of the Merry Wives
of Windsor.

In May 1894, Falstaff v^?iS given for the
first time in London, at Covent Garden, with
the Scala troupe of artists, the occasion
furnishing the musical event of the season.
The performance was witnessed by a brilliant
audience, royalty being represented by the
Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Saxe-
Coburg and her daughter, while the general
gathering included nearly all the personages
of " light and leading " in the London musical
world. The comic masterpiece was a com-
plete and unqualified success.

Signor Mancinelli conducted, and the
principal roles were filled by Signorine Kitzu
(Meg), Giulia Ravogli (Dame Quickly), Olga
Olghina (Nanetta), and Zilli (Alice); Signor
Pessina represented an excellent fat knight
(the part created by M. Maurel in Milan),
and Signori Pellegalli - Rosetti, Arimondi,
Armandi, and Pini - Corsi, were capital as
Bardolph, Pistol, and Dr. Caius, and Ford,

FALSTAFF IN LONDON 195

respectively. The reception of the opera,
from beginning to end, was most enthusiastic,
and time after time the curtain descended
amid tumultuous applause, and the calling
forward of the singers.

Where a work is replete with splendid
points and brilliant episodes — uniform in its
excellence from opening to close — it is un-
necessary to particularise one number more
than another. Yet it is well to record the
most "taking" pieces, even in a composition
so consistently beautiful, both in libretto and
in music, as Falstaff 2idim\iiQ.di\Y is. The first
act opens in the interior of the Garter Inn,
and amid the animated scene which follows,
there is some excellent music to the doings
of Bardolph, Pistol, and Dr. Caius. The
canonic "Amen" is amusing, and Sir John's
soliloquy upon "honour," gives the baritone
a capital chance of displaying his powers.
Another attractive number, where all is so
attractive, is the chattering quartet of women,
at the end of the first act. With the second
act, we still are in the Garter hostelry — and
the fun thickens. Mrs. Quickly and Ford, in
turn, "interview" Falstaff", and here, as in
the scene in Ford's house, and the search for

196 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the missing knight, the music is of the
HveHest, happiest character. The fat knight's
solo, "When I was page to the Duke of
Norfolk, slender of figure," the love duet,
and Anne Page's song in the forest scene are
further superlatively beautiful instances among
many in this richly - gemmed work. The
opera has been given in Milan, Berlin,
Vienna, Paris, and London — here several
times, as recently as the last season — and
whenever performed, the sparkling numbers
enumerated are always encored, and re-
demanded.

Critically regarded, the music is unques-
tionably the best that Verdi has written. Its
leading features are its freshness, spontaneity,
irresistible humour, and youthfulness ; yet, its
finished character, the carefully conceived and
highly wrought detail, involving much techni-
cal skill and learning, bespeak unmistakably
the ripened master-mind. What a reply, too,
it is to all the early critical opposition which
made out that there was nothing in Verdi
beyond the power of adapting his country-
men's melodic commonplaces, and stringing
them together suitably for a speedy oblivion !

" The age of miracles is supposed to be

A NEW APOCALYPSE 197

past, but those who declare it so would do
well to consider the miracle of Verdi's per-
sistent artistic vitality. . . . When count is
taken of the quality as well as of the quantity
of Verdi's achievements, these must be con-
fessed well-nigh miraculous. The list of his
operas is an epitome, one might say, of
the development of operatic music. Trace
the steady march of his genius from the
period of / Lombardi to Otello, remember
the successive stages typified by Trovatore,
Ernani, Rigoletto, Atda, — each a master-
piece after its kind, — and you find yourself in
the presence of a man who has never swerved
from the search after the highest ideal. Be-
tween / Lombardi and Otello there is a
gap which it might seem no one man could
span. And yet, however different the methods
of expression which Verdi has chosen in each
stage of his development, the form has always
been inevitable, and the man's personality is
as apparent and as potent in one as in the
other. A'ida seemed likely to be his last
work ; but with Otello came a new apoca-
lypse. He had not been afraid to modify his
method, that it might fit his subject more
completely, and there was not wanting those

198 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

who (wrongly) saw in it a confession of con-
version to the Wagnerian gospel. No one
believed that the octogenarian composer
would find anything fresh to say or any fresh
way of saying it. The miracle has been
repeated, for in Falstaff, produced at Milan
on the 9th inst, we have a work which pro-
claims itself the expression of a phase of
Verdi's nature quite unguessed at. The
antiquaries of music, who care less to enjoy
a work than to classify it, will not find the
task in the case of Falstaff easy, for Falstaff
does not fall readily into any of the required
classes. It belongs to no school, not even
to that of Verdi himself, for there was little
in any of his other operas to show that he
possessed the supreme gift of humour, though
indeed we might have remembered that so
exquisite a sense of proportion as his never
goes unaccompanied with humour, and is de-
pendent on it for perfection."^

Following this fulsome preamble is a highly
flattering detailed account of Verdi's music
to Falstaff — which stands in strange contrast
to much that we have read of the maestro in
the pages of the Atkencsum. Such phrases

^ AtheticEuvi, 1 8th February 1893.

ATHENAEUM ON FALSTAFF 199

as the following, to be found in the notice,
must indeed have proved balm to Verdi after
his years of castigation at the hands of this
journal : —

" Petulant contempt " (referring to the part
where Falstaff harangues his servants on the
point of honour) "is no easy thing to express
in music, but here the difficulty is overcome
without effort, and we are launched, so to say,
on that sparkling sea of humour which has
yet had but few successful navigators. The
scene ends as Falstaff chases his chivalrous
servants from the room, . . . Of the music it
is enough to say that the ensemble of the nine
voices is treated with consummate skill, and
that the chattering quartet in E major for the
women's voices, unaccompanied, is one of the
most delightful passages in the whole score.
. . . The great scene in which Falstaff is
obliged to take refuge in the buck-basket is
handled with immense skill by librettist and
composer alike. Putting aside Wagner's
treatment of the street scene in Die Meister-
singer, there is nothing in comic music to be
set beside the ensemble of this (second) act,
in which Verdi has brought together with
magnificent skill such incongruous elements

200 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

as the lovers behind the screen, etc. ... In
the music to this " (the last act) " the
highest level is reached : poetry, grace, and
humour are balanced and combined with
marvellous delicacy. The whole scene is a
triumph ; in the matter of sheer beauty of
form Mozart himself could not have surpassed
it. . . . The charm that comes of absolute
simplicity is the chief; and the presence of
humour, now broadly laughing and now
quaintly fantastic, need not be further insisted
on. The manner is not less simple than the
matter. There is nothing approaching the
use of representative themes ; and though no
resource of the modern orchestra is left un-
tried, the outlines of the music are as clear,
its colouring as pure, as is a picture by
Perugino.^

The score of Falstaff is something of an
alpha and omega of a musical life — there is the
young and the old, the youth and the philo-
sopher present and apparent, in rare harmoni-
ous weaving. The symmetry of the whole
is striking indeed ; while the clever construc-
tion throughout shows not merely the edu-
cated, but also the painstaking composer.

1 AthencEum, i8th February 1893.

COMIC MUSIC 20I

All the music is not of such superlative grace
as that delicious scene where the animated
quartet of merry wives are reading Falstaffs
love-letters ; or the duet for Fatstaff and Ford
— the orchestration of which is so perfect,
that even the merry jingling that accompanies
Ford's rattling of the gold bag has not been
missed. Such a standard of artistic excel-
lence could not be maintained throughout any
opera by any master ; nevertheless, not a
weak or unworthy number can be pointed to
throughout the score. Even the penultimate
tableau preceding \\\^ fzig2ie finale of the opera
— justly declared to be somewhat poor —
suffers more than would otherwise be the
case by comparison with the uniformly high
order of the other music in the opera.

It is one of the most difficult tasks which
even a master-musician can have set him to
write comic music that shall be at once ori-
ginal and humorous. Yet, here Verdi suc-
ceeded at his first attempt. True, he has left
Falstaff, and the style thereof, until the eve
of his artistic career ; yet, what a crowning
work it stands ! Lyric tragedy occupied the
master's mind for nearly the whole of his long
life, until it appeared almost that he could

202 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

write nothing else but lyric tragedy. Then
to show that this was otherwise, he went to
comedy — he composed one comic opera.
What an example it is ! Its proportions are
colossal : its comedy is equal to Mozart ; its
tec/i7iiqzte, ingenuity, and construction rival
Wagner. No grander piece of work could
crown the master's career. Through Verdi,
national opera as made in Italy stands to-day
on as high ground as the lyric drama — the
grand opera of France and Germany. Eng-
land, unfortunately, cannot yet be considered
in the matter.

CHAPTER IX

POLITICIAN AND CITIZEN

A born politician — Attempt to draw Verdi — The revolutionary
ring of Verdi's music — Signer Basevi on this feature —
National and political honours and distinctions — An in-
active senator— England's neglect — The composer's nature
and character — Bluntness of speech — A dissatisfied auditor
— Verdi's alleged parsimony — Verdi and the curate — The
gossips and his fortune — Life at St. Agata villa — An
"eighty-two" word-portrait — Verdi's old-age vigour — Love
of flowers — His hobby at the Genoa palazzo — Independ-
ence of character.

Had Verdi not been a musician, he would
probably have proved an ardent, daring poli-
tician. Italy would be loving and honouring
him to-day for his political principles and
amor patrm, not less admiringly, not less
fervently, than she now regards him for his
vast harmonious gifts. As it was, he per-
sistently declined to meddle with the tapes
and wires of State matters. An attempt to
draw Verdi politically was made in the spring
of 1894, during the rehearsal of Falstaff in

204 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Paris. One of the singers put out a " feeler."
" Don't, for goodness' sake," he answered,
" talk to me about politics. I have never
paid any attention to them, and I am not
likely to do so at my time of life ; I have
quite enough to do with my music." We
have seen how his countrymen made him
their political idol, and would assuredly have
him know that they were looking to him as a
deliverer from the Austrian yoke, even though
he spoke through a medium that is usually
resorted to for peaceful, rather than for
revolutionary ends. The temper of his music
was just to their liking, and Verdi took no
pains to hide his sympathy with his country-
men under their yoke of foreign overlordship,
albeit the success of opera after opera turned
upon his peace with the authorities.

In the chorus, " O viia patria, si bella e
perduta," chanted by Hebrew slaves in / Lom-
bardi, the Milanese saw a reflection of their
own wretchedness. Purposely did Verdi write
ardent exciting melodies. They had power
to, and did move the populace ; and if at
times they seem commonplace, and even
vulgar, they were thoroughly suited to the
singers, auditors, and conditions with which

A POLITICAL FOMENTER 205

he had to deal. Thus Verdi was an enHsted
chief, an instrument, in the fortunes of the
House of Savoy. VERDI spelt the name
of the composer. The capitals stood for the
initials of "Victor Emmanuel, Re d' Italia."
How the impatient Lombardians seized hold
of what seemed to them to be an inspired
coincidence ! Under cover of the name Verdi,
avowedly their musical god, they could shout
for Italian liberty and independence, right into
the ears of Austrian spies and sentinels.
''Viva Verdi! Viva Verdi!'" from the mouths
of the populace meant not only a tribute to
the patriotic musician whom they idolised,
but was another way of demanding Victor /
Emmanuel in lieu of the Archduke Francis.
If the police interfered with the patriots, it
was their beloved musician that had so moved
them, and for whom they were shouting !
"The streets," says a chronicler, referring to
the time, " were filled with placards in white,
red, and green, the Italian colours : verdi in
such big letters that nothing else was visible
on the posters."^

Thus was Verdi, the musician and patriot,
entwined inseparably round the hearts of his

^ Life of Verdi (Roosevelt), p. 33.

2o6 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

countrymen, to the lasting advantage of
both, at a time when Italy stood in great
need of the support and succour of all her
sons.

In the eyes of Verdi the national liberty
was a thing to be accomplished, and if he did
not shoulder the rifle in the struggles of 1859
and i860, which, beginning with the freeing of
Lombardy, ended in a free and united Italy,
the clarion he sounded was so certain that no
one would mistake its intent. Directly he
began to sing, the inflammatory ring of his
music arrested and stirred the Venetians.
Rossini may well have dubbed Verdi " le
niMsicien qui a tin casque " (the musician
with a helmet). The first signs were detected
in Nabucco, then in / Lo^nbardi^ and with
Ernani there was a further outburst of the
musical liberator's mind. The highest pitch
of enthusiasm followed his ardent strains, and
scarcely a performance of the Ernani went by
without political demonstration. Attila fired
a further desire for liberty. The feelings
of the Venetians — still clamouring for inde-

* The chorus, " O Signore dal tetto 7iatio" from / Lombardi,
being sung in the streets of Venice and Milan, fomented the
first demonstration against Austrian rule.

POLITICS IN MUSIC 207

pendence — when they heard the air, " Cava
patria, gia niadre e regina'' knew no bounds,
and for a while the performance could not
proceed. At the verse, '' Avrai tu L' 2iniverso
vesti V Italia 7ne ! " the whole audience, seized
with frenzy, shouted with one voice, ''A 7toi f'^
" L' Italia a noif' Then when Palma, the
Spanish tenor, sang his air, " La patria
tradita^' in Macbeth, the people were so re-
minded of the foreign despotism they were
suffering from that they became uproarious,
and the Austrian Grenadiers had to be called
in. La Battaglia di Legnano was purposely
pitched in an aggressive key. Signor Basevi
has said — "From 1849 onwards, during ten
years of national strife and protests, Verdi
carried on politics in music, as we have all
done in literature and humour. He carried
on politics in music because, perhaps, without
himself being conscious of it, he drew from the
restlessness and tumult of his soul a kind of
music which responded precisely to the rest-
lessness and tumult of our minds ; but when
these tumults, these spasms burst forth, then
he no longer sought for subjects of the present
day to render extrinsic in action the sentiments
which he had divined so marvellously when

2o8 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

they were shut up in the mind of the public
for whom he wrote." ^

Not alone were the eyes of Italy fixed upon
Verdi. He was the recipient of honours and
marks of esteem which were far from confined
to his own land. As a member of the National
Assembly of Parma, to which the citizens of
Busseto elected him in 1859, he voted for the
annexation of the duchy to Sardinia. The
French nation made him Corresponding Mem-
ber of the Academie des Beaux Arts in the
same year. In 1861 Verdi was elected a
Deputy of the Italian Parliament. Cavour
wanted to see in the first national parliament
the real blood and sinew of the country — the
men who, as he said, "had helped to make
Italy, whether in literature, art, or science."
The composer hesitated, and at last yielded to
the statesman's entreaty ; but he only attended
a meeting or two, for, as he said, he loved and
preferred retirement to political excitement.
In the year 1862 Verdi was decorated with
the Grand Cross of the Russian Order of St.
Stanislaus, of the Paris Academie des Beaux
Arts, being head of the poll with twenty-three
votes. His own country has honoured him.

^ Verdi (Pougin — Matthew), p. 123.

A SENATOR 209

Knowing how much Verdi had at heart the
musical keeping of his country, the Itahan
Minister of Public Instruction, in 1871, selected
him to visit Florence, to assume the post
offered him for the improvement and reorgan-
isation of the Italian Musical Institute. Then
his sovereign recognised him. In 1872 he
was created a Grand Officer of the Order of
the Crown of Italy, and in the same year
the Khedive of Egypt conferred on him the
Order of Osmanie. The offer of the title of
Marquis of Busseto was made to him after the
production of Falstaff, but he declined it,
preferring to remain plain Signor Verdi.

Following this recognition, Victor Em-
manuel (by a decree dated 22nd November
1874) created him a Senator of the Italian
Kingdom. The musician attended in due
course to take the customary oath of office ;
but beyond this solitary occasion he attended
no meeting of that solemn body. The
honour was not a useless one, however, for
one day an enterprising entrepreneur was
found announcing A'ida as the work of
Maestro Senatore Verdi, thinking evidently of
his political as well as of his musical status.
With the year 1875 further honours were
p

2 10 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

bestowed upon the illustrious composer. He
was decorated with the Cross of Commander,
and Star, of the Austrian Order of Franz
Joseph ; and, being already a member of the
Legion of Honour, he was in May of this"
same year nominated a Commander of the
Legion. The Italian Minister at Paris was
charged to present him with the insignia of
the Order, accompanied by a flattering letter
from the Duke Decazes. Many and various
other honours have fallen upon Verdi.
When Otello was first performed in Paris,
for instance, the President of the Republic
(M. Casimir-Perier), before the beginning of
the second act, invested the composer with
the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour.
Only England has done nothing. Good old
insular England, that can distinguish and
single out successful pickle - makers and
milliners, but cannot find an honour to
bestow on many a worthy and wondrous
slave to Art and Science !

Many and many have been the less public
attentions which Verdi has received at the
hands of his fellow-countrymen. An early
mark of recognition was the presentation by
Prince Poniatowski of a gold laurel crown

RECOGNITIONS

21 I

each leaf of which was inscribed with the title
of one of his works. This was upon the occa-
sion of the performance oi Macbeth at Florence.
When A'lda was first performed, the artists
presented the composer with an ivory sceptre
ornamented with a star of diamonds ; the title
A'ida was set in rubies, whilst Verdi, worked
in precious stones, stood out on a branch of
laurel. A further memento fell to the com-
poser when A'ida was given at the Paris
Opera. Delegates from the Italian colony
waited upon the distinguished musician and
handed him a crown of pure gold designed of
laurel branches, the whole resting on a velvet
cushioned stand, suitably inscribed. The
Parisians placed a fine bust of the composer
in the Grand Opera foyer. It was by
Danton, who had already made some capital
out of the composer by caricaturing him at
the keys of the piano, with a lion's mane and
claws.

We venture the opinion that no better
presentment of the famous composer's features
than the full-length portrait at the opening
of this volume has ever been given to English
people. It is thoroughly characteristic of the
man to-day. His face is fairly familiar to

2 12 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

most of us. We all remember his thoughtful
countenance and well-shaped head, with its
finely - chiselled features, and dark eyes full
of the fire of genius, the whole set off with
a liberal gift of hair on the head and face.
The slender build and highly-strung tempera-
ment at once arrest the eye ; nor can we fail
to be attracted by the tidily-attired exterior
of the master. Verdi is best seen under the
ordeal of some operatic triumph. Then
through all the excitement he remains what
he is — a quiet, calm, modest gentleman, one
of those intellectual giants who scorn to
trade upon their greatness.

Verdi is a man of deep human sympathy.
The loss of his first wife and his children
shrouded him in a sad mood, which he cannot
throw off, and the peculiarly gloomy and
tragic nature of many of his operas has been
attributed to his domestic afflictions. Again,
when the great poet and distinguished author
of / Promessi Sposi died, Verdi was quite
overcome. Only when he had poured forth
his Requiem to his dead friend's honoured
memory, did he feel that his tribute of
affection towards Manzoni had been at all
adequately made. Verdi's goodness of heart

TEMPERAMENT 213

is seen in his treatment of his favourite
librettist Francesco Piave, when dire mis-
fortune befell him. The man who had written
the libretti of / Due Foscari, Macbeth, II
Corsaro, Stiffelio, Rigoletto, Traviata, Simon
Boccanegra, and La Forza del Destino, was
one day discovered unhinged in body and
mind, unfit for every place save the lunatic
asylum. Finding his patient poet thus
afflicted, Verdi settled a pension on him for
life, and quieted the poor fellow's mind by
undertaking the charge of an only child and
providing for her welfare. Nothing weak
marks Verdi's character ; on the contrary, he,
like most good musicians, has a firm will,
rather prone at times to be susceptible and
suspicious. One day, during the rehearsal
of Les Vepres Siciliennes in Paris, the maestro
received a slight from the members of the
orchestra, who did not relish the pains which
Verdi, was taking to secure his points. Upon
explaining to the chef d'orchestre, the next
attempt was a plain annoyance ; whereupon
the master seized his hat, and did not appear
again at the theatre ! Stories of his bluntness
of speech are plentiful. At a rehearsal of
Falstaff at Milan, the singers and musicians

2 14 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

gave him an ovation when he entered the
Opera-house. In response he said, " I thank
you all ; but will thank you more if you do
better in your performance than last time."
When La Traviata was a failure at Venice,
Varesi, the baritone, and other interpreters of
the work, thinking to console Verdi, paid him
their condolences ; but he only exclaimed,
} *' Make them to yourself and your com-
^panions, who have not grasped my music."
Withal, the master can enter into the
spirit of a joke. When the A'lda was pro-
duced at Milan in 1872, a certain person
named Bertoni went from a neighbouring
village to hear it ; his outing, including supper,
cost him fifteen francs ninety centimes. He
happened not to like the opera. However,
the next day, on finding it praised on all sides,
he resolved to give it another trial. Accord-
ingly, when it was again performed, he went
for a second time to hear it, spent twenty
francs, and was more dissatisfied than ever.
Full of anger, he wrote to Verdi, telling him
that the opera was a failure, doomed to early
oblivion, and asking for the return of thirty-
five francs ninety centimes, which sum, he
alleged, he had wasted on going to hear it !

A MELOMANIAC 215

Verdi was not offended. He sided with the
aggrieved one. Taking a pen in hand, he
authorised his publisher to send Signor Bertoni
thirty-one francs fifty centimes, adding, " It is
not quite as much as the gentleman demands,
but I think he could have had his supper at
home ! " The composer made the stipulation,
too, that the melomaniac should not again
attend the representations of the composer's
works at his expense, except upon his written
order. Quite natural too !

He has a great love for his fellow -men,
especially the poor people. Thus he often
creates work on his estate in the shape of
quite unnecessary alterations and buildings,
chiefly to give occupation to the poor people.
One day the inevitable organ-grinder struck
up the strains of // Trovatore within hearing
of his studio. Carducci, the Tennyson of
Italy, was with him, and seemed irritated.
" How do you like it? " said he. " Let him
go on — it pleases me ; and besides, we must
all live somehow," was the reply.

Verdi has been charged with being mean,
but the above anecdotes do not tell against
him ; nor indeed does his long and unbroken
association with his music publishers (the

2i6 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

famous house of Ricordi) show that Verdi has
been asking impossible prices for his works.
Naturally he fixes his figure with his pub-
lisher ; but with a bargain once struck the
matter ends. As a point of fact the maestro
is a very benevolent man, who often sends
gifts of money anonymously to those in dis-
tress and poverty. But he has a great dislike
to his gifts being made public.

Numerous philanthropic works, and in par-
ticular the hospital at Busseto, owe their
existence to Verdi. Thereof an anecdote is
told. The hospital is directed by the Mayor
of the Commune. One day he went to Verdi
to complain of the curate, who, as chaplain of
the hospital, took advantage of his position to
meddle with all the affairs of the administra-
tion. The curate was of a certain age, and
very despotic ; and the Mayor, in order to get
rid of him, asked Verdi what he should do.
The 77iaestro grew tired of the long details
produced by the Mayor in support of his
complaint, suddenly cut him short, and said,
" The curate is charged with the confession
of the patients, and their burial when they
die. If he interferes with anything else, kick
him out of doors.''

^k^^^^i^ e^/^^ ^^u^uy^/

-^^^^^W^^ ^yy'^/

ST. AGATA VILLA 217

The gossips have been busy with the dis-
position of Verdi's supposed enormous fortune.
The following is a sample of many tales that
have been the round of the European press :
" Verdi is credited with the intention of doing
something both handsome and original with
the fortune which he has accumulated during
his lifetime. . . . Verdi has no son, and he
does not recognise any obligation to enrich
any distant relations that he may possess. He
therefore directs that the ten million lire
which he will leave behind him shall be
employed in making happy those who helped
him to earn them — namely, musicians and
lyric artists. A magnificent palace is to be
built in his grounds, and this is to form the
home of any Italian musicians and singers
who may find themselves in straitened circum-
stances at the close of their career."

In the summer of 1849 Verdi bought the
villa St. Agata, some two miles from Busseto,
which ever since has remained his favourite
residence. The house is well off the high
road, concealed from view by large trees and
shrubs — a condition which probably favoured
the operations of the "crack and jemmy
knights," who a year or two back succeeded

2i8 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

in burglariously disturbing the peaceful har-
mony of the composer's home. Adjoining are
all the appurtenances of a country gentle-
man's estate. Some years after the loss of
his first wife and children Verdi married
Madame Strepponi, who happily is to-day
spared to the master. Most of the year is
passed at St. Agata, the winter months being
spent at Genoa, where the climate is more
genial.

Certain reports have credited Verdi with
living the life of a recluse, whose only com-
panions are two enormous Pyrenean hounds,
while days are said to be spent by the master
in his studio, which is shut off from the castle,
and from which room Verdi is credited with
emerging only for the purpose of obtaining
sleep. No one, the wild reports went, was
admitted save those who came by special
invitation ; so that often a distinguished
personage would make his way to the guarded
stronghold only to be met by the information
that there was no admission. Naturally shy
and reserved, Verdi has ever studiously
avoided the public stare, and repeatedly, when
he has been petitioned to visit this or that
town, he has firmly but respectfully declined.

A WORD PORTRAIT 219

especially when he has foreseen that no purpose
was to be served beyond that of honour to
himself. The artistic temperament, especially
in a great musician, differs from that of the
city man and merchant, and precludes him
from living ostentatiously, often vulgarly, or
keeping so-called open house. All his close
artist acquaintances, and many a musical
stranger, have been visitors or guests at either
the luxurious villa St. Agata or the Genoa
Palazzo Doria, and there are many living
who could testify to the charm and hospitality
of the composer at home.

One of the best word-portraits of Verdi was
drawn by the Paris correspondent of The Globe
in 1894, at the time when the maestro was
presiding over the rehearsals of his Otello,
which was to be produced at the Grand
Opera: — "Verdi, in spite of his great age,"
the sketch ran — "he is now close on eighty-two
— has preserved, both as a man and as a com-
poser, the ardour and warmth of his youth.
He is reproached with being short-tempered,
and even violent ; thus it is that, in spite of his
well-known kindness, it is not always easy to
get on with him. He wears his white hair
and beard long. His features are a little hard,

220 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

but remarkably intelligent. His customary
attitude is that of meditation. He walks with
his head bent down, and with long and
measured steps. Few persons have seen him
smile, much less laugh. It is said he has
never been able to console himself for the loss
of his two sons (son and daughter), who died
in the same year as their mother. Neither
fortune nor glory has sufficed to make him
forget his terrible bereavements."

The secret of Verdi's wonderfully main-
tained vitality is the old mens sana in corpore
sano principle. He is an early riser, and after
his cup of black coffee, the early morning
finds him about his garden or farm. Flowers
form his favourite hobby. Behind the old
palazzo at Genoa is a terrace with a large
garden, beyond which may be seen the fine
expanse of the Gulf of Genoa. This garden
is Verdi's care ; but that the attentions of its
gardener are often unequal to the energy of
Nature may easily be discerned. Sometimes
the lines of pots of camellias and geraniums
on the terrace present rather a dried-up and
neglected appearance. But no one must
meddle with them. It is Verdi's special duty
to tend and water these, although they are

HOME LIFE 22 1

evidently often disregarded. No one dare
tamper with these flowers, and if a visitor
appropriates a blossom unasked, it annoys
Verdi considerably. Yet never is the musician
prouder, or more the grand man, than when
presenting any particular visitor with one of
his horticultural specimens. He rides almost
daily, and composes a little each day. Then
he lives sparingly, and is most abstemious,
taking, after the Italian fashion, more cheese
and eggs than meat. Verdi cares little for
music in his home, and seldom visits the opera
save for business purposes. "At St. Agata,"
he wrote to Filippi, the Italian critic, "we
neither make nor talk about music ; you will
run the risk of finding a piano not only out of
tune, but very likely without strings." To
talk "shop" in Verdi's hearing is objection-
able to him, and no act of indiscretion could
be greater than the one of begging a musical
question or discussion. His chief indoor
amusement is a game of cards or billiards with
his wife and relations. All reading he leaves
until the evening, and this partakes mostly of
poetry and philosophy.

All through life Verdi has been a God-
fearing man. Pandering to nobody, he has

222 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

maintained a perfectly independent, straight-
forward method. Nor has he countenanced
any but honest deaHngs ; while to place him-
self in the hands of his artists, great or small,
has been quite beyond him. He has de-
manded only the best efforts of his workers.
Thus on the eve of the production oi Aida he
wrote to a friend : "I wish nothing more
than a good, and, above all, intelligent vocal
and instrumental execution and mise en scene.
As to the rest, a la grace de Dieu ; for thus I
began, and thus I wish to finish my career."

CHAPTER X

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF STYLE

Verdi's popularity — An important personality in music — Most
successful composer of the nineteenth century — Verdi's
opportuneness — • Keynote of future struck in Nabucco —
Its characteristics — Distinguishing features of Verdi's
music — Stereotyped pattern operas — Change of style
imminent in Luisa Miller — Altered second period style
of Rigoletto — This maintained in // Trovatore — La
Traviata forebodings — Basevi's charge of an altered style
therein — La Traviata and debiitatttes — True Verdi style
in Les Vepres Siciliettnes — Sijtion Bocca?iegra and Un
Ballo in Maschera — Third period works — Aida — Alleged
Wagner influence — Mistaken criticism — Orchestration of
Otello — Its style and technique compared with Aida —
Falstaff—lts position as an opera — A saviour of Italian
y^ art — The Illustrated Lo7idon News defends Verdi from

early critics — Later critics silenced — Verdi vindicated.

There is no need to ask "Who is Verdi?"
He is that Italian master who has put a girdle
of melody literally round the world. Not to
the accomplished musician, the cultured ama-
teur, the plodding student, and the happy
home musical circle is he known only, but, to
take England alone, he is familiar by name

224 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

and tune to thousands of the poorest and
lowest, whose only music is the street organ,
and whose main musical literature is the
opera-house announcements on the theatre
doors and public hoardings. Men and women
who cannot pronounce the name of Mendels-
sohn articulate Verdi, and outcasts and arabs,
whose opera-house is the wide, wide metro-
polis, and whose only orchestra is engined by
the Saffron Hill fraternity, have the Italian
maestro, in name and tune, at their tongue-
tips. All this may not be art, but it is magni-
ficent.

Verdi becomes a great art-study. He
stands distinctly an epoch-making musician.
A composer who in 1845 had not been heard
in England, and who at the present time com-
mands the lyric stage of this and every
European country, to say nothing of other
continents, furnishes necessarily solid ground
for critical musical inquiry. His artistic career
is most instructive in its steady growth to
mature ripeness. His efforts, too, have been
almost entirely confined to opera, and if we
examine Verdi's operas from first to last, it
will not be difficult to trace the change that
has taken place in the fashion of opera during

AN ART REFORMER 225

the past three-quarters of a century. This has
been as progressive as it has been emphatic,
and no composer's works reflect it so decidedly
as do Verdi's. The man and the musician
went on in company. As he matured, so his
art -work ripened. The three periods of his -.
artistic career furnish a history of nineteenth-
century operatic fashion and style._

While the most popular musician of the
nineteenth century, he is, of all Italy's famous
exponents of dramatic-musical art, indisputably
the greatest. The land of song has produced
many notable musicians, many wondrous melo-
dists ; but not one of them, not even Rossini,
has so modified and influenced the national art
as has Verdi. The entire extent of his im-
press will only be fully known when the
Italians come to write their country's musical
history. Verdi will be found to be the mastery
who made Italian opera a grand national art-i
form, something of a social requirement in'
this closing nineteenth century. /

To win a reputation such as belongs to
Verdi, even if some discover it to be ephemeral
only, is, indeed, a great achievement. Other
pre-eminent musicians have laboured in every
branch of their art — sacred and secular, vocal
Q

226 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

and instrumental, oratorio and opera, sym-
phony and quartet, song and dance — with all
which some of them have hardly become
known during their lifetimes outside the
range of their own country. There seems to
be a profound musical problem here, but the
solution is at hand. The greatest of the
great composers were each and all before
their time. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven,
and Schumann came in an age that was all
unprepared for them. Verdi, on the other
hand, whose phenomenal success is unlike
theirs, was born at the moment. The musical
world was waiting with open arms for him ;
for it had been satiated with opera music of a
meretricious order, though written by his own
countrymen, from which any deliverance could
not fail to be a relief. The rescuer proved
eventually to be Verdi.

Certain critics seem assured that Verdi
copied, imitated, and transferred Bellini, Doni-
zetti, Rossini, and other composers. If this
be true, then, in a sense, they stand indebted
to him ; for Verdi is the best-heard Italian com-
poser to-day. Verdi, however, was something
more than a musical chef, with the knack of
serving up the rechauffes of brother musicians.

NATURAL MUSICAL QUALITIES 227

The public, apt to be blamed for the
majority of its judgments, made no mistake
concerning Nabucco. Verdi's countrymen were
"lifted along" by the magic music, and, from
Nabucco to Falstaff — an unparalleled instance
of consistent artistic unfolding — this distinct
power of the master's has acted similarly
upon thousands who have flocked to hear
the Verdi operas. Their passion, fire, and
strong dramatic character have proved ir-
resistible.

The Milanese had heard Rossini, Merca-
dante, and Bellini to the full ; of the melodious
phrases of Donizetti they were already tiring,
when,, suddenly, a musician with rare force and
passionate melodiousness came upon them.
Donizetti, mainly through his melodic prolific-
ness, had brought Italian grand opera to a
level of triviality and mediocrity ; Verdi, with
his depth of feeling and breadth of melody,
promised an exactly opposite musical manner.
The public, ever ready for some new things \
seized hold, willing to stand by him only as
long as he could stir and amuse them. This
he has ever been able to do.

The natural qualities which characterise
Verdi's music so decidedly, stamped his first

r

228 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

work, as they mark his latest. The under-
lying secret of it all is furnished in the word
/Advance. It is not only Verdi's superior, or
particular melody and harmony which operate ;
it is the common-sense, up-to-date way in
which the composer has always regarded his
subject. By intuition, he took a greater and
a deeper view of Italian opera than any of his
predecessors, and he went on advancing with
the times. His countrymen had melody
mainly at their pen-tips. Verdi used this and
much more, and, while Wagner, for example,
came along "great guns" with his German
national opera, Verdi was proceeding to show
that Italian grand opera could be brought to
equal importance, musically and materially.
Verdi, in his first work, unquestionably gave
the lovers of opera something more than they
had ever had before. That " something " was
below the surface, and did not affect the out-
ward forms so much as the hidden soul of the
music. It was, however, discernible enough.
In this direction mainly did Verdi's early
operas differ from other Italian dramatic
musical compositions. His later works, dating
from A'ida, are illustrations of the new Italian
national operatic art-form, which can never

PERFECTED ART-FORM 229

be surpassed, and will rarely be approached in
Italy.

/ Due Foscari, a colourless, tame work
which followed Nabucco, did not enhance its
composer's reputation. Of all Verdi's operas,
it would be difficult to find one showing fewer
traces of his undoubted steady development
of style than this. Giovanna d'Arco, Alzira,
Attila, Macbeth, I Masnadieri, II Corsari, La
Battaglia di Legnano, were all on the accepted
Italian lines of Bellini and his predecessors ;
but in Luisa Miller there came a decided and
suggestive advance. There was a greater
heightening of the dramatic interest, while
many of the vocal and instrumental combina-
tions had never been equalled in Italian
opera. Certainly, Verdi was already doing
more than perpetuating the accepted Bellini-
Donizetti method. It was yet early to give
the world an A'ida ; but Verdi, we shall be-
lieve, was feeling his way towards a more
perfect Italian opera-form. What did the
country's opera lack that was so distinctly a
born quality in him ? Dramatic fire, con-
tinuity, onenessof conception, — a whole, instead
of a piecemeal dramatic-musical composition.
The first strivings after this — a perfection that

230 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

has been so undoubtedly attained in Verdi's
most advanced operas — were apparent in
Luisa Miller.

Therein the choruses are exceedingly at-
tractive with their striking contrasts, while
the brilliancy of, say the bravura, '' Lo vedi,''
and the pathos and fire of other solos and
concerted pieces, combine to produce a truly
fine opera. Verdi has also so developed the
situations and heightened the interest, that a
climax of overwhelming effect is reached in
the last act. The orchestration is replete with
richness and variety. The whole style of
Luisa Miller is musician-like to a degree,
despite occasional reflections of his own and
other men's compositions. The alleged defect
oi Luisa Miller w2iS a lack of melody. None
of the fervour and force that were heralded in
Nabucco were wanting, but the composer's
melodic vein appeared to be drying up ! So
thought the critics. Not quite ! Verdi was
contemplating greater things, and in a while
was to step into a new plane of creative
musical art. His first opera had been unre-
strained melodic settings — after the Italian
fashion — of morbid and gloomy stories. He
was to curb all this ; and what in Luisa Miller

A CHANGE OF STYLE 231

were merely indications of this change became
realities in Rigoletto.

In a critical examination into Verdi's
artistic development, Rigoletto occupies an im-
portant place. In it the composer, throwing
off his early First style, adopts a less popular
mould, which, while new in the history of
Italian operatic art, was more characteristic of
himself. As it has been well put — "Verdi
is the rough, fiery composer no longer.
Charm and grace are more to him now
than mere noise and hubbub. In Rigoletto
and Trovatore he gets rid of all that. Con-
sequently we, who have often blamed him,
have now only praise to bestow upon him
— a change that he himself has brought
about, and on which we congratulate him
sincerely." ^

This criticism describes exactly the situa-
tion. Not only was melodic exuberance
stemmed in Rigoletto for a mixture of tune
and recitative or inusica parlante, but the
orchestration had met a chastening process.
While vocally the score was adjudged poor in
melody and entirely deficient in pezzi concer-
tanti, the orchestration was decidedly less

^ Gazette Miisicale, 25th January 1857.

232 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

noisy — its general character being uniformly
calm and tranquil.

The Trovatore music is an excellent em-
bodiment of Verdi's Second period style. It
is less studied and more spontaneous than
Rigoletto, but it sustains the advance in style.
Uninviting as the libretto was, it had striking
situations, with its black story and its gross
improbabilities, which afforded Verdi scope
for passionate expression and effect in more
than one vivid scene. It found the people's
favour immediately, and continues to hold
audiences, despite the dinning suggestions
that it is "not popular," "is dying out," and
should be "placed on the retired list."

Though the public stamped // Trovatore
with the imprimatur of its approval, it did
not altogether please the critics. There has
ever been an endeavour to depreciate the
opera, probably because so vast a success was
gained by such simple means. Thus it has
been described as " from beginning to end a
direct plagiarism of Beethoven,"^ as if such
a charge could be sustained either to the
discredit of Verdi, or to the credit of the

^ Musical Recollections of the Last Half-Century^ vol. ii.
p. 281.

FORESHADOWINGS 233

Bonn master. Notwithstanding censorship,
the work has proved one of those few operas
that have been "the rage" all over Europe,
and we repeat it still possesses the power to
charm and attract large, if not fashionable,
audiences. Yet, what a span divides it from
Otello ! No two of the master's works show
his change and development of style more
distinctly than these operas. To say nothing
about conception and construction, the vocal
and instrumental music in one and the other
is as removed as a storm is from the rippling
of a rivulet. The two works have to be
heard in the same week — as they were at
Covent Garden during the 1895 season with
the hidden orchestra — to realise and appreciate
rightly, the mighty step (especially in the
instrumental department) between the two
-operas. La Traviata foreshadowed some-
thing of what was to be accomplished in
A'lda, Otello, and Falstaff. There was the
familiar appeal to the popular ear, through
that never-failing and ever-welcome channel
— melody ; and the construction was similar
to the Trovatore ; the treatment orchestrally
and vocally, if curtailed and controlled, being
much after the old Verdinian manner. There

234 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

was undoubtedly a lessening of excessiveness,
due more to the melancholy nature of the
book probably, than to a striving for a fresh
style.

Basevi, the Italian critic, has thus written
oi La Traviata : "It is a composition which,
by the quality of the characters, by the nature
of its sentiment, by the want of spectacle,
bears semblance to a comedy. Verdi has
discovered a third manner, which in several
points resembles the French method of the
Opera Comique. This style of music, al-
though it has not been tried on the stage in
Italy, is, however, not unknown in private
circles. In these latter years, we have seen
Luigi Gordigiani and Fabio Campana making
themselves known principally in this style
<)f music, called da camera. Verdi with his
jTraviata has transported this chamber-music
on to the stage, and with happy success, to
which the subject he has chosen well lends
itself. We meet with more simplicity in this
work than in the others of the same composer,
especially as regards the orchestra, where
the quartet of stringed instruments is almost
always predominant ; the parlanti occupy a
greater part of the score ; we meet with

VIOLETTA ROLE 235

several of those airs which repeat under the
form of verses ; and, finally, the principal vocal
subjects are, for the most part, developed in
short binary and tertiary movements, and
have not^in general the extension which the
Italian style demands." ^

That the music indicates another and Third
style in Verdi's musical manner we prefer to
forget ; such a classification would need to rest
upon this single score, and would involve us
in a Fourth style, if we wished to classify the
operas of the composer's closing years. Three
periods in which to locate Verdi's art-progress
and work are quite sufficient. Wagner was
yet not influencing Verdi ! No one will doubt
that its music gave the opera its permanent
position. Not only the nervous debutante, but
every prima donna has seen in the character
of Violetta a role admitting of the finest
touches and varied emotions which a leading-
lady can be called upon to express in the
exercise of her art. From the day when
Piccolomini roused the excited habititds of Mr.
Lumley's house to a fever enthusiasm, a long
list of singers — including a Patti, Nilsson, and
Albani — have studied and played the part

^ Verdi (Pougin — Matthew), p. 154.

236 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

with varying advantage and delight, and what-
ever the verdict has been, the grace and charm
of the music has always commanded the
admiration of opera -singers, whether soli or
chorus. And vocalists are as a rule better
judges than are reporters and critics of what
music should be.

Notwithstanding criticisms, good, bad, and
indifferent, the fact remains that La Traviata,
like // Trovatore, is still with us ; and although
we have long been warned that it is " de-
clining in popularity, like other operas of its
period,"^ it defers its final departure! Why
does the music continue to please the public ? —
the uneducated section let us say. How is it
that the cantatrice and queen of song loves the
) part still ? The answer is found in the natural
C and graceful character of Verdi's music, and in
nothing else. To us it has always seemed a
more original and satisfactory opera than //
V Trovatore. More equal throughout in quality,
/it contains some of the most touching natural
/ music that has ever been heard from the opera
stage.

Spontaneous beauty and brilliant period
were not wanting in Les Vepres Siciliennes, or

^ AthencBiim^ 7th June 1880.

DEVELOPMENT OF STYLE 237

in Un Ballo in Maschera, albeit the master-
mind appears disturbed. No Italian opera
music could be more thoroughly Verdi's than
the numbers, " Giorno di Pianto,'' a reflection
of the Donna e mobile canzone, and ''Ma se
m e forza perderti " romanza in Les Vepres
Siciliennes and Un Ballo in Maschera respect-
ively.

As has been already suggested, in La
Forza del Destino and Don Carlos came un-
mistakable traces of a change in Verdi's
manner. Although in these operas his habit
f portraying human passions at their strongest
pitch — in their noblest and sometimes their
basest moods — still remains, Verdi's mature
or Third period works embody to the fullest
extent all that was generating in his mind
nine years previously. A'ida in form and
conception is clearly based upon La Forza
del Destino and Don Carlos. Strikingly suc-
cessful as the master has been with his First
and Second period operas, they were not
productions that reflected the fullest power
of the high - minded musician. Profitable
financially they had indeed proved to their
composer; but they did not take Italian art
one great step onwards. Verdi was keenly

238 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

sensible of this. The desire to achieve some-
thing that would really advance his country's
art taking possession of him, therefore, and
what was more, finding grand, speedy ex-
pression at a time of life when most successful
men seek repose — all this was, indeed, most
admirable and artist-like.

The instant A'ida appeared, critics dis-
covered much that was novel in its style. It
was a combination of old and new — the ac-
cepted Italian opera mixed up with the best
and latest in French and German Grand
opera. No one expected it of Verdi, yet
here it was before the world's eyes. On its
production, doubts were freely expressed con-
cerning its permanent qualities. " It is easy
to see that the work will never achieve the
lasting success of Rigoletto, the Trovatore, and
the Traviata,'' wrote one critic. Another
said, " Except as a spectacle, that it will be
preferred by Verdi's old admirers to some of
his earlier and less pretentious works, or that
it will gain for him new disciples, we cannot
think is in any high degree probable." Un-
happily for these predictions, the work saw
something like a hundred representations in
Paris within the next three or four years !

MODERN OPERA 239

A score of years and more have now
passed, and yet A'ida draws crowded Royal
Italian opera audiences, from which we con-
clude that the work has always possessed real
musical merit — merit which the critics, as a
body, first failed to recognise and acknowledge.
The splendid opera also, has proved one of a
triad which have raised Verdi considerably in
the estimation of every right-minded musician.
Before A'ida, Otello, and Falstaff, he was
dubbed by critics the " sanguinary Italian
melodist," the " morbid imitator of Meyer-
beer," the '* sensational, commonplace com-
poser," with other similarly inelegant, inaccu-
rate, and offensive epithets. Those who have
lived long enough, however, have discovered
something more than the musical blackleg
in Verdi.

The opera of modern times must possess
merit as a drama ; it does not suffice for it to
be but a peg, hanging upon which is a series
of pretty tunes. The old-fashioned plan of
chopping up each act into a series of recita-
tives, airs, duets, etc., is now discarded in
favour of more musical declamation. In the
new opera there are less frequent repetitions
of the words, and consequently the dramatic

240 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

action gains in continuity. The orchestra
too plays a more exalted part, being resorted
to not only to accompany and illustrate the
text, but to provide a general local colour
throughout. All this Verdi supplied in Atda,
and the cry at once raised was that he had
been Wagner-hunting. Critics in the musi-
cal profession and out of it — critics who know
a little about music, and a considerably larger
number who knew nothing of the art — de-
clared that Italy had at last gone over to the
German musical method. But thirty years
previously we were told that " Signor Verdi's
forte is declamatory music of the highest
passion"; also that "the composer's music
becomes almost intolerable, owing to his im-
moderate employment of brass instruments."
Undoubtedly in Aida the master adopts a
deeper and more dramatic character than had
been usually shown by Italian masters ; but
he could have as easily done this had Wagner
never lived. The ambition of a master-mind
like Verdi's would be to raise his country's
art to the level of other countries ; and the
crowning life-work of Verdi has been to place
Italian opera on a higher plane, and to furnish
an example of Italian national opera that

AIBA AND WAGNER 241

would compare with that of France and
Germany. To accomphsh this the BelHni-
Donizetti type of opera needed to be newly
planned, orchestrated, and shaped into a far
• more comprehensive homogeneous whole. It
was all this that Ai'da pretended to meet ;
and it, Otello, and Falstaff have left their
composer's mind thoroughly at ease probably
concerning the place of Italy in dramatic
music for the future. Certainly they should
have done.

In composing A'lda Verdi had something
more in view than pleasing the ears of the
Khedive and his Egyptians. He had before
him the operatic universe ; and it was to
arouse this that he sat him down to write
when almost a septuagenarian. To cut him-
self adrift from the conventionalities of Italian
opera, and place before the public a grand and
beautiful dramatic lyric work, comparable
with any opera that had preceded it, was
indeed a great proceeding. With its modern
characteristics the first alarm raised by
musical public and critics alike was Wagner ;
but after many years' experience and trial
of the work it is discovered that there is very
little, if any, Wagner device or manner in it !

R

242 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

In the nineteen numbers of which the
opera consists there is much that is musically
novel and beautiful. The descriptive music,
especially when removed from the tragic
parts of the work, shows the composer in his
happiest mood. The emotional (even sensa-
tional) nature of the music too is very
marked, and this is where the master, retain-
ing his country's manner, rises triumphantly
over French and German dramatic music.
The vocal music is thoroughly characteristic
of Verdi. There are few solos, yet the
charm of such pieces as " Celeste A'l'da,'"
'^ L' insana parola,'' 2Si.d. Aida's romance, " O cieli
azzurri,'' wherein she recalls the beauty of her
own country, makes ample amends in quality
for the absence of quantity. The duets, of
which there are six, are not unusually striking,
but the finales are exceedingly fine, and the
effect of the ensemble is most imposing. The
vocal and instrumental combinations are un-
doubtedly happy and effective.

It was the orchestration of A'ida mainly
which led public and critics away concerning
Verdi's supposed conversion to the Wagner
or some other " ism." No sooner were heard
the grand choral and orchestral combina-

"BLATANT EFFECTS" 243

tions in the finales of the work, — movements
remarkable alike for their breadth, grandeur,
and dramatic reality, — than it was bellowed
forth that Verdi had been imitating Berlioz,
and the host of modern manipulators of the
orchestra. The ponderous instrumentation,
some say too much so, carried all minds at
once to Wagner, when, really, Verdi could still
be Verdi if, exercising his privilege, he elected
to blow his theatre down with brass, " The
work," wrote a critic, " is very heavily scored,
over-instrumented in the brass particularly,
and it would exact double the number and
twice the tone of the strings at Covent Garden
to counterbalance the blatant effects,"^ — from
which we are to believe, we suppose, that in
this opera the talented, experienced composer
had taken leave of his senses ! Quite an
unlucky hit, coming as it did at a time when
the musical world was only too ready to see
in such criticism a hidden suggestion of Wag-
nerian influence. It was unfortunate, too,
inasmuch as the charges of " over-instrument-
ing " and " undue declamation " were ar-
raigned against Verdi as far back as 1846,
when Nahtcco was produced — long before

^ Athenceiitn, ist July 1876.

244 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Wagner was heard of. "As we have had
occasion to remark more than once,"^ wrote
the AthencBiim critic, speaking of Nino, i.e.
Nabucco, " its composer's music becomes al-
most intolerable, owing to his immoderate
employment of brass instruments." Again,
" Signor Verdi's /orie is declamatory music of
the highest passion."

Yet, thirty years afterwards, these very
characteristics are traced to some recent
French or German influence ! Some few
think otherwise. The Ai'da subject, in its
Eastern origin and character, calls for an
excess of broad, semi-barbaric effects, as any
one acquainted with oriental manners, life,
and literature knows. Brass instruments
convey this admirably, better than all the
" string " and " wood " in the world. It is from
this profuse employment of brass instruments,
particularly the six genuine Egyptian trumpets
used in the triumphal march of Radames and
his army, that the charge of imitating Wagner,
or of becoming "Germanised," has probably
arisen. But if the truth be told, this Verdi
development has as much to do with Wagner
as with Adam, the departures being a con-

^ Athenceiun, 7th March 1846.

MEYERBEER 245

sequence of the master's desire to write a
thoroughly up-to-date national opera, which
his talent and learning fully warranted him in
doing. Both vocal and instrumental music
aimed at that illustrative local colour which
the book and situation needed ; hence the
lavish use of oriental scales, Persian songs,
the dance of black boys, with all the resplen-
dent paraphernalia of Eastern temple, pagoda,
and palace.

With all its "new style," the effort to get
away from old methods by the employment
of theoretical devices, novel and extreme
harmonies, abundant recitative, curtailed
melody, magnificent finales, and unlimited \
stage resources, Ai'da is still distinctly -
Verdinian. The solos are peculiarly in
Verdi's vein, and frequently suggestions of
Trovatore and other works crop up, while the
entire opera abounds in dramatic, passionate
expression peculiar to Verdi. AlHhis is as it
should be from the Verdinian point of view ;
but if the result of this laudable attempt to
formulate a modern Italian opera must be to
brand it with some guiding influence or subject-
model, then, instead of making Wagner that
power, it should be Meyerbeer. If Verdi has

246 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

followed any model at all, which we do not
admit, it is the sumptuous richness and pictur-
esque variety of the composer oi Les Hugue^iots,
Le Prophete, and L' Africaine. But Verdi
wanted no model. At a distance of twenty
years we can look back and discover that
Verdi had something more in his mind when
composing A'lda than the slavish imitation of
this or that composer. He was about to
crown his career with an opera, or more, of a
style which many circumstances debarred him
from attempting earlier.

All told, there is ample evidence in this first
great work of Verdi's Third period to show that
the composer is still wholly himself. That
faculty, which was particularly Verdi's, of ex-
pressing extreme emotion, and of raising his
audience to the highest pitches of sensational
excitement, is present, notably in the finale of
the second act. Then the composer's old
command of melodious imagery and pathos,
together with the expression of varied and
conflicting passions, stamp the work from
beginning to end — the love duet in the second
act, between soprano and tenor, a romance in
the third act, a soprano and contralto duet, a
quartet and chorus, and all the music, from the

OTELLO ADVANCE 247

consecration of Radames down to his victorious
return with Aida's captive father, being par-
ticularly Verdinian, Even the composer's
supposed weaknesses are present in A'lda.
The whole subject is melodramatic ; the
principal characters are killed, as usual ; his
alleged morbid preference for dismal dirge-
music finds ample vent in the funeral of the
lovers, and other tragic parts of the opera ;
from beginning to end can be heard melodic
suggestions recalling the old familiar operas.
All this, and page after page of imaginative,
fancy tone-painting, A'ida contains, and yet we
have been asked to believe that it is not
Verdi !

The student of comparative musical science
will see in Otello a further development of
style. The composer confirms A'ida, and
while further stultifying the detractory criti-
cism passed on A'ida, furnishes ample proof
of a marvellous vitality, and a freshness and
originality, with depth of learning, which his
greatest of admirers could scarcely have
expected. Even with A'ida thrown in (as
a sort of operatic abnormalism) many still
regarded Verdi as the mere seductive, melo- )
dramatic Italian melodist ; the profound musi/

248 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

cian never. Otello settled matters. The ma-
jesty, power, inspiration, and learning, the
Icommand of theoretical device, and orchestral
technique, were overwhelming. Nobody ex-
pected it from Italy, still less from Verdi.
Quite a surprise ! Here was a work wherein
all the lights and shades of human passion
were depicted with a truthfulness and reality
which no living musician could equal. The
greatest of the world's poets and dramatists
was set in a fashion to dispute which, or to
disparage, would be useless. There could be
no other conclusion, and whether performed
in Italy, France, or in England, one opinion
only has been possible as to the Otello music.
This must be held to be a great triumph for
the justly famed, though long abused, musician,
especially when, as we contend, this perfected
art-style is Verdi's own — the man's musical
genius, characteristics, and great learning at
their highest pitch, uninfluenced, unaffected
(save in that legitimate manner which experi-
ence brings) by any foreign composer or
school. The developed mind and man in
Verdi's case gives us the splendid spectacle
of the developed musician, particularly en
evidence in Otello. If we delight to watch

OTELLO UNINFLUENCED 249

the growth and ripening of Verdi's genius
from Oberto, Conte di S. Bonifacio, to the
Missa di Requiem, we can become still
more interested in pondering over the nuova
maniera which marked A'lda, a manner which
is heightened in the Otello masterpiece, and
accentuated in Falstaff,

Otello is a perfectly modern opera,
thoroughly up-to-date in design, material, and
construction. Of its four acts, the last is
distinctly the most masterly ; the second
being a little inferior to the third. The
initial act is marked with Verdi's matured
manner less than either of the others. Though
somewhat fragmentary in places, the opera
holds together with perfect homogeneity, and
it must be regarded as a wholly uninfluenced
score, more so than A'ida. The " Love duet "
and lago's " Credo " are the only pieces in the
opera that recall Wagner, and they have too
much of the Verdi and the intensely Italian
about them to be mistaken. No ! Otello is
an opera which only an Italian could write ;
a work which will always rank as a brilliant
example of latest Italian grand-opera. In
advanced thought and reasoning, together
with depth of learning and exercise of the

250 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

declamatory branch of vocal art, it is some-
what superior to Aida, but it is doubtful
whether it will ever become as popular,
because it lacks the glorious picturesqueness
and inspiration of that grand work.

Had Verdi's career ended with Otello there
would have been no difficulty in determining
his place — a very forward one — in the world's
history, and notably in the world of dramatic
music. With the production oi Falstaff, how-
ever, the wonderful vitality, resource, and
inspiration of the giant mind broke out afresh,
bewildering everybody concerning the art-
possibilities that were still in store behind the
more than octogenarian composer. It is the
swan-song perhaps of the illustrious master,
and a great song it indeed is. To think that
such a score should be the easy pleasurable
outcome of the brain of a man bordering upon
his eightieth year was, at the time, one of
the most extraordinary features in connection
with the production of Falstaff, and the fact
will ever stand amongst remarkable efforts in
musical annals. // Trovatore is a monument
of melody, a standing example of what passion-
ate tune can be and is as an element of art ;
Otello was an extraordinary development in

VERDI IN EXCELSIS 251

breadth of style and usage, vocal and instru-
mental; but /v2;/i-/^_^ surpassed all. It sums
up all that is best in Verdi's musical mind and
method, and will ever serve as a standard of
Italian national art, iiemine dissentiente. It
is the most brilliant, the most masterly, of all
his operatic productions. Gorgeous in its
wealth of invention and consummate skill, it
places Verdi on his highest artistic pedestal.
Like A'lda and Otello it is pre-eminently a
musician's work, and shows the widened style
of the composer, which used to be regarded as
a Wagner imitation more than either of its
predecessors. W^ith all its delightful, un-
ceasing humour the work does not appeal
readily to the popular mind, the fact being
that to understand and enjoy it the taste must
be educated. Like Wagner's operas, Falstaff
is a score that taxes the critical sense, and the
more musical and highly cultivated the listener
is, the more will Verdi's latest music com-
mand attention. Nor does this mean that the
opera will not live. On the contrary, as
musical knowledge becomes more and more
spread, Falstaff and Otello, the advanced
handiwork of Verdi, will prove to be music
of a far more satisfactory nature than that

252 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

luxuriant passionate sort which abounds in
Trovatore, Traviata, and other young Italy
operas.

If the music of Falstaff ^YOYQ.d a revelation
to those who first heard it, it was also a
revolution. Nobody had ever credited Verdi
with the preponderating quality in this opera ;
it was Mozart come to life again ! The
humanity of the man who had ever depicted
the morbid, treacherous, worst - passioned
natures was suddenly reflected in the light-
hearted, innocent frolic of youth, music as
light and babbling as a child's speech. All
that was so cheerful in Le Nozze di Figaro,
the fun of the Barbiere di Siviglia, with much
of the Verdi characteristic, shot out in Falstaff
in a way that simply electrified the musical
world. The tragic, melodramatic Verdi was
no more : in his place stood the exalted, the
chastened master of art. No other composer
had ever made such a change of front, a
change that brought him on good terms with
the whole musical world. Falstaff sn^js, indeed
a new apocalypse. Perhaps the most striking
feature of the Falstaff music after its jovialness
is its consistent character — one of high quality
and finely detailed workmanship. It is not

MOZART RIVALLED 253

a case of sandwiching a good tune, dramatic
chorus, or an overwhelming ensemble, between
a mass of meagre indifferent writing, but from
first to last the music is of a most elevated,
high-pitched order — tune, harmony, scholarship,
ensemble — these abound ; but the whole is so
well balanced and dexterously planned, as to
make the opera a delightful study for the
theatrical musician as well as for the careless
listener. As has been well said, '' Falstaffis
not a mere string of pretty tunes, ensembles,
and choruses of every - day pattern, but a
colossal work, a mass of intricacy, such as
musicians alone can dive into and compre-
hend whilst uncultivated listeners can yet find
enchantment upon the surface. For to the
cunning of a Wagner has here been allied
the simplicity of a Mozart."

Undoubtedly Falstaff is the most remark-
able example of the master's genius, and when
we reflect that while it was being evolved
there was a gaping world, with ears all
open, waiting to learn how much of Wagner
would resolve into Verdi, it becomes truly
astonishing that its composer has steered so
clear of any appreciable influence or model.
It is the unaided work of the one master-hand.

254 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Assuming that Verdi has anywhere imitated
Wagner, then in Falstaffxki^ ItaHan is certainly
further removed from the German than in any
other of his operas. There is hardly a re-
curring theme in the whole opera ; and the
everchanging, constantly varying tints of
emotional expression, the brilliant ensembles,
the ingeniously contrived pieces, where three
and more rhythms are expressing chattering
views and sentiments at one and the same
time ; beautiful solo pieces, duets, and notably
an accompanied quartet — all these, and the
highly dramatic and well-judged yf/^^/^i", have
no more to do with Wagner, or any other
composer save Verdi, than they have with
Homer. As a whole, Falstaff is an astound-
ing masterpiece. In form, construction,
scholarship, and musicianly result, it is the
finest opera Verdi, or any Italian, has written.
Its vocal and instrumental play and device
are such as were never thought to be in Verdi,
and, like its two immediate predecessors, it
places Verdi in the first rank of the world's
operatic composers. Falstaff must ever be
regarded as a wondrous specimen of humor-
ous music, constructed upon perfectly legiti-
mate and classical lines. No nobler work

A CRITICAL CONUNDRUM 255

could crown an artist's life-efforts ; no other
work shows so well the advanced and chastened
style of Verdi's Third and matured period.
Falstaff, as a creation, has immortalised Verdi.
It has done more. Finevi respice ! It has
saved artistic Italy in this fin de Steele age.
This last work of Verdi's furnishes the cul-
minating point in the history of Italian opera.

How then can the punishment which Verdi
received at the hands of his first English
musical critics be explained ? How came it
that a composer, who had lovingly placed
many splendid tributes upon the high altar of
his art, was so estimated, by at least one re-
sponsible critic, as to merit severe castiga-
tion of such a character as this : —

" Signor Verdi is the one prophet of Italian
opera, and since this paragraph was penned,
the waning of the coarse light of his star is
pretty distinctly to be observed. It is hardly
possible to imagine his violence outdone by
any successors ; yet this would seem to be
the law of Italian movement in such shows of
art as are to be popular." ^

Thirty and forty years ago, music here

1 The National Music of the World: Henry Fothergill
Chorley, edited by Henry G. Hewlett (18S0), p. 76.

256 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

was hardly deemed worthy of criticism in
newspaper columns, albeit a journal here and
there — the AthencBum, for instance — recog-
nised the art. If, however, there were then
few musical representatives of the English
Press, the disadvantage appears to have been
atoned for by the character of the criticisms.
Some few of the musical scribes deigned to
notice, and were deemed capable of consider-
ing, Verdi. These began, from the first, to
hunt him ct outrance, neither discerning nor
expecting any good from the Italian. Never
was there a more abused man than Verdi.
If "best things are moulded out of faults,"
then to distinguish "faults" in such a musical
renegade was out of the question. The whole
was, according to certain critics, hopelessly
unregenerate !

"Verdi's career in this country has been
curiously chequered. If artistical anathemas
could have annihilated his fame, then would
he have long since ceased to have been heard
of; but he appears to enjoy a cat-like vitality
amongst our amateurs. Never was there one
of his works produced, either at Her Majesty's
Theatre or at the Royal Italian Opera, but he
received a terrific castigation from criticisers.

A PERTINENT QUESTION 257

and the musical public were assured, after
these awful denunciations of indignant journal-
ism at the performance of such ' unmitigated
trash,' that the name of Verdi could be no
more uttered in this musical metropolis. And
yet the thus extinguished composer — on paper
— the very next season was sure to be brought
forward in the shape of a revival of one of his
'failures,' or in the representation of his
latest continental novelty. What then is the
key to this anomalous state of things, wherein
it is found that Verdi's defenders, amongst
writers, are so few, and his partisans still more
rare, and still Verdi is not shelved ? Is it
that amongst opera frequenters there is a fiat
in his favour, which is sufficiently strong to
maintain his name in the repertory ? Or is it
that the general body of amateurs feel that the
dead - set against the only composer left in
Italy is based on prejudice, intolerance, and
injustice?

"Whatever may be the solution of these
questions, it is, at all events, satisfactory to
find that the spirit of justice is sufficiently
powerful amongst English audiences not to be
carried away by mere clamour ; and Rigoletto,
the three-act lyric drama, put on the stage for
s

258 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the first time on Saturday, with such magni-
ficent resources, will secure an impartial
hearing from those connoisseurs who are not
led away by proper names only." ^

Thus wrote one critic who possessed good
sense and courage which enabled him to look
calmly on, while the pen-and-ink slaughter
raged fast and furious, for several years
following Verdi's advent here. Coming from
a journalist representing a leading, influential
journal, the comment is, at least, suggestive.

As it bears, moreover, upon an interesting
aspect of present-day journalism, it may, at
this long removed period, well be reviewed, if
only in justice to Verdi. That the composer
long since vindicated himself there can be no
doubt ; but this does not do away with a
present-day question of how far public criticism
should influence those who read it, or to what
extent hostile censorship has operated, or may

1 Illustrated London News, 2ist May 1853. Eight years
previously the Illustrated Londoji News (5th July 1845)
critic, while expatiating on operas of bygone composers which
had been heard and reheard to satiety wrote thus of Verdi : —
" A better state of things is, however, we trust, approaching.
The appearance of a composer of so much originality of genius
as Verdi, heralds, it may be hoped, that of a new and more
ambitious school, whose masters will not be satisfied with
tickling the ear and pleasing the fancy, but will seek for the
more permanent and legitimate sources of effect."

CRITICAL CASTIGATIONS 259

do, to crush the artistic aims and possibilities
of those for the encouragement of whom, and
not for their annihilation, journalistic comment
is supposed primarily to exist. Perspicuity
should be the first law of criticism.

The writer of the above quoted remarks
had in view, among others, such contemporary
journals as the Ti7nes and Athencsum, which
papers, especially the latter, had been par-
ticularly endowed, as it would appear, with the
mission of "slating" Verdi, until there could
be reached what in pugilistic parlance is known
as a "knock out." Not for a moment do we
doubt that all that was written and published
had in view the possible interests of Art.

It is not difficult for us, living in these clos-
ing years of the Nineteenth Century, to assure
posterity that the suggestion of an " ephemeral
reputation " for // Trovatore has been sadly
belied ; and Verdi has demonstrated in the
broad light of day that neither Rossini nor
Meyerbeer nor Auber accomplished for dra-
matic lyric art what he has done. " Mis-
sion" or no mission, "system" or no system,
// Trovatore has braved the battle of mana-
gerial cupidity for nearly half a century ; it
has replenished theatre coffers, and it still

26o VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

" draws " crowds who enjoy listening to it.
What more is wanted ? If Music does these
things, then, surely some of the first condi-
tions of Art are fulfilled. The most modern
of modern music can accomplish little more,
unless it be to vex the mind with its abstruse-
ness, and to tax the brain in divining the
whereabouts of this or that theme, and the
entry and passage of some particular "sub-
ject " phrase. This revelling in the region of
theory, the perpetual expectation for progres-
sions of fugal enterprise and cleverness, are
well enough in their way, and provide admir-
able occupations for musical "cobwebs"; but
is it a congenial employment for the rank and
beauty of Society? If attendance at the
opera is to involve some trying brain-study
for the audience, the boxes and stalls must
soon be empty. Music for the stage must
ever be of a nature to give enjoyment ; when
it ceases to be this, and becomes a study — a
something that even the ttoWol themselves can-
not understand — then its existence is jeopar-
dised.

What means the latter-day revival of //
Trovatore, Rigoletto, and other old familiar
operatic acquaintances ? Is it a reaction in

VITAL MUSIC 261

favour of the old at the cost of the new in
art ? Let it be borne in mind that the pre-
sent is, for the most part, a new generation
listening to and admiring Verdi's Second
period strains. The audiences are not made
up entirely of old fogeys in green spectacles
and drab sparrow-tails, whose waning physical
powers are overcome by emotional memories
of the past. Is it true after all that the Trova-
tore music has long been declining, and is all
but dead ; that now and then a dramatic soprano,
as Madame Titiens was, or a " lungs of
brass " tenor, as Signor Tamagno is, can more
or less galvanise the corpse into life ? We
think not. Our opinion is that there is real
genius, true sterling worth, in the music of the
Trovatore, which of itself — and not from any
lack of taste, or culture, or of mental aberration
on the part of the *' mob " (for whom alone,
we have been assured Verdi could cater) — has
preserved this opera, and many others, in the
hearts and ears of the public at large. Here
and there the vocal and instrumental processes
may seem, and probably are, uncouth ; but
that the music as a whole possesses undying
properties, a life-current passing on to all who
hear it, we have no doubt. Thus, although

262 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the dictates of fashion may set aside the
Trovatore for a while, there will always be
the risk of its bounding out unexpectedly to
take hold of the hearts of a new rising genera-
tion. If the Trovatore music had not been
vital music from the first, it would not be here
to-day, inasmuch as the work is one which
has never been "written up" by the critics.
The process has rather been to mount the tub
and affect a superior taste, while poor, deluded,
no-cult folk flocked to the opera-house to
listen to hackneyed stuff, which we have
been assured was not music at all ! But
the voice of the people — the vox populi — is
not to be denied, even though critics wax
warm.

Millions find tune in Trovatore ; and tune
(when of the quality of Verdi's) becomes the
first, the unextinguishable principle of music.
This is the grand secret of the vitality of
Trovatore and operas akin to it, which the
intelligent many will continue to enjoy to
their heart's content, malgrd the pityings of
wiseheads. When Trovatore is as extinct as
the dodo, and as dead as the door nail, that
will be the time to sing its requiem, although
there would seem to be little promise of any

DETERMINED OPPOSITION 263

of this generation being required to attend
that solemn function. Pending the setting of
the sombre seal, we, for our part, will continue
to respect Verdi, and folk in general will not
be far wrong if they take to believing that
Verdi is as good a judge of music as were
any, and all, of his defamatory critics.

Political circumstances had much to do
with Verdi's jumping into popularity in Italy.
Not so in England. No element of luck
attended his ddbut here, where he stood not
upon his merits. From the first he en-
countered a determined opposition. It has
never been quite clear what this opposition
wanted, but that it was supported by such a
power as the late Mr. Chorley, for forty years
the independent musical critic of the AthencBum,
is sufficient evidence to prove that it was for-
midable. What did it mean ?

Weber (i 786-1 826) and Meyerbeer (1791-
1864) were of course known here. That
romantic character pervading the German
national opera had become familiar to English
ears through Italianised versions of such
supernatural subject operas as Der Freischiltz,
Euryantke, and Oberon ; whilst opera-goers
were growing accustomed to the gorgeous

264 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

pageantry and dazzling resources of gigantic
examples of operatic architecture like Les
Hugttenots, Le Propkete, and L' Africaine.
Can a leopard change its spots ? Surely the
sapient critics were not expecting a trans-
formed Italian opera model from an Italian at
one bound ? Verdi had been applauded in
Italy for what he had accomplished on the
continental lines of his country's opera. He
was professing nothing more, and Mr. Lum-
ley, when arranging for the composer's works
for the English stage, contracted for naught
else. As all the world knows, Verdi has
accomplished immeasurably more since, in
bringing Italian opera fully up to the level of
the Weber, Meyerbeer, or Wagner model.
The public is now prepared for Italian operas
of the A'ida and Falstaff stamp, but it is
doubtful if, fifty years ago, their production
would not have brought forth a storm of dis-
approval. Verdi's earlier operas, Ernani and
// Trovatore, were fully worthy of the average
taste of the times ; and if it be maintained that
they are going out of fashion, precisely the
same thing can be said of several of the Ger-
man and Franco-German operas which certain
critics applauded while they abused Verdi,

THE PERSPICUOUS CRITIC 265

and with which Verdi's works were compared
and declared to be inferior.

Whatever prompted the resistance to Verdi
(the strong feeling between the management
of the rival opera houses may have had some-
thing to do with it), it is certain that Verdi
encountered a determined and unfair opposi-
tion on coming to England. Equally certain
is it that Mr. Chorley became a powerful
mouthpiece of the opposition. With a free-
dom permitted to its talented staff that did
infinite credit to the management of that lead-
ing journal of art and literature, the Athencewn,
its pages were long allowed to be disfigured
with anti- Verdi criticism such as it is now
difficult to understand, unless it had for its
object the immediate Germanising of Verdi
by sheer force of censorship.

The musical drama is the most artistic
manifestation which man can express. A
successful grand opera demands all that is
highest in music, drama, and a host of other
phases of cultured training. This can only,
save very exceptionally, be achieved towards
the end, not at the beginning, of a lifetime ;
and the perspicuous critic should be able to
foresee the prospects of this in a young com-

266 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

poser. Great as Mr. Chorley perhaps was
as a musical censor, he did not forebode
the successful future of Verdi any more
than he encouraged Mendelssohn, his judg-
ments upon whom have been long since over-
turned.

This chiefly, however, as a footnote to his-
tory. Verdi has outlived all opposition, and
has risen to a great artistic eminence fully
deserved in the case of one who has laboured
so ably and so unremittingly in music. Now
the critics on all sides fall down and worship
him. He is beloved in England not less than
in his own land, while all the world will long
remember him by his Requieni Mass and
latest operas, if not by such familiar lingering
strains as ''La Donna e Mobile^' ''Ah si ben
mio ; coll essere io hto,'' " Quando le sere al
placido,'' and scores of others.

De niortuis nil nisi bomun ; and, having
borne dearly-loved ones to Death's portals.
Heaven forbid that we should ever speak ill
of those that sleep. But, history must be
written ; and it is only sheer justice to Verdi
to advance his side of the case. That Verdi,
ab initio, down to the production oi A'ida (when
the composer was sixty-three years of age),

AN UNSOLVED PROBLEM 267

experienced a long spell of powerful English
critical hostility is beyond doubt. Whether
Italian opera had so obtained under Bellini,
Donizetti, Mercadante, and Rossini that folks,
or sections of society, were so surfeited with
it as to positively refuse to tolerate more while
Weber, Wagner, and Meyerbeer could be had,
however promising that more might appear,
or whether the great reputation that gener-
ally preceded the introduction of the Verdi
scores put up the backs of the critics, are
possibilities which might furnish some key
to the solution of the problem which this
opposition provides for us who are consider-
ing it to-day.

We may be told that, to early critics,
Verdi's artistic career was a difficult one to
judge, since it was so peculiarly progressive —
unique, in the way in which it gradually led
up to the culminating excellence seen in
A'ida, Otello, and Falstaff ; but, unhappily for
such a theory, the critical notices were not
correspondingly appreciative and graduating.
Verdi was wrong, always wrong, no good :
" lock, stock, and barrel " he had to be
dismissed as worthless and hopeless. A
slow unfolding of the composer's musical

268 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

manner and method, together with a corre-
sponding recognition from his critics, would
be understandable enough ; but we do not
get this. Our study of the critical processes
leaves us with the conviction that he was
knocked about like a tennis ball. Little
wonder that the critic of the Illustrated
London News felt constrained, on behalf of
the maltreated, half- murdered man, to call
" fair play." Then, much that was written
was as contradictory as are scientific nega-
tives and positives ; while we all know that
prophetic warnings and predictions alike have
been singularly belied. This opera would
not " live," and that was the worst of even
Verdi's worst operas, yet to-day such com-
positions are amongst us, and being listened
to with delight ! We have demonstrated,
we hope, beyond doubt how in the case of
Rigoletto — one instance that will suffice —
an opera was one day declared to be with-
out merit, only to be held up subsequently
by the same journal as a sample of musical
excellence.

It is inconceivable that there were no
signs, no glimmerings, no foreshadowings in
early years, nor during Verdi's Second period.

MUSICAL CRITICISM 269

of that great genius which has given us an
A'lda and a Falstaff, two grand classic works
as far removed as fire and water in their
tragedy and comedy, as well as in their
eastern and western colouring and flavour.
Could the critics really see no great future
awaiting the man who wrote Ernani, Rigo-
letto, II Trovatore, and La Traviata ? Was
there no promise of that store of art to be
opened to us in Verdi's Third period works ?
Was there not a veritable rough diamond
here, awaiting only to be shorn of its excre-
scences, and subjected to the lapidary's art
to become a precious jewel ? Did not the
genius of the great operatic composer exist
in embryo, while Verdi was taking the lower
rungs of the artistic ladder ? Was there not
the making of a rare son of art in one who
could rouse the popular enthusiasm as this
Italian was doing ? Did the public on all
sides clamour and acclaim, pack and squeeze
themselves, and listen with pent up wonder
and surprise, all after nothing ? Dozens of
such pertinent questions could be put in
respect to the relations of many of the public
and critics towards Verdi,

Our views concerning musical criticism

270 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

have been expressed/ Among all the qualities
however, necessary to him deserving to rank
as a capable critic, is one which he should be
called upon to exercise more frequently than
any other, viz., the power of detecting what
is good in a man ; and that instanter. Make,
not break, should be, but is not, the motto for
every censor entrusted with the power of the
press-pen. In the case of Verdi, it was war
to the knife. Delenda est Carthago went
forth, and Carthage imist be destroyed. But
it wasn't. The criticism which for the most
part was meted out to Verdi rarely ever
contained a sentence of encouragement, but
instead, the man who was some day to become
the wonder and admiration of the entire
musical world was hooted and howled at as
should be an impostor. Many a man would
have taken refuge behind the shelter of an
undisturbed mediocrity, but somehow, the
critics could not scotch this species-specimen.
Verdi went on in his way, and the censors
who abused, went theirs ; with what result we
know to-day. The critics are silenced and
Verdi reigns, musically, in excelsis.

How the late Mr. Chorley and Mr. Davison

1 Phases of Musical E7igland {Crowcsi), p. 22.

A LESSON 271

— these particularly — could trace so little of the
good promise in Verdi surpasses our com-
prehension. They were men of the highest
integrity and attainments, and purposed in-
justice would furnish the most foolish of
explanations of the situation. Verdi had the
great public of this and of other countries on
his side, however, and on this he was content
to rely. Public opinion once again proved to
be right, and Verdi now stands vindicated.
Happily both the Times and Athencemn have
long since ceased to oppose the master. The
critics of these journals and those of other
English newspapers now fall down and wor-
ship Verdi — and well they might !

This aspect, this experience of the com-
poser's career is not without its lessons. It
shows that we must not judge of a man or of
his work by what we read only ; that indi-
vidual culture and practical knowledge provide
the best key wherewith to unlock the door of
every repository of science and art ; but,
chiefly, does it prove that no amount of adverse
criticism or opposition can, or should, be per-
mitted to bar the way to that goal of high
excellence which every earnest worker with
an honest conviction and high purpose before

272 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

him has every right to persevere towards,
no matter what the difficulties, until his fullest
realisations have been attained. In this re-
spect, Verdi's experience supplies a splendid
all-time lesson.

CHAPTER XI

EFFECT UPON AND PLACE IN OPERA

Origin of Opera — Melody in music — The first opera, Dafne —
Monteverde's advances — Early opera orchestration —
Gluck's reformed style in Orfeo and Alceste — A complete
structure — Verdi's starting point — Wagner's methods-
Verdi's early operas — Don Carlos and an altered style —
Its reception— A Third, or matured period method — Its
characteristics — Aida, Otello, and J^als^a^—V erdi^s dis-
ciples— Opera as a social need past and present — Its
reasonable decline — Verdi's ultimate position — His lasting
works.

To perfectly understand Verdi it is necessary
to know something of the origin and de-
velopment of opera, both as a form and
an institution.

The Italian school of music had been a
power since 1480-1520, when Pope Julian II.
invited Belgian, or Netherlands school,
musicians to Italy to take charge of its
musical affairs. The first distinguished
Italian master was Festa (d. 1545), remark-
able for that grace and melody which have

T

274 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

ever characterised the Italian school. Pales-
trina (15 14- 1594), M agister puer or uvi at St.
Peter's, Rome, followed, and then came the
awakening of opera. It was natural that
this life should spring from Italy. The sky-
above, and the earth beneath, constituted a
rare cradle of art. Melody in music is para-
mount ; technically it forms the wings that
give flight to every movement ; without it,
music would be a helpless mass, unendurable
to consider. Once present, melody carries
all before it. This was a perfectly natural
growth in Italy, more so than it has ever
been found to be in any other country, for
the national life, habits, language, and physi-
cal conditions all favoured an expression of
the mind in the melodically beautiful. In
opera, melody was ever the great essential
feature in the eyes of the Italians, and al-
though there have been struggles to dislodge,
or depose it, the evening of Verdi's career —
the culminating point in the history of Italian
Opera — furnishes the convincing proof that
tune still remains the predominant factor in
successful dramatic construction and realisa-
tion ; for what would be the value of A'ida,
Otello, and Falstaff, if they had not melody ?

THE FIRST OPERA 275

Musical authorities accept Dafne, produced
in 1594, as the first actual opera. It was the
work of a few Florentine literati, who had
banded together as a society, with the aim
to revive the ancient Greek dramatic style —
in fact to restore the theatre of y^schylus and
Sophocles. It had words by Rinuccini and
music by Peri. The feature of this dramatic-
musical novelty was its music a-parlante — a
species of monody, or declamation, claimed to
be a la Grec. Out of this grew "recitative"
— so important an element in vocal music
that it is difficult to imagine how the art
could exist without it. Song, tune, or
melody, whichever name we apply to it, might
be, and probably would have been, dispensed
with, if all the notions and novelties of the
Wagner cult had taken effect ; but, recitative
must always stand as a connecting link be-
tween the chorus and other concerted pieces
in the opera.

The orchestral accompaniments to Dafne
consisted of a harpsichord, chittarone — which
was a sort of guitar — a lyre, and a lute. This
meant a scanty orchestra compared with the
vast instrumental resources adopted by Meyer-
beer, Wagner, and by Verdi himself. When

276 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the second opera, Euridice, was produced —
this was at Florence in 1600 — it contained,
for the first time, all the constituents wanting
in opera, viz. recitative, air, chorus, and a
hidden orchestra.

Opera proper was, therefore, purely an
Italian product, which, with all its defects and
inadmissibilities, has held its ground for three
centuries. If, too, during this long period it
has seemed as little more than a luxurious
form of amusement for quality people in
England, it must be remembered that the
great middle class here have tasted it, while
the student and amateur have considered and
digested the musical stage-play, and found it
invested with a noble influence and character
that could scarcely fail to elevate, where the
ordinary drama might lower the public taste
and morals. In Italy the opera is as much
the necessary food of the common people as
of the aristocracy.

Monteverde (1566- 1650) stamped a second
period in opera. He invested recitative with
greater strength and freedom, and astonished
contemporary purists with his audacious
orchestral designs. In his Orfeo, produced
in 1603, Monteverde incorporated every

GROWTH OF OPERA 277

known instrument, viz. two harpsichords, two
lyres, ten violas, three bass violas, two violins,
flute, clarions, trombones, guitars or chitta-
roni, and the organ.

It is easy to realise the almost boundless
possibilities of music when it comes to be
recognised and manipulated as a medium of
expression or impression ; while many readers
will be familiar with the almost superhuman
achievements of the great tone-poets in hand-
ling the resources of music to this end — the
end and aim of all music worthy the name.
It was that prince of Italian harmonists,
Monteverde, who took opera to the borders
of that almost limitless field, where the great
melodists and colourists took it up, making
a permanent life art - form and a speak-
ing body from the otherwise lifeless art
materials.

Scarlatti (1659-1725) impressed the aria
or principal song, from which time melody
began to receive that attention which led
finally to its being the principal constituent
in Italian opera. Lotti, Caldara, Gasparini,
Jommelli, Porporo, and Buononcini, who
followed, all gave prominence to the soloists
at the cost of the chorus and other concerted

2/8 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

pieces, thus leading steadily up to the great
scenas which Verdi created.

Gluck ( 1 7 1 4- 1 787) came with a regenerating
mission. A century and a half's growth of
opera in Italy had reduced it to a mere
exhibition of singing, and to restore it to some-
thing of an embodiment of all the arts —
architecture, painting, poetry, music, and
dancinof — was Gluck's mission. His reformed
style, as given in Orfeo (1762), and later in
Alceste (1767), certainly justified his demand
for reform, and will always entitle him to be
called "the saviour of opera." His influence
bore more upon the French opera than the
Italian, however, and it was left to his great
contemporary Piccini (1728- 1800) to bring
the old Italian model up to the date of Gluck's
new style. To this end he effected improve-
ments in the arias, duets, and vocal pieces,
curtailed the repeats, employed several themes
instead of one for his finali, all of which
tended to put a new complexion on Italian
opera. Then arose Spontini (i 784-1 851), who
advanced the dramatic side of opera ; Rossini
( 1 792-1868), insisting upon larger choruses
and the strengthening of the wind and brass
department of the orchestra ; with, finally,

VERDI'S STARTING POINT 279

Donizetti (1797-1848), and Bellini (1802-
1835), whose melodic exuberance simply em-
barrassed and vitiated Italian opera.

Such, briefly, is the story of the rise and
development of Italian opera, which, thanks to
the labours of his great predecessors, was a
reasonably complete art-form long before Verdi
scored his first operatic success with Nabiicco,
albeit it had not many characteristics which it
now has. The First period Verdi had no
great need to improve, or add to, the structure
of opera ; what was before him chiefly was
the work of embellishing and highly colouring
the edifice of dramatic musical art (though we
know he did immeasurably more) — a labour
for which his rare sense of colour and com-
bination peculiarly fitted him.

Verdi's starting point was where Rossini,
Mercadante, Donizetti, and Bellini had left
Italian opera ; and, but for circumstances
quite outside himself, he might have gone on
writing operas of the Ernani, I Lombardi,
and // Trovatore type, leaving his later
grander efforts, his chefs d'cEuvre, unwritten.
But a great object appeared suddenly in the
musical firmament. Wagner ( 1 8 1 3- 1 883), with
his train of fads and fancies, swept across

280 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

the horizon, leaving unmistakable traces of
his passage. At first, content with the old
traditional opera — with which he might have
done wonders — this vast genius set about
advancing and propagating unusual ideas
concerning operatic usage and creation. The
established forms and systems were chiefly
attacked.

In Italian opera, music and melody were
the prime considerations. Under the Wagner-
ian teaching, the full and right dramatic
exposition became the chief aim. This un-
questionably involved a subserviency of the
beautiful in music. With Wagner the dramatic
language is the most essential part of the
work. In the music of the Meister singer, for
instance, he "fitted music to the thought
expressed in language so imperceptibly that
the latter is the dominant element." In
Tristan und Isolde is the clear divorce from
traditional form. Declamation, supported by
music expressing the meaning of the words,
displaces all the old-time operatic methods —
dramatic ensembles, recitative alternated with
song, closed and half closed forms, etc. This
was a return to the long deceased monody of
Peri and Monteverde, and in absolute contra-

AN ART STRUGGLE 281

distinction to all that the great Italian, German,
and French music masters had done. Other
and minor notions, such as the leit motif {\\\^
kiss theme), the ever- recurring phrases that
were constructed in order to be identified
with this or that character, distinguished the
Wagnerian style — a style which it is necessary
for the student of Verdi to be able to recognise,
because, as we have seen, Verdi is alleged to
have been largely influenced by Wagner,
although most certainly he was not.

Verdi has written in all some thirty operas,
which throughout are largely imbued with
characteristics of his country's opera music.
This is particularly a feature in such First
period works as Nabucco, I Loinbardi, Ernani,

I Due Foscari, and Luisa Miller. In the
Second period operas, Rigoletto, La Traviata,

II Trovatore, and Un Ballo in Maschera, are
traces of outside influence, Meyerbeer, Auber,
and Halevy being descernible despite the com-
poser's natural abundance of graceful melody
and charming nawetd ; an unmistakable art-
struggle suggestive of a transition process was,
as we have seen, revealed in Simone Bocca-
negra. Verdi could not but have been aware
that Weber and Spohr were investing German

282 VERDI : MAN AND MUSICIAN

national opera with that romanticism which
must always be its distinguishing feature. He
felt impelled to give more character to, and to
get more place for, his own country's opera ;
he set about imbuing it, therefore, with a
stronofer emotional element — an excess of that
desperate passion characteristic of the southern
temperament. Verdi's immediate predecessors,
Rossini and others, had never left the accepted
path of song after song of luxuriant warmth,
suited to the whims and vocal abilities of this or
that singer ; but Verdi was to revolutionise all
this. The chorus — concerted music generally
— and ^X2s\d^ finales were no longer to suffer in
order to obtain a preponderance of songs to
appease the vanity of the singers who sang
them. His first attempt to do so was an utter
failure !

It was not until Les Vepres Siciliennes and
Don Carlos that we see a determined ddtour
from the accepted Italian lyric-drama lines.
Don Carlos was modelled after the style of
French Grand opera as formed by Rossini and
Donizetti, and became Verdi-cum-Meyerbeer.
The result was a failure and a sorry mixture —
something of a musical salad, the ingredients
of which formed "a poor concoction calculated

THIRD PERIOD WORKS 283

to derange the strongest musical digestion."
The unadulterated Verdi, with the old familiar
bel canto, was far better than the adulterated
one. Those scenes where the established art-
forms had been deserted in order to give vent
to orchestral painting or new combinations
were unanimously declared to be the failings
of the operas.

With the important operas which have
adorned the later years of Verdi's life — his
Third period works — the master has un-
doubtedly presented his grandest aspect.
A'tda, Otello, and Falstaff are a tremendous
art advance upon anything that Verdi had
accomplished before. These are operas which
will keep Italian opera alive, if that effete in-
stitution can be preserved by mortal means.
In these compositions Verdi reasserts himself,
and awakes to an altogether new and vaster
sense of what his country's opera should be,
as well as what he himself could make it.
Familiarised as the public had been with
Tannhduser and Lohengrin, it expected, in
fresh works for the stage, a more logical and
dramatic consistency. Any new Italian opera
required merit as a drama, and needed to be
something more than a series of pretty tunes.

284 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

A'lda was the full enunciation of Verdi's new
principles. In this work were discarded such
orthodox processes as the splitting up of the
acts into recitatives, which meant a gain in
dramatic action and continuity in the play.
The old-fashioned forms, the aria d' entratd,
the cabaletta, and canzonetia, were discontinued
for less continued melody, piecemeal tunes,
lending quite a different aspect to the complete
work. The interest in the declamatory music
considerably increased, and all was so welded
together that a much more satisfactory and
entertaining whole was the result. The
orchestration was decidedly new for Verdi,
partaking, as it did, of the gorgeous Meyerbeer
rather than the Wagner character. There
was much picture-painting both in the abstract
and the concrete. The evident intent was to
paint or colour instrumentally ; to illustrate
the text orchestrally, and to impart not only
geographical, but local, personal colour. This
was essentially what the world was pleased to
call "Wagnerian" — hence the outcry and the
allegation that Verdi had turned "Wagnerite."
The fact was, that since writing Don Carlos,
Les Vepres Siciliennes, and La Forza del
Destine, Verdi had become more "German-

VERDI'S EFFECT UPON OPERA 285

ised," although the term must not be taken to
imply that he was less the Italian, or any the
more a copyist or impressionist. His state
was owing not to Wagner's nor to Meyerbeer's
influence and model any more than to Weber's,
but to the ambition of the master himself. If
Meyerbeer could employ the orchestra slavishly
and make it so important and successful a
feature in the Franco- German operatic en-
semble, why should not he, Verdi, do as much
for Italian art ?

Otello was yet a further emphasis. When
first heard in London, musical minds imme-
diately perceived not only a remarkable work
for a composer full of years, but also an opera
which fully confirmed the tactics advanced in
A'ida. Another opera had brought forth
another demonstration of the composer's re-
markable dramatic powers, ever developing
in each successive opera. Otello was, un-
questionably, worthy to rank with A'ida ; and
performance after performance has proved
this.

As a second example of Verdi's new con-
ceptions respecting Italian national opera it
contained much declamation, and consequently
less of that purposely lavish and luxuriant

286 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

melody, for which Verdi amongst all his con-
temporaries is most famous. Of so-called
Wagnerian influence there was little or none.
The kit motif ^iXid, other fads credited to the
Bayreuth master, though not wholly his, are
conspicuous by their absence. Otello stood
simply a thoroughly "up-to-date" Italian opera,
a species of modern lyric drama by a great
master who had seen musical changes going
on about him, and had not disregarded them.
It was natural that the Wagner cry should
reach Verdi's ears ; it was natural that the
Italian master should give the world a taste of
how far the new "gospel " had impressed him.
Ever abreast of the times, Verdi saw a deeper
and broadening meaning overtaking the lyric
drama ; and, reserving to himself the right to
speak as he perceived, he published A'ida.
This language he again laid down in Otello^ a
splendid outcome of latter-day genius. The
same may be said of Falstaff. It completes
a triad of masterpieces which ought to breathe
new life into the Anglo- Italian lyric drama,
if so be the decrees of fashion, and not a
dearth of operatic talent and novelty, have not
already administered the death-blow to that
relic of the good old times.

SCHOOL OR DISCIPLES 287

It is not difficult, even if it be premature,
to deliberate upon Verdi's probable place in,
and influence upon, musical art. His labours,
exemplified in such dramatic-music master-
pieces as A'zda, Otello, and Falstaff, prove in-
contestably that perfected Italian opera, of
such workmanship as these operas, crowning
the later years of their great composer's life,
can be, and is, a more refined art-production
than either the most advanced or the least ex-
travagant of the operatic models championed
by Wagner, or any other reformer of the lyric
drama.

Verdi has a young Italian school of imi-
tators— Boito, Cortesi, Ponchielli, Marchetti,
Faccio, Pedrotti, Pinsuti, Mascagni, and
others. Can it be urged that these can, or
will, take up opera as left by Verdi } Is Italy
training a school of young composers capable
of carrying on Verdi's work } The answer
cannot be given in the affirmative. Verdi is
declared to have said, " I can die in peace now
that Mascagni has produced his opera." For
our part, however, we remain dubious ; more-
over Verdi never made such a remark.

The issue of the whole matter turns upon
quite another pivot. Verdi's labours, achieve-

288 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

ments, and successes are unquestioned ; but it
is the point of the vitaHty of the institution —
the opera-house here — which forms the doubt-
ful feature. Fifty years ago this luxurious
appendage of fashionable and not always well-
behaved society was a necessity. Then there
was no Club-land, and the place for meeting
everybody who was anybody was the opera-
house. Its " omnibus " box was crowded with
"blood," who came not to listen to the opera,
but to yawn and chatter. Then was the
opera-house the resort and rendezvous of the
^lite of rank and fashion, when an enterpris-
ing impresario was justified in burdening
himself with the unenviable task of steering
the difficult craft, assisted as he was by will-
ing subscribers, most of whom could be de-
pended upon to, and did, pay ample subscrip-
tions beforehand. Such is not the case now.
All is changed in London.

Nowadays society uses the opera fitfully,
and not from a sense of necessity ; attending
it when so disposed, and leaving the burden
of " ways and means " upon the manager bold
enough to embark upon the perilous enter-
prise. The march of time has altered the
opera as it has altered everything else, save

CHANGED OPERA 289

the weather and the seasons. The three-
volume novel is out of fashion with publishers ;
the principles of Christianity are being preached
and practised more and more outside the
churches built for the exposition of such prin-
ciples ; and among other vast changes, opera
is fast declining in England and elsewhere.
When our gracious Queen was young, an able
critic and laudator temporis acti, lamenting the
then condition of opera in general, and wel-
coming Verdi to England, wrote — "A better
state of things is, however, we trust, approach-
ing. The appearance of a composer of so
much originality of genius as Verdi heralds, it
may be hoped, that of a new and more
ambitious school, whose masters will not be
satisfied with tickling the ear and pleasing the
fancy, but will seek for the more permanent
and legitimate sources of effect." ^

Nowadays people care little or nothing for
the opera compared with the old-times feel-
ings. They are indifferent as to whether it
stands or falls. It is not thought worth while
to abuse or blame a composer, as Verdi was
long journalistically treated after he came here.
There are no choreographic triumphs now.

' Illustrated London News, 5th July 1845.
U

290 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

Such ballets as Giselle and Diane, with stars
of the ballet like Taglioni, Grisi, and Cerito,
have disappeared from the opera stage for
ever, A vast change has come over operatic
matters for the worse, and now that the
legitimate drama is established, and the
" Variety " entertainment has caught on
at the music halls, the slow continued de-
cline of Italian opera may reasonably, if
regretfully, be expected.

But of Verdi, apart from this unhappy pro-
spect ? Some of his early works, like those of
other composers, are getting out of date and
declining in popularity. Rarely is one of his
First period works given in England now ;
while of his Second period operas not one,
according to certain critics, will long hold
ground. The Trovatore, the music of which
has traversed every known region of the globe,
and would be taken up by the masses again
save for the attractions of the music halls, is
already relegated by ambitious critics to the
"retired list," and responsible censors describe
La Traviata as that "sickly opera," ^ never
omitting to note the falling off in the attend-
ance when it and other purely Italian school

; 1 AthencBtim, 26th May 1888.

THIRD PERIOD WORKS 291

operas are performed.^ Occasionally, how-
ever, they undoubtedly serve a purpose, as
when brought forward as the late Mr. Maple-
son gave La Traviata at Her Majesty's
Theatre (in the 1887 season), with Madame
Patti in the title role, and prices were trebled.
It is fairly safe to predict that Verdi's First
and Second, or traditional period operas will
all go in time, but they possess such rnelodic
vitality that it would not be safe to say how
soon. Many generations may yet hear them.
Verdi's Third period works, Atda, Otello,
and Falstaff, change the argument. They lire |
the greatest and grandest specimens ever con-'
tributed to the repertoire of Italian opera..
In them Verdi has reached the perfection of
his art as he knows it, and has brought the
musical drama to a point which cannot con-
sistently be passed. It is doubtful whether
another Italian composer will ever be found
to extend the national opera as left by Verdi
in these matured period works — compositions
which, everything considered, are more satis-
factory, and probably more permanent, because

^ " The curious falling off of public interest in works of the
purely Itahan school was again exemplified on Thursday last
week when Rigoletto was given, the audience being much
smaller than usual." — AiheficEum, 15th June 18S9.

292 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

more reasonable, than any musical drama that
has emanated from the modern German school.
These Third period works, by the illustrious
Italian, will last so long as there is a dramatic
lyric stage, whether this be in England or
abroad.

Verdi must ever be remembered for the
extravagant ear- taking melodies of his early
operas, which have amply justified their exist-
ence ; but he will best live musically by his
Third period operas and his Requiem Mass.
These compositions must always furnish a
glorious summit to Verdi's pinnacle of musical
fame. At the same time it will be, we predict,
many a long day before the last is heard of
// Trovaiore and Rigoletto.

CHAPTER XII

VERDI LITERATURE

Its scantiness — Restricted scope for the writer and historian
— EngHsh ideas of ItaHan opera — English books on
Verdi — German historians' measure — Recent Enghsh
press notices — Foreign journaHstic criticism — ItaHan
writings.

The Verdi bibliography, particularly that in
English, is not extensive, a result doubtless
arising from the fact that the master has
confined himself solely to one branch of the
composer's art, namely, opera. Although,
therefore, the composer of // Trovatore has
enjoyed a much wider popularity than other
masters who might be named, and about
whom volumes have been and will be written,
the confined nature of Verdi's musical circuit
has rendered him relatively much less attrac-
tive to the musical critic, historian, and
biographer. This is the penalty, perhaps,
which has to be paid by musicians who find
themselves unable, or unwilling, to spend

294 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

laborious days and nights in the conception
and composition of profound orchestral crea-
tions of the symphony and concert-overture
type, which, however admirable in the eyes
and ears of those who listen to, analyse, and
criticise them, have rarely proved profitable
to those who composed them, save and
beyond the posthumous honour which they
may win for their wondrous workers. Not-
withstanding the universal popularity which
Verdi has enjoyed for fifty years, there is,
from the one-sided nature of his work, the
possibility of under-estimating his real worth
as a master of music. With the tendency
among all ranks of art-workers to endeavour
to shine in many parts, it is quite exceptional
to find one content to do his best, and suc-
ceed, with one phase of his art, as Verdi has
done.

Italian opera was first brought into England
in 1706, when Arsinoe was produced at Drury
Lane Theatre, and in order to give those who
attended performances of it a chance of under-
standing it, it was rendered with English
words ! Yet the article has never wholly
commended itself to the English people, who,
especially in its early history here, were unable

MUSICAL GAUGE 295

to enter into the spirit of the bombastic, exag-
gerated plots, and excessive love scenes.
Thus it does not, and will not, command equal
interest among reasoning musicians, compared
particularly with that attaching to symphony
or oratorio. Italian opera might well dis-
appear from the face of the earth, so far as
English people are concerned ; but a similar
remark could not be applied to any new
oratorio or symphony. Opera seria is not in
vogue here, not even a national English
opera, and Italian opera is just kept from
collapse by another class than that which
rushes with delight to performances of operas
of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Gravid Ditke
type. Consequent upon all this, critics have
gone on chronicling and criticising Verdi's
operatic successes (especially in his later
operas) and failures, pausing but little to
gauge any relative musical worth of the man
as compared with other great masters. It is,
of course, not possible for such a prolific
indefatigable worker as Verdi was to go on
occupying the world musically, if only in one
direction, without exercising some sway over
the minds and dispositions of listeners. It is
the bearing of Verdi's operatic efforts upon

296 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

art that has been neglected by the English
press especially. The fact of Verdi having
been so little amongst us affords, naturally,
another explanation for the comparatively
scant literature respecting both him and his
works. Until the appearance of the present
monograph, no work existed that brought the
life and work of the famous Italian master up
to date, or that attempted to place him critic-
ally and musically among the great exponents
of his art. To that extent, at least, Verdi
literature was wanting.

But to deal with the bibliography that does
exist. Perhaps the best work in English is
Pougin's Anecdotic History of Verdi; his
Life and Works, which has been excellently
translated from the French by James E.
Matthew (1887). Another interesting book
in our language concerning Verdi is Blanche
Roosevelt's Verdi: Milan and '' Otello'' (1887),
which is a short life of the master, with letters
written about Milan and the opera Otello.
The brief article by Signor Gianandrea
Mazzucato (in Grove's Dictionary of Music
and Musicians^ on Verdi is a valuable contri-
bution to the subject, and is probably the
best account of the maestro contained in any

VERDI LITERATURE 297

dictionary. The last work it treats of, how-
ever, is A'lda, and ahhough it touches Otello
somewhat prophetically, it is necessarily silent
about that greater work Falstaff.

Ritter, in his History of Music (1876), dis-
poses of Verdi in less than eleven short lines ;
but a little more justice, in the way of space,
is done to the famous Italian by Naumann in
his large, comprehensive History of Music,
since he devotes to Verdi nearly two whole
pages out of over thirteen hundred !

Masters of Italian Music (R. A. Streat-
feild), contains an appreciative biography of
Verdi, based upon Pougin's work, together
with some sound criticism upon Italian opera
in general, and Verdi's in particular. A further
work in the English language referring to
Verdi is Elson's Realm of Music, chap, xviii.
of which deals with the " Evolution of Verdi " ;
while in Ferris's Lives of the Celebrated Coin-
posers there is an intelligent comparison be-
tween the Otello of Verdi and Rossini. Dr.
Parry's Studies of the Great Composers omits
Verdi altogether, the reason for which does
not appear.

French works bearing upon Verdi are —
Bertrand (Gustave), Les nationality musicales,

298 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

^tudides dans le dranie lyrique . . ., Verdzsme
et Wagnerismd ; Fouque (Octave), Histoire
du Thddtre Ventadour (1829-79), — Opdra
Comique, — Theatre de la Renaissance, — Thddtre
Italien, Verdi; Maurel (Victor), A propos de
la 7nise- en- scene du drame lyrique " Otello,''
being Ehide prdcddde dapergtis sur le tliMtre
chants en 1887 ; Noufflard (Georges), " Otello "
de Verdi et le drame lyriqtte.

The above enumerated writings, and the
criticisms which have appeared more or
less regularly in the Athencsum, Times,
and Ilhistrated London News, constitute
the chief of what has been published in
the English and French languages relating to
Verdi. We should not omit to state, however,
that lately, especially since the production of
Falstaff, not a little has been said, if not
written, of the illustrious Verdi and his works.
Sir A. C. Mackenzie's lectures on Falstaff
were particularly interesting. Therein the
talented Principal of the Royal Academy of
Music paid a high tribute to the personal
qualities of the doyen of composers. In
tracing the gradual development of Verdi's
genius Sir A. C. Mackenzie asserted that the
composer did not show any Wagnerian in-

FOREIGN JOURNALISM 299

fluence in his later works — a judgment with
which competent judges will agree. The
articles which Dr. Villiers Stanford contributed
to the Daily Graphic concerning Falstaff, its
wonderful humorous music, and the man who
made it, were worthy of the journal and its
talented special correspondent ; while Mr.
Joseph Bennett's tried and trusty pen has also
been descried in more than one masterly article
concerning Verdi in the Daily Telegraph and
Musical Times. In the Musical Recollectio7is
of Mr. Wilhelm Kuhe, entrepreneur and racon-
/^^^r, are numerous criticalpassages and remarks
concerning Verdi and several of his operas.

Foreign journalism has always been busy
about Verdi. Thus such publications of his
native land as La Perseveransa, the Supple-
mento Straordinario of the Gazetta Musicale}
La Scena, La Fanfulla, and // Pensiero di
Nisza, with the Spanish journal, Cronica di la
Musica, abound in criticisms and notes re-
specting the master. Much excellent critical
matter relating to Verdi and his works will be
found, too, in the French journals, Le Mene-
strel, La Nasione, La France Music ale,
Journal des Debats, and Figaro ; while he has

1 27th November 18S9.

300 VERDI: MAN AND MUSICIAN

been far from neglected by the German press,
in such papers as the Neue Berliner Musik
Zeitttng, and others.

The most important and valuable writings
respecting Verdi, however, are, as might be
expected, in the Italian language. Among
these are —

Sketches of the Life and Works of Giuseppe
Verdi (Bermani), 1846; Studies upon the
Operas of Giuseppe Verdi (Basevi), 1859;
Biographical Notes on Giuseppe Verdi, fol-
lowed by brief analyses of '' A'ida'" and the
''Requiem Mass'' (Perosio), 1875; Critical
Musical Essay on " A t'da" (Fena. y Goni),
1875 ; Considerations on the actual State of
Musical Art in Italy, and the artistic Import-
ance of '' A'ida'' and the '' Requiein Mass''
(Sassaroli), 1876; Verdi and his Operas
(Monaldi), 1877.

INDEX

Adam, Adolphe, on Emani, 69.

A'ida, and Wagner, 46, 82 ; 167 ; genesis
of, i58 ; produced at Cairo, 169 ; an
admitted masterpiece in Milan, Paris,
and England, 170; Athenietiin on,
173-176, 197; first performance, 211;
place of, 237, '238, 239 ; Verdi's view
in composing, 241 ; orchestration of,
242 ; peculiarly Verdinian, 245-247 ;
249, 250, 251, 286.

and operatic development, 284, 286 ;

a masterpiece, 291.

Albani, 235.

Albert Hall, Verdi's Requiem at, 154.

Alboni, Mme., in Lnisa Miller, 97, 98,
99.

and Trovatore, 118 «.

Alceste, Gluck's, 278.

Alzira produced at Naples, 76, 81, 96.

Anato at the Lyceum, 47.

Angelini, Signer, in Forza del Destino,
148.

Anti-Verdians and Verdians, S7 i a-nd
Verdi's music, 131.

Argentine Theatre, Rome, Due Foscari
at, 74- . .

Arimondi, Signer, in Fahtaff, 191, 194.

Armandi, Signer, in Fahtaff, 191, 194.

Aroldo, 76.

A thenaum, musical critic of, 44 ; on
Frnatii, 67-69; on Attila, 79; on
Masnadieri, 90 ; on Luisa I\IiUer,
100 ; on Rigoletto, 108 ; on Trovatore,
122 ; and La Traviata, 135, 142 ; on
Aida, lyj, iSo ; on Otello, iSo ; on
Fahtaff, 196-200 ; and Traviata, 236 ;
and A'ida, 243 ; and Nahucco, 244 ;
256, 265, 290, 291, 298.

Attila, produced at the Fenice, 76 ; well
received, 77 ; in London, 78 ; opinions
on, 79-82 ; political influence of, 206.

Auber, 124.

Gustave III., 145, 146, 163, 259,

281.

Ave Maria, Verdi's, 162.

Bach, 226.

Bach's oratorii, 159.

Bagasset, violinist, 9.

Baistrocchi, organist, 14.

Balderi, Signer, in Trovatore, 115.

Balfe, 1.1. W., succeeds Costa at Her

Majesty's, 93.
Ballo in Mascltera, Uii, 144 ; produced

at Rome, 145 ; at the Lyceum, 145 ;

opinion on, 145-148.

place of, 237.

Barbieri-Nini in Macbeth, 83.

Barbet, Mme., in Forza del Destino,

148.
Barezzi, Antonio, grocer, 5, 17, 21 ;

helps Verdi to Milan, 23, 26 ; his eldest

daughter, 27.

Basevi, critic, on Verdi, 207.

on La T7-aviata, 234, 300.

Basili, Francesco, and Verdi's rejection

by the Milan Conservatoire, 24.
Battaglia di Legnano, La, produced at

Rome, 93, 207.
Baucarde, Signer, in Trovatore, 115.
Beethoven mass, 159, 226, 232.
Beletti, in A ttila, 79.
Bellini, 54, 82, 105, 122, 226, 227, 229,

241 ; and the growth of opera, 279.
Beneventane, in Lnisa Miller, 99.

in La Traviata, 132.

Bennett, Mr. Joseph, 299.

Sterndale, 163.

Berlin, Falstaffm, 196.

Berlioz, 243.

Bermani, 300.

Berteni, 214.

Bertrand's, Gustave, Verdisjne et Wag-

ncrisme, 298.
Bey, Mariette, and A'ida, 168.
Bibliography (Verdi), 293-300.
Birth of Verdi, i.
Birthplace of Verdi, 3.
Boito and Simon Boccanegra, 143.

and libretto oi Otello, 178.

and Otello, 184 ; and Falstaff, 187,

188, 190, 287.
Bonnehee, M. in Vepres Siciliennes,

140.
Berie, Mme. Rita, in Emani, 63.
Bosie, in Luisa Miller, 103; xnRigoletto,

107.
Botelli, Signer, in Ernani, 63.
Bottesini, conductor in A'ida, 169.
Bouche, in Masnadieri, 84.
Boule, M., in Vejires Siciliennes, 140.
Brigands, Les, 92 (see Masnadieri).
Bulow, Dr. von, and Verdi's Requiem,

153. 156-.
Buononcini and the growth of opera, 277.
Busseto Hospital and Verdi, 216.

Cairo, Italian theatre at, 16S.
Caldara and the growth of opera, 277.
Caldara's church music, 161.
Calzolari, Signer, in La Traviata, 132.
Cammerano, ]NL, 94, 113.
Campana, Fabie, 234.
Capecelatro, Verdi's evil genius, 96.
Capponi, Signer, and Verdi's Requiem

153.-

in Aida, 172.

Carducci and Verdi, 215.

Casimir-Perier and Verdi, 210.

Castelli, in Ltiisa Miller, 99.

Cataneo, Signora, in Otello, iSo.

Cavaletti, Stephen, 13.

Caveur and Verdi, 20S.

Cerito, 290.

Certificate of Verdi's birth, 3.

Chorley, H. F. , 44; on Kahucco, 45;

302

INDEX

on Ltiisa Miller, 102 ; La Traviaia,

138 ; 176, 255, 263, 265, 266, 270.
Church music, 158.
Code, M. C. du, and Aida, 168.
Coletti, Signer, in Dtte Foscari, 74 ; in

Masnadieri, 84.
Coquelin, the elder, 187.
Corbari, Mile., in Nabncco, ii,\.
Corsaro, II, produced at Trieste, 93.
Corsi, in Nino, 47.
Cortesi, 287.

Costa, Signor, 92 ; in A'ida, i6g.
Sir Michael and Verdi's cantata,

164.
Coulon, M., in V^pres Siciliennes, 140.
Critics, musical, 256, 270.
Cruvelli, Sophie, in Attila, 78 ; in Luisa

Miller, 103.
and Les Vepres Siciliennes, 139,

141. _
Cuzzani, m Attila, 79.

Dafne, the first opera, 275.

Daily Graphic axid Fahtaff, 189-191, 299.

Daily Telegraph, 299.

Danton's bust of Verdi, 211.

Davison, J. W., 44, 270.

Debassini, Signor, in Forza del Destine,

148.
Decazes, Duke, and Verdi, 210.
Dejeau, Julienne, in Ballo in Maschera,

145-
Delair, Paul, 1S7.
Delna, Mile., and Falstaff, 194.
Derivis, in / Lombardi, 55.
Development of Verdi, 228-255.
Didi^e, Mile., in Rigoletto, 107.
Don Carlos, place of, 237 ; its models,

282.
Donatelli, Signora, in La Traviata, 12S.
Donizetti and Nabucco, 38, 49, 54, 65, 68,

82, 105, 122, 136, 226, 227, 229, 241,

267 ; and the growth of opera, 279, 282.
Dramatis pcrsoncB oi I Lo>nbardi, 51.
Drury Lane, Arsinoe at, 294.
Due Foscari, 70 ; produced at Rome,

Paris, and London, 74, 108, 109 ; place

in Verdi's development, 229.
Dumas's Da7ne aux Caniclias and La

Traviata, 126, 135.

Elson's Realm of Music, zg^.
England, Italian opera first introduced

into, 294.
English, indifference of the, to Italian

opera, 295.
Ernani, 39, 45, 46 ; produced, 58 ; in

England, 60-69, io8> 1461 i47) i97 !

political influence of, 206.
Euridice, second opera, 276.
Exhibition of 1S62 and Verdi's cantata,

163.

Faccio, conductor in Otello, 178, 287.
Fagotti, Signor, in Vepres Siciliennes,

140.
Falstaff, 82, 168; produced at La Scala,

187, 1S9 ; and 'Wagner's Der Meister-
siiiger, 1S9, 199; in Paris, 193; in
London, 194; most "taking" pieces
in, 195 ; music in, ig6 ; score of, 200 ;
a rehearsal at Milan, 213 ; place in
Verdi's development, 239, 241, 249,
250-255 ; and operatic development,
286 ; a masterpiece, 291 ; lectures on,
298.

Faust, Gounod's, 90.

Feitlinger, M., m Aida, 172.

Fenice Theatre, Ernani at, 58 ; Rigo-
letto at, 105, 106.

Ferris's Lives of the Celebrated Com-
posc7-s, 297.

Festa, music master, 273.

Filippi, critic, 221.

Finto Stanislas, II, 103.

Foreign journals and Verdi, 299.

Fornasara, Signor, in Nabucco, 41 ; in
/ Lombardi, 56 ; in Ernani, 63 ; in
Otello, 179.

Forza del Destino, produced at St.
Petersburg, Milan, and Paris, 148 ;
shows Verdi's Third style, 149 ; place
of, 237.

Foscari, Francisco, 70.

Fouque's, Octave, Histoire du Theatre,
298.

Franco-German opera in England, 264.

Fraschini, Signor, in Due Foscari, 75 ;
in Ballo in Maschera, 145.

French President and Verdi, 210.

Frezzolini, Erminia, in I Lombardi, 55 ;
in Giovanna d Arco, 75.

Fugue, Germans indebted to Italians
for, 161.

Garbon, Signor, in Falstaff, 191.

Garden, Verdi's, 220.

Gardoni, in I Lombardi, 55 ; in Attila,
79 ; in Masfiadieri, 84, 86, 88, 91 ; in
Luisa Miller, loi.

Gasparini and the growth of opera, 277.

Gazette Miisicale, 231.

Gazzaniga, Mme., in Luisa Miller, 96.

German opera in England, 263.

Germans indebted to Italians for the
fugue, 161.

Ghislanzoni and Aida, i68.

Gindale, Ernestina, in A'ida, 172.

Giovanna d' Arco, at La Scala, 75.

Gioz'anna di Guzman, 140.

Giraldoni, Signor, in Ballo in Mas-
chera, 145.

Giuglini, Signor, in Luisa 3Iiller, 98,
99 ; in Verdi's cantata, 164.

Globe, The, on Verdi, 219.

Gluck and Piccini feud, 57-60.

— ■ — "and the growth of opera, 278.

Goggi, Signora, in Trovatore, 115.

Goni, Peiia y, 300.

Gordigiani, Luigi, 234.

Gounod, 90.

Graphic, Daily, 38.

Graziani, Signor, in Trovatore and
Ernani, 119, 124 ; in La T'raviata,

INDEX

303

128 ; in Forza del Desti?w, 14S ; in

Ai'da, 172.
Grisi, in I Lotiibardi, 56; in Due Foscari,

74; 290.
Grossi, Signer, in Trovatore, 115.

Mme., in Ai'da, i6g.

Grove's Dictionary of Music, 297.
Guasco, Signor, in / Lombardi, 55 ; in

Ernani, 59.
Guerrini, Virginia, in Fahtaff, 191.
Gueymard, M., in VeJ>}-es Siciliennes,

140.
Guicciardi, Signor, in Trovat07-e, 115.
Gusiave III., 144 (see Ballo in Mas-

chcra).
Guttierez and Trovatore, 113.
Gye, Mr., produces Auato at the

Lyceum, 47 ; produces Rigoletto, 107.

Hal^vy, 281.

Handel's oratorii, 159.

Haydn, 226.

mass, 159.

Her IMajesty's Theatre, Nabucco at,
39 ; / Loinbardi at, 56 ; Ernani at,
60 ; Due Foscari at, 74 ; A ttila at,
78 ; Masnadieri at, 84 ; La Traviata
at, 129, 291 ; Verdi's cantata at, 164.

Hugo, Victor, 105.

Hullah and musical education, 121.

Humbert, King, congratulates Verdi,
192.

Illustrated London Neius, 44 ; on Er-
nani, 63-67 ; on A tilla, 79 ; on Mas-
nadieri, 88 ; on Rigoletto, 107, 108 ;
on Trovatore, iii, ; on Traviata, 132 ;
and Vepres Siciliennes, 141 ; and
Simon Boccanegra, 143 ; on Verdi's
cantata, 164 ; 258, 268, 289, 298.

Inno delle Nazioni cantata, 163.

Italian and Teuton in instrumental
music, 165.

church music, 15S.

opera, introduction of, to England,

294.

school of music, 273.

Italians and music, 8.

Jacovacci and Un Ballo in Maschera,

144.
JcrusalejH, 5S (see Lovibardi).
Jerusaleinvie, 58 (see Loinbardi').
Joan of Arc, 76 (see Giovanna d' Arco).
Jommelli and the growth of opera, 277.
Journals, foreign, and Verdi, 299.

Khedive of Egypt and Verdi, 168, 169,

209.
Kitzu, Signora, in Falstaff, 194.
Kuhe's, Wilhelm, Musical Recollections,

299.

Lablache, Signor, in Masnadieri, 84,
86, 88.

La Scala Theatre, 25, 30, 34, 35 ; direc-
tion of, choose Verdi to compose the

opera d obbligo, 50 ; Giovanna d'
A rco at, 75 ; Forza del Destino at,
148; Wtrdi's Regtdem at, 154; A'ida
in, 170; Montezuma in, 177; Otello
in, 178 ; Falstaff aX., 187, 192.

Lasina, agreement with Verdi, 105.

Lavigna, Vincenzo, 25.

XJCbxeLXaoi Nabucco, 42; oiLuisa Miller,
94, 98 ; of / Due Foscari, 70 ; of
Rigoletto, 105; oi Forza del Destino,
148; oi Aiida, 170-172.

Lind, Jenny, 75 ; in Masnadieri, 84, 86,
87, 88, 91.

Loewe, Signora, in Ernani, 59.

Loinbardi, 45, 46 ; dramatis personcs
of, etc., 51 ; produced at the Milan
Theatre, 54 ; compared with Nabucco,
56 ; produced in Paris, 58 ; 197, 204 ;
political influence of, 206.

London, A'ida in, 170; Otello in, iSo,
182; Falstaff \n, 194, 196.

Lord Chamberlain and La Traviata,
i33> 136.

Lorredano, James, 71.

Peter, 70.

Lotti, the growth of opera, 277.

Lotti's church music, 161.

Lucca and Verdi, 92 ; purchases // Cor-
saro, 93.

Ltiisa Miller, libretto of, 94 ; produced
at Naples, London, and Paris, 96 ;
opinions on, 96, 99 - 103 ; at Her
IMajesty's, 97 ; at the Thiiatre Italien,
Paris, 103 ; place in Verdi's develop-
ment, 229, 230.

Lumley, Mr., on Nabucco, \q; revives
Nino, 46 ; produces / Lombardi, 56 ;
on Ernani, 60 : on Due Foscari, 74 ;
produces A ttila, 78; produces j1/ij^-
nadicri, 84 ; his faith in Verdi, 92 ;
on Luisa Miller, 97; on La Traviata,
129-135; 264.

Macbeth, 81 ; produced at Florence,
Milan, and Venice, 83 ; at Florence,
211.

Mackenzie's, Sir A. C, lectures on Fal-
staff, 29S.

Maini, Signor, and Verdi's Requiem,\r,i.

3Ialedizione, La, 105 (see Rigoletto).

Malibran, 68.

Mancinelli, Signor, In Falstaff, 194.

Manzoni and the Rossini mass, 152, 212

Mapleson and La Traviata, 291.

Marcello's church music, 161.

Marchetti, 287.

Margarita, 27.

Marimon, Mile., in Masnadieri, 92.

Marini, Mme., and Oberto, 31.

Mario, Signor, in / Lombardi, 56 ; in
Dtie Foscari, 74 ; in Rigoletto, 107 ;
in Falstaff, 192.

Mascagni, 2S7.

Masini, Signor, and Verdi's Requiem,
154-

Masnadieri, 81 ; written for England,
84 ; at Her IMajesty's, S4-S6 ; story of,

304

INDEX

86 ; a failure, 88, 92 ; opinions on, 88-

91.
Mass, Verdi's Requiem, 151-161.
Matthew, J. E., 297.
Maurel, M., in Otello, 179,, 180 ; in Fal-

staff, 187, 191, 194 ; A propos de la

iiiise • €71 - sci'ue dii drame lyrique

''Otello," 298.
Mazzucato, Signer, and the Rossini

mass, 152.

Gianandrea, 297.

Medini, Signer, and Verdi's Requiem,
154 ; in Aida, 169.

Melody in music, 274.

Mendelssohn and Verdi's Requiem, 157 ;
his orator ii, 159 ; 266.

Mercadante, 49, 68 ; jealous of Verdi,
116 ; 227, 267.

Merelli, Bartolomeo, and Oberto, 30 ;
engages Verdi to write three operas,
32 ; tears Verdi's agreement up, 34 ;
produces Nabucco, 35, 38 ; his gen-
erosity, 39 ; agreement with Verdi for
the opera d obbligo, 50.

Messe Solcnnellc, Rossini's, and Verdi's
Requiem mass, 158.

Meyerbeer, 124, 163, 239, 245, 259, 263,
264, 267, 2S1, 284, 285.

Milan, excitement in, over Otello, 177 ;
Falstaffm, 196, 198.

Couscri.iatoire, 23.

— — Philharmonic Society, Verdi con-
ductor of, 30.

Milanese, and the production oi I Loin-
bar di, 54.

Mirate, in Rigoletto, 106.

Mireille, Gounod's, 90.

Missa da Requiem, Verdi's, 152.

Monaldi, 300.

Monday Popular Concerts, Verdi at, 162.

Mongini, Signer, in Vepres Siciliennes,
140 ; in Aida, 169.

" Monte de Pieta " of Busseto, 23, 26.

Montenegro, Mme., in Due Foscari, 75.

Monteverde and the growth of opera,
276, 2S0.

Montezuma given at La Scala, 177.

Moriani, in Ernani, 63.

Mozart and Verdi's i?£'5'z«V;«, 157; mass,
159; 200, 202, 226, 252, 253.

Music, characteristics of Verdi's, 7 ; in
Nabucco, 38, 42, 54 ; in Trovatore,
115, 262 ; of La Traviata, 137 ; in
Fahtaff, 196, 252; m Aida, 242; in
Otello, 24S ; Italian school of, 273.

Musical Times, 299.

Muzio, letter from Verdi to, 128 ; 168.

Nabucco, produced at_ La Scala, 35 ; its
success, 36, 38 ; incident in reliearsal
of, 37 ; purchased by Ricordi, 39 ; in
London, 39-41 ; 146, 147 ; libretto of,
42 ; English opinions of, 40-47 ; musi-
cal points in, 4S ; compared with /
Lombardi, 56 ; with Rigoletto, 108,
109 ; political influence of, 206.

Nabucodonosor, 37.

Naumann's History of Music, 297.
Nautier-Didi^e, Mme., in Forza del

Destine, 148.
" Nebuchadnezzar," 34.
Ney, Jenny, in Trovatore, 118, 12Q.
Nicollni, Signer, in Aida, 172.
Nilsson, 235.

Nino, Re d Assyria, 40 (see Nabucco).
Noufflard's, George, " Otello " de Verdi,

Oberto, conte di S. Bonifacio, 28 ; pro-
duced in La Scala Theatre, 31 ; sold
to Ricordi, 32.

Obin, ]\L, in Vepres Siciliennes, 140.

Olghina, Olga, in Falstaff, 194.

" Omnibus " box, the, 288.

Opera during the past three-quarters of
the century, 224 ; decline of, 289 ;
origin and development of, 273 ; the
first, 27s ; the second, 276 ; growth of,
275-279.

Opera d' obbligo, Verdi chosen to com-
pose, 50.

Opera-house, vitality of the, 288.

Orchestra in the first opera, 275 ; in
Orfco, 277.

Orchestration in Aida, 284.

Orfeo, Monteverde's, 276.

Gluck's, 278.

Organist of Roncole, Verdi becomes, 20.

Otello, 82, 168 ; produced at Milan, 178 ;
in London, iSo, 182 ; orchestration in,
185, 197'; in Paris, 210 ; place in Verdi's
development," 233, 239, 241, 247-250,
251, 286 ; and operatic development,
285 ; a masterpiece, 291.

Otellopolis, 177.

Otello-V&rdi mania, 179.

Pacini, 49.

Palazzo L)oria, 219.

Palestrina, 274.

Palestrina's church music, 161.

Palma, in I\Iacbcth, 83, 207.

Pantaleoni, Romilda, Signora, in Otello,

179.
Paris, scenes and costumes for Aida

from, 168; Aida produced in, 170;

Otello zx, 182; Falstaff Sit, 193, 196,

204.
Paroli, Signor, in Otello, 179, 180.
Parry's, Dr., Studies of the Great Com-
posers, i<^i.
Pasqua, Signora, in Falstaff, 191.
Pasta, 120.

Paternoster, Verdi's, 162.
Patti, Mme. Adelina, in Luisa Miller,

103; in Aida, 172; 235; in La

Traviata, 291.
Pedrotti, 2S7.
Pellegalli-Rosetti, Signor, in Falstaff,

191, 194.
Penco, Signora, in Trovatore, 115.
Peri and the first opera, 275, 280.
Perosio, 300.
Perugino, 200.

INDEX

305

Pessina, Signer, in Falstaff, 194.

Petrovich, Mile., in Otello, 179.

Piave, Verdi's librettist, 58, 70, 93, 105,

126, 143, 148, 213.
Piccolomini, Mile., in Luisa Miller,

97, 99 ; in La Traviata, 129, 130, 131,

132, 135, 136, 235.
Piccini, 57, 60, 58 ; and the growth of

opera, 278.
Pini-Corsi, Signer, in Fahtaff, 191,

194. _
Plnsuti, loi, 287.
Police and / Lombardi, 55 ; and Er-

nani, 59.
Political influences of Verdi, 203.
Polonini, Signer, in Rigoletto, 107.
Ponchielli, 287.

Poniatowski, Prince, and Verdi, 210.
Porporo and the growth of opera, 277.
Pougin's A'>iecdotic History of Verdi ^

296, 297.
Pozzoni-Anastasi, Mme., in A'ida, i6g.
Provesi, Giovanni, organist, 18, 21, 22 ;

his prophesy 23 ; his death, 26.
Pugnatta, the cobbler, 13.

Quartet in E minor by Verdi, 162.

Raineri, Mme., and Obcrto, 31.

Ravogli, Giulia, in Falstaff, 194.

Recitative, origin of, 275.

Requictn mass, Verdi's, 151-161 ; lasting
nature of, 292.

Ricordi, music publisher, buys Obcrto,
31 ; letter from Verdi on Nabucco, 36 ;
purchases Nabucco, 39 ; Sassaroli's
challenge, 177 ; at dinner with Verdi,
190; 215.

Rigolctto, 95, 146, 147 ; libretto of, 105 ;
produced in Venice, London, and
Paris, 106 ; musical characteristics,
loS ; opinions on, 108-113, 133, 135,
197 ; place in Verdi's development,
231 ; revival of, 260 ; diverse opinions
on, 268 ; continued popularity of, 290,
292.

Rinuccini and the first opera, 275.

Ritter's History of Music, 297.

Koi s'amuse, Le, 105.

Rolla's advice to Verdi, 25.

Ronconi and Oberto, 31 ; and Nabucco,
35, 47 ; in Rigoletto, 107.

Roosevelt's Life of Verdi, 205, 297.

Rossini, 54, 65, 83, 123, 124, 150, 151,
152, 158, 161 ; and Verdi, 206, 225,
226, 227, 259, 267 ; and the growth of
opera, 278, 2S2.

Rubini, 120.

Salvi, Signor, and Obcrto, 31.
San Carlo Theatre, Naples, 93, 95.
Sanchioli, in Nabucco, 40.
San Marco at Milan, 152.
Sarti, So.

Sassaroli, Vincenzo, and A'ida, 177, 300.
Saunier, Mile., in Vepres Siciliennes,
140.

X

Sbriscia, Mme., in Ballo in Maschera,

145.
Scala, La, Theatre (see La Scala).
Scarlatti and the growth of opera, 277.
Scenes oi I Lombardi, 51.
Schiller's Die Raiiber, 84 ; Kabale unde

Licbe, 98.
Schumann, 226.
Scotti, Mme., in Ballo in Maschera,

Scribe and Les Vepres Stciliennes, 139.

Seletti, priest, 19, 21.

Selva, Signor, in Ernani, 59.

Sicilian Vespers (see Vtpres Siciliennes).

Simon Boccanegra, produced at the

Fenice theatre, 143 ; at Naples, 143.
Solera's libretto of Naluicco, 34, 42 ; of

I Lombardi, 50; o{ Attila, 77.
Spezia, Mile., in Nino, 46.
Spinet, Verdi's, 12.
Spohr's oratorii, 159 ; 281.
Spontini, 80 ; and the growth of opera,

278.
St. Agata, Verdi's residence, 217, 219,

221.
Stabat Mater, Rossini's, and Verdi's

Requiem mass, 158, 161, 162.
Stanford, Dr. Villiers, 38 ; on Falstaff,

299.
Stehle, Adelina, in Falstaff, 191.
Steller, Signor, in A'ida, 169.
Stiffelio, 103.
Stilafugata, 159.
Stolz, Mme., and Verdi's Requiem,

153, 154-
Story of Nabucco, 42 ; of / Lombardi,

51-54; of / Due Foscari, 70-74; of

Attila, 76 ; of Masnadieri, 86 ; of

Luisa Miller, 94 ; of Troziatore, 113 ;

oi La Traviata, 'i.'2-j ; of A'ida, 170.
Streatfeild's, R. A., Masters of Italian

Music, 297.
Street organs and Verdi, 9, 224.
Strepponi and Oberto, 31 ; iLndi Nabucco,

35 ; consulted by Verdi, 50 ; marriage

with Verdi, 21S.

Tagliafico, Signor, in Rigoletto, 107.

Taglioni, 290.

Tamagno, Signor, in Tre7iato-,-e, 126 ; in
Otello, 179, 180 ; 261.

Tamberlik, in Trovatorc, 119, 120; in
Forza del Destino, 148.

Temple, Mme., in Rigoletto, 107.

Teuton church music compared with
Italian, 160.

and Italian in instrumental music,

165.

Times, musical critic of, 44 ; on Nino,
46; on At ilia, 81; on Masnadieri,
Qi ; on Luisa Miller, loi ; on Rigo-
letto, no; on Troratore, 123; on
Vtpres Siciliennes, 142 ; on Un Ballo
in Mascliera, 145 ; 298.

Titiens, Mme., in Vtpres Siciliennes,
140, 141 ; in Verdi's cantata, 164 ;
261.

3o6

INDEX

Traviata, La, 95 ; and the Fenice
Theatre, 126 ; story of, 127 ; a failure,
128; at Her Majesty's, 129; opinions
on, 131-138, 146; at Venice, 214;
place in Verdi's development, 233, 252 ;
a "sickly opera," 290.

Troubadour, The, 121 (see Trovatorc).

Trovatore, 95 ; produced at Rome, 113,
115 ; in Naples, 116 ; in Paris and
London, 118 ; opinions on, ng-125 ;
universal success, 125, 128 ; 135, 138,
146, 197 ; and the organ-grinder, 215 ;
place in Verdi's development, 232,
236, 250, 252, 259 ; revival of, 260,
290, 292.

Varesi, baritone, in La. T7-aviata, 128,
214.

"Variety" entertainment and the opera,
290.

"Wipres Siciliennes, 76, 138 ; reception
of, 139 ; at Drury Lane, 140 ; opinions
on, 140 ; a rehearsal in Paris, 213 ; its
manner, 236 ; a departure, 282.

Verdi, birth, i ; parents, 4 ; early cir-
cumstances, 6 ; characteristics of his
music, 7 ; and street organs, 9 ; acolyte
at the village church, 10 ; indications
of musical aptitude, 11 ; his first
musical instrument, 12 ; sent to school,
13 ; first musical training, 14 ; goes
into the world, 15 ; office boy, 18 ; and
Provesi, 19 ; organist of Roncole, 20 ;
esteem for Barezzi, 21 ; conductor of
the Busseto Philharmonic Society,
22 ; seeks the Milan Conservatoire and
is rejected, 24 ; under Lavigna, 25 ;
returns to Busseto and is in love, 26 ;
marries, 28 ; first attempt at a com-
plete opera, 28 ; conducts in Haydn's
Creation, 29 ; conductor of the Milan
Philharmonic Society, 30 ; his Oberto
produced on the stage, 31 ; his wife's
devotion, 32 ; domestic bereavements,

33 ; failure of Un Giorni di Regno,

34 ; on Nabucco' s success, 36, 38 ; his
" best friends," 37 ; famous, 38 ; diverse
opinions on, 40-47 ; alleged indebted-
ness to Wagner, 46 ; his success
assured, 49 ; chosen to compose the
opera cTobbligo for La Scala Theatre
direction, 50 ; another triumph, 55 ; /
Lombardi, 55 ; Ernani, 58 ; his re-
ception in England, 62 ; only Italian
composer, 65 ; / Due Fosca7-i, 70-75 ;
Giovaftna d Arco, 75; Alzira, 76;
Attila, 76-82 ; Macbeth, 83 ; I Masna-
dieri, 84-92 ; leaves England, gi ;
offered the baton at Her Majesty's, 92 ;
// Corsaro and La Battaglia di
Legnajio, 93 ; Luisa Miller, 94-103 ;
his evil genius, 96 ; Stiffelio and //
Pi?ito Stanislas, 103 ; Rigoletto, 105-
113; Trovatore, 113-126; L^a Tra-
viata, 126-138 ; letter on the failure of

La Traviata, 128 ; Les Vipres
Siciliennes, 138-143 ; Simon Bocca-
tiegra, 143 ; Un Ballo in Maschera,
144 ; sued by the San Carlo Theatre,
Naples, 144 ; Forza del Destino, 148,
149 ; his Third style, 149 ; a writer of
sacred music, 150; and the Rossini
mass, 151 ; on Manzoni, 153 ; his
Requiem at San Marco, Milan, 153 ;
at La Scala Theatre, in Paris, and in
London, 154 ; as a conductor, 155 ; his
Reguietn as a contribution to church
music, 158-162 ; other compositions,
162 ; the cantata L' Inno delle Nazioni,
163; at Her Majesty's, 164; Third
period in his career, 167 ; Aula, 167-
177 ; Otello and Falstaff, 168 ; Monte-
zuma, 179; Otello, iii-iZd; in Paris,
on presentation of Otello, 182 ; Fal-
staff, 187-202 ; congratulations from
King Humbert, 192 ; as a writer of
comic music, 201 ; a born politician,
203 ; politics in his music, 204-208 ;
political significance of his name, 205 ;
member of the National Assembly of
Parma, 20S ; honours, 208-211; ex-
ternal appearance and character, 212-
216 ; his fortune and residence, 217 ;
second marriage, 21S ; habits, 218-
222 ; popularity, 223 ; influence on
opera, 225 ; estimate and characteristics
of his work, 22S-255 ; adverse criticism
of, 256-271; his starting point, 279;
outside influence upon, 281 ; and the
growth of opera, 2S2 ; in A'ida, Otello,
and Falstaff, 283; a " Wagnerite,"
2S4 ; his place in musical art, 287 ; his
imitators, 287 ; his masterpieces, 291 ;
his fame, 292 ; bibliography, 293 ;
literature about — why scanty, 296.

Verdians and anti-Verdians, 57.

Verdi-ites on Ltiisa Miller, 97.

Verdinian characteristics in Frnatii,
62,.

Vespri Siciliani, I, 140 (see Vepres
Siciliennes).

Vialetti, in Luisa Miller, 99.

Viardot, Mme., in Trovatore, 118, 120.

Victor Emmanuel and Verdi, 205, 209.

Vienna, Falstaff in, 196.

Vocal music, Italian tendency for, 165.

Wagner and Verdi, 46, 60, 122 ; Der
Meistersinger and Falstaff, 1S9, 199 ;
and Verdi, 181, 182, 198, 199, 202,
228, 23s, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 249,
251, 253, 254, 264, 267, 275, 279, 280,
2S4, 285, 287, 298.

"Wagnerian," 284, 2S6.

" Wagnerite," 284.

Waldmann, Mme., and Verdi's Re-
guiem, 153, 154.

Weber, 263, 264, 267, 281, 285.

Zilli, Emma, in Falstaff, 191, 194.

I.

Date Due

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Verdi: man and musician; his biography w

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