The suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55 (1884) is a four-movement work of which the second is particularly celebrated. This is aValse mélancoliquefor full orchestra, highly expressive and emotional music in the composer’s identifiable sentimental style.
There are several other waltzes by Tchaikovsky familiar to all lovers of light music. TheValse sentimentale, op. 51, no. 6 comes from a set of six pieces for the piano (1882) where it is the final number. The operaEugene Onegin(commented upon above for its Polonaise) is also the source of a remarkable waltz episode. This music, the essence of aristocratic style and elegance, appears in the first scene of the second act. Tatiana’s birthday is celebrated with a festive party during which the guests dance to its infectious strains. Two other famous Tchaikovsky waltzes come from his famous ballets—Sleeping BeautyandSwan Lake. In the orchestral suite derived from the score ofSleeping Beauty, the waltz appears as the fourth and concluding movement and consists of a lilting melody for strings which is carried to an overpowering climax. TheSwan Lakeconsists of thirty-three numbers, various combinations of its most popular sections serving as orchestral suites for concert performance. The suave waltz music serves in the ballet for a dance of the swans at the lakeside in the second act.
Ambroise Thomas was born in Metz, France, on August 5, 1811. Between 1828 and 1832 he attended the Paris Conservatory where he won numerous prizes including the Prix de Rome. After his three-year stay in Rome, where he wrote some orchestral and chamber music, he returned to Paris in 1836 and devoted himself to writing operas. The first wasLa double échelle, produced at the Opéra-Comique in 1837. His first success was realized in 1843 withMina, and in 1866 the opera by which he is remembered,Mignon, was triumphantlyintroduced at the Opéra-Comique. Later operas includedHamlet(1868) andFrançoise de Rimini(1882). In 1851, Thomas was elected member of the French Academy. In 1871 he was appointed director of the Paris Conservatory, and in 1894 he was the recipient of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. He died in Paris on February 12, 1896.
Mignonrepresents the French lyric theater at its best, with its graceful melodies, charming moods, and courtly grace of style. Its world première took place at the Opéra-Comique on November 17, 1866. In less than a century it was given over two thousand performances by that company besides becoming a staple in the repertory of opera houses the world over. The opera is based on Goethe’s novel,Wilhelm Meister, adapted by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier. Mignon is a gypsy girl purchased by Wilhelm Meister. She falls in love with him and is heartbroken to discover how he is attracted to the actress, Philine. She tells the demented Lothario of her sorrow and of her wish that Meister’s castle be burned to the ground. Lothario then proceeds to set Meister’s castle aflame. Mignon, caught therein, is saved by Meister and then gently nursed back to health. Meister now realizes he is in love with her and her alone. When the demented Lothario regains his sanity we learn that Mignon is in actuality his daughter and that the castle he has burned is not Meister’s but his own.
Parts of this opera are better known than the whole, and through these partsMignonremains deservedly popular on semi-classical programs. The Overture makes extended use of two of the opera’s main melodies. The first is “Connais-tu le pays,” (“Knowest Thou the Land?”), Mignon’s poignant first-act aria in which she recalls her childhood in some distant land; the melody is given in the wind instruments after a brief introduction. The second aria is Philine’s polonaise, “Je suis Titania” (“I am Titania”) from the second scene of the second act.
Another delightful orchestral episode from this opera is a suave, graceful little gavotte heard as entr’acte music just before the rise of the second-act curtain.
TheRaymondOverture is even more popular than that toMignon.Raymondwas first performed at the Opéra-Comique on June 5, 1851. The overture opens with a spirited section punctuated with dashing chords. A serene transition, highlighted by a passage for solo cello, brings on a light, tuneful air in the violins against sharply accented plucked strings; a graceful countermelody for the woodwind follows. This appealing material is repeated at some length with embellishments and amplifications until a new thought is asserted: a brisk, march-likemelody that slowly gains in sonority and tempo until a climactic point is reached in which this march melody is forcefully given by the full orchestra. The strings then offer a sentimental melody by way of temporary relief. But the overture ends in a dramatic and spirited mood with a finale statement of the march tune.
Enrico Toselli was born in Florence, Italy, on March 13, 1883. After studying with Sgambati and Martucci, Toselli toured Italy as a concert pianist. But he achieved renown not on the concert stage but with the writing of several romantic songs. One of these is the “Serenata,” No. 1, op. 6, through which his name survives. He also wrote some orchestral music and an operetta,La Principessa bizzarra(1913) whose libretto was the work of the former Crown Princess Luisa of Saxony whom he married in 1907 thereby creating an international sensation. Toselli died in Florence, Italy, on January 15, 1926.
The “Serenata” (“Rimpianto”) with Italian words by Alfred Silvestri and English lyrics by Sigmund Spaeth was published in the United States in 1923. This romantic, sentimental, Italian melody, as well loved in this country as in Europe, was for many years used by Gertrude Berg as the theme music for her radio and television program,The Goldbergs. It was also used as the theme music for an early talking picture,The Magic Flame, in which Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky were starred.
Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti, one of Italy’s best known song composers, was born in Ortona sul Mare, Abruzzi, Italy, on April 9, 1846. His musical education took place at the Royal College of San Pietro a Maiella in Naples. He left Naples in 1869 after serving for a while as teacher of music. Returning to his native city he now initiated his career as a composer of songs. Though a few of these early efforts became popular he failed for a long time to find a publisher. Success first came to him in Rome at a song recital in which he featured some of his own compositions. He scored an even greater success as singer-composer in London in 1875. He now settled permanently in London, serving as a singing master to the royal family, and as professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1908 he was knighted. In 1913 he returned to his native land. He died in Rome on December 2, 1916.
Tosti had a remarkable lyric gift that was Italian to its very core in the ease, fluidity, and singableness of his melodies. This talent was combined with an elegant style and a sincere emotion. His best songs are among the most popular to emerge from Italy. The most famous and the most moving emotionally is without question “Addio” (“Goodbye, Forever”). Almost as popular and appealing are “Ideale” (“My Ideal”), “Marechiare,” “Mattinata,” “Segreto,” “La Serenata,” and “Vorrei morire.”
Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest of the Italian opera composers, was born in Le Roncole, Italy, on October 10, 1813. He demonstrated such unmistakable gifts for music in his boyhood that his townspeople created a fund to send him to the Milan Conservatory. In 1832 he appeared in Milan. Finding he was too old to gain admission to the Conservatory, he studied composition privately with Vincenzo Lavigna. For several years Verdi lived in Busseto where he conducted the Philharmonic Society and wrote his first opera,Oberto, produced in Milan in 1839. Now settled in Milan, he continued writing operas, achieving his first major success withNabuccoin 1842. During the next eight years he solidified his position as one of Italy’s best loved opera composers with several important works among which wereErnani(1844),Macbeth(1847) andLuisa Miller(1849). A new era began for Verdi in 1851 withRigoletto, an era in which he became Italy’s greatest master of opera, and one of the foremost in the world.Il TrovatoreandLa Traviatacame in 1853, to be followed byI Vespri Siciliani(1855),Simone Boccanegra(1857),Un ballo in maschera(1859),La Forza del destino(1862), andAida(1871). Now a man of considerable wealth (as well as fame), Verdi bought a farm in Sant’ Agata where he henceforth spent his summers; after the completion ofAida, he lived there most of the time in comparative seclusion, tending to his crops, gardens, and live stock. When Cavour initiated the first Italian parliament, Verdi was elected deputy. But Verdi never liked politics, and soon withdrew from the political arena; however, in 1874, he accepted the honorary appointment of Senator from the King.
As a composer, Verdi remained silent for about fifteen years afterAida. By the time the world became reconciled to the fact that Verdi’s life work was over, he emerged from this long period of withdrawal to produce two operas now generally regarded as his crowning achievements:Otello(1887) andFalstaff(1893). During the last years of his life, Verdi lived in a Milan hotel. His sight and hearing began to deteriorate,and just before his death—in Milan on January 27, 1901—he suffered a paralytic stroke. His death was mourned by the entire nation. A quarter of a million mourners crowded the streets to watch his bier pass for its burial in the oratory of the Musicians Home in Milan—accompanied by the stately music of a chorus fromNabucco, conducted by Toscanini.
Verdi’s profound knowledge of the theater and his strong dramatic sense, combined with his virtually incomparable Italian lyricism, made him one of the greatest composers for the musical theater of all time. But it is his lyricism—with all its infinite charm and variety—that makes so much of his writing so popular to so many in such widely scattered areas of the world. Selections from his most famous operas are favorites even with many who have never seen them on the stage, because their emotional appeal is inescapable.
Aidais an opera filled not only with some of the most wonderful melodies to be found in Italian opera but also with scenes of pomp, ceremony, with exotic attractions, and with episodes dynamic with dramatic interest. This was the opera that brought Verdi’s second creative period to a rich culmination; and it is unquestionably one of the composer’s masterworks. He wrote it on a commission from the Egyptian Khedive for ceremonies commemorating the opening of the Suez Canal. However, Verdi took so long to complete his opera that it was not performed in Cairo until about two years after the canal had been opened, on December 24, 1871. The libretto—by Antonio Ghislanzoni—was based on a plot by Mariette Bey. Radames, captain of the Egyptian guard, is in love with Aida, the Ethiopian slave of Amneris. The latter, daughter of the King of Egypt, is herself in love with Radames. When an invading Ethiopian force comes to threaten Egypt, Radames becomes the commander of the army and proves himself a hero. Lavish festivities and ceremonies celebrate his victorious return, during which the king of Egypt offers him the hand of Amneris as reward. But Radames is still in love with Aida. Since Aida is actually the daughter of the Ethiopian king, she manages to extract from Radames the secret maneuvers of the Egyptian army, information enabling the Ethiopian army to destroy the Egyptians. For this treachery, Radames is buried alive; and Aida, still in love with him, comes within his tomb to die with him.
The brief overture opens with a tender melody in violins suggesting Aida. After an effective development we hear a somber and brooding motive of the Priests of Isis, which soon receives contrapuntal treatment.The Aida motive is dramatized, brought to a magnificent climax, then allowed to subside.
The Ballet Music is famous for its brilliant harmonic and orchestral colors, exotic melodies, and pulsating rhythms. In Act 2, Scene 1 there takes place theDance of the Moorish Slaves, an oriental dance performed before Amneris by the Moorish boys. TheBallabileis another oriental dance which appears in Act 2, Scene 2, performed by the dancing girls during the celebration attending the arrival of the triumphant Egyptian army headed by Radames. In this scene there is also heard the stirring strains of theGrand March. This march begins softly but soon gathers its strength and erupts with full force as the king, his attendants, the Priests, the standard bearers, Amneris and her slaves appear in a brilliant procession. The people raise a cry of praise to the king and their Gods in “Gloria all’ Egitto.” After this comes the dramatic march music to which the Egyptian troops, with Radames at their head, enter triumphantly into the square and file proudly before their king.
Of the vocal excerpts the most famous is undoubtedly Radames’ ecstatic song of love to Aida in the first act, first scene, “Celeste Aida,” surely one of the most famous tenor arias in all opera. Two principal arias for soprano are by Aida. The first is her exultant prayer that Radames come back victorious from the war, “Ritorna vincitor” in Act 1, Scene 1; the other, “O Patria mia,” in Act 3, is her poignant recollection of her beloved homeland in Ethiopia. Amneris’ moving aria in Act 2, Scene 1, “Vieni amor mio” where she thinks about her beloved Radames, and the concluding scene of the opera in which Radames and Aida bid the world farewell, “O terra, addio” are also famous.
La Forza del destino(The Force of Destiny) has a popular overture. This opera was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 10, 1862—libretto by Francesco Piave based on a play by the Duke de Riva. Leonora, daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava, is in love with Don Alvaro, a nobleman of Inca origin. When they plan elopement, Leonora’s father intervenes and is accidentally killed in the ensuing brawl. Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo, swears to avenge this death by killing Don Alvaro. On the field of battle, Don Alvaro saves Don Carlo’s life. Not recognizing Don Alvaro as his sworn enemy, Don Carlo pledges eternal friendship; but upon discovering Don Alvaro’s true identity, he challenges him to a duel in which Don Carlo is wounded. Aware that he has brought doom to two people closest and dearest to his beloved Leonora, Don Alvaro seeks sanctuary in a monastery wheremany years later he is found by Don Carlo. In the sword duel that follows, Don Alvaro kills Don Carlo, whose last act is to plunge a fatal knife into his sister’s heart.
A trumpet blast, creating an ominous air of doom, opens the overture. An air in a minor key then leads to a gentle song for strings; this is Leonora’s prayer for help and protection to the Virgin in the second scene of the second act, “Madre pietosa.” A light pastoral tune, depicting the Italian countryside in the third act, is now heard. Leonora’s song of prayer is now forcefully repeated by the full orchestra, after which the overture ends robustly.
Rigoletto, introduced in Venice on March 11, 1851, is based on the Victor Hugo play,Le Roi s’amuseadapted by Francesco Piave. Rigoletto is the hunchbacked jester to the Duke of Mantua who jealously guards his daughter, Gilda, from the world outside their home. Disguised as a student, the Duke woos Gilda and wins her love. Since the Duke’s courtiers hate the jester, they conspire to abduct Gilda and bring her to the ducal court to become the Duke’s mistress. Distraught at this turn of affairs, the jester vows to kill the Duke and hires a professional assassin to perform this evil deed. But since his own sister loves the Duke, the assassin decides to spare him and to kill a stranger instead. The stranger proves to be none other than Gilda, disguised as a man for a projected flight to Verona. The body is placed in a sack for delivery to Rigoletto who, before he can get rid of the body, discovers that it is that of his beloved daughter.
The following are the best loved and most widely performed excerpts from this tuneful opera: the Ballata, “Questa o quella” from the first act in which the Duke flippantly talks of love and his many conquests; the graceful Minuet to which the courtiers dance during a party at the Ducal palace in the same act; Gilda’s famous coloratura aria, “Caro nome” from the second act, in which she dreams about the “student” with whom she has fallen in love; the light and capricious aria of the Duke, “La donna è mobile” from the third act, in which the Duke mockingly comments on fickle womanhood, and one of the most celebrated tenor arias in the repertory; the quartet “Bella figlia dell’ amore”—as celebrated an ensemble number as “La donna è mobile” is as an aria—in which each of the four principal characters of the opera (Gilda, Rigoletto, the Duke, and Maddalena) speaks of his or her inner turmoil, doubts, and hatreds in the third act.
La Traviata(The Lost One) is Francesco Maria Piave’s adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ celebrated romance,La Dame aux camélias. Itscentral theme is the tragic tale of the courtesan, Violetta, who falls in love with and is loved by Alfredo Germont. After they live together for a blissful period, Alfredo’s father is instrumental in breaking up the affair by convincing Violetta she must give up her lover for his own good. She does so by feigning she has grown tired of him. Only too late does Alfredo learn the truth; when he returns to Violetta, she is dying of tuberculosis.
The première ofLa Traviatain Venice on March 6, 1853 was a dismal failure. The public reacted unfavorably to a play it regarded immoral, and to the sight of a healthy prima donna seemingly wasting away with tuberculosis; it also resented the fact that the opera was given in contemporary dress. At a revival, a year later in Venice, the opera was performed in costume and settings of an earlier period. Profiting further from a carefully prepared presentation, the opera now cast a spell on its audience. From this point on,La Traviatawent on to conquer the opera world to become one of the most popular operas ever written.
The orchestral preludes to the first and third act are celebrated. The Prelude to Act 1 begins softly and slowly with a poignant melody suggesting Violetta’s fatal sickness; this is followed by a broad, rich song for the strings describing Violetta’s expression of love for Alfredo. The Prelude to Act 3 also begins with the sad, slow melody speaking of Violetta’s illness. The music then becomes expressive and tender to point up the tragedy of her life; this prelude ends with a succession of broken phrases as Violetta’s life slowly ebbs away.
The following are the principal vocal selections fromLa Traviata: the opening drinking song, or Brindisi (“Libiamo, libiamo”); Violetta’s world-famous aria, “Ah, fors è lui” in which she reveals her love for Alfredo followed immediately by her determination to remain free and pleasure-loving (“Sempre libera”) also in the first act; Alfredo’s expression of joy that Violetta has come to live with him, “De’ miei bollenti spiriti” and the elder Germont’s recollection of his happy home in the Provence, “Di Provenza il mar” from the second act; Violetta’s pathetic farewell to the world, “Addio del passato,” and Alfredo’s promise to the dying Violetta to return together to their happy home near Paris, “Parigi, o cara” from the fourth act.
Il Trovatore(The Troubadours) is so full of familiar melodies that, like a play of Shakespeare, it appears to be replete with “quotations.” It was first performed in Rome on January 19, 1853. The libretto by Salvatore Commarno, based on a play by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez, is complicated to a point of obscurity, and filled with coincidences andimprobabilities; but this did not prevent Verdi from creating one of his most melodious scores, an inexhaustible reservoir of unforgettable arias and ensemble numbers. The story involves Count di Luna in a frustrated love affair with Leonora; his rival is Manrico, an officer of a rival army with whom Leonora is in love. The gypsy Azucena convinces Manrico, her foster son, that Count di Luna had been responsible for the death of Manrico’s father, and incites him on to avenge that murder. Later in the play, Azucena and Manrico are captured by Di Luna’s army. To help free Manrico, Leonora promises to marry the Count. Rather than pay this price, Leonora takes poison and dies at Manrico’s feet. Manrico is now sentenced to be executed. After his death, Azucena, half-crazed, reveals that Manrico is really Count di Luna’s half brother.
The long list of favorite selections fromIl Trovatoreincludes the following: Manrico’s beautiful serenade to Leonora in Act 1, Scene 2, “Deserto sulla terra”; Leonora’s poignant recollections of a mysterious admirer in the second scene, “Tacea la notte placida”; the ever popularAnvil Chorusof the gypsies with which the second act opens, “Vedi! le fosche”; Azucena’s stirring recollection of the time long past when her mother had been burned as a witch, “Stride la vampa,” and Count di Luna’s expression of love for Leonora, “Il balen” also in the second act; in the third act, Manrico’s dramatic aria, “Di quella pira” and the rousing soldier’s chorus of Manrico’s troops, “Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera”; Leonora’s prayer for her beloved Manrico “D’amor sull’ ali rosee” followed immediately by the world-famousMiserere(“Ah, che la morte ognora”), a choral chant asking pity and salvation from the prisoners, all in the first scene of the fourth act; and the poignant duet of Manrico and Azucena in the final scene, a fervent, glowing hope that some day they can return to their beloved mountain country in peace and love, “Ai nostri monti.”
WhileI Vespri siciliani, orLes Vêpres siciliennes(Sicilian Vespers) is one of Verdi’s less familiar operas, its overture is one of his most successful. The opera-libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier—was first performed at the Paris Opéra on June 13, 1855. Its setting is 13th-century Sicily where the peasants rise in revolt against the occupying French. The overture is constructed from some basic melodies from the opera. The firstAllegrotheme speaks of the massacre of the French garrison. A second melody—a beautiful lyrical passagepianissimoagainst tremolos—is taken from the farewell scene of the hero and the heroine who are about to die.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner, genius of the music drama, was born in Leipzig, Germany, on May 22, 1813. In his academic studies (at the Kreuzschule in Dresden, the Nikolaischule in Leipzig, and the University of Leipzig) he was an indifferent, lazy, and irresponsible student. But his intensity and seriousness of purpose where music was concerned were evident from the beginning. He studied theory by memorizing a textbook and then by receiving some formal instruction from Theodor Weinlig. In short order he completed an overture and a symphony that received performances between 1832 and 1833; in 1834 he completed his first opera,Die Feen, never performed in his lifetime. In 1834 he was appointed conductor of the Magdeburg Opera where, two years later, his second opera,Das Liebesverbot, was introduced. Between 1837 and 1838 he conducted opera in Riga. Involvement in debts caused his dismissal from this post and compelled him to flee to Paris, where he arrived in 1839. There he lived for three years in extreme poverty, completing two important operas,Rienziin 1840, andThe Flying Dutchmanin 1841. His first major successes came with the first of these operas, introduced at the Dresden Opera on October 20, 1842. This triumph brought Wagner in 1843 an appointment as Kapellmeister of the Dresden Opera which he held with considerable esteem for six years. During this period he completed two more operas:Tannhaeuser, introduced in Dresden in 1845, andLohengrin, first performed in Weimar under Liszt’s direction, in 1850.
As a member of a radical political organization, the Vaterlandsverein, Wagner became involved in the revolutionary movements that swept across Europe in 1848-1849. To avoid arrest, he had to flee from Saxony. He came to Weimar where he was warmly welcomed by Liszt who from then on became one of his staunchest champions. After that Wagner set up a permanent abode in Zurich. He now began to clarify and expound his new theories on opera. He saw opera as a drama with music, a synthesis of many arts; he was impatient with the old clichés and formulas to which opera had so long been enslaved, such as formalballets, recitatives and arias, production scenes, and so forth. And he put his theories into practice with a monumental project embracing four dramas, collectively entitledThe Nibelung Ring(Der Ring des Nibelungen) for which, as had always been his practice, he wrote the text as well as the music; the four dramas were entitledThe Rhinegold(Das Rheingold),The Valkyries(Die Walkuere),Siegfried, andThe Twilight of the Gods(Goetterdaemmerung). It took him a quarter of a century to complete this epic. But during this period he was able to complete several other important music dramas, includingTristan and Isoldein 1859 andThe Mastersingers(Die Meistersinger) in 1867.
In 1862, Wagner was pardoned for his radical activities of 1849 and permitted to return to Saxony. There he found a powerful patron in Ludwig II, king of Bavaria, under whose auspices premières of Wagner’s mighty music dramas were given in Munich beginning withTristan and Isoldein 1865. In 1876 there came into being one of Wagner’s most cherished dreams, a festival theater built in Bayreuth, Bavaria, according to his own specifications, where his music dramas could be presented in the style and manner Wagner dictated. This festival opened in August 1876 with the first performance anywhere of the entireRingcycle. Since then Bayreuth has been a shrine of Wagnerian music drama to which music lovers of the world congregate during the summer months. Wagner’s last music drama was the religious consecrational play,Parsifal, first performed in Bayreuth on July 26, 1882. Wagner died in Venice on February 13, 1883, and was buried in the garden of his home, Wahnfried, in Bayreuth.
Of his turbulent personal life which involved him in numerous and often complex love affairs, mention need here be made only of his relations with Cosima, daughter of Liszt, and wife of Hans von Buelow. Wagner and Cosima fell in love while the latter was still von Buelow’s wife. They had two illegitimate children before they set up a home of their own at Lake Lucerne; and one more (Siegfried) before they were married on August 25, 1870.
Wagner’s creative career divides itself into two phases. In the first he was the composer of operas in more or less a traditional style. To the accepted formulas of operatic writing, however, he brought a new dimension—immense musical and dramatic power and invention. In the second phase he was the prophet of a new order in music, the creator of the music drama. It is from the works of his first phase that salon or pop orchestras derive selections that have become universal favorites—sometimes overtures, sometimes excerpts. For these earlier worksabound with such a wonderful fund of melody, emotion, expressiveness and dramatic interest that they have become popular even with those operagoers to whose tastes the later Wagner is perhaps too subtle, complex, elusive, or garrulous.
FromThe Flying Dutchman(Der fliegende Hollaender) comes a dramatic overture. This opera—text by the composer based on an old legend adapted by Heinrich Heine—was first performed at the Dresden Opera on January 2, 1843. “The Flying Dutchman” is a ship on which the Dutchman must sail until he achieves redemption through the love of a faithful woman. Only once in every seven years is he permitted to go ashore to find that love. He finally achieves his redemption through Senta. They both meet their final doom together in a raging sea which swallows up the ship.
Turbulent music, intended to describe a storm at sea, opens the overture. We then hear the theme of the Dutchman in the horns and bassoons. The stormy music returns and subsides as a motive from Senta’s beautiful second-act ballad, “Traft ihr das Schiff” is presented. This motive brings up the image of Senta herself. A vigorous sailors’ chorus is followed by a return of the Senta motive in full orchestra.
Three selections fromThe Flying Dutchmanare of particular appeal: Senta’s spinning song, “Summ und brumm” and her famous ballad, both from the second act; and the chorus of the sailors in the third act, a rousing chantey, “Steuermann! lass die Wacht.”
Lohengrinwas Wagner’s last “opera.” After that he confined himself to music dramas. He completed it in 1848. After its première in Weimar on August 28, 1850 it became one of the most successful operas in Germany of that period. The text, by the composer, was adapted from medieval legends. Lohengrin is a knight of the Holy Grail who becomes Elsa’s champion against Telramund when Elsa is unjustly accused of having murdered Gottfried. Lohengrin arrives on a swan and extracts from Elsa the promise that she must never try to uncover his true identity. After defeating Telramund, Lohengrin marries Elsa who, provoked by Telramund’s wife, cannot stifle her curiosity about her husband’s background and source. He finally must reveal to her that he is a knight of the Holy Grail. Having made that revelation he must leave her forever.
The two familiar orchestral preludes, from the first and third acts, are opposites in mood, texture, and dynamics. The Prelude to Act 1 has spiritual content, a portrait of a heavenly vision wherein the Holy Grail is carried by angels. The main theme is heard quietly in the upperregisters of the violins, then repeated by other instruments. This theme is developed into acrescendoand culminates in an exultant statement by trumpets and trombones. Now the theme is given in adecrescendo, and the prelude ebbs awaypianissimo, once again in the strings in the upper register.
The Prelude to Act 3 is more robust in character, since it depicts the joy of Elsa and Lohengrin on the eve of their wedding. A forceful melody is pronounced by the full orchestra, succeeded by a second strong theme for the cellos, horns, bassoons in unison; a march-like episode for the wind instruments follows.
What is probably the most famous wedding march ever written comes out ofLohengrin. Its strains are heard after the rise of the curtain for Act 3, Scene 1, as a procession enters the bridal chamber. The chorus hymns a blessing to the marriage couple (“Treulich gefuert”). From one side ladies conduct Elsa, while from the other the King and his men lead Lohengrin. The two processions then meet midstage and Elsa joins Lohengrin to be blessed by the King. The two columns of the procession then refile and march out of the two sides of the stage.
The Mastersingers(Die Meistersinger), while written after Wagner had set forth on his operatic revolution, is the only one of his music dramas with a recognizable operatic ritual: big arias, huge production numbers, even dances. ForThe Mastersingersis a comedy, the only one Wagner ever wrote. For purposes of comedy some of the traditions of opera still prove useful to Wagner, even if fused with techniques, approaches and esthetics of the music drama. Wagner completedThe Mastersingersin 1867—eight years afterTristan and Isoldeand more than a decade following the first two dramas of theRingcycle. The first performance took place in Munich on June 21, 1868. The libretto, by the composer, was set in Nuremberg in the middle 16th century, and its plot revolves around a song contest conducted by the Mastersingers, its winner to receive the hand of lovely Eva, daughter of the cobbler-philosopher, Hans Sachs. Walther von Stolzing, a knight, and Beckmesser, a contemptible town clerk, are the main rivals for Eva. At a magnificent ceremony at the banks of the Pognitz River the contestants sing their offerings. It is Walther’s eloquent “Prize Song” that emerges victorious.
This “Prize Song” (“Morgenlich leuchtend”) is one of Wagner’s most famous melodies, the pivot upon which the entire opera gravitates. It is first heard in the first scene of the third act, where Walther comes to tell Hans Sachs of a song come to him in a dream. The song is repeated inthe closing scene of the opera during the actual contest. This “Prize Song” is used by Wagner symbolically. Its victory over the dull and stilted creation of Beckmesser represents the triumph of inspiration and freedom of expression over hackneyed rules and procedures. August Wilhelmj made a famous transcription of the “Prize Song” for violin and piano.
Rienzi, an early Wagner opera, is today remembered primarily for its overture. But in its own day it was extremely popular. Immediately after its première performance in Dresden on October 20, 1842,Rienzimade Wagner’s name known throughout all of Germany for the first time, appearing in the repertory of virtually every major German opera house at the time. The novel from which the composer derived his libretto is that of Bulwer-Lytton. The central character, Rienzi, is a Roman ruler of the 14th century who meets his destruction at the hands of his enemies who set the Capitol aflame in which Rienzi perishes. Trumpet calls in the opening measures of the overture lead to a slow section in which is prominent an affecting melody for strings, Rienzi’s prayer for the Roman people. In the main section of the overture, the first main theme is the battle hymn of the first act (in the brass) set against Rienzi’s prayer-melody. The opening slow section returns and is succeeded by the stirring music from the first act finale. In the coda, the battle-hymn music is powerfully projected for the last time.
Tannhaeuserboasts many popular selections beyond its very famous overture. The opera was first performed in Dresden on October 19, 1845. The libretto is by the composer. Tannhaeuser is a minstrel-knight who has grown weary of the carnal delights on the Hill of Venus and longs for his own world. By invoking the name of the Virgin Mary, in whom he places his trust, Tannhaeuser is transported to a valley near the Wartburg Castle, where he is recognized and welcomed back by Wolfram, a companion minstrel-knight. Joyously, Tannhaeuser returns with Wolfram to the Hall of the Minstrels in the Wartburg Castle to find that his beloved Elisabeth is still in love with him. But only he who can come out triumphant in a song contest on the subject of love can win Elisabeth. The song Tannhaeuser presents, glorifying sensual pleasure, horrifies the audience. Contrite, Tannhaeuser offers to atone for his sins by joining pilgrims to Rome and seeking absolution from the Pope. Elisabeth promises to pray for his soul. After several months have passed, Elisabeth is awaiting the return of the Roman pilgrims, and Wolfram beseeches heaven to guide Elisabeth and protect her. Suddenly Tannhaeuser—haggard and decrepit—makes his appearance. He confessesto Wolfram that his soul will not be redeemed until the staff in the Pope’s hands sprouts leaves. Only after Elisabeth has died of grief in despair of ever seeing Tannhaeuser again, do the tidings come from Rome that the Pope’s staff has, indeed, blossomed with foliage.
The Overture is built from some of the principal melodies of the opera; in a sense it traces the main events of the story. The religious chant of the Pilgrims (in clarinets, bassoons and horns) is heard at once. This is followed by music suggesting Tannhaeuser’s repentance, a touching melody for strings. After both these ideas have been discussed we hear in the strings the voluptuous music of Venusberg, a picture of the carnal life led by Tannhaeuser with Venus on Venus Hill. The music is brought to a compelling climax with a loud statement of Tannhaeuser’s passionate hymn to carnal love with which he so horrified the minstrel-knights at Wartburg Castle. The chant of the pilgrims, which had opened the overture, also brings it to conclusion.
The Prelude to Act 3 is solemn music that bears the title, “Tannhaeuser’s Pilgrimage.” Two themes are set forth at once, that of Tannhaeuser’s repentance, and that suggesting Elisabeth’s intercession. Tannhaeuser’s suffering is then portrayed by a poignant melody for strings. Suggestions of the Pilgrim’s Chorus and a motive known as “Heavenly Grace” are then offered. The prelude ends quietly and sensitively, as Tannhaeuser at long last achieves salvation.
The sensual, even lascivious, music of theBacchanalein the opening scene (recreating the revelry enjoyed by Tannhaeuser and Venus on Venus Hill) is often performed in conjunction with the Overture, sometimes independently. Another orchestral episode extremely popular is the statelyMarchof the second act with which the minstrel-knights of the Wartburg file into the Castle, followed by the nobles, ladies, and attendants, as they chant the strains of “Freudig begruessen wir die edle Halle.”
The most popular vocal excerpt fromTannhaeuseris Wolfram’s “Ode to the Evening Star” (“O du mein holder Abendstern”) in the last act. This atmospheric music, a hymn to the mystery and beauty of the night, is Wolfram’s prayer to the evening star that it guide and protect Elisabeth. Elisabeth’s second-act song of praise to the Hall of Wartburg Castle in which she speaks of her joy in learning of Tannhaeuser’s return (“Dich, teure Halle”) and her eloquent third-act prayer for Tannhaeuser’s forgiveness (“Allmaecht’ge Jungfrau”) are also deservedly celebrated for their affecting lyricism.
Wagner did not write much music not intended for the stage. Of thismeager repertory one or two items deserve attention in the semi-classical repertory. One is “Traeume” (“Dreams”) a song often heard in transcriptions, particularly for orchestra. This is one of five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck which Wagner set to music in 1857-1858, and it appears as the last song of the cycle. This gentle nocturne derives some of its melody from the famous love-duet of the second act ofTristan and Isolde(“O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe”) but the overall effect of the song is one of gentle revery rather than sensual love. Wagner himself arranged “Traeume” for small orchestra. On Mathilde Wesendonck’s birthday on December 23, 1857, he conducted eighteen musicians in a performance of the song under Mathilde’s window.
TheKaiser Marchwas another of Wagner’s compositions not intended for the stage. He wrote it in 1871 to celebrate Germany’s victory over France. A proud, exultant theme is first offered by the full orchestra. A transition in the brasses and timpani brings on a second theme of contrasting character in the woodwind. There follows a brief statement of Martin Luther’s famous chorale, “Ein feste Burg.” After dramatic music depicting the fever of battle, the Luther chorale is repeated triumphantly by the brasses. The first theme returns loudly in full orchestra after a fanfare to end the march.
Emil Waldteufel, waltz-king of France, was born in Strasbourg on December 9, 1837. His father, a professor of music at the Strasbourg Conservatory, gave him his first music instruction. After that Emil attended the Paris Conservatory, but he never completed his course of study there, leaving the schoolroom to take on a job with a piano manufacturer. He published his first waltzes at his own expense in 1860,Joies et peinesandManola. The latter so enchanted the Prince of Wales that he willingly accepted the dedication of Waldteufel’s nextwaltz,Bien aimé, a fact that played no small part in establishing Waldteufel’s reputation in England. Waldteufel now decided to sidestep all other activities to concentrate on the writing of waltz music. In short order he became the idol of Paris in the same way that Johann Strauss II was of Vienna. For a period, Waldteufel’s fame throughout Europe was second only to that of the Viennese waltz king. Waldteufel made many tours of the European capitals conducting his own compositions, scoring triumphs in Covent Garden in 1885, and in Berlin in 1889. In 1865 he became chamber musician to the Empress Eugénie and director of the court balls. He died in Paris on February 16, 1915.
Waldteufel published over 250 waltzes. A comparison with Johann Strauss is perhaps inevitable. The French waltz king never equalled Strauss’ remarkable melodic invention, original approaches in harmony and orchestration, and overall inspiration. Most of Waldteufel’s waltzes are functional pieces, and make far better dance music than concert music. But a handful of his waltzes are classics, and deservedly so. They are buoyant and inviting in their spirit, aristocratic in style, spontaneous in expression. Waldteufel’s most famous waltzes include the following:España, op. 236, which utilizes for its waltz melodies the basic themes from Chabrier’s rhapsody of the same name; andThe Skaters(Les Patineurs), op. 183, in which the main elegant melody has the lightness of foot and the mobility of motion of facile figure skaters. Other popular Waldteufel waltzes include theAcclamations, op. 223;Dolores, op. 170;Estudiantina, op. 191;Mon rêve, op. 151;Les Sirènes, op. 154;Toujours ou jamais, op. 156; andViolettes, op. 148.
Karl Maria von Weber was born in Eutin, Oldenburg, Germany, on November 18, 1786. His father, who played the violin in small theaters, was determined to make his son a musical prodigy, subjecting him from childhood on to severe discipline, and tointensive study with Karl’s stepbrother, J. P. Heuschkel and Michael Haydn. Weber made public appearances as pianist in early boyhood. His first opera was written when he was only thirteen, and at fourteen his second opera was performed in Chemnitz, Freiberg, and Vienna. An even more comprehensive period of study than heretofore followed in Munich with Abbé Vogler. After that, in 1804, Weber was appointed conductor of the Breslau City Theater. In 1806 he became Musik Intendant to the Duke of Wuerttemberg, and in 1807 private secretary and music master to Duke Ludwig in Stuttgart. From 1813 to 1816 he was the music director of German Opera in Prague and in 1817 musical director of German Opera in Dresden. It was in this last post that he created the first of his unqualified masterworks, the operaDer Freischuetz, introduced with phenomenal success in Berlin on June 18, 1821. It was with this work that German Romantic opera was born, grounded in Germanic nationalism, filled with the German love for the legendary and the supernatural, and characterized by its use of German landscapes and backgrounds. Weber wrote two more masterworks with which his high station in opera was solidified:Euryanthe, introduced in Vienna on October 25, 1823, andOberon, first heard in London, on April 12, 1826. In London, attending the première of the latter opera, Weber succumbed to his last sickness on June 5, 1826. His body was transferred to Dresden where it was buried to special ceremonies at which Wagner delivered the eulogy.
Weber’s monumental contributions to opera in general, and German opera, in particular, do not fall within the scope of this volume; neither do the three masterworks with which he gained immortality. In music in a lighter vein he was most significant for being one of the first to create waltz music within an extended structure. The most popular of these compositions was theInvitation to the Dance(Aufforderung zum Tanz), written in 1819 as a “rondo brilliant” in D-flat major, for piano solo. It has since become celebrated in several orchestral transcriptions, notably those by Berlioz and Felix Weingartner. This work is one of the first in music history in which several different waltz tunes are combined into a single cohesive composition, preceded by an introduction and concluding with an epilogue. The introduction consists of a subdued, well-mannered melody, simulating the request to a lady by a young man for a dance, and the acceptance. Several waltz melodies follow, to which this couple dance. The epilogue consists of a return of the introduction, this time with the gentleman thanking the lady for having danced with him.
TheJubilee Overture(Jubel), op. 59, for orchestra is another of Weber’s more popular creations, this time in a stirring style. He wrote it in 1818 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the ascension to the throne by the King of Saxony. A slow introduction leads to the main body of the overture in which the main theme is forcefully stated by the full orchestra. By contrast there later appears a light-hearted tune, soon given considerable prominence in the development section. When both ideas have been repeated, a climax is reached with a statement of the English anthem, “God Save the King” in the wind instruments accompanied by the strings.
Kurt Weill was born in Dessau, Germany, on March 2, 1900. A comprehensive musical training took place first with private teachers in Dessau, then at the Berlin High School of Music, and finally for three years with Ferruccio Busoni. Weill started out as a composer of avant-garde music performed at several important German festivals. His first opera,The Protagonist, with a text by Georg Kaiser, was produced in 1926. From this point on Weill continued writing operas in which the texts were realistic or satiric, and the music filled with popular idioms, sometimes even those of jazz. The most important wereThe Royal Palacein 1927;The Three-Penny Opera, a sensation when first produced in 1928;The Czar Has Himself Photographed, also in 1928; andThe Rise and Fall of Mahagonny, in 1930, one of whose numbers, “The Alabamy Song,” was a leading song hit in Germany that year. With these works Weill became one of the leading exponents of the cultural movements then sweeping across Germany under the banners ofZeitkunst(Contemporary Art) andGebrauchsmusik(Functional Music). In the fall of 1935, Weill established permanent residence in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1943. He soonassumed a position of first importance in the Broadway theater by virtue of a succession of outstanding musicals:Johnny Johnson(1936);Knickerbocker Holiday(1938) in which Walter Huston starred as Peter Stuyvesant and out of which came one of Weill’s most popular musical numbers, “September Song”; Moss Hart’s musical about psychoanalysis and the dream life,Lady in the Dark(1941) in which Gertrude Lawrence was starred;One Touch of Venus(1943), with Mary Martin;Street Scene(1947), a trenchant musical play based on Elmer Rice’s realistic drama of New York;Love Life(1948), book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, its main musical number being another all-time Weill song favorite, “Green-Up Time”; andLost in the Stars(1949), a powerful musical drama adapted from Alon Paton’s novel,Cry, the Beloved Country. Weill died in New York City on April 3, 1950.
The Three-Penny Opera(Die Dreigroschenoper) is one of the most important musical productions of the post-World War I era in Europe; and since its premiere it has lost little of its initial popularity. This musical play (or opera, if you will) was based on the historic 18th-century ballad opera of John Gay,The Beggar’s Opera. The text was rewritten and modernized by Berthold Brecht, in whose hands the comic opera became a brilliant, though often bitter, satire of Germany in the late 1920’s, with penetrating satirical comments on crime and corruption in this post-war era. Weill’s opera was introduced in Berlin on August 31, 1928 and scored a sensation with few parallels in contemporary German theater. Over one hundred theaters gave it four thousand performances throughout Germany in its initial year. It was made into a motion-picture by G. W. Pabst (the first of several screen adaptations). It was introduced in the leading theatrical centers of the world; the American première—in New York on April 13, 1933—was, however, a dismal failure. It has since been revived frequently in all parts of the civilized world. An off-Broadway presentation in 1954—with a new modernized text by Marc Blitzstein, but with the Weill music untouched—made history by accumulating a run of more than five years; a national company was then formed to tour the country in 1960. During this long Broadway run, the principal musical number, “Moritat” (or “Mack the Knife”) became an American hit song on two different occasions. In 1955 it was given over twenty different recordings and was often represented on the Hit Parade; revived in 1959 by Bobby Darin, it sold over a million discs.
Weill’s score is a mixture of opera and musical comedy, of European stage traditions and American idioms. It opens with a blues and concludeswith a mock chorale, while in between these opposite poles there can be heard a shimmy, a canon in fox-trot, popular tunes, formal ballads, light airs, choruses, and ensemble numbers. The style ranges freely from Tin Pan Alley clichés to atonality, from mock romanticism to dissonance. Each number was basic to the plot; principal numbers often became penetrating psychological commentaries on the characters who presented them. “Moritat” (or “Mack the Knife”) is the main musical number. But several others are also of outstanding interest including “Love Song” (“Liebeslied”), “The Ballad of Pleasant Living” (“Ballade vom angenehmen Leben”), the Canon-Song,Barbarasong, and the Bully’s Ballad (“Zuhaelterballade”).
Jaromir Weinberger was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on January 8, 1896. After completing his music study at the Prague Conservatory, and privately with Max Reger in Berlin, he came to the United States in 1922, teaching for one season at the Ithaca Conservatory in Ithaca, New York. Following his return to Europe he held various posts as teacher and conductor. He achieved international renown as a composer with a Bohemian folk opera,Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeiferfirst performed in Prague on April 27, 1927, then successfully heard throughout Europe and in the United States. Weinberger wrote many operas after that, and a considerable amount of orchestral music. Up to 1937 his home was in Prague, but since 1939 he has lived in the United States. One of his most successful works for orchestra was introduced in the United States soon after his arrival,Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree.
Among the numerous works by Weinberger are two that can be said to have a more popular appeal than the others. One is in an American idiom and manner which Weinberger assumed for many of his majorworks after coming to this country; the other is in the Bohemian style with which he first became famous.
That in the American style and spirit (but technically in a fugue idiom) is a delightful treatment of the popular American tune by Dan Emmett, “Dixie.” “Dixie” had originated as a minstrel-show tune, being written by Emmett as a “walk-around” (or closing number) for a minstrel-show production at the Bryant Theater in New York in November 1859. It became an immediate favorite with minstrel troupes throughout the country. During the Civil War it became the Southland’s favorite battle hymn, despite the fact that it was the work of a Northerner. The charge at Gettysburg by General George Pickett was made to the strains of this music. After the surrender at Appomattox, President Lincoln invited a band outside the White House to play the tune for him maintaining that since the North had conquered the Southern army it had also gained its favorite song as a spoils of war. In 1940 Weinberger wrote thePrelude and Fugue on Dixiefor symphony orchestra. The prelude devotes itself to a simple statement of the melody, after which comes the lively fugal treatment of its main theme. The treatment is throughout so skilful and musical that we never feel any sense of contradiction in the use of a popular minstrel-show tune within a soundly classical structure and through soundly classical means.
Out of the composer’s most famous opera,Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer(Schwanda, the Bagpipeplayer) comes aPolka and Fuguefor orchestra that is undoubtedly the most familiar excerpt from the opera. The vivaciousPolka—which has a lusty peasant vitality in its marked accentuations—comes from Act 2, Scene 2; the fugue (whose main theme is suggested in the polka) is used in the opera’s closing scene. Just before the end of the fugue, the polka melody is heard again, set contrapuntally against the fugue tune in a powerful climax in which the full orchestra, as well as an organ, is utilized.