Act V. When Gounod revised "Faust" for the Grand Opéra, Paris, the

traditions of that house demanded a more elaborate ballet than the dance in the kermis scene afforded. Consequently the authors reached beyond the love story of _Faust_ and _Marguerite_ into the second part of Goethe's drama and utilized the legendary revels of Walpurgis Night (eve of May 1st) on the Brocken, the highest point of the Hartz mountains. Here _Faust_ meets the courtesans of antiquity--Laïs, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Phryne. "Les Nubiennes," "Cléopatra et la Coupe d'Or" (Cleopatra and the Goblet of Gold), "Les Troyennes" (The Troyan Women), "Variation," and "Dance de Phryne" are the dances in this ballet. More frequently than not the scene is omitted. To connect it with the main story, there comes to _Faust_, in the midst of the revels, a vision of _Marguerite_. Around her neck he beholds a red line, "like the cut of an axe." He commands _Méphistophélès_ to take him to her.

They find her in prison, condemned to death for killing her child. There is an impassioned duet for _Faust_ and _Marguerite_. He begs her to make her escape with him. But her mind is wandering. In snatches of melody from preceding scenes, she recalls the episode at the kermis, the night in the garden. She sees _Méphistophélès_, senses his identity with the arch-fiend. There is a superb trio, in which _Marguerite_ ecstatically calls upon angels to intervene and save her--"Anges purs! Anges radieux!" (Angels pure, radiant, bright).

[Music]

The voices mount higher and higher, _Marguerite's_ soaring to a splendid climax. She dies.

"Condemned!" cries _Méphistophélès_.

"Saved," chant ethereal voices.

The rear wall of the prison opens. Angels are seen bearing _Marguerite_ heavenward. _Faust_ falls on his knees in prayer. _Méphistophélès_ turns away, "barred by the shining sword of an archangel."

During the ten years that elapsed between the productions at the Théâtre Lyrique and the Grand Opéra, "Faust" had only thirty-seven performances. Within eight years (1887) after it was introduced to the Grand Opéra, it had 1000 performances there. From 1901-1910 it was given nearly 3000 times in Germany. After the score had been declined by several publishers, it was brought out by Choudens, who paid Gounod 10,000 francs ($2000) for it, and made a fortune out of the venture. For the English rights the composer is said to have received only £40 ($200) and then only upon the insistence of Chorley, the author of the English version.

ROMÉO ET JULIETTE

ROMEO AND JULIET

Opera in five acts, by Gounod; words by Barbier and Carré, after the tragedy by Shakespeare. Produced Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, April 27, 1867; January, 1873, taken over by the Opéra Comique; Grand Opéra, November 28, 1888. London, Covent Garden, in Italian, July 11, 1867. New York, Academy of Music, November 15, 1867, with Minnie Hauck as _Juliet_; Metropolitan Opera House, December 14, 1891, with Eames (_Juliet_), Jean de Reszke (_Romeo_), Édouard de Reszke (_Friar Lawrence_). Chicago, December 15, 1916, with Muratore as _Romeo_ and Galli-Curci as _Juliet_.

CHARACTERS

THE DUKE OF VERONA _Bass_ COUNT PARIS _Baritone_ COUNT CAPULET _Bass_ JULIET, his daughter _Soprano_ GERTRUDE, her nurse _Mezzo-Soprano_ TYBALT, Capulet's nephew _Tenor_ ROMEO, a Montague _Tenor_ MERCUTIO _Baritone_ BENVOLIO, Romeo's page _Soprano_ GREGORY, a Capulet retainer _Baritone_ FRIAR LAWRENCE _Bass_

Nobles and ladies of Verona, citizens, soldiers, monks, and pages.

_Time_--14th Century.

_Place_--Verona.

Having gone to Goethe for "Faust," Gounod's librettists, Barbier and Carré, went to Shakespeare for "Roméo et Juliette," which, like "Faust," reached the Paris Grand Opéra by way of the Théâtre Lyrique. Mme. Miolan-Carvalho, the original _Marguerite_, also created _Juliette_.

"Roméo et Juliette" has been esteemed more highly in France than elsewhere. In America, save for performances in New Orleans, it was only during the Grau régime at the Metropolitan Opera House, when it was given in French with casts familiar with the traditions of the Grand Opéra, that it can be said regularly to have held a place in the repertoire. Eames is remembered as a singularly beautiful _Juliette_, vocally and personally; Capoul, Jean de Reszke, and Saléza, as _Roméos_; Édouard de Reszke as _Frère Laurent_.

Nicolini, who became Adelina Patti's second husband, sang _Roméo_ at the Grand Opéra to her _Juliette_. She was then the Marquise de Caux, her marriage to the Marquis having been brought about by the Empress Eugénie. But that this marriage was not to last long, and that the _Romeo_ and _Juliet_ were as much in love with each other in actual life as on the stage, was revealed one night to a Grand Opéra audience, when, during the balcony scene, prima donna and tenor--so the record says--imprinted twenty-nine real kisses on each other's lips.

The libretto is in five acts and follows closely, often even to the text, Shakespeare's tragedy. There is a prologue in which the characters and chorus briefly rehearse the story that is to unfold itself.