Tales from the Operas

Next day, Dr. Bartolo sat him down to discuss the drunken soldier. The aged gentleman had sent out streams of inquiry in every direction, and he had ascertained that no such per...

Take any young creature of warm, generous disposition, put a military coat on her fair young shoulders, a smart military hat on her head, and hang a little brandy keg over her r...

Again she stands near the altar--this time the sacred spot where hangs the symbolic shield, which, being struck, gives forth the sound of thunder. None but Norma may raise this...

Away from the hot, crowded city--away from the brilliantly lighted ball room. Away to a peaceful cottage before which rippled a lake, while round the trees whispered sorrowing p...

A world of tents--to the right, to the left--before or behind--a world of tents. And not dismal little canvas tents--but brave erections in cloths of gold and silver, and gay co...

When Satan fell, some of the essence of the god-head pityingly clung about him--hence those of men whose faces turn towards the darkness have ever something of the god within th...

Don Pasquale got himself up in such style for the reception of his bride that his own servants did not know him. In fact he hardly knew himself, and felt rather taller. But he w...

At home in the grand castle, dressed, no longer like a vivandiere, but like a real young lady, sat Marie. She was not happy, but she cannot be said to have been utterly miserabl...

In the sixteenth century, kings and dukes still kept their fools. The Duke of Mantua had his--a poor hunch-back, whom they called Rigoletto. He was as witty as any fool in Franc...

Misery, degradation, desertion, and consumption, had done their worst; they had destroyed her, but not wholly killed her beauty. Far, far from the brilliant creature who had rul...

The night was come, and the Princess Negroni’s palace was a blaze of light. The grand ball spoken of by Orsini, was taking place, and all Ferrara was there. At one table, drinki...

Maurico was conquered, and the castle fell into the hands of his enemy the Count Di Luna. The minstrel languished in prison, with but one consolation in this life--the presence...

It is, I hope, no imputation upon Rosina’s character to say she _watched_ the count and the barber as they chatted; and it is to be hoped no one will accuse her of impropriety,...

Who are these houseless men, lying about amongst jagged rocks, laughing gaily, card-playing and drinking--the setting sun lighting up the place with a red glare, and bathing the...

That same day Colonel George Walton was sitting with his niece, Elvira, and chatting with her about the marriage. The leaven of puritanism was not so severely bitter in high as...

Go we now to the grand palace, where the husband and wife watched each other ceaselessly, each ever fearing death at the hands of the other. A happy palace, truly.

Imagine that the two farmers and their new servants have arrived at the farm-house--a large, roomy, old building, with deep bay windows of wavy green glass, in the very heart of...

Every woman then and there in the market-place was full of it, and crowded about each other to hear and receive the news. “Did you ever!”--“Oh! _quite_ true!”--“Who _would_ have...

A stormy angry night; the wind weeping and whistling high up in the sky, and a thick stifling vapor crawling over the earth--over the whispering muddy river; winding in and out...

One hour later and everybody in the market place was opening his or her eyes, as widely open he or she could. For with a great blowing of trumpets, and other unusual sounds, cam...

The great hall of the castle is filling with lords and ladies, retainers and vassals. There is a sudden stir--’tis the entrance of the duke, dressed grandly, and wearing all his...

Not two hours after that conversation, Lord Arthur Talbot came rapidly towards the house which the general, now encamped at some distance from his fortress, occupied. It was a l...

In Spain the zingaras, or gipsies, have ever increased and multiplied. The land seems to foster them kindly; and, at the period of our tale, they were so numerous, that quarrels...

Ah, yes, there was one voice in her favor--honest Alesso’s, the good-tempered fool’s. He would not believe in Amina’s guilt, which determination of his thoroughly stamped him a...

And that day was come when Zerlina and Masetto were to be nobody’s business, and more, and were to be all in all to each other for life; they were going to be married.

Even in this enlightened hour, at statute fairs English girls stand in rows and exhibit their points--mental, menial, and physical, to as many farmer’s wives as have tongues and...

I don’t mean to say for one moment that he was at all equal to any one benison uttered by any one ecclesiastic in the quaint old city of Seville; yet I do assert, and plainly, h...

In a beautiful valley in Switzerland there lived a maiden whose name was Amina, a poor village foundling, who was as fondly loved by the woman who had adopted her as her own mot...

Rome, all powerful, had thrown out her arms to the east and the west, to the north and to the south, and boasted of being mistress of the world. She had conquered all Germany an...

[The author makes no apology for laying before his readers the tale of this popular opera, for never yet was fester cured by covering it up. Whereby, he means to say that no soc...

The don’s pulse was moderate by a late hour the next day; and having obtained the permission of the doctor, who had sedately watched all night by the bed, to go down stairs, the...

In the fifteenth century too, and in Spain, a great lord was a petty king, and would as frequently make war against his neighbor on his own account, as on account of their commo...

Don Pasquale was an old bachelor, and as wealthy as he was old. He was saving, credulous, and obstinate. But for all that Don Pasquale was the best-hearted of dons.

The stranger looked curiously about the haunted room, when shown to it by Liza. There was the white-curtained bed standing near the window; the door-windows open to admit the co...

Don Juan lived in a city of Castille, lived a godless, reckless life; and as for that matter so did his factotum Leporello. If the don climbed a ladder, Leporello held it; if th...

“What ho! thou beatest me, thou dost threaten to kill me; am I kicked, am I cuffed? Wherefore is it that I am kicked and cuffed? Now, tell me that, master?”

Oh! the weary, weary hours till daylight; till he could search through the city for his daughter. The age of fear, with but a faint poor hope to bear him through it. See the poo...

It is pleasant to see the reapers resting after their work, in the shadows of the trees. Indeed, it may be pleasant to be a reaper reposing. Yet a disappointed, wretched lover c...

IN FERRARA. No longer in the city of waters, and palaces, and gay feastings. In Ferrara, where the Borgias reign. Where the cruel Duke Alfonzo reigns, where also his cruel wife...

Not far from the camp stood the poor minstrel, waiting for his sweetheart Alice. While he was waiting, the knight Robert’s catastrophe was achieved, and he was lying in the whit...

The palace of Ernani, or rather Don Giovanni of Arragon, was all ablaze with light; and the pale moonbeams, shooting into the palace-grounds, showed numberless mysterious masque...

“Bertram, thou must come with me. See, here is the cathedral; wilt thou not enter? The sanctuary is sacred, and none will dare try to move me from it. Come.”

The Princess Isabelle of Sicily sat watching the magnificence about her. It seemed to mock her sorrows. The King had decided upon marrying her to the Duke of Grenada, a Spanish...

The Count di Luna held his life by the great mercy of the gipsey stranger, but he determined to reduce the castle, whose master was that gipsey, hoping that he might yet destroy...

“I met her in the street. Thou may’st guess, I briskly went to her. Take her by the hand, do I? Aye, yes. When, thou dog, whom, thinkest thou, she took me for? Thyself was it? Y...

Norina, the young widow who had caused all that commotion at the don’s domicile, was _not_ so rich as she was beautiful. If she had been, she would have been besieged with lover...

Charles the Fifth was not unforgiving, not even inclined to be harsh; and no one ever disputed his bravery. When he was intriguing for his election as emperor--the election whic...

The Lady Henrietta--no, I will not divulge her surname--the Lady Henrietta was ennuyed and bored--though she lived in the sixteenth century. Furthermore, the honest fact is, tha...

That pleasant old farm house, once so happy, was as dull as the forest at midnight. Lionel grew more and more melancholy; and, indeed, farmer Plunket was not very cheerful, thou...

Back into the dreadful life she had left. Away from the placid lake and whispering trees. Again feasting, and heartlessness, and golden misery. Armand soon learnt that she had a...

Plunket had a heart, and had perhaps been inclined to bestow it upon Nancy, for this kind of thing is catching; but the jade had flown, Plunket was not the man to go about filli...

The supper was laid, the don seated. He had forgotten his guest. He sat lightly at table, leaning back in a great crimson chair, and chattering gaily to his servant and friend.

In the garden, where the last scene of the don’s married life was to take place, and in the moonlight, tripped Norina--a young widow again--to the secret garden gate. Click, cli...

Immediately succeeding the execution of Charles I., General Walton was in command of a fortress, then standing not far from Plymouth. One of his officers was his brother, Colone...

A wild spot: the accursed cloisters, where once lived sinning nuns. A wild spot, lighted now and then by the moon, when its light could flit down between the jagged, angry cloud...

Yes--the priestess--the proud priestess is now the happy, yet fearing, mother. See her clasping her children, and turning, affrightedly, to the mouth of their cavern-house at ev...

So she remained, day after day, ever waiting for the bridegroom’s return, and dismally decking herself in what she took for marriage garments. Sometimes she would take a soldier...

“Then hast thou a marvellous queer way of showing it. Thou dost bemean me. Thou dost make fingers to point at me, and then, forsooth, thou dost say ‘I love thee.’ Pish! for pure...

“Verily, and I tell thee, Masetto, thou art a rare fool, a fool such as the world hath never seen. Be merry, I say be merry; nay, thou shalt be merry.”

When they all got to the great room in Adina’s farmhouse, they quite filled it. Well, there they were, looking out for the notary. Adina, too, was looking out for Nemorino, for...

Who is this, creeping towards two sleeping children? Who is this with an uplifted dagger, and an awful frown upon her face? ’Tis Norma--mad with jealousy and hate, stealing in t...