The Complete Opera Book / The Stories of the Operas, together with 400 of the Leading Airs and Motives in Musical Notation

Act I. Courtyard of the inn at Amiens. Guillot and De Brétigny, who have just arrived with the actresses Poussette, Javotte, and Rosette, are shouting for the innkeeper. Townspeople crowd about the entrance to the inn. They descry a coach approaching. Lescaut, who has alighted from it, enters followed by two guardsmen. Other travellers appear amid much commotion, amusement, and shouting on the part of the townspeople. He is awaiting his cousin Manon, whom he is to conduct to a convent school, and who presently appears and gives a sample of her character, which is a mixture of demureness and vivacity, of serious affection and meretricious preferment, in her opening song, "Je suis encore tout étourdie" (A simple maiden fresh from home), in which she tells how, having left home for the first time to travel to Amiens, she sometimes wept and sometimes laughed. It is a chic little song.

Lescaut goes out to find her luggage. From the balcony of the inn the old roué Guillot sees her. She is not shocked, but laughs at his hints that he is rich and can give her whatever she wants. De Brétigny, who, accompanied by the actresses, comes out on the balcony in search of Guillot, also is much struck with her beauty. Guillot, before withdrawing with the others from the balcony, softly calls down to her that his carriage is at her disposal, if she will but enter it and await him. Lescaut returns but at the same time his two guardsmen come after him. They want him to join with them in gambling and drinking. He pretends to Manon that he is obliged to go to his armoury for a short time. Before leaving her, however, he warns her to be careful of her actions. "Regardez-moi bien dans les yeux" (Now give good heed to what I say).

Left alone, Manon expresses admiration for the jewels and finery worn by the actresses. She wishes such gems and dresses might belong to her. The Chevalier des Grieux, young, handsome, ardent, comes upon the scene. He loves Manon at first sight. Nor does she long remain unimpressed by the wooing of the Chevalier. Beginning with his words, "If I knew but your name," and her reply, "I am called Manon," the music soon becomes an impassioned love duet. To him she is an "enchantress." As for her—"À vous ma vie et mon âme" (To you my life and my soul).

Manon sees Guillot's postilion, who has been told by his master to take his orders from Manon. She communicates to Des Grieux that they will run away to Paris in Guillot's conveyance. "Nous vivrons à Paris" ('Tis to Paris we go), they shout in glad triumph, and are off. There is much confusion when the escape is discovered. Ridicule is heaped upon Guillot. For is it not in his carriage, in which the old roué hoped to find Manon awaiting him, that she has driven off with her young lover!

Act II. The apartment of Des Grieux and Manon, Rue Vivienne, Paris. Des Grieux is writing at his desk. Discovering Manon looking over his shoulder, he reads her what he has written—a letter to his father extolling her charms and asking permission to marry her.

The scene is interrupted by knocking and voices without. The maid servant announces that two guardsmen demand admission. She whispers to Manon, "One of them loves you—the nobleman, who lives near here." The pair are Lescaut and De Brétigny, the latter masquerading as a soldier in Lescaut's regiment. Lescaut scents more profit for himself and for his cousin Manon in a liaison between her and the wealthy nobleman than in her relations with Des Grieux. Purposely he is gruff and demands "yes" or "no" to his question as to whether or not Des Grieux intends to marry the girl. Des Grieux shows the letter he is about to despatch to his father. Apparently everything is satisfactory. But De Brétigny manages to convey to Manon the information that the Chevalier's father is incensed at his son's mode of life, and has arranged to have him carried off that night. If she will keep quiet about it, he (De Brétigny) will provide for her handsomely and surround her with the wealth and luxury she craves. She protests that she loves Des Grieux—but is careful not to warn him of the impending abduction.

Lescaut and the nobleman depart, after Lescaut, sly fellow, has blessed his "children," as he calls Manon and Des Grieux. Shortly afterwards the latter goes out to despatch the letter to his father. Manon, approaching the table, which is laid for supper, sings the charming air, "Adieu, nôtre petite table" (Farewell, dear little table). This is followed by the exquisite air with harp accompaniment, "Le Rève de Manon" (A vision of Manon), which is sung by Des Grieux, who has re-entered and describes her as he saw her in a dream.

There is a disturbance outside. Manon knows that the men who will bear away her lover have arrived. She loves Des Grieux, but luxury means more to her than love. An effort is made by her to dissuade the Chevalier from going outside to see who is there—but it is a half-hearted attempt. He goes. The noise of a struggle is heard. Manon, "overcome with grief," exclaims, "He has gone."

Act III. Scene I. The Cours de la Reine, Paris, on the day of a popular fête. Stalls of traders are among the trees. There is a pavilion for dancing. After some lively preliminary episodes between the three actresses and Guillot, De Brétigny enters with Manon. She sings a clever "Gavotte." It begins, "Obéissons, quand leur voix appelle" (List to the voice of Youth when it calleth).

The Count des Grieux, father of the Chevalier, comes upon the scene. From a conversation between him and De Brétigny, which Manon overhears, she learns that the Chevalier is about to enter the seminary of St. Sulpice and intends to take holy orders. After a duet between Manon and the Count, who retires, the girl enters her chair, and bids the wondering Lescaut to have her conveyed to the seminary.

Scene II. Parlour in the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Nuns and visitors, who have just attended religious service, are praising the sermon delivered by Des Grieux, who enters a little later attired in the garb of an abbé. The ladies withdraw, leaving Des Grieux with his father, who has come in unobserved, and now vainly endeavours to dissuade his son from taking holy orders. Left alone, Des Grieux cannot banish Manon from his thoughts. "Ah! fuyez douce image" (Ah! depart, image fair), he sings, then slowly goes out.

Almost as if in answer to his soliloquy, the woman whose image he cannot put away enters the parlour. From the chapel chanting is heard. Summoned by the porter of the seminary, Des Grieux comes back. He protests to Manon that she has been faithless and that he shall not turn from the peace of mind he has sought in religious retreat.

Gradually, however, he yields to the pleading of the woman he loves. "N'est-ce plus ma main que cette main presse?... Ah! regarde-moi! N'est-ce plus Manon?" ("Is it no longer my hand, your own now presses?... Ah! look upon me! Am I no longer Manon?") The religious chanting continues, but now only as a background to an impassioned love duet—"Ah! Viens, Manon, je t'aime!" (Ah, Manon, Manon! I love thee.)

Act IV. A fashionable gambling house in Paris. Play is going on. Guillot, Lescaut, Poussette, Javotte, and Rosette are of the company. Later Manon and Des Grieux come in. Manon, who has run through her lover's money, counsels the Chevalier to stake what he has left on the game. Des Grieux plays in amazing luck against Guillot and gathers in winning after winning. "Faites vos jeux, Messieurs," cry the croupiers, while Manon joyously sings, "Ce bruit de l'or, ce rire, et ces éclats joyeux" (Music of gold, of laughter, and clash of joyous sounds). The upshot of it all, however, is that Guillot accuses the Chevalier of cheating, and after an angry scene goes out. Very soon afterwards, the police, whom Guillot has summoned, break in. Upon Guillot's accusation they arrest Manon and the Chevalier. "Ô douleur, l'avenir nous sépare" (Oh despair! Our lives are divided for ever), sings Manon, her accents of grief being echoed by those of her lover.

Act V, originally given as a second scene to the fourth act. A lonely spot on the road to Havre. Des Grieux has been freed through the intercession of his father. Manon, however, with other women of her class, has been condemned to deportation to the French colony of Louisiana. Des Grieux and Lescaut are waiting for the prisoners to pass under an escort of soldiers. Des Grieux hopes to release Manon by attacking the convoy, but Lescaut restrains him. The guardsman finds little difficulty in bribing the sergeant to permit Manon, who already is nearly dead from exhaustion, to remain behind with Des Grieux, between whom the rest of the opera is a dolorous duet, ending in Manon's death. Even while dying her dual nature asserts itself. Feebly opening her eyes, almost at the last, she imagines she sees jewels and exclaims, "Oh! what lovely gems!" She turns to Des Grieux: "I love thee! Take thou this kiss. 'Tis my farewell for ever." It is, of course, this dual nature which makes the character drawn by Abbé Prévost so interesting.

"Manon" by Massenet is one of the popular operas in the modern repertoire. Its music has charm, and the leading character, in which Miss Farrar appears with such distinction, is both a good singing and a good acting rôle, a valuable asset to a prima donna. I have an autograph letter of Massenet's written, presumably to Sibyl Sanderson, half an hour before the curtain rose on the première of "Manon," January 19, 1884. In it he writes that within that brief space of time they will know whether their hopes are to be confirmed, or their illusions dissipated. In New York, eleven years later, Miss Sanderson failed to make any impression in the rôle.

The beauty of Massenet's score is responsible for the fact that audiences are not troubled over the legal absurdity in the sentence of deportation pronounced upon Manon for being a courtesan and a gambler's accomplice. In the story she also is a thief.

The last act is original with the librettists. In the story the final scene is laid in Louisiana (see Puccini's Manon Lescaut). The effective scene in the convent of St. Sulpice was overlooked by Puccini, as it also was by Scribe, who wrote the libretto for Auber's "Manon." This latter work survives in the laughing song, "L'Éclat de Rire," which Patti introduced in the lesson scene in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," and which Galli-Curci has revived for the same purpose.

LE CID

This is the way the opera is arranged: First act, first scene: at the house of the Comte de Gormas; scene between Chimène and the Infanta. Second scene: entering the cathedral of Burgos. Rodrigo is armed as a knight by the King. The King tells Don Diego that he names him governor of the Infanta. Quarrel of Don Diego and Don Gormas. Scene of Don Diego and Don Rodrigo: "Rodrigue, as-tu du cœur?" Second act, third scene: A street in Burgos at night. Stanzas by Rodrigo: "Percé jusques au fond du cœur." Rodrigo knocks at the door of Don Gormas: "À moi, comte, deux mots!" Provocation; duel; death of Don Gormas. Chimène discovers that Rodrigo is the slayer of her father. Fourth scene: The public square in Burgos. A popular festival. Ballet. Chimène arrives to ask the King for justice. Don Diego defends his son. A Moorish courier arrives to declare war on the King on the part of his master. The King orders Rodrigo to go and fight the infidels. Third act, fifth scene: The chamber of Chimène: "Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et fondez-vous en eau." Scene of Chimène and Rodrigo. Sixth scene: the camp of Rodrigo. Seventh scene: Rodrigo's tent. The vision. St. James appears to him. Eighth scene: the camp. The battle. Defeat of the Moors. Fourth act, ninth scene: The palace of the Kings at Granada. Rodrigo is believed to be dead. Chimène mourns for him: "Éclate ô mon amour, tu n'as plus rien à craindre." Tenth scene: A courtyard in the palace. Rodrigo comes back as a conqueror. Chimène forgives him. The end.

DON QUICHOTTE

CENDRILLON
CINDERELLA

LA NAVARRAISE

The opera is one of other days. Now it is seldom given. There were two famous Anitas—Emma Calvé and Jeanne Gerville-Réache. The extraordinary success of "Cavalleria Rusticana" no doubt impelled Massenet to try his hand at a tragic one-act opera, just as "Hänsel and Gretel" was responsible for his "Cendrillon." It is among the best of his works. The music is intensely dramatic. It has colour, vitality. The action is swift and stirring, uninterrupted by sentimental romanzas. The libretto is based on a short story, "La Cigarette," written by Jules Claretie and published in the Figaro Illustré about 1890. Later it gave the title to a collection of short stories.

The time is during the last days of the Carlist war. The place is Spain. Araquil, a Biscayan peasant, loves Anita madly, but her parents frown upon his poverty. No crime seems too great to win his bride. General Garrito, the Spanish chief, has promised a reward to any man who will deliver up Zucarraga, the Carlist. When this dangerous foe is injured in battle, Araquil poisons the wound and claims the promised reward. The general pays the sum, but, disgusted, orders Araquil to be shot. Anita's father consents to the wedding before the execution. But Anita refuses disdainfully, and Araquil is killed as he puffs a cigarette. This is Claretie's story. At his suggestion and for the purposes of opera the parts were changed. Araquil became Anita and the peasant with the cigarette became La Navarraise.

LE JONGLEUR DE NÔTRE DAME

The opera was first sung at Monte Carlo, February 18, 1902, when the part of Jean was taken by Mr. Maréchal, for this miracle play with music was composed originally for male singers. The only two women in the cast were represented as angels. The part of Boniface the cook was created by Mr. Renaud.

WERTHER

Opera in four acts by Jules Massenet with a libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and G. Hartmann. First performance in New York, April 19, 1894, with Mme. Eames and Sigrid Arnoldson and Jean de Reszke.

In the first act the bailiff, Charlotte's father, is seen teaching his youngest children to sing a Christmas carol, while Charlotte dresses for a ball. Ready before the carriage arrives, she gives the children their bread and butter as she has done every day since their mother died. She greets Werther, her cousin, who is also invited to the ball, with a kiss. After they have gone, Albert returns. He has been away six months. He wonders whether Charlotte, his betrothed, still cares for him and is reassured as to her fidelity by her younger sister Sophie. When Charlotte and Werther return from the ball Werther declares his love. At that moment the bailiff announces Albert's return. Charlotte tells Werther that she had promised to marry him only to please her mother. Werther replies: "If you keep that promise I shall die."

Act II takes place three months later. Charlotte and Albert are man and wife. Albert knows that Werther loves his wife but trusts him. Charlotte begs Werther not to try to see her again until Christmas day.

In Act III Charlotte is at home alone. Her thoughts are with Werther and she wonders how she could have sent him away. Suddenly Werther returns and there is a passionate love scene. When Werther has gone Albert enters, and notices his wife's agitation. A servant brings a note from Werther saying that he is about to go on a long journey and asking Albert to lend him his pistols. Charlotte has a horrible presentiment and hastily follows the servant.

In Act IV Charlotte finds Werther dying in his apartments. He is made happy by her confession that she has loved him from the moment when she first saw him.

HÉRODIADE

Massenet's "Hérodiade," with a libretto by Paul Milliet, had its first performance in New York at the Manhattan Opera House, November, 1908, with Lina Cavalieri, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Charles Dalmorès, and Maurice Renaud in the principal rôles. The scene is Jerusalem and the first act shows Herod's palace. Salome does not know that she is the daughter of Herodias, for she was mysteriously separated from her mother in childhood. With a caravan of Jewish merchants, who bring gifts to Herod, she comes to Jerusalem in search of her mother. She tells Phanuel, a young philosopher, that she wishes to return to the Prophet who had been kind to her in the desert.

As she leaves Herod enters, notices her, and is aroused by her beauty. He calls upon her to return. But instead Herodias enters demanding John's head for he has publicly called her Jezebel. Herod refuses. John appears and continues his denunciation. The royal couple flee. Salome returns and falls at John's feet confessing her love.

Herod in vain seeks to put the thought of Salome from him. Herodias, mad with jealousy, consults the astrologer Phanuel who tells her that her daughter is her rival.

In the temple Herod offers his love to Salome, who repulses him crying: "I love another who is mightier than Cæsar, stronger than any hero." In his fury Herod orders both Salome and John, who has been seized and put in chains, delivered into the hands of the executioner. John in his dungeon clasps Salome in his arms.

In the last scene Salome implores Herodias to save John, but the executioner's sword is already bloodstained. Salome snatches a dagger and rushes upon Herodias who cries in terror, "Have mercy. I am your mother." "Then take back your blood and my life," cries Salome, turning the weapon upon herself.

SAPHO

Massenet's "Sapho," with a libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on Daudet's famous novel, was a complete failure in New York when it was sung for three performances in 1909. Its favourable reception in Paris, where it was produced at the Opéra Comique in 1897, was chiefly due to the vivid impersonation of Emma Calvé. The story concerns an artist's model who captivates an unsophisticated young man from the country and wrecks his life in attempting to rise above her past.

CLÉOPÂTRE

LOUISE

The story is simple. Louise, a working girl, loves Julien, an artist. Her father puts no trust in an artist of irregular life, so Louise leaves her family. The lovers are happy, but Louise is remorseful. She grieves for her father and reproaches herself for ingratitude. Finally she returns home. But free forgiveness does not make up for the freedom she has lost. Paris the city of pleasure tempts her again, and again she succumbs. Her family realizes that she is for ever lost to the home.

Charpentier himself described his work to F. de Menil. When asked why he called his opera a musical romance, he replied: "Because in a romance there are two entirely distinct sides, the drama and the description, and in my 'Louise' I wish to treat these different sides. I have a descriptive part, composed of decoration, scenic surroundings, and a musical atmosphere in which my characters move; then I have the purely dramatic part, devoted wholly to the action. This is, therefore, a truly musical romance." When asked whether the work were naturalistic, realistic, or idealistic, he answered: "I have a horror of words that end in 'istic.' I am not a man of theories. 'Louise,' as everything that I do, was made by me instinctively. I leave to others, the dear critics, the care of disengaging the formulas and the tendencies of the work. I have wished simply to give on the stage that which I have given in concert; the lyric impression of the sensations that I reap in our beautiful, fairy-like modern life. Perhaps I see this as in a fever, but that is my right for the street intoxicates me. The essential point of the drama is the coming together, the clashing of two sentiments in the heart of Louise—love, which binds her to her family, to her father, the fear of leaving suffering behind her, and, on the other hand, the irresistible longing for liberty, pleasure, happiness, love, the cry of her being, which demands to live as she wishes. Passion will conquer because it is served by a prodigious and mysterious auxiliary, which has little by little breathed its dream into her young soul—Paris, the voluptuous city, the great city of light, pleasure, and joy, which calls her irresistibly towards an undaunted future."

SALAMMBÔ

PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE

Act II. Scene IV. A fountain in the park. Pelléas and Mélisande have arrived at this thickly shaded spot. Is Mélisande a Melusine-like creature? Water attracts her wonderfully. She bends over her reflection. Because she cannot reach it, she is tempted to play with the ring that Golo sent her. It slips from her hand and sinks.

Scene V. There must have been some peculiar condition attached to the ring. At the same hour that it fell in the fountain Golo's horse shied while hunting so that he was hurt and now lies wounded in bed. Mélisande is taking care of him. She tells Golo that she did not feel well the day before. She is oppressed by a certain foreboding, she does not know what it is. Golo seizes her hands to console her and sees that the ring is missing. Then he drives her out into the night to look for it. "Sooner would I give away everything I have, my fortune and goods, rather than have lost the precious ring." Pelléas will help her.

Scene VI. Before a grotto in the rocks. Mélisande has deceived Golo by telling him that the ring has slipped from her hand into the sea. So Pelléas must now lead her to this grotto in order that she may know at least the place in which she can claim that she lost the ring. A dreadful place in which the shudder of death stalks.

Act III. Scene VII. A tower in the castle. At the window of the tower Mélisande is standing combing her hair that she has let down. Then Pelléas comes along the road that winds around under her window. Pelléas is coming to say farewell. Early the next morning he is going away. So Mélisande will at least once more reach out her hand to him that he may press it to his lips. Love weaves a web about the twain with an ever thicker netting without their noticing it. Their hands do not touch but as Mélisande leans forward so far her long hair falls over Pelléas's head and fills the youth with passionate feelings. Their words become warmer—then Golo comes near and reproves their "childishness."

Scene VIII. In the vault under the castle. Like a gloomy menace Golo leads Pelléas into these underground rooms where the breeze of death blows. Seized with shuddering they go out. On the terrace at the entrance to the vault Golo in earnest words warns Pelléas to keep away from Mélisande and to refrain from confidential conversations with her.

Scene IX. Before the castle. In vain Golo has sought to quiet himself by saying that it was all only childishness. Jealousy devours his heart. So now he seeks with hypocritical calm his little son Yniold, offspring of his first marriage, to inquire about the intimacy of Pelléas and Mélisande. The child cannot tell him of anything improper yet Golo feels how it is with the couple. And he feels that he himself is old, much older than Pelléas and Mélisande.

Act IV. Scene X. In a room in the castle Pelléas and Mélisande meet. This evening he must see her. She promises to go in the park to the old fountain where she formerly lost the ring. It will be their last meeting. Yet Mélisande does not understand what is driving the youth away. The old King Arkel enters the room. The aged man has taken Mélisande to his heart. He feels that the young wife is unhappy. Now Golo also enters. He can scarcely remain master of his inner commotion. The sight of his wife, who appears the picture of innocence, irritates him so much that he finally in a mad rage throws her on her knees and drags her across the room by her hair.

Scene XI. By the old spring in the park. There is an oppressive feeling of disaster in the air. Only little Yniold does not suffer this gripping burden. It is already growing dark when Mélisande goes to Pelléas. And yet in their farewell, perhaps also on account of Golo's outburst of anger, the couple clearly see what has caused their condition. And there comes over them something like the affirmation of death and the joy of dying. How fate shuts the gates upon them; like a fate they see Golo coming. They rejoice in the idea of death. Pelléas falls by Golo's sword, Mélisande flees from her husband's pursuit into the night.

Act V. Scene XII. A room in the castle. Mélisande lies stretched out in bed. Arkel, Golo, and the physician are conversing softly in the room. No; Mélisande is not dying from the insignificant wound Golo has given her. Perhaps her life will be saved. She awakes as if from dreaming. Everything that has happened is like a dream to her. Desperately Golo rushes to her couch, begs her pardon, and asks her for the truth. He is willing to die too but before his death he wants to know whether she had betrayed him with Pelléas. She denies it. Golo presses her so forcibly and makes her suffer so that she is near death. Then earthly things fall away from her as if her soul were already free. It is not possible to bring her back now. The aged Arkel offers the last services for the dying woman, to make the way free for her soul escaping from earthly pain and the burden of the tears of persons left behind.

APHRODITE

In Act II the temple guards and eunuchs perform their sacred offices. Démétrios enters the temple. He has committed two of the three crimes. He has stolen the mirror from Bacchis and stabbed Touni to take her comb. The celebration of the first day of the Aphrodisiacs begins. Courtesans bring offerings to the goddess. Rhodis and Myrto bring a caged dove. Chrysis hands the High Priest her bronze mirror, her copper comb, and her emerald necklace, as offerings. When the crowd leaves the temple, Démétrios snatches the necklace from the statue and disappears.

Act III shows the feast and the bacchanale at the house of Bacchis. The theft of the mirror is discovered. Corinna, a slave, is accused and crucified. Chrysis is inwardly exultant that her wish has been obeyed.

In Act IV Chrysis goes to Démétrios to receive the gifts and to bestow the reward. Démétrios, mad with passion, clasps her in his embrace. The clamour without reminds him of his misdeed. In a fit of disgust he demands that the beautiful woman shall not hoard her treasures in secret, but appear in public decked with them, as an atonement. He sends her away.

On the island of the lighthouse of Alexandria the crowds discuss the theft of the mirror and the crucifixion of Corinna. Timon announces the slaying of Touni and the stealing of her comb. Chrysis appears wrapped in a long mantle. The sacred courtesans and the temple guards announce the theft of the jewels from the temple. Suddenly Chrysis appears on the highest balcony of the lighthouse, the stolen comb in her hair, the mirror in her hand, and the necklace about her throat. Disclosed in a flash of lightning the crowds think it is the goddess in person. Soon they realize the truth and Chrysis is seized and taken to prison.

The Jailor brings a poisoned goblet to her cell. She drinks—Démétrios arrives too late, to find her dead.

Her friends, Myrto and Rhodis, bury her body in the Garden of Hermanubis.

L’ATTAQUE DU MOULIN
THE ATTACK ON THE MILL

This is a four-act music-drama by Alfred Bruneau, the libretto by Louis Gallet, based on a story from Zola's "Soirées de Medan." It was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, November 23, 1893, and in this country in 1908.

The tale is an episode of the Franco-Prussian War. In the first act we see the betrothal of Françoise, daughter of the miller, Merlier, to Dominique. The Town Crier announces the declaration of war.

In the second act the mill is attacked and captured by the Germans. Dominique is made a prisoner and locked in the mill. Françoise gets a knife to him. While (in the third act) the girl engages the attention of the sentinel, Dominique makes his way out of the mill, kills the sentinel, and escapes. In the fourth act the French, guided by Dominique, return. But just as they enter, with Dominique at their head, the Germans shoot Merlier before his daughter's eyes.

In writing about his theories of the lyric drama, Bruneau, who was regarded as a promising follower of Wagner, used these words: "It is music uniting itself intimately to the poetry ... the orchestra comments upon the inward thoughts of the different characters." Wagnerian—but also requiring the genius of a Wagner.

ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE
ARIADNE AND BLUE-BEARD