Act 2.

_Giroflé-Girofla_—book by Vanloo and Leterrier—was introduced in Brussels on March 21, 1874. Giroflé and Girofla are twin sisters. Giroflé is pressured by her parents to marry the banker, Marasquin; Girofla is in love with an impoverished fire-eating Moor, Mourzouk. When Girofla is secretly abducted by pirates, the Moor comes to her home demanding to see her, only to mistake Giroflé for Girofla. The complicated situation ensuing becomes resolved only after Girofla is rescued and brought back home.

The most frequently heard excerpts from this gay score are the Pirates’ Chorus, “_Parmi les choses_”; the rousing drinking song, “_Le Punche scintille_”; the ballad, “_Lorsque la journée est finie_”; and the love duet, “_O Ciel!_”

Ernesto Lecuona

Ernesto Lecuona was born in Havana, Cuba, on August 7, 1896. As a boy of eleven he published his first piece of music—an American two step still popular with some Cuban bands. While attending the National Conservatory in Cuba, from which he was graduated in 1911 with a gold medal in piano playing, he earned his living as a pianist in cafés and movie theaters. In 1917 he paid the first of several visits to the United States, at that time making some records and giving a piano recital. He then made concert tours throughout America and Europe playing the piano and conducting semi-classical and popular orchestras. His performances were largely responsible for popularizing in America both the conga and the rumba in the 1920’s. He also made some successful appearances at the Capitol Theater, in New York, where he introduced his own music, including such outstanding successes as _Malagueña_, _Andalucía_, and _Siboney_ (the last originally entitled _Canto Siboney_, which became an American popular-song hit in 1929). These and similar pieces made Lecuona one of the most successful exponents of Latin-American melodies and dance rhythms in the United States. Lecuona has written over five hundred songs, forty operettas, and numerous compositions both for orchestra and for piano solo.

From a piano suite entitled _Andalucía_ come two of Lecuona’s best known instrumental compositions. The first is also called _Andalucía_, a haunting South American melody set against a compulsive rhythm. It was made into an American popular song in 1955.

Another movement from _Andalucía_ is even more familiar: the _Malagueña_. Since its publication as a piano solo in 1929, _Malagueña_ has sold annually over a hundred thousand copies of sheet music each year; it has become a favorite of concert pianists; it is also often performed by salon and pop orchestras everywhere in orchestral transcriptions; and it has been adapted into a popular song, “At the Crossroads.” It is in three sections, the first being in the malagueña rhythm dynamically projected in slowing expanding sonorities; a contrast comes in the middle part with a poignant Latin-American melody.

_Andalucía_, the single movement and not the suite as a whole, has been given a brilliant orchestral dress by Morton Gould who has also orchestrated two outstandingly popular Lecuona songs. One is “La Comparasa,” a picture of a traditional parade during the Carnival season in which Negroes and muleteers play their native instruments and sing their sensual songs. The other is “Gitanerias,” haunting gypsy music.

Franz Lehár

Franz Lehár was born in Komorn, Hungary, on April 30, 1870. His father, a bandmaster, was his first music teacher. When Franz was twelve, he entered the Prague Conservatory where he remained six years specializing in the violin with Bennewitz and theory with Foerster. His studies were completed in 1888, after which he played the violin in the orchestra of the Eberfeld Opera. He subsequently became an assistant bandleader of his father’s ensemble and a director of Austria’s foremost Marine bands. In 1896 he realized his first success as a composer of operettas with _Kukuschka_, produced in Leipzig. In 1902 he became conductor of the Theater-an-der-Wien, in Vienna, home of operettas. There, in the same year, he had produced _Viennese Women_ (_Wiener Frauen_). The operetta after that was _The Gypsy_ (_Der Rastelbinder_), seen in 1902 in one of Vienna’s other theaters. With _The Merry Widow_ (_Die lustige Witwe_), seen in 1905, Lehár achieved a triumph of such magnitude that from then on he was one of Austria’s most celebrated operetta composers (and one of the wealthiest) since Johann Strauss II. He wrote about thirty more operettas (three of them in the single year of 1909-1910). The most famous were _The Count of Luxembourg_ (_Der Graf von Luxemburg_) in 1909; _Gypsy Love_ (_Zigeunerliebe_) in 1910; _Frasquita_ in 1922; _Paganini_ in 1925; _The Tsarevitch_ (_Der Zarewitsch_) in 1927; and _The Land of Smiles_ (_Das Land des Laechelns_) in 1929. During World War II Lehár lived in seclusion at his villa in Bad Ischl, Austria. After the war he became embittered by the widely publicized accusation that he had been pro Nazi, arising no doubt from the well-known fact that _The Merry Widow_ was Hitler’s favorite operetta. What was forgotten in this attack against Lehár was the fact that his wife had been classified by Nazis as non-Aryan and that on one occasion both and he and his wife were subjected by the Gestapo to house arrest. Lehár died in Bad Ischl, Austria, on October 24, 1948. He is one of the few composers to outlive the copyrights of some of his most famous works.

Lehár’s popularity in the early part of this century gave the Viennese operetta a new lease on life at a time when its heyday was believed over. It was through the influence of Lehár’s immense popularity and success that composers like Oscar Straus, Emmerich Kálmán, and Leo Fall began writing their own operettas. Lehár’s best stage works have been described as “dance operettas” because of the emphasis placed on dance music, the waltz specifically. The dance usually becomes the climax, the focal point, of the production. Stan Czech further points out that Lehár’s waltzes are “slower and sweeter than those of Johann Strauss, were definite prototypes of the modern slow waltz, and their Slav atmosphere gave them an exciting and individual character.”

_The Count of Luxembourg_ (_Der Graf von Luxemburg_)—text by Willner and Robert Bodanzky—was first given in Vienna on November 12, 1909. This operetta opens in an artist’s studio in Paris where René, the impoverished Count of Luxembourg, is offered five hundred thousand francs by Prince Basil if René is willing to marry the singer Angele and let her share his title. The reason for this peculiar arrangement is that the Prince is himself in love with Angele, wants to marry her, but prefers that his wife have a title. After they get married, René and Angele discover they are in love with each other, a fact which eventually the Prince is willing to accept since he is ordered by the Czar to marry a legitimate Countess. As in most Lehár’s operettas, the high musical moment comes with a waltz—the infectious duet of René and Angele, “_Bist du’s, lachendes Glueck_,” which is also extremely popular in orchestral adaptations. Other appealing numbers are the second act duet, “_Lieber Freund, man greift nicht_” and the tenor aria, “_Maedel klein, Maedel fein_.”

_Frasquita_, produced in Vienna on May 12, 1922, is remembered most often for one of Lehár’s most beautiful vocal numbers, the nostalgic and romantic _Frasquita Serenade_, “_Hab ein blaues Himmelbett_.” Fritz Kreisler made a fine transcription for violin and piano, and Sigmund Spaeth provided the melody with American lyrics.

_Gypsy Love_ (_Zigeunerliebe_), had its world première in Vienna on January 8, 1910. The librettists (Willner and Bodanzky) provided a romantic storybook setting of Rumania, and a romantic central character in the form of the gypsy violinist, Jozsi. Zorika is ineluctably drawn to Jozsi though she is actually betrothed to his half-brother, Jonel. In a dream, she gets a foretaste of what her life would be with one so irresponsible and fickle as a gypsy violinist, with the result that she is more than happy to marry Jonel. The main waltz melody (one of Lehár’s greatest) is “_Nur der Liebe macht uns jung_” and the most infectious Hungarian tune is Jozsi’s soaring entrance gypsy melody to the accompaniment of his violin, “_Ich bin ein Zigeunerkind_.”

From _The Land of Smiles_ (_Das Land des Laechelns_) comes what is probably the best loved and most widely sung of all of Lehár’s vocal numbers, “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (“Thine Is My Heart Alone”) which opened not in Vienna but in Berlin, on October 10, 1929. This was actually a new version of an old Lehár operetta, originally called _The Yellow Jacket_ (_Die gelbe Jacke_) which had been introduced in Vienna in 1923. The romantic plot of both operettas involved a Chinese diplomat, Prince Sou-Chong, and Lisa, daughter of an Austrian Count. They marry and settle in Peking in whose strange setting, Lisa’s love for the Prince soon turns to hate. With great magnanimity—even though this is in violation of ancient Chinese traditions and customs—he allows Lisa to leave him and return home.

In _The Yellow Jacket_, “Thine Is My Heart Alone” is sung by Lisa, and at that time this number made little impression. The famous tenor, Richard Tauber, fell in love with it, and performed it so extensively in his recitals everywhere that he and the song became inextricably identified. When Lehár revised his operetta and renamed it _The Land of Smiles_, he cast the song “Thine Is My Heart Alone” as a major second-act aria for Prince Sou-Chong, Richard Tauber playing the part of the Prince. _The Land of Smiles_ was a personal triumph for Tauber who appeared in it over 2,500 times all over the world. “Thine Is My Heart Alone” became with him something of a theme song. He rarely gave a concert anywhere without singing it either on the program itself or as an encore. When _The Land of Smiles_ was given in New York City in 1946, with Tauber as the star, the operetta was renamed _Yours Is My Heart_; in this production Tauber sang the song four times in four different languages, French, Italian, German, and English.

There can be little question but that _The Merry Widow_ (_Die lustige Witwe_) is one of the most famous operettas ever written. It was a sensation when first performed, in Vienna on December 28, 1905. It came both to London and New York in 1907, a major success in both places. In Buenos Aires it was performed simultaneously in five theaters in five different languages. Since 1907 there was hardly a time when _The Merry Widow_ was not being performed in some part of the world. It has enjoyed in excess of six thousand performances, a thousand of these in Vienna alone. On several occasions it has been adapted for the screen.

Victor Léon and Leo Stein wrote the text. This is the usual operetta material involving a beautiful heiress from a mythical kingdom. She is Sonia from Marsovia, who is leading a gay life in Paris. Beautiful and wealthy, she is inevitably sought out by the most handsome men of Paris. The government of Marsovia is eager to get her to marry one of its native sons, the dashing Prince Danilo, thereby keeping her fortune at home. As she conducts her vivacious night life she is zealously watched over by the Marsovian Ambassador, Baron Popoff, who never loses an opportunity to further the interests of Danilo. Eventually, Sonia has had her fling and is ready to settle down with the Prince.

The _Merry Widow Waltz_, “_S’fluestern Geigen, Lippen schweigen_,” an eye-filling climax to the third act, is not only the most popular excerpt from this operetta but also one of the most celebrated waltzes ever written. A secondary waltz, “Vilia” is also highly beguiling, while a third musical favorite from this score is “_Da geh’ ich zu Maxim_” (“_The Girl at Maxim’s_”).

What is one of Lehár’s best waltzes, second in popularity only to that of _The Merry Widow_, does not come from any operetta. It is the _Gold and Silver Waltzes_ (_Gold und Silber Waelzer_), op. 79 which he wrote as a concert number.

Ruggiero Leoncavallo

Ruggiero Leoncavallo was born in Naples, Italy, on March 8, 1858. He was graduated from the Bologna Conservatory, then spent several years traveling. He finally came to Paris where he earned his living playing the piano, singing, and writing music-hall songs. The powerful Italian publisher, Ricordi, commissioned him to write a trilogy of operas set in the Renaissance. Leoncavallo completed the first of these operas, _I Medici_, but it proved too expensive to mount and was shelved. This experience convinced him that he ought to write an opera of slighter dimensions, one which would not cost too much to produce, and which would be in the realistic style (“_Verismo_”) just made so popular by Mascagni’s _Cavalleria Rusticana_. In four months’ time, Leoncavallo completed _Pagliacci_, the opera through which his name survives. It received a triumphant première in Milan in 1892, with Toscanini conducting. Though Leoncavallo wrote many operas after that he never wrote one as good or as popular as the one that made him world famous. Only one of these later operas has retained interest, _Zaza_, introduced in 1900. A third opera, _La Bohème_, was well received when introduced in Venice in 1897, but was soon thrown into complete obscurity by a rival opera on the same subject, that of Puccini. In 1906 Leoncavallo toured the United States in performances of _Pagliacci_. The failures of his last operas made him a bitter, broken man in the last years of his life. He died in Montecatini, Italy, on August 9, 1919.

The composer prepared his own libretto for _Pagliacci_, a play within a play. A troupe of strolling players headed by Canio arrives for performances in a Calabrian village. Canio’s wife, Nedda, falls in love with Silvio, one of the villagers, and she in turn is being pursued by the pathetic clown of the troupe, Tonio. Through Tonio, Canio discovers his wife has been unfaithful to him, but fails to learn the identity of his rival. At the troupe’s evening performance—and in a play that closely resembles the actual happenings within the company—Canio kills Nedda when she fails to tell him who her lover is. But Silvio, in the audience, reveals himself by rushing on the stage to help Nedda. There Canio kills him.

Many of the selections from this opera are famous, but the most famous of all is the tenor aria, in which Canio speaks his immense grief on discovering that his wife has a lover, “_Vesti la giubba_.”

The other familiar excerpts include the baritone prologue, “_Si può_,” in which Tonio explains to his audience that the incidents in the play about to be presented are true to life and that the players are not performers but human beings; Nedda’s delightful ballatella, “The Bird Song” (“_Stridono lassù_”) where she tries to forget about Tonio’s initial response of jealousy by watching and describing the casual and carefree flight of birds overhead; the “Harlequin’s Serenade” in the play within the play sequence in the second act, “_O Columbina!_”; and a melodious orchestral Intermezzo which separates the first and second acts, music which hints darkly at impending tragedy through a poignant recall of Tonio’s prologue.

Anatol Liadov

Anatol Liadov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 10, 1855, the son and grandson of eminent Russian conductors. He was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but was so derelict about attending classes that in 1876 he was expelled. Reinstated two years later he now became fired with both ambition and industry, proved a brilliant student, and was graduated with highest honors. He was then appointed teacher of theory there, eventually becoming a renowned professor, a post he retained until the end of his life. He died in Novgorod, Russia, on August 28, 1914.

Liadov was at his best in his fairy tales for orchestra (_The Enchanted Lake_, _Baba Yaga_ and _Kikimora_); in songs; and in smaller pieces for the piano. He was a student of Russian folk music of which he made numerous adaptations, and whose styles and idioms percolated into many of his compositions.

The _Eight Russian Folksongs_, a suite for orchestra, op. 58 (1906) is one of Liadov’s adaptations. There are eight movements. In the first, “Religious Chant,” the main song is that chanted by children in religious processions; it is heard in English horn and bassoons. This is followed by “Christmas Carol,” its main theme presented by oboes and clarinets. “Plaintive Melody” is a village song, and “I Danced With a Mosquito,” a humorous scherzo in which muted strings simulated buzzing mosquitoes. The fifth movement is “Legend of the Birds” where the bird song is presented by the woodwind. “Cradle Song” is a tender melody for strings. This is followed by a lively rhythmic section, “Round Dance.” The suite ends with the “Village Dance Song,” music that usually accompanies the crowning of the May Queen.

Liadov is also the composer of a delightful trifle called _The Music Box_ in which the delicate little tune is the kind that lends itself gratefully to the tinkle of a music box. Liadov wrote this piece for the piano, op. 32, but it is better known in orchestral transcriptions.

Paul Lincke

Paul Lincke was born in Berlin, Germany, on November 7, 1866. After completing his music study he played the violin and bassoon in numerous theater orchestras. He later distinguished himself as a theater conductor. In 1897 he had his first operetta produced in Berlin. Thereafter he wrote many operettas, all originally given in Berlin; he became one of the foremost exponents of the light musical theater in Germany of his time. The most famous were _Frau Luna_ (1899), _Fraeulein Loreley_ (1900), _Lysistrata_ (1902), _Prinzessin Rosine_ (1905), and _Casanova_ (1914). His last operetta was _Ein Liebestraum_, produced in Hamburg in 1940. From 1918 to 1920 he was conductor at the Folies-Bergère in Paris. He died in Klausthal-Zellernfeld, Germany, on September 3, 1946.

His most famous composition is a song from _Lysistrata_ (1902): “The Glow Worm” (“_Gluehwuermchen_”), which achieved phenomenal popularity throughout the world independent of the operetta. It is still famous both as a vocal composition and in orchestral transcriptions. A new vocal version, with amusing lyrics by Johnny Mercer, was published and popularized in the United States in 1952.

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary, on October 22, 1811. A prodigy pianist who made an impressive debut in Hungary when he was nine, Liszt was financed by several Hungarian noblemen to study the piano with Czerny in Vienna. In 1822, Liszt made a sensational debut in that city, and in 1824, after a period of additional study in Paris, an equally momentous appearance in the French capital. For the next three years Liszt concertized throughout Europe, becoming an idol of music audiences everywhere. Then, in 1827, he decided to abandon music for what he regarded as nobler pursuits. He devoted himself in turn to religion, politics, literature, and philosophy without finding the satisfaction he sought. Then, in 1830, he went back to music. For about two years he worked industriously on his piano technique, reassuming an imperial position among the virtuosos of his generation beginning with 1833. He combined profound musicianship and a phenomenal technique with such a flair for showmanship and self-aggrandizement, that it can be said that the modern piano virtuoso (both in the best and worst sense of that term) was born with him.

In 1848, Liszt came to Weimar to fulfill duties as Kapellmeister to the Grand Duke. The eleven-year period of this office represented music-making of the highest order, as Liszt devoted himself to presenting the foremost operatic and symphonic music in the best possible performances. He was indefatigable in propagandizing the music of the avant-garde composers of his day, reviving Wagner’s _Tannhaeuser_ and presenting the world première of that master’s _Lohengrin_ at a time when Wagner was in disrepute in Germany because of his revolutionary activities.

Finding himself incapable of maintaining the high standards he had set, and disturbed by the prevailing antagonism to his espousal of new music, Liszt left Weimar in 1859. Once again he sought refuge in a career outside music. In 1865 he submitted to the tonsure and entered the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi as abbé. But music was not abandoned. He taught the piano to gifted pupils who came to him from all parts of the world; and he wrote an abundant amount of music, mainly for the piano. He died in Bayreuth, Bavaria, on July 31, 1886, still at the height of his powers and fame as composer, pianist and teacher.

Liszt left a vast repertory of music, including tone poems, symphonies, piano concertos, songs, and a library of works for the piano. At his best he was a great innovator, and a creator of vast dramatic and poetic concepts. At worst, he was a showman shamelessly wooing his public with superficial effects and trivial material. Most of his works belong to the concert hall, but some of it has enormous popular appeal as salon music.

The most famous of the latter is the _Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2_ in C-sharp minor (1847), originally for piano solo but subsequently orchestrated by the composer himself. This was one of nineteen compositions in which Liszt developed the form of the rhapsody and helped to make it popular; which he filled with strong national feelings and the individual traits of Hungarian folk music. One of the features of all these rhapsodies is their dynamic alternation of slow and sensual music (called _lassan_) with fast, dramatic, exciting passages (called _friskan_). The second _Hungarian Rhapsody_ opens with a _lassan_, a slow, stately declamation. Then, after a clarinet cadenza, the _friskan_ appears, a spirited melody for violins and woodwind. After that fast and slow passages, soft and loud dynamics, and rapidly changing meters and rhythm help to generate excitement and create drama. The drama and the excitement of this music never seem to lose their impact however many times this rhapsody is listened to.

Of Liszt’s twelve tone poems for orchestra the most famous is _Les Préludes_ (1850). The tone poem, or symphonic poem, is Liszt’s creation in an attempt to bring to orchestral music the pictorial, dramatic and programmatic qualities of Wagner’s music dramas. Thus Liszt conceived a one-movement composition, flexible in form, in which a story is told, picture described, or poem interpreted. The inspiration for _Les Préludes_ is the _Méditations poétiques_ of Lamartine, from which several lines are quoted in the published score to provide the music with its program:

“What is life but a series of Preludes to that unknown song of which death strikes the first solemn note? Love is the magic dawn of every existence; but where is the life in which the first enjoyment of bliss is not dispelled by some tempest; its illusions scattered by some fatal breath; its altar consumed as by a thunderbolt? What soul, this cruelly hurt, but seeks to repose with its memories in the sweet calm of pastoral life? Yet no man is content to resign himself for long to the mild, beneficent charms of Nature, and when the trumpet gives the alarm he hastens to the post of danger, on whatever field he may be called to fight, so that once more he may find in action full consciousness of himself and the possession of all his powers.”

_Les Préludes_ opens with a dignified subject in the basses which is subjected to considerable change and amplification before the main melody is introduced. This melody is an elegiac song expressing the happiness of love; its first entrance comes in four horns, strings, and harp. The music is carried to a climactic point, after which a frenetic mood is projected. Plaintively the oboe recalls the main melody; a country dance tune is offered by the horn; and the main melody reappears with opulent treatment. Another section of storm and stress follows before the final majestic statement of the main melody.

Of Liszt’s voluminous writings for the piano, one composition above all others has won favor throughout the music world as a tender, and sentimental expression of love. It is the _Liebestraum_, “Love’s Dream.” Liszt actually wrote three _Liebesträume_, but it is the third of this set—in A-flat major (1850)—which is considered when we speak or hear of the _Liebestraum_. All of these three piano compositions are adaptations of songs by the same composer; the third _Liebestraum_ originated as “_O Lieb’, so lang du lieben kannst_,” words by Freiligrath.

Frederick Loewe

Frederick Loewe was born in Vienna, Austria, on June 10, 1904. A musical prodigy, he began to study the piano when he was five; started composition at seven; at thirteen made a successful appearance as pianist with the Berlin Symphony; and at fifteen was the composer of a hit song, “Katrina,” that sold over a million copies of sheet music in Europe. He received a thorough musical training from Busoni, Eugène d’Albert, and Emil Nikolaus Rezniček, winning the Hollander Medal for piano playing in 1923. One year after that he came to the United States. Unable to make any progress in his musical career, he spent the next decade traveling around the country and filling all sorts of odd jobs. He punched cattle, mined gold, served as a riding instructor, and even boxed professionally. Eventually he came back to New York where he found a job in a Greenwich Village café playing the piano. In 1938 four of his songs were heard in a Broadway musical, _Great Lady_, a failure. A meeting with Alan Jay Lerner, a young lyricist and librettist, brought him a gifted collaborator. They wrote a musical comedy that was produced by a stock company in Detroit, and another called _What’s Up_ that was seen on Broadway. Their first major success came with the Broadway musical, _Brigadoon_, in 1947. _My Fair Lady_, in 1956, was one of the greatest successes of the Broadway theater. They also helped make entertainment history further by writing songs for the motion picture musical, _Gigi_, the first to win nine Academy Awards, including one for Lerner and Loewe for the title song. In 1960, Lerner and Loewe wrote the Broadway musical _Camelot_ based on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

_Brigadoon_ was a whimsical Scottish fantasy which came to Broadway on March 13, 1947, book and lyrics by Lerner. Brigadoon is a mythical town in Scotland which comes to life for a single day once every hundred years. Two American tourists happen to come to Brigadoon during its one day of existence. They become a part of its quaint life, and one of them falls in love with a Scottish lass. The musical highlights include a song that became a hit in 1947, “Almost Like Being In Love,” and several that have a charming Scottish flavor, including “Come to Me, Bend to Me,” “The Heather on the Hill,” and “I’ll Come Home With Bonnie Jean.”

_My Fair Lady_, produced on March 15, 1956, was Lerner’s adaptation for the popular musical theater of Bernard Shaw’s _Pygmalion_. Eliza Doolittle, an ignorant flower girl and daughter of a cockney, is transformed by the phonetician, Professor Henry Higgins, into a cultivated lady who is successfully palmed off upon high English society as a duchess. Higgins falls in love with her and, though a long confirmed bachelor, finds he can no longer live without her. _My Fair Lady_ became one of the most highly acclaimed musical productions of recent memory; Brooks Atkinson called it “one of the best musicals of the century.” It achieved a fabulous Broadway run and was brought by many touring countries to all parts of the civilized world, including the Soviet Union. It captured one third of the honors annually conferred on the theater by the Antoinette Perry Awards. The original-cast recording sold over three million discs. The principal numbers from Loewe’s captivating score include three romantic songs, two of the Hit Parade variety (“I Could Have Danced All Night” and “On the Street Where You Live”) and the third, “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”; two atmospheric numbers that evoke musically the place and setting of the play, “The Ascot Gavotte” and “The Embassy Waltz”; and the two cockney ditties of Eliza’s father, “Get Me to the Church On Time” and “With a Little Bit of Luck.”

Albert Lortzing

Gustav Albert Lortzing was born in Berlin on October 23, 1801. His parents were actors compelled to lead an itinerant life which made it impossible for Albert to obtain any systematic education. His mother taught him music, the study of which he later continued briefly in Berlin with Rungenhagen. His first effort at composition consisted of some songs, but in 1824 he completed his first opera, _Ali Pascha von Janina_. From 1833 to 1844 he was employed as a tenor at the Municipal Theater in Leipzig, for which he wrote the comic opera _Die beiden Schuetzen_, successfully produced in 1837. He achieved his greatest success the same year with the comic opera, _Zar und Zimmermann_, which within a few years’ time became a favorite among theater audiences throughout Europe. His later operettas included _Der Wildschuetz_ (_The Poacher_) in 1842 and _Der Waffenschmied_ (_The Armourer_) in 1846, while one of his finest romantic operas was _Undine_ in 1845. Lortzing also filled several engagements as conductor of operas and operettas in Leipzig, Vienna and Berlin, and as an opera impresario. He died in Berlin on January 21, 1851, one day after his last opera, _Die Opernprobe_ (_The Opera Rehearsal_) was introduced in Frankfort.

Lortzing was one of the earliest and most successful exponents of German national comic opera; and _Czar and the Carpenter_ (_Zar und Zimmermann_) was his masterwork. It was first produced in Leipzig on December 22, 1837. The music is consistently light and tuneful, frequently in the style of German folk songs. The libretto, by the composer, is a delightful comedy based on an actual historic episode: the escapade of Peter the Great of Russia in Holland where he worked as a carpenter. In the Lortzing comic opera, Peter the Great is a carpenter on a ship at Saardam where he meets a compatriot, also named Peter, who is a deserter. Temporarily they become rivals for the affection of Mary. After the arrival of the Ambassadors from France and England to seek out the Emperor, the latter quietly departs for his homeland, leaving behind him both money and an official pardon for the other Peter. The gay spirit of the comic opera as a whole is magically caught not only in its vivacious overture, but in several familiar excerpts. The most notable are: the Burgomaster’s comic entrance song, “_O sancta justa_”; in the second act, the Wedding Chorus, and the French Ambassador’s beautiful air, “_Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch’ Maedchen_”; in the third act the vigorous _Clog Dance_ (_Holzschutanz_), and the very famous air of Czar Peter, “_Sonst spielt’ ich mit Zepter_.”

Alexandre Luigini

Alexandre Luigini was born in Lyons, France, on March 9, 1850. He was the son of the distinguished conductor of the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. After attending the Paris Conservatory—where he was a pupil of Massenet and Massart among others—the younger Luigini played the violin in his father’s orchestra. In 1870 he began a successful career as ballet composer with _Le Rêve de Nicette_, given in Lyons. His greatest success came with the _Ballet Égyptien_, first seen in Lyons in 1875. For twenty years Luigini was the conductor of the Grand Theater in Lyons and professor of harmony at the Lyons Conservatory. Until the end of his life he was the conductor of the Opéra-Comique in Paris. He died in Paris on July 29, 1906.

An orchestral suite derived from some of the most attractive pages of the _Ballet Égyptien_ score is a favorite of bands and salon orchestras everywhere. This is music striking for its Oriental-type melodies and harmonies, and for its colorful orchestral hues. The first two movements are particularly popular. The first begins with a strong and stately theme, but midway comes a gayer section in an exotic Oriental style. The second movement highlights a capricious subject for the woodwind, once again in a recognizable Oriental style.

Hans Christian Lumbye

Hans Christian Lumbye was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 2, 1810. As a young man he played in military bands. He then formed an orchestra of his own which achieved extraordinary fame throughout Copenhagen (specifically at the Tivoli) with light musical programs. For these concerts Lumbye produced a library of light music: waltzes, galops, polkas, marches, and so forth. This music is so filled with infectious tunes and pulsating rhythms—and they are so light in heart and spirit—that they have won for their composer the sobriquet of “The Johann Strauss of the North” and the status of Denmark’s foremost creator of semi-classical music. He died in Copenhagen on March 20, 1874.

Lumbye’s dance pieces are played wherever there is a salon, pop or café-house orchestra. Among his best waltzes are _Amelie_, _Hesperus_, and _Sophie_. Other successful Lumbye compositions are the _Columbine Mazurka_, the _Champagne Galop_, _Concert Polka_, _Dream Pictures_, _An_ _Evening at the Tivoli_, _King Frederick VII Homage March_, and the _Railway Galop_.

Edward MacDowell

Edward Alexander Macdowell, one of America’s most significant 19th-century composers, was born in New York City on December 18, 1861. After preliminary music study with private teachers, he attended the Paris Conservatory from 1876 to 1878, and the Frankfort Conservatory in Germany from 1879 to 1881. Maintaining his home in Germany, MacDowell joined the faculty of the Darmstadt Conservatory in 1881, and in 1882 he made an official bow as a composer by introducing his first piano concerto in Zurich, and his _Modern Suite_ for piano in Germany. He returned to the United States in 1888, settling in Boston where a year later the Boston Symphony under Gericke introduced his now-famous Second Piano Concerto, the composer appearing as soloist. From then on, most of his important symphonic works were introduced by the Boston Symphony, placing him in the vanguard of American composers of that period. In 1896 he filled the first chair of music created at Columbia University in New York; at that time he was described as “the greatest musical genius America has produced.” MacDowell resigned in 1904 after sharp differences with the trustees of the University over the way a music department should be run. The bitterness and frustrations suffered by MacDowell during this altercation with the University undermined and finally broke his always delicate health. His brain tissues became affected. From 1905 on he was a victim of insanity, spending his time in an innocent, childlike state, until his death in New York City on January 23, 1908. Shortly after his death the MacDowell Memorial Association was founded to establish a retreat for American creative artists on MacDowell’s summer residence in Peterborough, New Hampshire, which MacDowell’s widow had deeded to the Association.

A composer whose artistic roots lay deep in the soil of German Romanticism, MacDowell was a composer who filled his writing with noble poetic sentiments and the most sensitive emotions. His sense of style and his feeling for structure were the last words in elegance, and his lyricism and harmonic language were ever ingratiatingly inviting to the ear.

The _Indian Suite_, op. 48 (1892) is the second of MacDowell’s suites for orchestra. It is one of several works in which MacDowell uses melodic and rhythmic material of the American Indian, blending this idiom with his usual sensitive and poetic style. This is one of MacDowell’s most popular works for orchestra. The first movement, “Legend,” has a slow introduction in which the main melody is given by three unaccompanied horns in unison. The melody is taken over by other instruments and developed. Here the material comes from a sacred ceremony of Iroquois Indians. The second movement is “Love Song,” whose principal subject is immediately given by the woodwind; this melody is derived from the music of Iowa Indians. “War Time” follows, a movement dominated by a melody to which Indians of the Atlantic Coast ascribed supernatural origin. This melody is heard in the first sixteen measures in two unison unaccompanied flutes. A subsidiary section follows. “Dirge,” the fourth movement, is a woman’s song of mourning for an absent son, come from the Kiowa Indians. The mournful melody is heard in muted violins. The suite ends with “Village Festival,” in which two light and vivacious melodies from the Iroquois Indians are presented; the first is a woman’s dance, and the second a war song.

The most familiar pieces of music written by MacDowell—_To a Water Lily_ and _To a Wild Rose_—come from the _Woodland Sketches_, op. 51 (1896), a suite for solo piano made up of ten sections, each a descriptive poem in tones. In this suite MacDowell became one of the first American composers to interpret the beauty of American scenes and countrysides in delicate melodies. Both _To a Water Lily_ and _To a Wild Rose_ are exquisite tone pictures of Nature, and both have enjoyed numerous transcriptions. The other eight movements of the _Woodland Sketches_ are: _Will o’ the Wisp_, _At an Old Trysting Place_, _In Autumn_, _From an Old Indian Lodge_, _From Uncle Remus_, _A Deserted Farm_, _By a Meadow Brook_, and _Told at Sunset_.

Albert Hay Malotte

Albert Hay Malotte was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 19, 1895. The son of a choirmaster, he himself was a boy chorister, at the St. James Episcopal Church in his native city. After his music studies were completed in Paris and London, he served as organist in Chicago and London. In 1927 he opened a school for organists in Los Angeles, but when sound came to the screen he gave up the school to write music for the films. He subsequently joined the music staff at the Walt Disney studio, creating music for several of Disney’s animated cartoons, including _Ferdinand the Bull_. He has written ballets, choral music, and songs, besides scores for motion pictures, having received early in his career as composer important advice, guidance and encouragement from Victor Herbert.

Malotte is most famous for his song, “The Lord’s Prayer,” published in 1935, and since become a favorite of concert singers everywhere. Its deep religious sentiment, and the exciting dramatic thrust of its concluding measures, have an inescapable impact on audiences.

Gabriel Marie

Gabriel Marie was born in Paris, France, on January 8, 1852. After completing his music study at the Paris Conservatory he served for six years as chorusmaster of the Lamoureux Orchestra. Between 1887 and 1894 he conducted the concerts of the Société nationale de musique. He later led the orchestral performances in Bordeaux and Marseilles, and during the summers at the Vichy Casino. He was traveling in Spain when he died there suddenly on August 29, 1928.

Marie was a successful composer of light music for orchestra. The one composition which has survived is _La Cinquantaine_, a sentimental piece for orchestra which is also famous in adaptations for violin and piano, or cello and piano. Marie described this work as an “air in the old style.” It is in three-part song form. The first and third parts consist of a light, delicate little air; the middle section is in a slower and statelier style.

Martini il Tedesco

Jean Paul Égide Martini—sometimes called “Il Tedesco” or “The German” to distinguish him from Padre Martini the famous 18th century Italian composer and theorist—was born in Freistadt, in the Palatinate, on September 1, 1741. His real name is Schwarzendorf. After completing the study of the organ and serving for a while as church organist, he won a prize for a military march for the Swiss Guard. For many years he was an officer of a Hussar regiment. During this military service he completed an opera, _L’Amoureux de quinze ans_ (successfully introduced in Paris in 1771) and a considerable amount of band music. After leaving the army, he served as music director for the Prince of Condé and the Comte d’Artois; as conductor at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris; and as Inspector and teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatory. He died in Paris on February 10, 1816.

The composer of twelve operas, some church music and many songs, Martini is today remembered for a single song—the eloquent and tender love melody, “_Plaisir d’amour_,” written originally for voice and harp, and arranged by Berlioz for voice and orchestra. Since Berlioz’ time it has enjoyed numerous instrumental adaptations. Effective use of the song, as recurring theme music, was made in the American motion picture starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer, _Love Affair_ (1939).

Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni was born in Leghorn, Italy, on December 7, 1863. He studied music with private teachers in Leghorn, then for several years attended the Milan Conservatory. In 1884 he was appointed conductor of the municipal band in Cerignola. Meanwhile in 1880 he had completed his first opera, _Pinotta_. Success as composer came later in 1890 with the world première of the opera, _Cavalleria Rusticana_ in Rome. A sensation when first introduced, _Cavalleria Rusticana_ made the rounds of the world capitals to enjoy a triumph experienced by few operas before or since. Mascagni wrote many operas after that. Though he enjoyed varying degrees of success with _L’Amico Fritz_ in 1891 and _Iris_ in 1898, he never again duplicated the acclaim given _Cavalleria Rusticana_; and it is still the only one of his operas performed in the world’s foremost opera houses. As he himself once said sadly: “It is a pity I wrote _Cavalleria_ first. I was crowned before I became king.” Mascagni made many tours as a conductor. He visited the United States in 1902 in performances of several of his operas, and South America in 1911. In 1929 he succeeded Toscanini as musical director of La Scala in Milan. Identifying himself closely with the Fascist regime—even to the point of writing an opera, _Nerone_, glorifying Mussolini—Mascagni was subjected to considerable abuse and attack after World War II. He was deprived of his property and other assets. The last year of his life was lived in poverty and disrepute in a small hotel room in Rome, where he died on August 2, 1945.

_Cavalleria Rusticana_ is a one-act opera, libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci based on a short story by Giovanni Verga. The setting is Sicily in the latter part of the 19th century. Turiddu, a soldier, is in love with Lola, wife of Alfio, a teamster. But he has also conducted an illicit affair with Santuzza. When Turiddu rudely rejects Santuzza, she finds revenge by revealing to Alfio the love intrigue existing between Lola and Turiddu. In the duel that follows Alfio kills Turiddu.

The most celebrated single excerpt from the opera is the melodious Intermezzo for orchestra which accompanies the departing townspeople as they leave church after the Easter services. This music is radiant with the holiness and serenity of the Easter holiday.

Other popular excerpts include the lovely Siciliana, “_O Lola bianca_,” a tenor aria which is sung offstage and breaks into the middle of the opening orchestral prelude; this is a serenade by Turiddu to Lola, sung to harp accompaniment. Santuzza’s passionate aria, “_Voi lo sapete_” is the one in which she first discloses to Alfio that his wife and Turiddu are lovers. Turiddu’s deeply emotional aria, “_Addio alla madre_” is his poignant farewell to his mother just before he engages in the duel in which he meets his doom.

Jules Massenet

Jules Massenet was born in Montaud in the Loire region of France on May 12, 1842. He entered the Paris Conservatory when he was nine, subsequently winning prizes in fugue and piano playing and, in 1863, the Prix de Rome. Four years later his first opera, _La Grand’ Tante_, was produced in Paris. During the Franco-Prussian War he was a member of the National Guard. After the war, he achieved recognition as a composer with his incidental music to _Les Érynnies_, an oratorio _Marie Magdaleine_, and an opera _Le Roi de Lahore_. In 1878 he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the youngest man ever to receive this honor, and was appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. He held the latter post until his death with outstanding distinction. His most significant operas appeared between 1880 and 1900, and included _Hérodiade_ (1881), _Manon_ (1884), _Le Cid_ (1885), _Werther_ (1892), _Thaïs_ (1894) and _Sapho_ (1897). He died in Paris on August 13, 1912.

A style that had lyrical charm, tender feelings, and poetic content placed Massenet with the foremost French composers for the lyric theater. The same qualities are found to a large degree in his instrumental compositions, and endow them with their immense audience appeal. He had a vein of tenderness that was his uniquely, often contrasting this with striking passion and intensity. A master of many different moods and emotions, he was able to convey them in music that is suave and polished in the best French tradition.

_Alsatian Scenes_ (_Scènes alsaciennes_) is one of Massenet’s most popular orchestral compositions. It is the seventh of his suites for orchestra and was written in 1881. For each of its four movements the composer provided an explicit program. About the first movement, “Sunday Morning” (“_Dimanche matin_”) the composer writes: “I recall with particular delight the Alsatian village Sunday morning at the hour of divine service; the streets deserted, the houses empty except for the elderly ones who sun themselves before their doors. The church is full, and the sacred hymns are heard at intervals in passing.” “The Tavern” (“_Au cabaret_”) is described as the happy meeting place of his friends “with its little windows framed with lead, garlanded with hops and roses.... ‘Ho, Schmidt, some wine!’ And the songs of the forest rangers going to shooting matches. Oh, the joyous life and the gay companions!” “Under the Linden Trees” (“_Sous les tilleuls_”) depicts pictorially “the edge of the fields on a Sunday afternoon, the long avenue of linden trees, in the shadow of which, hand in hand, quietly talks a pair of lovers.” The suite ends with “Sunday Evening” (“_Dimanche soir: Air alsacien, Retraite française_”). “In the market place, what noise, what movement! Everyone at the doorsteps, groups of young gallants in the streets, and dances which embody in rhythm the songs of the country. Eight o’clock! The noise of the drums, the blare of the trumpets—’tis the retreat! The French retreat! And when in the distance the sound of the drum died down, the women called their children in the street, the old men relighted their big old pipes, and to the sounds of violins the dance is joyously recommenced in smaller circles, with couples closer.”

The ballet music for _Le Cid_ is strikingly appealing for its exotic melodies and lambent orchestral colors. This opera, text by Louis Gallet and Edouard Blau, is based on Corneille’s tragedy; its première performance took place in Paris on November 30, 1885. The setting is 12th century Burgos, in Spain, where Rodrigo called Le Cid, or The Conqueror, kills Chimène’s father in a duel. She seeks vengeance but is unable to carry it out because she has fallen in love with him. The ballet music appears in the second scene of the second act. A public square is alive and colorful with dancing crowds, and six dances are performed in rapid succession, some with melodic and rhythmic material derived by Massenet from Spanish folk sources. These are the dances: “_Castillane_,” a highly rhythmic dance found in the Castille region of Spain; “_Andalouse_,” a sinuous, gypsy-like dance from Andalusia; “_Aragonaise_,” a dance popular in the Aragon district; “_Aubade_,” a gentle lyrical section; “_Catalane_,” a dance popular in Catalonia; “_Madrilène_,” a two-part dance from Madrid, the first quiet and introspective, the second dynamic; and “_Navarraise_,” a dance from Navarre.

The popular “_Élégie_,” a plangent melody muted in its grief, comes from the incidental music to _Les Érynnies_ with which Massenet first won acclaim in 1873. The play, by Charles Marie Leconte based on Aeschylus, was produced with Massenet’s music at the Odéon in Paris. Here the “_Élégie_” appeared as “_Invocation_,” scored for string orchestra. Later on Massenet arranged this section for cello and piano, and it was upon this occasion that he renamed the piece _Élégie_. It was later on also transcribed for violin and piano, and adapted into a song with lyrics by E. Gallet.

Three other sections from _Les Érynnies_ have almost as much emotional appeal as the _Élégie_, but in varied moods. The “Entr’acte” is a passionate song for unison violins over a disturbed accompaniment. “Grecian Dance” begins with a vivacious dance tune for two flutes in thirds. A slow dialogue ensues between oboes and clarinets, in which the main subject has an Oriental identity. A fast section brings this movement to a close. “_Scène religieuse_” is a graceful, at times solemn, minuet in which a solo cello provides the main melody.

The famous opera _Manon_ (1884) has two delightful dance episodes that are particularly well known, a gavotte and a minuet. _Manon_ was based on the famous tale of Abbé Prévost, _L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut_, adapted by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. Its setting is France in the 18th century, and in the spirit of that place and time Massenet recreated two old-world dances, both of them appearing in the first scene of the third act, during a festival-day celebration in Paris. Before the curtain goes up, the graceful music of the minuet is heard in the orchestra as an entr’acte. After the rise of the curtain, and the appearance of Manon, she expresses her hedonistic philosophy of life in a gavotte (“_Obéissons quand leur voix appelle_”). This gavotte is often heard in an exclusively instrumental arrangement.

The _Phèdre Overture_ (1876) is another of Massenet’s frequently performed orchestral compositions. The music closely follows the action of the Racine tragedy, in which Phedre—daughter of King Minos and wife of Theseus—falls in love with Theseus’ son, Hippolytus, who fails to respond to her passion. The overture begins in a gloomy mood, forecasting ominously the imminent tragedy awaiting Phedre and Hippolytus. Phedre’s grief over her unreciprocated love is suggested by a passionate subject for clarinet; a second equally passionate melody brings us the picture of Hippolytus sent to his doom by an irate father. Violins in unison now bring us a rapturous melody speaking of Phedre’s love, while a fiery dramatic section that follows tells of the doom awaiting Hippolytus at the hands of Neptune.

_Picturesque Scenes_ (_Scènes pittoresques_) is the fourth of Massenet’s suites for orchestra, completed in 1873. There are four short, tuneful sections: “March” (“_Marche_”), “Air de Ballet,” “Angelus” and “Bohemian Festival” (“_Fête bohème_”). The religious music of the third movement, “Angelus,” with its solemn tolling of bells, is the most popular section of this suite, frequently performed separately from the other movements.

Second only to the “_Élégie_” in popularity among Massenet’s best-loved melodies is the “Meditation” which comes from the opera _Thaïs_. This excerpt is an orchestral entr’acte with violin obbligato heard just before the first scene of the second act. The opera, libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel of Anatole France, describes the degradation of Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, because of his unholy passion for Thaïs, a courtesan. The radiant music of the “Meditation” describes Thaïs’ renunciation of a life of pleasure for one of the spirit.

Robert McBride

Robert Guyn McBride was born in Tucson, Arizona, on February 20, 1911. As a boy he learned to play the clarinet and saxophone. He later played both instruments in various dance orchestras. In 1933 he was graduated from the University of Arizona, and a year after that received there his Master’s degree. Having studied the oboe in college, he played that instrument with the Tucson Symphony for several years. Then, after additional study of the piano, composition and voice, he joined the music faculty of Bennington College in Vermont in 1935, holding this post eleven years. During this period he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1942, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him a prize for creating a “new idiom in American music.” McBride has made successful use of jazz, popular and folk elements in serious chamber-music and orchestral compositions.

The _Mexican Rhapsody_ (1936) is one of McBride’s best known works for orchestra. He wrote it in Arizona while studying at the University. It was first presented in Tucson in a two-piano arrangement, then in its definitive orchestral version, and finally as a choreographic presentation. McBride here makes a colorful and freshly conceived presentation of four Mexican folk songs familiar to many: “_El Rancho Grande_,” “_Jarabe_” (or “Hat Dance”), “_Cuatro Milpas_,” and “_La Cucaracha_.”

McBride has written several interesting compositions in a jazz style. One of the best is the _Strawberry Jam_ (1942). This is a caricature of a jazzband jam session, but with the utilization of modern harmonies and symphonic orchestration. _Stuff in G_, for orchestra (1942), is in the racy, tuneful style of Tin Pan Alley, while _Swing Stuff_ (1941) brings to the symphonic orchestra the improvisational devices and techniques and the beat of Swing music.

Harl McDonald

Harl Mcdonald was born in Boulder, Colorado, on July 27, 1899. His music study took place in Redlands, California and at the University of Southern California. The winning of prizes from the American Federation of Music Clubs for two orchestral works enabled him to go to Europe and attend the Leipzig Conservatory. In Germany, his symphonic fantasy, _Mojave_, was successfully introduced by the Berlin State Opera Orchestra. After returning to the United States he was appointed in 1926 to the music faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he later became professor of music, and finally head of the music department. At the University he conducted various choral groups which appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1939 until his death he was manager of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which introduced many of his orchestral compositions. McDonald wrote four symphonies, a two-piano concerto, a violin concerto, and various suites and tone poems for orchestra. He died in Princeton, New Jersey, on March 30, 1955.

The _Children’s Symphony_ was a work intended to teach children something about symphonic form through melodies they knew and loved. The form of the symphony is adhered to—in the presentation of two themes, their development, and recapitulation. Simple and unsophisticated, this symphony makes ideal listening for children, but there is enough charm here to provide considerable enjoyment to older people as well. In the first movement, McDonald uses for his two main themes, “London Bridge” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep.” In the second movement we hear “Little Bo Peep” and “Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?”; in the third, “Farmer in the Dell” and “Jingle Bells”; and in the finale, “Honey Bee” and “Snow Is Falling On My Garden.”

_Rhumba_, for symphony orchestra, is the third movement of McDonald’s Symphony No. 2 (1935). But this movement (which in the symphony displaces the conventional scherzo) is so popular that it is often played apart from the rest of the work. The symphony itself was inspired by the turbulent 1930’s, with its labor conflicts, breadlines, unemployment, and depression. _Rhumba_ injected a gay note into these somber proceedings, attempting to interpret “the passionate search after good times and diversions, and the restless pursuit of intoxicated pleasures,” as the composer explained. McDonald goes on to say that he here used the rumba rhythm because he liked it and because it seemed to him to be the pulse of those times.

Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn-bartholdy was born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 3, 1809. His grandfather was the famous philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn; his father, a successful banker. Both were of Jewish origin. When Felix was still a boy, however, his immediate family was converted to Protestantism, the occasion upon which they added the name of “Bartholdy” to their own to distinguish them from the other members of their family. A pupil of Ludwig Berger and Karl Friedrich Zelter, Felix was extraordinarily precocious in music. When he was seven and a half he made a successful appearance as pianist in Berlin; by the time he was twelve he had already written operas and symphonies; and in his seventeenth year he produced an unqualified masterwork in the _Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. In 1827, one of his operas was produced in Berlin, but by that time he had already completed thirteen symphonies and a library of chamber music as well.

In 1829, Mendelssohn conducted in Berlin the first performance of Bach’s _Passion According to St. Matthew_ to be given since Bach’s own day. This concert became a powerful influence in reviving interest in Bach’s music, which at that time had been languishing in both neglect and obscurity. A few weeks after Mendelssohn had directed a repeat performance, he made his first trip to England where he led the première of a new symphony and was made honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic. A tour of Scotland that followed immediately was the inspiration for his overture, _Fingal’s Cave_.

In 1833, Mendelssohn served as musical director of the city of Duesseldorf. He held this post only six months. Much more significant was his engagement as the principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig in 1835 which, during the five years of his leadership, was elevated to a position of first importance among the world’s symphony orchestras.

In 1841, Mendelssohn became head of the music department of a projected Academy of Arts in Berlin. This appointment did not prevent him from visiting England where he was received with an adulation accorded to no foreign musician since Handel. Returning to Berlin he found that the Academy of Arts project had been abandoned. He was now made Kapellmeister to the King, an honorary post allowing him complete freedom of activity and movement. During the next few years he conducted concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and paid two more highly successful visits to England. He was also instrumental in helping to found the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843. Always of delicate health and sensibilities, Mendelssohn collapsed at the news that his beloved sister, Fanny, died in 1847. He died in Leipzig soon after that, on November 4, 1847.

The finest qualities of German Romantic music can be found in Mendelssohn. He had the Romantic’s partiality for fantasy and the supernatural, together with the lightness of touch with which to create such worlds through music. He had the Romantic’s gift for translating natural scenes, landscapes and lyric poetry into sensitive tone pictures. He had a most winning lyricism and graceful harmonic and orchestral gift, and he never lacked the ability to charm and enchant his listeners with the most tender and lovable musical expression. Other composers may have written profounder or more emotionally stirring music than Mendelssohn; but no one could be more ingratiating, sensitive, or refined. Some of Mendelssohn’s serious symphonic works are so full of the most wonderful melodies and beguiling moods that they have the universal appeal of semi-classics.

The concert overture, _Fingal’s Cave_, or as it is also sometimes known, _Hebrides Overture_, op. 26 (1832) was inspired by the composer’s visit to the Scottish Highlands in 1830. The opening theme in lower strings and bassoons suggests the roll of the waves at the mouth of a cave, a melody that came to the composer while visiting the caves of Staffa. This idea is developed, then a second beautiful melody unfolds in cellos and bassoons.

The orchestral suite, _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, op. 61 is derived from the incidental music comprising thirteen numbers which Mendelssohn wrote for a Potsdam production of the Shakespeare comedy in 1843; the Overture, however, was a fruit of the composer’s youth, having been written in 1826. The magic world of fairies and elves which Mendelssohn projected so delicately in his youthful overture is preserved in many of the numbers he wrote seventeen years later. The Overture, op. 21, is initiated with four sensitive chords, and proceeds with fleeting, diaphanous music for strings with which we are suddenly plunged in fairyland. The main thematic material to follow comprises a haunting song for horn, a romantic episode for woodwind and strings, and a sprightly fairy dance for strings.

Three other musical sections from this incidental music, and basic to the orchestral suite, are famous. The “Nocturne” is a broad, moody song for horns. The “Scherzo”—like the Overture—is a picture of the world of fairies, gnomes and elves, though in a more energetic and spirited vein. The “Wedding March” is now one of the most frequently played pieces of wedding music, second in popularity only to Wagner’s wedding music from _Lohengrin_; it first became popular as wedding music at the nuptials of the English Princess in London in 1858. A trumpet fanfare leads to the dignified march melody which is twice alternated with melodious trio sections.

“On Wings of Song” (“_Auf Fluegeln des Gesanges_”), op. 34, no. 2 (1834) is Mendelssohn’s best-known song, a melody of incomparable loveliness and serenity. The poem is by Heine. Franz Liszt transcribed it for piano; Joseph Achron for violin and piano; Lionel Tertis for viola and piano. It has also enjoyed various orchestral transcriptions.

_Ruy Blas_, op. 95 (1839)—like _Fingal’s Cave_—is a concert overture for orchestra; here the inspiration is the drama of Victor Hugo. Four solemn bars for wind instruments lead to the principal subject, first violins and flutes; clarinets, bassoons, and cellos later offer the second contrasting staccato theme.

The _Spinning Song_ and the _Spring Song_ are both instrumental favorites, and both come from the _Songs Without Words_ (_Lieder ohne Worte_), for solo piano. The form of “song without words” is a creation of Mendelssohn: a brief composition of such essentially lyric character that it is virtually a “song” for the piano. Mendelssohn wrote forty-eight such pieces gathered in eight books. The _Spinning Song_ in C major appears in op. 67 as the fourth number (1844). This is a tender melody placed against a rhythmic background suggesting the whirring of a spinning wheel. The _Spring Song_ in A major is surely one of the most familiar tonal pictures of the vernal season to be found in the semi-classical literature; it appears in op. 62 (1842) as the concluding number. Both the _Spinning Song_ and _Spring Song_ appear in all kinds and varieties of transcriptions.

The stirring _War March of the Priests_ is a number from the incidental music for Racine’s drama, _Athalie_, op. 74 (1843); this incidental music was first performed with the Racine play in Berlin in 1845.

Giacomo Meyerbeer

Giacomo Meyerbeer was born in Berlin, Germany, on September 5, 1791. His name, at birth, was Jakob Liebmann Beer. When Meyer, a rich relative, left him a legacy, he decided to change his name to Meyerbeer; some years later upon initiating a career as composer of Italian operas he Italianized his name. His music study took place with Clementi, Zelter, Anselm Weber and Vogler, the last of whom encouraged him to write his first opera, _Jephtha’s Vow_ (_Jephtha’s Geluebde_), a failure when first performed in Munich in 1812. A second opera, performed in Stuttgart, was also a failure; Meyerbeer now seriously entertained the thought of abandoning composition altogether. The noted Viennese composer and teacher, Antonio Salieri, however, convinced him what he needed was more study. This took place in Italy where for several years Meyerbeer assimilated Italian traditions of opera. His first endeavor in this style was _Romilda e Costanza_, a success when introduced in Padua in 1817. During the next few years Meyerbeer wrote several more operas, some of them on commission, and became one of Italy’s most highly regarded composers for the stage. In 1826, Meyerbeer settled in Paris where association with composers like Cherubini and Halévy, made him impatient with the kind of operas he had thus far created. In 1831, with _Robert le Diable_, he entered upon a new artistic phase in which Italian methods, procedures and traditions were discarded in favor of the French. _Robert le Diable_, produced at the Opera on November 21, 1831 was a sensation. Meyerbeer continued writing operas in the French style for the remainder of his life. These are the operas by which he is most often represented in the world’s opera theaters: _Les Huguenots_ (1836), _Le Prophète_ (1849), and _L’Africaine_ (1865). Meyerbeer died in Paris on May 2, 1864.

Meyerbeer was an exponent of drama in the grand style, his finest operas being filled with big climactic scenes, elaborate stage effects, and eye-filling visual displays. But he also had a pronounced dramatic gift, one which evoked from Wagner the highest admiration; and a pronounced expressiveness of lyricism.

_L’Africaine_ (_The African_) is Meyerbeer’s last opera, and many regarded it as his best. He completed it in 1864 just before his death, and its world première at the Paris Opera took place posthumously on April 28, 1865. The text, by Eugène Scribe, is set in Lisbon and Madagascar in the 15th century. The main action concerns the love of Selika, an African queen, for the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama; Da Gama in turn is loved by Inez, daughter of Don Diego. Selika offers the explorer a secret route to the land of which she is queen, Madagascar, and with which Da Gama becomes enraptured. But when Inez appears, he abandons Selika for her, and leaves the magic island. Heartbroken, Selika kills herself by breathing the deadly fragrance of a manchineel tree.

The opera’s most popular excerpt is Vasco da Gama’s rapturous tenor aria from the fourth act in which he describes the beauty of Madagascar, “_O Paradis_.” Another vocal favorite is the baritone ballad of Nelusko, slave of Selika, “_Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes_”; as he steers the ship bearing Selika and Vasco da Gama to Madagascar he sings of Adamastor, monarch of the sea, who sends ships to their doom on treacherous reefs.

The _Coronation March_ (_Marche du couronnement_)—music of pomp and circumstance—comes from the opera _Le Prophète_, first performed at the Paris Opéra on April 16, 1849. Eugène Scribe’s libretto is based on an actual historical episode in 16th century Holland centered around the Anabaptist uprising, with John of Leyden, leader of the Anabaptists, as the principal character. In Act four, scene two, John is being crowned king outside the Muenster Cathedral. As a magnificent royal procession enters the Cathedral, the music of the _Coronation March_ matches in splendor and grandeur the visual majesty of this scene. Another popular musical excerpt for orchestra from this opera is Prelude to Act 3, a colorful and rhythmic Quadrille that leads into the opening scene of that act, providing the lively musical background for a ballet and ice-carnival skating scene. Liszt made a technically brilliant transcription for the piano of this Quadrille music.

_Les Huguenots_ (_The Huguenots_) was first performed at the Paris Opéra on February 29, 1836, the year it was completed; the libretto was by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps. In 16th century Touraine and Paris, Raoul, a Huguenot nobleman, has saved the life of Valentine, daughter of the Catholic leader, St. Bris. She falls in love with Raoul, but the latter repudiates her, believing her to be the mistress of Count de Nevers. When he discovers he has been mistaken, Raoul risks his life to see her. During this visit he overhears a Catholic plot to massacre the Huguenots. After Raoul and Valentine get married, they are both murdered in the massacre—Valentine by her own father.

The Overture to _Les Huguenots_ is built almost entirely from the melody of the famous Lutheran chorale, _Ein’ feste Burg_, which in the opera itself served as the musical symbol for militant Protestantism. The outstanding individual excerpts from the opera include Raoul’s beautiful romance from Act 1 describing the woman he has saved, “_Plus blanche que la blanche hermine_”; the rhapsodic description in the second act of the Touraine countryside by Marguerite de Valois, betrothed to Henry IV of Navarre, “_O beau pays de la Touraine_”; and in the fourth act the stirring “Benediction of the Swords,” (“_Gloire au grand Dieu vengeur_”) with which the Catholics are blessed by three monks on the eve of their holy war against the Huguenots.

The exciting _Torch Dance_, No. 1, in B-flat is not from one of Meyerbeer’s operas. It was written in 1846 for the wedding of the King of Bavaria, and originally was scored for brass band. It is now most frequently heard in orchestral adaptations. Meyerbeer subsequently wrote two other _Torch Dances_: the second in 1850 for the wedding of Princess Charlotte of Prussia, and the third in 1853 for the wedding of Princess Anne of Prussia.

Karl Milloecker

Karl Milloecker was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 29, 1842. His father, a jeweler, wanted him to enter the family business, but from his childhood on, Karl was drawn to music. After studying music with private teachers, he attended the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Meanwhile, in his sixteenth year, he supported himself by playing the flute in a theater orchestra. When his music study ended, he became conductor of a theater in Graz in 1864; there his first operetta was produced one year later. In 1866 he was back in Vienna, and from 1869 to 1883 he was principal conductor at the Theater-an-der-Wien where most of his famous operettas were produced including _Countess Du Barry_ (_Graefin DuBarry_) in 1879, _The Beggar Student_ (_Der Bettelstudent_) in 1882, _Gasparone_ in 1884, and _Poor Jonathan_ (_Der arme Jonathan_) in 1890. Milloecker died in Baden, near Vienna, on December 31, 1899.

Milloecker’s most famous operetta is _The Beggar Student_ (_Der Bettelstudent_), which was first produced at the Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna on December 6, 1882, and after that enjoyed highly successful performances at the Casino Theater in New York in 1883, and the Alhambra in London in 1884. The scene is Cracow, Poland; the time, 1704. General Ollendorf, spurned by Laura, evolves an elaborate plot to avenge himself. He finances the impoverished student, Symon, dresses him up as a lord, and sends him off to woo and win Laura. Only after the wedding does the General reveal the fact that Symon is a beggar. Just as disgrace faces the young man, he becomes involved in a successful maneuver to restore the rejected Polish king to his throne. Thus he acquires wealth and a title, and is welcomed with pride and love by Laura and her mother. Potpourris and selections from this tuneful operetta always include the principal waltz melody which comes as a first act finale, “_Ach ich hab’ sie ja nur auf die Schulter gekuesst_.” Other delightful excerpts include Symon’s mazurka, “_Ich knuepfte manche zarte Bande_,” his lament “_Ich hab’ kein Geld_,” and the second act duet of Symon and Laura, “_Ich setz den Fall_.”

Moritz Moszkowski

Moritz Moszkowski was born in Breslau, Germany, on August 23, 1854. He received his musical training at three leading German Conservatories: the Dresden Conservatory, the Stern Conservatory and Kullak Academy in Berlin. He began a career as pianist in 1873, touring Europe with outstanding success. He also achieved recognition as a teacher of the piano at the Kullak Academy. In 1897, he went into retirement in Paris where he lived for the remainder of his life. In 1899 he was elected a member of the Berlin Academy. Towards the end of his life his financial resources were completely depleted, and his fame as composer, pianist, and teacher had long been eclipsed. He died in poverty and obscurity in Paris on March 4, 1925.

Though he wrote operas, ballets, suites, concertos and a symphony, Moszkowski was at his best—and is most famous today—for his lighter music in a Spanish idiom. Typical of his music in this style were the rhythmic _Bolero_, op. 12, no. 5, for piano solo; the languorous and haunting _Guitarre_, op. 45, no. 2, for piano solo (transcribed by Pablo de Sarasate for violin and piano); and the dashing _Malagueña_, from the opera _Boabdil_.

But his most celebrated compositions are the delightful _Spanish Dances_, opp. 12, and 65, two books of pieces for piano solo or piano duo, which have been arranged for orchestra. The most popular are the first in C major, the second in G minor, and the fifth (a bolero) in D major. While none of these dances can be accepted as authentic Spanish music—actually they are only a German Romantic’s conception of what Spanish music is—they make most effective use of Spanish dance rhythms.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756. The son of Leopold, Kapellmeister at the court of the Salzburg Archbishop, Wolfgang Amadeus disclosed his remarkable musical powers at a tender age. He began composition at the age of five, completed a piano sonata at seven, and a symphony at eight. Taught the harpsichord, also very early in his childhood, he revealed such phenomenal abilities at improvisation and sight reading that he was the wonder and awe of all who came into contact with him. His ambitious father exhibited this formidable prodigy for several years before the crowned heads of Europe; and wherever he appeared the child was acclaimed. Goethe said: “A phenomenon like that of Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.” In Milan in 1770 he was commissioned to write an opera _Mitridate, rè di Ponto_, successfully performed that year. In Bologna he became the only musician under the age of twenty to be elected a member of the renowned Accademia Filarmonica. And in Rome he provided dramatic evidence of his extraordinary natural gifts by putting down on paper the entire complex score of Allegri’s _Miserere_ after a single hearing.

As he outgrew childhood he ripened as a composer, gaining all the time in both technical and creative powers. But he was a prodigy no more, and though he was rapidly becoming one of the most profound and original musicians in Europe he was unable to attract the adulation and excitement that had once been his. Between 1772 and 1777, as an employee in the musical establishment of the Salzburg Archbishop, he was treated like a menial servant. The remarkable music he was writing all the time passed unnoticed. Finally, in 1782, he made a permanent break with the Archbishop and established his home in Vienna where he lived for the remainder of his life. Though he received some important commissions, and enjoyed several triumphs for his operas, he did not fare any too well in Vienna either. He had to wait several years for a court appointment, and when it finally came in 1787 he was deplorably underpaid. Thus he lived in poverty, often dependent for food and other necessities of life on the generosity of his friends. And yet the masterworks kept coming in every conceivable medium—operas, symphonies, sonatas, quartets, concertos, choral music and so forth. A few people in Vienna were aware of his prodigious achievements, and one of these was Joseph Haydn who called him “the greatest composer I know either personally or by name.” During the last years of his life Mozart was harassed not only by poverty but also by severe illness. Yet his last year was one of his most productive, yielding his last three symphonies, the _Requiem_, the opera _The Magic Flute_ (_Die Zauberfloete_), the _Ave Verum_, and a remarkable piano concerto and string quintet. He died in Vienna on December 5, 1791 and was buried in a pauper’s grave with no tombstone or cross for identification.

Through his genius every form of music was endowed with new grandeur, nobility of expression and richness of thought. He was a technician second to none; a bold innovator; a creator capable of plumbing the profoundest depths of emotion and the most exalted heights of spirituality. Yet he could also be simple and charming and graceful, in music remarkably overflowing with the most engaging melodies conceived by man, and characterized by the most exquisite taste and the most consummate craftsmanship. Thus Mozart’s lighter moods in music are often also endowed with extraordinary creative resources and original invention; yet they never lose their capacity to delight audiences at first contact.

The music Mozart wrote directly for popular consumption were the hundred or so _Dances_ for orchestra: _Country Dances_, _German Dances_, _Minuets_. The greatest number of these consist of the _German Dances_. These are lively melodies in eight-measure phrases and with forceful peasant rhythms. Some of the best _German Dances_ are those in which Mozart utilized unusual orchestral resources or instruments to suggest extra-musical sounds. _The Sleighride_ (_Die Schlittenfahrt_), K. 605, in C major, simulates the sound of sleigh bells in the middle trio section, sounded in the tones A-F-E-C. _The Organgrinder_ (_Der Leiermann_), K. 602, imitates the sound of a hurdy-gurdy. In _The Canary_ (_Der Kanarienvogel_), K. 571, flutes reproduce the chirping of birds.

The _Country Dance_, or _Contretanze_, is sometimes regarded as the first modern dance, forerunner of the quadrille. Structurally and stylistically these are very much like _German Dances_ with a peasant-like vitality and earthiness. Here, too, Mozart sometimes realistically imitates non-musical sounds as in _The Thunder Storm_ (_Das Donnerwetter_), K. 534, in which the role of the timpani suggests peals of thunder.

Mozart’s most popular Minuet—indeed, it is probably one of the most popular minuets ever written—comes from his opera _Don Giovanni_, libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, and first performed in Prague in 1787. The hero of this opera is, to be sure, the Spanish nobleman of the 17th century whose escapades and licentious life finally bring him to doom at the hands of the statue of the Commandant come to life to consign him to the fires of hell. The Minuet appears in the fifth scene of the first act. Don Giovanni is the gracious host of a party held in his palace, and there the guests dance a courtly minuet while Don himself is making amatory overtures to Zerlina.

In a lighter mood, also, is the _Eine kleine Nachtmusik_ (_A Little Night Music_), K. 525, a serenade for string orchestra (1787). This work is consistently tuneful, gracious, charming. The first movement has two lilting little melodies, which are presented and recapitulated with no formal development to speak of. The second movement is a Romance, or Romanza, a poetic song contrasted by two vigorous sections; the main thought of this movement is then repeated between each of these two vigorous parts. After that comes a formal minuet, and the work ends with a brisk and sprightly rondo.

Mozart’s popular _Turkish March_—in the pseudo Turkish style so popular in Vienna in his day—comes out of his piano Sonata in A major, K. 331 (1778), where it appears as the last movement. This march is extremely popular in orchestral transcription.

Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Russia, on March 21, 1839. When he was thirteen he entered the cadet school of the Imperial Guard in St. Petersburg, from which he was graduated to join the Guard regiment. In 1857 he met and befriended several important Russian musicians (including Balakirev and Stassov) under whose stimulus he decided to leave the army and become a composer. Until now his musical education had been sporadic, having consisted of little more than some piano lessons with his mother and a private teacher. He now began an intensive period of study with Balakirev, under whose guidance he completed a _Scherzo_ for orchestra which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1860, as well as some piano music and the fragments of a symphony. Associating himself with Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Cui he now became a passionate advocate of musical nationalism, becoming the fifth member of a new school of Russian music henceforth identified as “The Mighty Five” or “The Russian Five.” In 1863, with serfdom abolished in Russia, he lost the outside financial resources he had thus far enjoyed as the son of a landowner. To support himself he worked for four years as a clerk in the Ministry of Communications; in 1869 he found employment in the forestry department. During this period music had to be relegated to the position of an avocation, but composition was not abandoned. He completed the first of his masterworks, the orchestral tone poem, _A Night on the Bald Mountain_, in 1866. A lifelong victim of nervous disorders, melancholia and subsequently of alcoholism, his health soon began to deteriorate alarmingly; but despite this fact he was able to complete several works of crowning significance in 1874 including his folk opera, _Boris Godunov_, and his _Pictures at an Exhibition_, for piano. After 1874 his moral and physical disintegration became complete; towards the last months of his life he gave indications of losing his mind. He died in St. Petersburg on March 28, 1881.

As one of the most forceful and original members of the “Russian Five” Mussorgsky’s greatest works certainly do not lend themselves to popular distribution. His writing is too individual in its melodic and harmonic construction; and his works show too great a tendency towards musical realism to make for palatable digest. However, several of the folk dances in his operas are strikingly effective for their rhythmic pulse and national colors and are by no means as elusive in their appeal as the rest of his production.

Mussorgsky’s masterwork is his mighty folk opera, _Boris Godunov_, where we encounter one such delightful dance episode, the Polonaise. _Boris Godunov_, libretto by the composer based on a Pushkin drama, traces the career of the Czar from the years 1598 to 1605, from his coronation to his insanity and death. The Polonaise occurs in the first scene of the third act. At the palace of a Polish landowner, handsomely costumed guests perform this festive courtly dance in the adjoining garden. The première of _Boris Godunov_ took place in St. Petersburg on February 8, 1874.

Two orchestral dances can also be found in another of Mussorgky’s folk operas, _The Fair at Sorochinsk_, which was not introduced until October 26, 1917, in St. Petersburg. The libretto was by the composer based on Gogol’s story, _Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka_. Tcherevik, a peasant, wants his daughter to marry Pritzko, whereas the peasant’s wife is partial to the pastor’s son. However, when the pastor’s son compromises the peasant’s wife she realizes that Pritzko is, after all, the right man for her daughter. In the third act of this opera comes the lively _Hopak_, or _Gopak_, a folk dance with two beats to a measure.

Folk dances of a completely different nature—more oriental and exotic than the previously discussed Russian variety—will be found in _Khovanschina_, a musical drama with libretto by the composer and Stassov; this opera was first given, in an amateur performance, in St. Petersburg on February 21, 1886. Here the setting is Moscow during the reign of Peter the Great, and the plot revolves around the efforts of a band of radicals known as the Streltsy who try to overthrow the Czar. Prince Ivan Khovantsky, who is in league with the Streltsy, is murdered by assassins, and the insurrection is suppressed. But before the leaders of the Streltsy can destroy themselves they are given an official pardon by the Czar. A high moment in this opera comes with the _Dances of the Persian Slaves_, which takes place in the first scene of the fourth act. At the country house of Khovantsky, the Prince is being entertained by an elaborate spectacle, the main attraction of which is the sinuous, Corybantic dancing of the Persian slaves.

Almost as popular as these Persian dances are the Prelude to the first act and an entr’acte between the first and second scenes from this opera; these two episodes for orchestra are highly atmospheric, graphic in the pictures of Russian landscapes. The first act Prelude has been named by the composer, _Dawn on the Moskava River_. This is a subtle tone picture made up of a folk melody and five variations. The entr’acte offers another kind of landscape, this time a bleak one describing the vast, lonely plains of Siberia.

Ethelbert Nevin

Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin was born in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, on November 25, 1862. A precocious child in music, he wrote his first piano piece when he was eleven. A year later he wrote and had published a song that became exceedingly popular, “Good Night, Good Night Beloved.” After studying music with private teachers, he went to Berlin in 1884, studying for two years with Hans von Buelow and Karl Klindworth. He returned to the United States in 1886. Soon after that he made his formal American concert debut as pianist with a program on which he included some of his own compositions. By 1890 he decided to give up his career as a virtuoso and to concentrate on being a composer. In 1891 he completed _Water Scenes_, a suite for the piano in which will be found one of the most popular piano pieces by an American, “Narcissus.” In 1892 and again 1895 Nevin traveled extensively through Europe and Morocco. In 1897 he settled in New York City where he wrote one of the best-selling art songs by an American, “The Rosary.” In 1900 Nevin went to live in New Haven. During the last year of his life he was a victim of depressions which he tried to alleviate through excessive drinking. He died of an apoplectic stroke in New Haven, Connecticut, on February 17, 1901.

“Mighty Lak a Rose” and “The Rosary” are Nevin’s two most famous art songs; they are also among the most popular art songs written in America. “Mighty Lak a Rose” was one of Nevin’s last compositions, written during the closing months of his life. He never lived to see the song published and become popular. The song is a setting of a poem by Frank L. Stanton, and is described by John Trasker Howard (Nevin’s biographer) as “probably the simplest of all his songs ... [with] a freshness and whimsical tenderness that make its appeal direct and forceful.”

“The Rosary,” words by R. C. Rogers, was an even greater success. From 1898 to 1928 it sold over two and a half million copies of sheet music. When Nevin had finished writing this song in 1898, he invited the singer Francis Rogers to dinner, after which he handed him a scribbled piece of music paper. “Here is a song I just composed,” he told Rogers. “I want you to sing it at your concert next week.” Rogers deciphered the notes as best he could while Nevin played the accompaniment from memory. The little audience listening to this first informal presentation of “The Rosary” was enthusiastic, but one of its members insisted it would be impossible for Rogers to memorize the song in time for the concert the following week. The guest bet Nevin a champagne supper for all present that the song would not be on Rogers’ program. He lost the bet. The following week, on February 15, 1898, Rogers introduced the song at the Madison Square Concert Hall.

The _Water Scenes_, suite for piano, op. 13 is remembered principally because one of its movements is “Narcissus,” often considered one of the most popular compositions ever written in this country. Nevin himself provided information about the origin of “Narcissus.” “I remembered vaguely that there was once a Grecian lad who had something to do with the water and who was called Narcissus. I rummaged about my old mythology and read the story over again. The theme, or rather both themes, came as I read. I went directly to my desk and wrote out the whole composition. Afterwards, I rewrote it and revised it a little. The next morning I sent it to my publishers. Until the proofs came back to me I never tried it on the piano. I left almost immediately for Europe and was surprised when a publisher wrote to me of the astonishing sale of the piece.” During Nevin’s lifetime, the piece sold over 125,000 copies of sheet music, and was heard throughout America both in its original piano version (a favorite repertory number of piano students and budding piano virtuosos) and in transcriptions. It went on to circle the globe. As Vance Thompson wrote: “It was thrummed and whistled half around the world. It was played in Cairo as in New York and Paris; it was played by orchestras, on church organs, and on the mouth harps of Klondike miners; it became a mode, almost a mania.”

The other movements of _Water Scenes_ are: “Barcarolle,” “Dragon Fly,” “Water Nymph,” “At Twilight,” and “Ophelia.” Each is a sensitive piece of tone painting, as lyrical and as unashamedly sentimental as the beloved “Narcissus.”

Otto Nicolai

Otto Nicolai was born in Koenigsberg, Germany, on June 9, 1810. After completing his music study with Zelter and Bernhard Klein, he came to Paris in 1830 where he remained three years. In Berlin he completed several works for orchestra, and some for chorus. In 1834 he went to Italy where he was organist in the Prussian Embassy at Rome and became interested in opera. From 1837 to 1838 he was principal conductor at the Kaerthnerthor Theater in Vienna. Then he returned to Italy to devote himself to the writing of operas, the first of which, _Rosmonda d’Inghilterra_ was a failure when produced in Turin in 1838. His second opera, however, was a major success when first given in Turin in 1840: _Il Templario_ based on Sir Walter Scott’s _Ivanhoe_; it was produced in Naples and Vienna. In 1841 Nicolai came to Vienna to serve for six years as Kapellmeister to the court. During this period, in 1842, he helped to found the renowned Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1847 he came to Berlin to become conductor of the Domchor. It was here that he completed the work upon which his reputation rests, the comic opera, _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (_Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor_). He died in Berlin of an apoplectic stroke on May 11, 1849, only two months after the première performance of his famous comic opera.

_The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (_Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor_) is Nicolai’s only opera to survive; and its overture is his only work for orchestra which retains its popularity. The opera received a highly successful première in Berlin on March 8, 1849. Its libretto, by Hermann Salomon Mosenthal, is based on Shakespeare’s comedy and follows that play with only minor modifications. Falstaff’s cronies (Bardolph, Pistol and Nym) are omitted; only slight reference is made to the love of Anne and Fenton; and considerable attention is paid to Falstaff’s comical amatory overtures to Mistresses Ford and Page.

The overture opens with a slow introduction in which a flowing melody is given against a high G in the violins. This melody is repeated by several different sections of the orchestra, then treated in imitation. The main part of the overture is made up of two vivacious melodies, the second of which, in the violins, is intended to depict Mistress Page. The development of both themes is in a gay mood, with a robust passage in F minor representing Falstaff. The overture concludes with an animated coda.

From the opera itself come three melodious vocal selections, prominent in all orchestral potpourris: Falstaff’s drinking song, a long time favorite of German bassos, “_Als Bueblein klein_”; Fenton’s serenade to Anne Page, “_Horch, die Lerche singt in Haim_”; and Mistress Page’s third-act ballad of Herne the Hunter.

Siegfried Ochs

Siegfried Ochs was born in Frankfort on the Main, Germany, on April 19, 1858. While studying medicine, he attended the Berlin High School for Music. Then deciding upon music as a life’s career, he continued his music study with private teachers and became a protégé of Hans von Buelow. In 1882 he founded the Philharmonic Choir of Berlin, one of Germany’s most celebrated choral groups. He remained its conductor even after it merged with the chorus of the Berlin High School for Music in 1920. Ochs died in Berlin on February 6, 1929.

Ochs wrote several comic operas, song cycles, and some choral music. A semi-classical favorite is the set of orchestral variations on the well-known German folk song, “_Kommt ein Vogel_.” These variations are each in the style of a famous composer—Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Johann Strauss II, and so on; and each variation shows a remarkable skill, and a winning wit, in mimicking the individual creative mannerisms and idiosyncrasies of each composer.

Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach was born Jacques Oberst in Cologne, Germany, on June 20, 1819; his father was a cantor in one of the city synagogues. After attending the Paris Conservatory, Offenbach played the cello in the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique. Then, in 1849 he became conductor at the Théâtre Français. In 1850 he achieved his initial success as a composer with the song, “_Chanson de Fortunio_” interpolated into a production of the Alfred de Musset drama, _Chandelier_. Three years later his first operetta, _Pepito_, was produced at the Théâtre des Variétés. Between 1855 and 1866 he directed his own theater where operettas were given, Les Bouffes Parisiens, which opened on July 5, 1855 with a performance of one of his own works, _Les Deux aveugles_. For his theater Offenbach wrote many operettas including his masterwork in that genre, _Orpheus in the Underworld_, in 1858. After closing down the Bouffes Parisiens, Offenbach went to Germany and Austria where he had produced several more of his operettas. But in 1864 he was back in Paris. The première of _La Belle Hélène_ at the Variétés that year enjoyed a spectacular success. Among his later operettas were _La Vie parisienne_ (1866), _La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein_ (1867), and _La Périchole_ (1868). In 1877 he toured the United States, an account of which was issued in America in 1957 under the title of _Orpheus in America_. Towards the end of his life Offenbach devoted himself to the writing of his one and only grand opera, _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_). He did not live to see it performed. He died in Paris on October 5, 1880, about half a year before the première of his opera at the Opéra-Comique on February 10, 1881.

Offenbach was the genius of the opéra-bouffe, or French operetta. His music never lacked spontaneity or gaiety, sparkle or engaging lyricism. His writing had the warmth of laughter, the sting of satire, and the caress of sincere and heartfelt emotion. His lovable melodies woo and win the listener. The lightness of his touch and the freshness of his humor give voice to the joy of good living. Like his celebrated Viennese contemporary, Johann Strauss II, Offenbach is a giant figure in semi-classical music. To the lighter musical repertory he brings the invention and imagination of a master.

The _Apache Dance_ is the dashing music that invariably accompanies a performance of French Apache dances, though there are few that know Offenbach wrote it. Actually, the _Apache Dance_ is an adaptation of the main melody of a waltz (“_Valse des Papillons_”) from Offenbach’s comic opera, _Le Roi Carotte_ (1872).

_La Belle Hélène_ (_Fair Helen_), first performed in Paris on December 17, 1864, draws material for laughter and satire from mythology. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy prepared the text which is based on the love of Paris and Helen that led to the Trojan war. But this story is told with tongue-in-cheek frivolity, and the life of the Greeks is gaily parodied. One of the most familiar musical excerpts from _La Belle Hélène_ is whirling Can-Can music—the Can-Can being the voluptuous French dance which first became popular in Paris in 1830 and which contributed to the quadrille high kicks, skirt-lifting and other suggestive and at times vulgar movements. (Offenbach also wrote brilliant Can-Can music for _Orpheus in the Underworld_, _Barbe-Bleue_, and _La Vie parisienne_.) Other delightful episodes from this operetta are Helen’s invocation with chorus, “_Amours divins_,” and her highly lyrical airs, “_On me nomme Hélène_,” “_Un mari Sage_,” and “_La vrai! je ne suis pas coupable_.”

The Galop is almost as much a specialty with Offenbach as the Can-Can. This is a spirited, highly rhythmic dance of German origin introduced in Paris in 1829. Two of Offenbach’s best known Galops appear respectively in _La Grande Duchess de Gérolstein_ (1867) and _Geneviève de Brabant_ (1859).

It is perhaps not generally known that the famous “Marine’s Hymn” familiar to all Americans as “From the Halls of Montezuma” also comes out of _Geneviève de Brabant_. The Hymn was copyrighted by the Marine Corps in 1919. It is known that the lyric was written in 1847 by an unidentified Marine. The melody was taken from one of the airs in Offenbach’s operetta, _Geneviève de Brabant_.

_Orpheus in the Underworld_ (_Orphée aux enfers_) is Offenbach’s masterwork, first produced in Paris on October 21, 1858. This delightful comic opera, with book by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy, is a satire on the Olympian gods in general, and specifically on the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. _Orpheus in the Underworld_ was not at first successful since audiences did not seem to find much mirth in a satire on Olympian gods. But when a powerful French critic, Jules Janin, violently attacked it as a “profanation of holy and glorious antiquity,” the curiosity of Parisians was aroused, and the crowds began swarming into the theater. Suddenly _Orpheus in the Underworld_ became a vogue; it was the thing to see and discuss; its music (particularly the waltzes, galops, and quadrilles) were everywhere played. The operetta had a run of 227 performances.

The Overture is a perennial favorite of salon and pop orchestras throughout the world. It opens briskly, then progresses to the first subject, a light and gay tune for strings. The heart of the overture is the second main melody, a sentimental song first heard in solo violin, and later repeated by full orchestra.

The Can-Can music in _Orpheus in the Underworld_ is also famous. Much of its effect is due to the fact that Offenbach presented the can-can immediately after a stately minuet in order to emphasize the contrast between two periods in French history. A contemporary described this Can-Can music as follows: “This famous dance ... has carried away our entire generation as would a tempestuous whirlwind. Already the first sounds of the furiously playing instruments seem to indicate the call to a whole world to awake and plunge into the wild dance. These rhythms appear to have the intention of shocking all the resigned, all the defeated, out of their lethargy and, by the physical and moral upheaval which they arouse, to throw the whole fabric of society into confusion.”

_The Tales of Hoffmann_ (_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_) is Offenbach’s only serious opera; but even here we encounter some semi-classical favorites. This opera, one of the glories of the French lyric theater, was based on stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, adapted into a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. It concerns the three tragic loves of the poet Hoffmann: Olympia, a mechanical doll; Giulietta, who is captive to a magician; and Antonia, a victim of consumption.

The “Barcarolle” from this opera is surely one of the most popular selections from the world of opera. It opens the second act. Outside Giulietta’s palace in Venice, Hoffmann hears the strains of this music sung by his friend Nicklausse and Giulietta as they praise the beauty of the Venetian night. Harp arpeggios suggest the lapping of the Venetian waters in the canal, providing a soothing background to one of the most radiant melodies in French music. It is interesting to remark that Offenbach did not write this melody directly for this opera. He had previously used it in 1864 as a ghost song for an opera-ballet, _Die Rheinnixen_.

Two dance episodes from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ are also frequently performed outside the opera house. One is the infectious waltz which rises to a dramatic climax in the first act. To this music Hoffmann dances with the mechanical doll, Olympia, with whom he is in love. The second is an enchanting little Minuet, used as entr’acte music between the first and second acts.

A collation of some of Offenbach’s most famous melodies from various operettas can be found in _La Gaieté parisienne_, an orchestral suite adapted from a score by Manuel Rosenthal to a famous contemporary ballet. This one-act ballet, with choreography by Leonide Massine and scenario by Comte Étienne de Beaumont, was introduced in Monte Carlo by the Ballet Russe in 1938. The setting is a fashionable Parisian restaurant of the 19th century; and the dance offers a colorful picture of Parisian life and mores of that period, climaxed by a stunning Can-Can. Musical episodes are used from _Orpheus in the Underworld_, _La Périchole_, _La Vie parisienne_, and several other Offenbach opéra-bouffes. Beloved Offenbach melodies from various opéra-bouffes were adapted for the score of a Broadway musical produced in 1961, _The Happiest Girl in the World_.

Ignace Jan Paderewski

Ignace Jan Paderewski, one of the world’s foremost piano virtuosos and one of Poland’s most renowned statesmen, was born in Kurylówka, Podolia, on November 18, 1860. A child prodigy, he was given piano lessons from his third year on. Several patrons arranged to send him to the Warsaw Conservatory, from which he was graduated in 1878. Between 1881 and 1883 he studied composition and orchestration in Berlin, and from 1884 to 1887 piano with Leschetizky in Vienna. Paderewski’s first major success as a pianist came in Vienna in 1889, a concert that was the beginning of a virtuoso career extending for about half a century and carrying him triumphantly to all parts of the world. In 1919 he temporarily withdrew from music to become the first Premier of the Polish Republic, but about a year later he resumed concert work. He made his American debut in New York in 1891, and his last American tour took place in 1939. During the early part of World War II he returned to political activity as President of the Parliament of the Polish Government in Exile. He died in New York on June 29, 1941. By order of President Roosevelt he was given a state burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Paderewski produced many ambitious compositions, some in the style of Polish folk music; these included the opera _Manru_, a symphony, piano concerto, the _Polish Fantasy_ for piano and orchestra and numerous shorter compositions for the piano. Ironically it is not for one of his ambitious works that he is most often recalled as a composer, but through a slight piece: the _Minuet_ in G, or _Menuet à l’antique_, a graceful, well-mannered composition in an 18th-century style. This is one of the three most popular minuets ever written, the other two being by Mozart and Beethoven. Paderewski originally wrote it for the piano; it is the first of six pieces collectively entitled _Humoresques de concert_, op. 14. Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano; Gaspar Cassadó for cello and piano. It has, of course, been frequently adapted for orchestra.

Gabriel Pierné

Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz, France, on August 16, 1863. He attended the Paris Conservatory for eleven years, a pupil of Massenet and César Franck. He won numerous awards there including the Prix de Rome in 1882. After returning from Rome, he succeeded Franck as organist of the Ste. Clothilde Church in Paris, retaining this post until 1898. From 1903 until 1932 he was, first the assistant, and from 1910 on the principal, conductor of the Colonne Orchestra. He combined his long and fruitful career as conductor with that of composer, producing a vast library of music in virtually every form, including operas, oratorios, ballets, symphonic and chamber music. He achieved renown with the oratorio _The Children’s Crusade_ (_La Croisade des enfants_), introduced in 1905 and soon after that winner of the City of Paris Award. Another major success came with the ballet, _Cydalise and the Satyr_ in 1923. A conservative composer, Pierné utilized traditional forms with distinction, and filled them with beautiful lyricism, well-sounding harmonies, and a poetic speech. In 1925 Pierné was elected member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. He died in Ploujean, France, on July 17, 1937.

The _Entrance of the Little Fauns_ (_Marche des petites faunes_) is a whimsical little march for orchestra from the ballet, _Cydalise and the Satyr_ (_Cydalise et le chèvre-pied_), introduced at the Paris Opéra on January 15, 1923. A saucy tune for muted trumpet is juxtaposed against the wail of piccolos; all the while an incisive rhythm is projected not only by the snare drum and tambourine but also by the violinists tapping the wood of their bows on the strings. Within the ballet this march accompanies the appearance of a group of small fauns, led by their teacher, an old satyr, as they enter school to learn pan pipes.

The _March of the Little Lead Soldiers_ (_Marche des petits soldats de plomb_) originated as a piano piece in the _Album pour mes petits amis_, op. 14 (1887), but was subsequently orchestrated by the composer. It opens with a muted trumpet call. A snare drum then establishes the rhythm and sets the stage for the appearance of the main march melody in solo flute.

Jean-Robert Planquette

Jean-Robert Planquette was born in Paris on July 31, 1848. He attended the Paris Conservatory after which he supported himself by writing popular songs and chansonettes for Parisian _café-concerts_. He started writing operettas in 1874, and achieved world fame with _The Chimes of Normandy_ in 1877. He wrote many more operettas after that, the most successful being _Rip Van Winkle_ (1882), _Nell Gwynne_ (1884) and _Mam’zelle Quat’Sous_ (1897). He died in Paris on January 28, 1903.

_The Chimes of Normandy_ (_Les Cloches de Corneville_) is one of the most famous French operettas of all time, and it is still occasionally revived. Introduced in Paris at the Folies Dramatiques on April 19, 1877, its success was so immediate and permanent that within a decade it had been given over a thousand times in Paris alone. It was first seen in New York in 1877, and in London in 1888, major successes in both places. The book by Clairville and Gabet presents the life of fishing and peasant folk in Normandy during the regime of Louis XV. Germaine is in love with the fisherman, Jean, but finds opposition in her miserly old uncle, Gaspard, who has other plans for her. To escape her uncle, Germaine finds employment with Henri, a Marquis, who has suddenly returned to his native village to take up residence in the family castle rumored to be haunted. The mystery of the haunted castle is cleared up when the discovery is made that Gaspard has used it to hide his gold; and the bells of the castle begin to ring out loud and clear again. Gaspard, after a brief siege with insanity, is made to sanction the marriage of Germaine and Jean at a magnificent festival honoring the Marquis; at the same time it is suddenly uncovered that Germaine is in reality a Marchioness.

This is an operetta overflowing with ear-caressing melodies. The most famous are Germaine’s bell song, “_Nous avons, hélas, perdu d’excellence maîtres_”; the Marquis’ lilting waltz-rondo, “_Même sans consulter mon coeur_”; and Serpolette’s cider song, “_La Pomme est un fruit plein de sève_.”

Eduard Poldini

Eduard Poldini was born in Budapest, Hungary, on June 13, 1869. His music study took place at the Vienna Conservatory. Poldini subsequently established his home in Vevey, Switzerland, where he devoted himself to composition. His most significant works are for the stage—both comic and serious operas that include _The Vagabond and the Princess_ (1903) and _The Carnival Marriage_ (1924). He was also a prolific composer of salon pieces for the piano, familiar to piano studies throughout the world. In 1935 Poldini received the Order of the Hungarian Cross and in 1948 the Hungarian Pro Arte Prize. He died in Vevey, Switzerland on June 29, 1957.

_Poupée valsante_ (_Dancing Doll_) is Poldini’s best known composition, a fleet, graceful melody contrasted by a sentimental counter-subject. The composer wrote it for solo piano. Fritz Kreisler adapted it for violin and piano, and Frank La Forge for voice and orchestra. It has also often been transcribed for orchestra.

Manuel Ponce

Manuel Maria Ponce was born in Fresnillo, Mexico, on December 8, 1882. His main music study took place in Europe where he arrived in 1905: composition with Enrico Bossi in Bologna; piano with Martin Krause in Berlin. After returning to Mexico he gave a concert of his own compositions in 1912. For several years he taught the piano at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, and from 1917 to 1919 he was the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra there. During World War I he lived in Havana and New York. After the war he went to Paris for an additional period of study with Paul Dukas. From 1933 to 1938 he was professor of folklore at the University of Mexico. In 1941 he toured South America, and in 1947 he was the recipient of the first annual Mexican Arts and Sciences Award established by the President of Mexico. He died in Mexico City on April 24, 1948.

Ponce was a modernist who filled his orchestral compositions with the most advanced resources of modern harmony, counterpoint and rhythm. But in his songs he possessed a spontaneous and ingratiating lyricism, often of a national Mexican identity. It is one of these that has made him famous in semi-classical literature: “_Estrellita_” (“Little Star”), a song with such a strong Spanish personality of melody and rhythm that it was long believed to be a folk song. Ponce first published it in 1914 but it did not become universally popular until 1923 when it was issued in a new arrangement (by Frank La Forge) and translated into English.

Amilcare Ponchielli

Amilcare Ponchielli was born in Paderno Fasolaro, Italy, on August 31, 1834. For nine years he attended the Milan Conservatory where he wrote an operetta in collaboration with three other students. Following the termination of his studies, he became organist in Cremona, and after that a bandmaster in Piacenza. His first opera, _I Promessi sposi_, was introduced in Cremona in 1856, but it did not become successful until sixteen years later when a revised version helped to open the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. World renown came to Ponchielli with _La Gioconda_, first given at La Scala in Milan in 1876. Though Ponchielli wrote many other operas after that he never again managed to reach the high artistic level of this masterwork, nor to repeat its world success. From 1883 until his death he was professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory. He died in Milan, Italy, on January 16, 1886.

What is undoubtedly Ponchielli’s most famous orchestral composition, “The Dance of the Hours” (“_Danza della ore_”) comes from his masterwork, the opera _La Gioconda_. This opera—first performed in Milan on April 8, 1876—was based on Victor Hugo’s drama, _Angelo, tyran de Padoue_, adapted by Arrigo Boïto. The setting is 17th century Venice, and the principal action involves the tragic love triangle of Alvise, his wife Laura, and her beloved, Enzo.

“The Dance of the Hours” comes in the second scene of the third act. Alvise is entertaining his guests at a sumptuous ball in his palace, the highlight of which is a magnificent ballet, intended to symbolize the victory of right over wrong. The dancers in groups of six come out impersonating the hours of dawn, day, evening, and night. The music begins with a slight murmur, shimmering sounds passing through the violins and woodwind. Dawn appears. The music is carried to a dramatic climax with a strong rhythmic pulse as the day unfolds. When the music achieves mellowness and tenderness, the softness of evening touches the stage; and with the coming of night the music acquires a somber character. At midnight, the music is reduced to a sigh. The harp presents some arpeggios, and a broad melody unfolds. The mood then becomes excitable as all the twenty-four hours plunge into a spirited dance, as light conquers darkness.

The most familiar vocal excerpts from this opera are La Cieca’s romanza from the first act, “_A te questo rosario_”; Barnaba’s fisherman’s barcarolle (“_Pescator, affonda l’esca_”) and Enzo’s idyll to the beauty of the night (“_Cielo e mar_”) from the second act; and La Gioconda’s dramatic narrative in which she plans to destroy herself (“_Suicidio_”).

Cole Porter

Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, on June 9, 1893 to an immensely wealthy family. Precocious in music, he began studying the violin when he was six, and at eleven had one of his compositions published. He pursued his academic studies at the Worcester Academy in Massachusetts and at Yale; music study took place at the School of Music at Harvard and subsequently in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum. At Yale he participated in all its musical activities and wrote two football songs still favorites there, “Yale Bull Dog” and “Bingo Eli Yale.” In 1916 he wrote the music for his first Broadway musical comedy, _See America First_, a failure. During the next few years he was a member of the French desert troops in North Africa, while during World War I he taught French gunnery to American troops at Fontainebleau. Just after the close of the war he contributed some songs to _Hitchy Koo_ of 1918, and in 1924 five more songs to the _Greenwich Village Follies_, both of them Broadway productions. Success first came in 1928 with his music for _Paris_ which included “Let’s Do It” and “Let’s Misbehave.” For the next quarter of a century and more he was one of Broadway’s most successful composers. His greatest stage hits came with _Fifty Million Frenchmen_ (1929), _The Gay Divorce_ (1932), _Anything Goes_ (1934), _Leave It to Me_ (1938), _Panama Hattie_ (1940), _Let’s Face It_ (1941), _Kiss Me Kate_ (1948), _Can-Can_ (1953) and _Silk Stockings_ (1955). From these and other stage productions came some of America’s best loved popular songs, for which Porter wrote not merely the music but also the brilliant lyrics: “Night and Day,” “Begin the Beguine,” “Love for Sale,” “You Do Something to Me,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” and so forth. He was also a significant composer for motion pictures, his most successful songs for the screen including “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “In the Still of the Night,” “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” and “True Love.”

The most successful of all the Cole Porter musical comedies was _Kiss Me Kate_ which began a Broadway run of over one thousand performances on December 30, 1948, then went on to be a triumph in Vienna, Austria, where it became the greatest box-office success in the history of the Volksoper where it was given. In Poland it was the first American music performed in that country. The text by Bella and Sam Spewack was based partly on Shakespeare’s _Taming of the Shrew_, but it was really a play within a play. A touring company is performing the Shakespeare comedy in Baltimore, Maryland. The musical comedy moves freely from scenes of that production to the backstage complications in the private lives of its principal performers. In the end, the amatory problems of the two stars are resolved within a performance of the Shakespeare comedy. This was not only Cole Porter’s most successful musical comedy but also the finest of his scores. Never before (or since) was he so prolix with song hits in a single production; never before was his style so varied. The repertory of semi-classical music has been enriched by a symphonic treatment given the best of these melodies by Robert Russell Bennett. Bennett’s symphonic presentation of _Kiss Me Kate_ opens with “Wunderbar,” a tongue-in-cheek parody of a sentimental Viennese waltz. It continues with the sprightly measures of “Another Openin’, Another Show,” and after that come the plangent, purple moods of “Were Thine That Special Face,” “I Sing of Love,” and the show’s principal love song, “So In Love.”

Serge Prokofiev

Serge Prokofiev was born in Sontzovka, Russia, on April 23, 1891. He was extraordinarily precocious in music. After receiving some training at the piano from his mother, he completed the writing of an opera by the time he was ten. Preliminary music study took place with Glière. In his thirteenth year he entered the Moscow Conservatory where he was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov and Liadov among others and from which he was graduated with the Rubinstein Prize for his first piano concerto. His advanced musical thinking was already evident in his first major work for orchestra, _The Scythian Suite_, introduced in St. Petersburg in 1916. He continued to develop his own personality, formulating his highly individual style and creative idiosyncrasies in works like the ballet _Chout_, the first violin concerto, and the _Classical Symphony_, all written during the era of World War I. In 1918 he toured the United States, making his American debut with a New York piano recital on November 20. While in the United States he was commissioned to write the opera _The Love for Three Oranges_ for the Chicago Opera. From 1919 to 1933 Prokofiev made his home in Paris, but in 1933 he returned to his native land to stay there for the rest of his life. Though he was honored in the Soviet Union as one of its great creative figures—and was the recipient of the Stalin Prize for his monumental Seventh Piano Sonata inspired by World War II—he did not escape censure in 1948 when the Central Committee of the Communist Party denounced Soviet composers for their partiality towards experimentation, modernism and cerebralism, in their musical works. Nevertheless, Prokofiev soon recovered his high estate in Soviet music; in 1951 he received the Stalin Prize again, this time for his oratorio _On Guard for Peace_ and the symphonic suite, _Winter Bonfire_. His sixtieth birthday, that year, was celebrated throughout the country with concerts and broadcasts. Prokofiev died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Moscow on March 5, 1953.

Prokofiev was one of the giants of 20th-century music. His seven symphonies, five piano concertos, nine piano sonatas, the opera _War and Peace_, ballets, chamber music, piano compositions and various shorter orchestral works are among the most significant contributions made in our time to music. The highly personal way of writing melodies, his unusual progressions, his harmonic vocabulary are all present in the few lighter and simpler works with which he made a significant contribution to the contemporary repertory of semi-classics.

The _March_ so familiar to radio listeners throughout the United States as the theme music for the program “The F.B.I. in Peace and War” comes from the opera _The Love for Three Oranges_ (1921). The libretto by the composer based on a tale of Carlo Gozzi is a charming fantasy in which a prince saves himself from death through gloom by means of laughter, and who then goes at once to rescue a princess from her prison in an orange. The march occurs in the second act where an effort is being made to get the Prince to laugh, for which purpose a festival is being arranged. The march music is played as the court jester drags the reluctant Prince to these festivities. The quixotic skips in the melody, the grotesquerie of the musical style, and the pert discords are all typical of Prokofiev’s creative manner.

_Peter and the Wolf_, a “symphonic fairy tale” for narrator and orchestra op. 67 (1936) was intended by the composer to teach children the instruments of the orchestra. But the music is so consistently delightful for its sprightly lyricism and wit that it has proved a favorite at symphony and semi-classical concerts. The story here being told is about a lad named Peter who turns a deaf ear to his grandfather’s warning and goes out into the meadow. There a wolf has frightened, in turn, a cat, bird, and duck. But Peter is not afraid of him. He captures the wolf, ties him up with a rope and takes him to the zoo.

The composition opens with the following explanation by the narrator: “Each character in the tale is represented by a different instrument in the orchestra: the bird by a flute; the duck by an oboe; the cat by a clarinet in the low register; grandpapa by the bassoon; the wolf by three French horns; Peter by the string quartet; and the hunter’s rifle shots by the kettledrums and bass drums.” Then, as the story of Peter and the wolf unfolds, little melodies appear and reappear, each identifying some character in the story. Peter’s theme is a lyrical folk song with a puckish personality for strings. Vivid and realistic little tunes represent the cat, bird, and duck, each tune providing an amusing insight into the personality of each of these animals.

_Summer Day_, opp. 65a and 65b (1935) is another of the composer’s compositions for children which makes for delightful listening. It started out as a suite of twelve easy piano pieces for children called _Music for Children_. Later on the composer orchestrated seven of these sections and called the new work _Summer Day_. In the first movement, “Morning,” a whimsical little tune is heard in first flute against a contrapuntal background by other woodwinds, strings, and bass drum. Midway a secondary melody is given by bassoons, horns and cellos. “Tag,” the familiar child’s game, is represented in a tripping melody for violins and flutes; the music grows increasingly rhythmic in the intermediary section. In the “Waltz,” a saucy waltz tune with an unusual syncopated construction is presented by the violins, interrupted by exclamations from the woodwind with typical Prokofiev octave leaps. “Regrets” opens with a tender melody for cellos, but is soon taken over by oboes, and then the violins. This melody is then varied by violins and clarinets. “March” offers the main march melody in clarinets and oboes. “Evening” highlights a gentle song by solo flute, soon joined by the clarinet. As the violins take over the melody the pensive mood is maintained. The concluding movement, “Moonlit Meadows” is dominated by a melody for solo flute.

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy, on December 22, 1858, to a family which for several generations had produced professional musicians. As a boy, Giacomo attended the Istituto Musicale in his native city, played the organ in the local church, and wrote two choral compositions. A subsidy from Queen Margherita enabled him to continue his music study at the Milan Conservatory with Bazzini and Ponchielli. The latter encouraged Puccini to write for the stage. Puccini’s first dramatic work was a one-act opera, _Le Villi_, given successfully in Milan in 1884, and soon thereafter performed at La Scala. On a commission from the publisher, Ricordi, Puccini wrote a second opera that was a failure. But the third, _Manon Lescaut_—introduced in Turin in 1893—was a triumph and permanently established Puccini’s fame. He now moved rapidly to a position of first importance in Italian opera with three successive master-works: _La Bohème_ (1896), _Tosca_ (1900) and _Madama Butterfly_ (1904). Puccini paid his first visit to the United States in 1907 to supervise the American première of the last-named opera; he returned in 1910 to attend the world première of _The Girl from the Golden West_ which had been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Puccini’s subsequent operas were: _La Rondine_ (1917), _Il Trittico_, a trilogy of three one-act operas (1918), and _Turandot_ (1924), the last of which was left unfinished but was completed by Franco Alfano. Operated on for cancer of the throat, in Brussels, Puccini died of a heart attack in that city on November 29, 1924.

Though Puccini was an exponent of “Verismo,” a movement in Italian opera which emphasized everyday subjects treated realistically, he poured into his operas such a wealth of sentiment, tenderness, sweetness of lyricism, and elegance of style that their emotional appeal is universal, and he has become the best loved opera composer of the 20th century. Selections from his three most popular operas are basic to the repertory of any semi-classical or “pop” orchestra.

_La Bohème_ was based on Murger’s famous novel, _Scènes de la vie de Bohème_ adapted into an opera libretto by Giacosa and Illica. When first introduced (Turin, February 1, 1896) the opera encountered an apathetic audience and hostile critics. It had no big scenes, no telling climaxes, and most of its effects were too subtle emotionally to have an instantaneous appeal. But the third performance—in Palermo in 1896—received an ovation. From that time on it never failed to move opera audiences with its deeply moving pathos and its vivid depiction of the daily problems and conflicts of a group of Bohemians in mid 19th-century Paris. The central theme is the love affair of the poet, Rodolfo, and a seamstress, Mimi. This love was filled with storm and stress, and ended tragically with Mimi’s death of consumption in Rodolfo’s attic. The following are some of the episodes heard most often in potpourris or fantasies of this opera: Rodolfo’s celebrated narrative in the first act, “_Che gelida manina_,” in which he tells Mimi about his life as a poet; Mimi’s aria that follows this narrative immediately, “_Mi chiamano Mimi_,” where she tells Rodolfo of her poignant need for flowers and the warmth of springtime; the first act love duet of Mimi and Rodolfo, “_O soave fanciulla_”; Musetta’s coquettish second-act waltz, “_Quando m’en vo’ soletta_,” sung outside Café Momus in the Latin Quarter on Christmas Eve, informing her admirers (specifically Marcello the painter), how men are always attracted to her; Rodolfo’s poignant recollection of his one time happiness with Mimi, “_O, Mimi, tu più_” in the fourth act; and Mimi’s death music that ends the opera.

_Madama Butterfly_—libretto by Illica and Giacosa based on David Belasco’s play of the same name, which in turn came from John Luther’s short story—was first performed in Milan on February 17, 1904 when it was a fiasco. There was such pandemonium during that performance that Puccini had to rush on the stage and entreat the audience to be quiet so that the opera might continue. Undoubtedly, some of Puccini’s enemies had a hand in instigating this scandal, but the opera itself was not one able to win immediate favor. The exotic setting of Japan, the unorthodox love affair involving an American sailor and a geisha girl ending in tragedy for the girl, and the provocatively different kind of music (sometimes Oriental, sometimes modern) written to conform to the setting and the characters—all this was not calculated to appeal to Italian opera lovers. But three months after the première the opera was repeated (with some vital revisions by the composer). This time neither the play nor the music proved shocking, and the audience fell under the spell of enchantment which that sensitive opera cast all about it. From then on, the opera has been a favorite around the world.

The most celebrated single excerpt from the opera is unquestionably Madame Butterfly’s poignant aria, her expression of belief that her American lover, so long absent from Japan with his fleet, would some day return to her: “_Un bel di_.” Other popular episodes include the passionate love music of Madame Butterfly and the American lieutenant with which the first act ends, “_Viene la sera_”; the flower duet of the second act between Madame Butterfly and her servant in which the heroine excitedly decorates her home with cherry blossoms upon learning that her lover is back with his fleet (“_Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio_”); the American lieutenant’s tender farewell to Madame Butterfly and the scene of their love idyl from the third act (“_Addio fiorito_ _asil_”); and Madame Butterfly’s tender farewell to her daughter before committing suicide (“_Tu, tu piccolo iddio_”).

_Tosca_—based on the famous French drama of the same name by Sardou, the libretto by Giacosa and Illica—was introduced in Rome on January 14, 1900. It was a blood and thunder drama set in Rome at the turn of the 19th century; the dramatic episodes involved murder, horror, suicide, sadism. The heroine, Floria Tosca, is an opera singer in love with a painter, Mario Cavaradossi; she, in turn, is being pursued by Scarpia, the chief of police. To save her lover’s life, she stands ready to give herself to Scarpia. The latter, nonetheless, is responsible for Cavaradossi’s execution. Scarpia is murdered by Tosca, who then commits suicide.

Two tenor arias by Cavaradossi are lyrical highlights of this opera. The first is “_Recondita armonia_,” in the first act, in which the painter rhapsodizes over the beauty of his beloved Tosca; the second, “_E lucevan le stelle_,” comes in the last act as Cavaradossi prepares himself for his death by bidding farewell to his memory of Tosca. The third important aria from this opera is that of Tosca, “_Vissi d’arte_,” a monologue in which she reflects on how cruel life had been to one who has devoted herself always to art, prayer, and love. In addition to these three arias, the opera score also boasts some wonderful love music, that of Cavaradossi and Tosca (“_Non la sospiri la nostra casetta_”) and the first act stately church music (“_Te Deum_”).

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Oneg, Novgorod, Russia, on April 1, 1873. He attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory for three years, and his musical training ended at the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 when he received a gold medal for a one-act opera, _Aleko_. In that same year he also wrote the Prelude in C-sharp minor with which he became world famous. His first piano concerto and his first symphony, however, were dismal failures. In 1901 he scored a triumph with his Second Piano Concerto which, since then, has been not only the composer’s most celebrated composition in a large form but also one of the best loved and most frequently performed piano concertos of the 20th century. Rachmaninoff combined his success as composer with that as piano virtuoso. Beginning with 1900 he toured the world of music achieving recognition everywhere as one of the most renowned concert artists of his generation. The first of his many tours of America took place in 1909. He also distinguished himself as a conductor, first at the Bolshoi Theater between 1904 and 1906, and later with the Moscow Philharmonic. As a composer he enhanced his reputation with a remarkable second symphony, two more piano concertos, and sundry works for orchestra. He was a traditionalist who preferred working within the structures and with the techniques handed down to him by Tchaikovsky. Like Tchaikovsky whom he admired and emulated, he wore his heart on his sleeve, ever preferring to make his music the vehicle for profoundly felt emotions. His broad rhapsodic style makes his greatest music an ever stirring emotional experience. In 1917 Rachmaninoff left Russia for good, establishing his permanent home first in Lucerne, Switzerland, and in 1935 in the United States. All the while he continued to tour the world as concert pianist. His last years were spent in Beverly Hills, California, where he died on March 28, 1943.

The Prelude in C-sharp minor, op. 3, no. 2 (1892) is Rachmaninoff’s most popular composition; the transcriptions and adaptations it has received are of infinite variety. He wrote it when he was nineteen and instantaneously the piece traveled around the globe. Unfortunately, the composer never profited commercially from this formidable success, having sold the composition outright for a pittance. The Prelude opens in a solemn mood with a theme sounding like the tolling of bells, or the grim pronouncement by some implacable fate. The second theme is agitated and restless, but before the composition ends the solemn first theme recurs. Numerous efforts have been made to provide this dramatic music with a program, including one which interpreted it in terms of the burning of Moscow in 1812.

The Prelude in G minor, op. 23, no. 5, for piano (1904), is almost as famous. The opening subject has the character of a brisk military march, while the contrasting second theme is nostalgic and reflective.

The _Vocalise_, op. 34, no. 14 (1912) is one of the composer’s best known vocal compositions. This is a wordless song—a melody sung only on vowels, a “vocalise” being actually a vocal exercise. Rachmaninoff himself transcribed this work for orchestra, a version perhaps better known than the original vocal one. Many other musicians have made sundry other transcriptions, including one for piano, and others for solo instruments and piano.

Joachim Raff

Joseph Joachim Raff was born in Lachen, on the Lake of Zurich, Switzerland, on May 27, 1822. He was mostly self-taught in music, while pursuing the career of schoolmaster. Some of his early compositions were published through Mendelssohn’s influence, a development that finally encouraged Raff to give up schoolteaching and devote himself completely to music. An intimate association with Liszt led to the première of an opera, _King Alfred_, in Weimar in 1851. In 1863, his symphony, _An das Vaterland_, received first prize from the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. From 1877 until his death he was director of Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfort, Germany. He died in that city on June 25, 1882.

A prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, overtures, quartets, sonatas and sundry other works, Raff was a major figure in the German Romantic movement, highly regarded by his contemporaries, but forgotten since his death. Only some of his minor pieces are remembered. The most popular is the _Cavatina_ in A-flat major, op. 85, no. 3, for violin and piano, a perennial favorite with violin students and young violinists, and no less familiar in various orchestral adaptations. A “cavatina” is a composition for an instrument with the lyric character of a song. Raff’s broad and expressive melody has an almost religious stateliness.

Another popular Raff composition in a smaller dimension is the picturesque piano piece, _La Fileuse_ (_The Spinner_), op. 157, no. 2, in which the movement of the spinning wheel is graphically reproduced.

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France, on March 7, 1875. After studying music with private teachers in Paris he entered the Paris Conservatory in 1889, remaining there fifteen years, and proving himself a brilliant (if at times an iconoclastic) student. While still at the Conservatory his _Menuet antique_ for piano was published, and _Les Sites auriculaires_ for two pianos was performed. By the time he left the Conservatory he was already a composer of considerable stature, having completed two remarkable compositions for the piano—_Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ and _Jeux d’eau_, both introduced in 1902—and an unqualified masterwork, the String Quartet, first performed in 1904. The fact that a composer of such attainments had four times failed to win the Prix de Rome created such a scandal in Paris that the director of the Paris Conservatory, Théodore Dubois, was compelled to resign. But Ravel’s frustrations from failing to win the Prix de Rome did not affect the quality of his music. In the succeeding years he produced a succession of masterworks: the ballet _Daphnis and Chloe_, its première by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Paris on June 8, 1912; the _Spanish Rhapsody_ (_Rapsodie espagnole_) for orchestra; the suite _Miroirs_, for piano. During World War I, Ravel served at the front in an ambulance corps. After the war, he withdrew to his villa in Montfort l’Amaury where he lived in comparative seclusion, devoted mainly to creative work. Nevertheless, in 1928, he toured the United States, making his American debut in Boston with the Boston Symphony on January 12, 1929; Ravel died in Paris on December 28, 1937, following an unsuccessful operation on the brain.

One of the most significant of Impressionists after Debussy, Ravel was the creator of music that is highly sensitive in its moods, elegant in style, exquisite in detail, and usually endowed with the most stunning effects of instrumentation, rhythm, and harmony. Some of his best-known works derive their inspiration and material from Spanish sources. It is one of these that is probably his most popular orchestral composition, and one of the most popular of the 20th century, the _Bolero_. A “bolero” is a Spanish dance in ¾ time accompanied by clicking castanets. Ravel wrote his _Bolero_ in 1928 as ballet music for Ida Rubinstein who introduced it in Paris on November 22, 1928. But _Bolero_ has since then separated itself from the dance to become a concert hall favorite. When Toscanini directed the American première in 1929 it created a sensation, and set into motion a wave of popularity for this exciting music achieved by few contemporary works. It was performed by every major American orchestra, was heard in theaters and over radio, was reproduced simultaneously on six different recordings. It was transcribed for every possible combination of instruments (including a jazz band); the word “Bolero” was used as the title of a motion picture. Such immense appeal is not difficult to explain. The rhythmic and instrumental virtuosity of this music has an immediate kinaesthetic effect. The composition derives its immense impact from sonority and changing orchestral colors. The bolero melody has two sections, the first heard initially is the flute, then clarinet; the second is given by the bassoon, and then the clarinet. This two-part melody is repeated throughout the composition against a compelling rhythm of a side drum, all the while gradually growing in dynamics and continually changing its colors chameleon-like through varied instrumentation. A monumental climax is finally realized, as the bolero melody is proclaimed by the full orchestra.

Another highly popular Ravel composition has a far different personality—the _Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ (_Pavane for a Dead Infante_). Where the appeal of the _Bolero_ is strong, direct, immediate and on the surface, that of the Pavane is subtle, elusive, sensitive. A Pavane is a stately court dance (usually in three sections and in ⁴/₄ time) popular in France. Ravel’s _Pavane_ is an elegy for the death of a Spanish princess. Ravel wrote this composition for piano (1899) but he later transcribed it for orchestra. An American popular song was adapted from this haunting melody in 1939, entitled “The Lamp Is Low.”

Emil von Rezniček

Emil Von Rezniček was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 4, 1860, the son of a princess and an Austrian field marshal. For a time he studied law, but then devoted himself completely to music study, mainly at the Leipzig Conservatory. From 1896 to 1899 he was the conductor of several theater orchestras in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In 1902 he settled in Berlin where he founded and for several years conducted an annual series of orchestral concerts. Subsequently he was the conductor of the Warsaw Opera and from 1909 to 1911 of the Komische Oper in Berlin. He also pursued a highly successful career as teacher, principally at the Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and from 1920 to 1926 at the Berlin High School of Music. He went into retirement in 1929, and died in Berlin on August 2, 1945.

Rezniček was the composer of several operas, five symphonies, three tone poems and various other compositions. His greatest success came with the comic opera, _Donna Diana_, introduced in Prague on December 16, 1894, and soon thereafter heard in forty-three European opera houses. The opera—libretto by the composer based on a Spanish comedy by Moreto y Cabana—is consistently light and frothy. Carlos is in pursuit of Princess Diana, and to effect her surrender he feigns he is madly in love with her. Princess Diana plays a game of her own. Coyly she eludes him after seeming to fall victim to his wiles. In the end they both discover they are very much in love with each other.

The opera is almost never heard any longer, but the witty overture is a favorite throughout the world; it is the only piece of music by the composer that is still often performed today. A sustained introduction leads into the jolly first theme—a fast, light little melody that sets the prevailing mood of frivolity. The heart of the overture is an expressive melody shared by basses and oboe. It grows in passion and intensity as other sections of the orchestra develop it. When this melody comes to a climax, the passionate mood is suddenly dissipated, and the frivolous first theme of the overture returns to restore a mood of reckless gaiety.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, Russia, on March 18, 1844. Trained for a naval career, he was graduated from the Naval School in St. Petersburg in 1862, after which he embarked on a two-and-a-half-year cruise as naval officer. From earliest boyhood he had been passionately interested in music, especially the folk operas of Glinka and Russian ecclesiastical music. When he was seventeen, he was encouraged by Balakirev to essay composition. After returning to Russia in 1864, Rimsky-Korsakov associated himself with the national Russian school then being realized by Balakirev and Mussorgsky among others, and completed his first symphony, introduced in St. Petersburg in 1865. He plunged more deeply into musical activity after that by completing several ambitious works of national character, including the _Antar Symphony_ and an opera, _The Maid of Pskov_. In 1873 he was relieved by the government of all his naval duties and allowed to devote himself completely to music. At that time the special post of Inspector of Military Orchestras was created for him. He soon distinguished himself as a conductor of the Free Music Society in St. Petersburg and as professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He did not neglect composition, producing many significant operas and orchestral works. In his music he remained faithful to national ideals by filling his music with melodies patterned after Russian folk songs, harmonies derived from the modes of Russian church music, and rhythms simulating those of Russian folk dances. To all his writing he brought an extraordinary technical skill in structure, orchestration and harmony. He died of a heart attack in Liubensk, Russia, on June 21, 1908.

The exotic personality and harmonic and instrumental brilliance of Eastern music are often encountered in Rimsky-Korsakov. They are found in two extremely popular excerpts from his opera _Le Coq d’or_ (_The Golden Cockerel_): “Bridal Procession” and “Hymn to the Sun.”

_Le Coq d’or_ is a fantasy-opera, introduced in Moscow on October 7, 1909; the libretto, by Vladimir Bielsky, is based on a tale by Pushkin. A golden cockerel with the talent of prophecy is presented to King Dodon by his astrologer. In time the cockerel accurately prophesies the doom of both the astrologer and the King.

The oriental, languorous “Hymn to the Sun” (“_Salut à toi soleil_”) appears in the second act, a salute by the beautiful Queen of Shemaka. After the Queen has captured the love of King Dodon with this song, they marry. There are many transcriptions of this beautiful melody, including one for violin and piano by Kreisler and for cello and piano by Julius Klengel.

The third act of this opera opens with the brilliant music of the “Bridal Procession.” The royal entourage passes with pomp and ceremony through the city accompanied by the cheers of the surrounding crowds.

In the vital “Dance of the Tumblers” or “Dance of the Buffoons” for orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov skilfully employs folk rhythms. This dance comes from the composer’s folk opera, _The Snow Maiden_ (_Snegourochka_). The third act opens with a gay Arcadian festival celebrated by the Berendey peasants during which this gay and exciting folk dance is performed.

The pictorial, realistic “Flight of the Bumble Bee” is an excerpt from still another of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas, _The Legend of Tsar Saltan_. This is an orchestral interlude in the third act describing tonally, and with remarkable realism, the buzzing course of a bee. This piece retains its vivid pictorialism even in transcriptions, notably that for solo piano by Rachmaninoff, and for violin and piano by Arthur Hartmann.

The “Hindu Chant” or “The Song of India” is also an operatic excerpt, this time from _Sadko_. It appears at the close of the second tableau of the second act. Sadko is the host to three merchants from foreign lands. He invites each to tell him about his homeland, one of whom is a Hindu who proceeds in an Oriental melody to speak of the magic and mystery of India.

The _Russian Easter Overture_ (_La Grand pâque russe_), for orchestra, op. 36 (1888) was one of the fruits of the composer’s lifelong fascination for Russian church music. The principal thematic material of the overture comes from a collection of canticles known as the _Obikhod_ from the Russian Orthodox Church. Two of these canticles are heard in the solemn introduction, a section which the composer said represented the “Holy Sepulcher that had shone with ineffable light at the moment of the Resurrection.” The first is given loudly by strings and clarinets, the second quietly by violins and violas accompanied by woodwind, harps, and pizzicato basses. A brief cadenza for solo violin is the transition to the main body of the overture where the two canticles from the introduction are amplified and developed. A brilliant coda leads to the conclusion of the work where the second of the two melodies is given for the last time by trombones and strings.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous work for orchestra is the symphonic suite, _Scheherazade_, op. 35 (1888). Nowhere is his remarkable gift at pictorial writing, at translating a literary program into tones, more in evidence than here. This music describes episodes from the _Arabian Nights_ in four movements which are unified by the recurrence of two musical motives. The first is that of the Sultan, a forceful, majestic statement for unison brass, woodwinds and strings; the second is a tender melody in triplets for strings depicting the lovely Scheherazade. The Sultan theme opens the first movement, entitled “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” After quiet chords for the brass, the Scheherazade melody is heard in solo violin accompanied by harp arpeggios. The music later becomes highly dramatic as Sinbad’s ship, represented by a flute solo, is buffeted about by an angry sea, the latter portrayed by rapid arpeggio figures. The poignant Scheherazade motive in solo violin introduces the second movement, “The Tale of the Kalendar.” The tale is spun in a haunting song for bassoon, dramatically contrasted by a dynamic rhythmic section for full orchestra. The third movement, “The Young Prince and the Princess” is a tender love dialogue between violins and clarinets. After a recall of the Scheherazade melody there appears the finale: “The Festival at Bagdad; The Sea, The Ship Founders on the Rock.” A brief recall of the Sinbad theme brings on an electrifying picture of a festival in Bagdad. The gay proceedings, however, are interrupted by a grim shipwreck scene, vividly depicted by the exciting music. This dramatic episode passes, and the suite ends with a final statement of the Scheherazade theme.

The _Spanish Caprice_ (_Capriccio espagnol_), for orchestra, op. 34 (1887) is one of the composer’s rare attempts at exploiting the folk music of a country other than his own. There are five parts. The first is a morning song, or “Alborada,” in which two main subjects of Spanish identity are given by the full orchestra. This is followed by “Variations.” A Spanish melody is here subjected to five brief variations. In the third part, the Alborada music returns in a changed tonality and orchestration. The fourth movement is entitled “Scene and Gypsy Dance” and consists of five cadenzas. The Capriccio ends with “_Fandango asturiano_,” in which a dance melody for trombones is succeeded by a contrasting subject in the woodwinds. A last recall of the main Alborada theme of the first movement brings the work to its conclusion.

Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers was born in Hammels Station, near Arverne, Long Island, on June 28, 1902. As a child he began studying the piano and attending the popular musical theater. He wrote his first songs in 1916, a score for an amateur musical in 1917, and in 1919 created the music for the Columbia Varsity Show, the first freshman ever to do so. Meanwhile he had initiated a collaborative arrangement with the lyricist, Lorenz Hart, that lasted almost a quarter of a century. Their first song to reach the Broadway theater was “Any Old Place With You” in _A Lonely Romeo_ in 1919. Their first Broadway musical was _The Poor Little Ritz Girl_ in 1920, and their first success came with _The Garrick Gaieties_ in 1925 where the song, “Manhattan,” was introduced. For the next twenty years, Rodgers and Hart—frequently with Herbert Fields as librettist—dominated the musical stage with some of the most original and freshly conceived musical productions of that period: _Dearest Enemy_ (1925), _The Girl Friend_ (1926), _Peggy-Ann_ (1926), _A Connecticut Yankee_ (1927), _On Your Toes_ (1936), _Babes in Arms_ (1937), _I’d Rather Be Right_ (1937), _I Married an Angel_ (1938), _The Boys from Syracuse_ (1938), and _Pal Joey_ (1940). From these and other productions came hundreds of songs some of which have since become classics in American popular music. The best of these were “Here In My Arms,” “Blue Room,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “My Romance,” “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” “There’s a Small Hotel,” “Where or When,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Spring Is Here,” “Falling in Love With Love,” “I Could Write a Book” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”

_By Jupiter_, in 1942, was the last of the Rodgers and Hart musicals. Hart’s physical and moral disintegration made it necessary for Rodgers to seek out a new collaborator. He found him in Oscar Hammerstein II, with whom Rodgers embarked on a new and even greater career as composer for the theater. Their first collaboration was _Oklahoma!_ in 1943, an unprecedented box-office triumph, and a production that revolutionized the musical stage by crystallizing the concept and procedures of the musical play as opposed to the musical comedy. After that Rodgers and Hammerstein brought to the stage such classics as _Carousel_, _South Pacific_, and _The King and I_. Other Rodgers and Hammerstein productions were _Allegro_ (1947), _Me and Juliet_ (1953), _Pipe Dream_ (1955), _The Flower Drum Song_ (1958) and _The Sound of Music_ (1959). Among the most famous songs by Rodgers from these productions—besides those from musical plays discussed below—were “A Fellow Needs a Girl,” “No Other Love,” “Everybody’s Got a Home But Me,” “All at Once You Love Her,” “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” “Do, Re, Mi,” “The Sound of Music” and “Climb Every Mountain.” The collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein ended in 1960 with the death of the lyricist.

_Oklahoma!_, _Carousel_, _South Pacific_, and _The King and I_ have become enduring monuments in the American theater. They are continually revived, have been adapted for motion pictures, and are perpetually represented at semi-classical concerts and on records. In whatever form they appear they never fail to excite and inspire audiences. It is in these productions that Rodgers has reached the highest creative altitudes of his career, with music of such expressive lyricism, dramatic impact, consummate technical skill, and pervading charm and grace that its survival in American music seems assured. Robert Russell Bennett has made skilful orchestral adaptations of the basic melodic material from each of these musical plays, and it is most usually these adaptations that are most frequently performed by pop and semi-classical orchestras.

_Carousel_ is the second of the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterworks, succeeding _Oklahoma!_ by about two years. It is one of the most radiant ornaments of our musical stage. Oscar Hammerstein II here adapted Ferenc Molnar’s play, _Liliom_, with changes in setting, time, and some basic alterations of plot. In the musical version the action takes place in New England in 1873. Billy Bigelow, a barker in an amusement park, falls in love and marries Julie Jordan. A charming but irresponsible young man, Billy decides to get some money in a holdup, when he learns his wife is pregnant. Caught, Billy eludes arrest by committing suicide. After a brief stay in Purgatory, Billy is permitted to return to earth for a single day to achieve redemption, the price for his admission to Heaven. On earth, he meets his daughter. Through her love, understanding and forgiveness he achieves his redemption. Thus the musical ends in a happy glow of love and compassion whereas Molnar’s original play ended on the tragic note of frustration.

_Carousel_ opened in New York on April 19, 1945. John Chapman described it as “one of the finest musical plays I have ever seen, and I shall remember it always.” It received the Drama Critics Award and eight Donaldson Awards. Since then it has often been revived besides being adapted for the screen; in 1958 it was presented at the World’s Fair in Brussels.

The heartwarming glow that pervades the play in Hammerstein’s moving dialogue and lyrics was magically caught in the score, which begins with an extended waltz sequence for orchestra. In the play this music is heard under the opening scene which represents an amusement park dominated by a gay carousel. This waltz music is a self-sufficient composition that can be, and often is, played independently of the other excerpts. The other main musical episodes include the love duet of Billy and Julie, “If I Loved You”; Billy’s eloquent and extended narrative, “Soliloquy,” when he learns he is about to become a father; the spiritual “You’ll Never Walk Alone”; the ebullient “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over”; two vigorous choral episodes, “Blow High, Blow Low” and “This Was a Real Nice Clambake.”

_The King and I_, presented on March 29, 1951, was adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II from Margaret Landon’s novel _Anna and the King of Siam_ (which had already been made into a successful non-musical motion picture starring Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne). Anna, played in the musical by Gertrude Lawrence, is an English schoolmistress come to Siam to teach Western culture to the royal princes and princesses. Her own strong will and Western independence comes into sharp conflict with the king, an Eastern despot enacted by Yul Brynner. But they are nonetheless drawn to each other, partly through curiosity, partly through admiration. Naturally, since they are of different social stations and cultures, a love interest is out of the question, but they are ineluctably drawn to each other, particularly after Anna has managed to save a critical political situation in Siam through her ingenuity. The king dies just before the final curtain; Anna remains on as a teacher of the children she has come to love.

Part of the attraction of Rodgers’ music is its subtle Oriental flavoring. In the music—as in text, settings and costuming—_The King and I_ is a picture of an “East of frank and unashamed romance,” as Richard Watts, Jr., said, “seen through the eyes of ... theatrical artists of rare taste and creative power.” The Oriental element is particularly pronounced in the orchestral excerpt, “The March of the Royal Siamese Children,” with its exotic syncopated structure and orchestration. Other popular excerpts from this score include Anna’s lilting “I Whistle a Happy Tune”; her poignant ballad “Hello, Young Lovers”; Anna’s duet with the king, “Shall We Dance?”; her amiable conversation with the children, “Getting to Know You”; the King’s narrative, “A Puzzlement”; also two sensitive and atmospheric duets by the two Siamese lovers, Tuptim and Lun Tha, “We Kiss in the Shadow” and “I Have Dreamed.”

_Oklahoma!_, the first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical plays—which opened on March 31, 1943—made stage history. Its run of 2,248 performances was the longest run of any Broadway musical up to then; a national company toured for ten years. It was successfully produced in Europe, Africa, and Australia. But beyond being a box-office triumph of incomparable magnitude, it was also an artistic event of the first importance. This was musical comedy no more, but a vital folk play rich in dramatic content, and authentic in characterization and background. The play upon which it was based was Lynn Riggs’ folk play, _Green Grow the Lilacs_, adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II. In making his adaptation, Hammerstein had to sidestep long accepted formulas and clichés of the American musical stage to meet the demands of Riggs’ play. Chorus-girl routines made way for American ballet conceived by Agnes De Mille. Set comedy routines were replaced by a humor which rose naturally from text and characters. Each musical incident was basic to the movement of the dramatic action. Even the plot was unorthodox for our musical theater. At the turn of the present century in West-Indian country, Laurey and Curly are in love, but are kept apart by their respective diffidence and a false sense of hostility. An ugly, lecherous character, Jud Fry, pursues Laurey. Laurey and Curly finally declare their love for each other. At their wedding Jud arrives inebriated, attacks Curly with a knife, and becomes its fatal victim when he accidentally falls upon the blade during a brawl. A hastily improvised trial exonerates Curly of murder and permits him and his bride to set off on their honeymoon for a land that some day will get the name of Oklahoma.

The play opens at once with its best musical foot forward, a simple song, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” which has the personality of American folk music. It is sung offstage by Curly. After that the principal musical episodes include the love song of Curly and Laurey, “People Will Say We’re in Love”; several songs with a strong American national identity, including “Kansas City,” “The Farmer and the Cowman,” “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” and the title number; and two highly expressive numbers, “Out of My Dreams” and “Many a New Day.”

_Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ is one of Rodgers’ most famous orchestral compositions, and one of the finest achievements of the school of symphonic-jazz writing. This music was used for a ballet sequence in the Rodgers and Hart musical, _On Your Toes_, first produced in 1936. Since _On Your Toes_ dwelled in the world of ballet, with dancers as principal characters, ballet episodes played an important part in the unfolding of the story; these episodes were conceived by George Balanchine. The play reaches a dramatic climax with a jazz ballet, a satire on gangsters, entitled _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_. This is a description of the pursuit by gangsters of a hoofer and his girl. Caught up in a Tenth Avenue café, the gangsters murder the girl and are about to kill the hoofer when the police come to his rescue. Rodgers’ music for the ballet is an extended and integrated symphonic-jazz composition which has won its way into the permanent repertory of semi-classical music. It is constructed from two main melodic ideas. The first is an impudent little jazz tune, and the second is a rich and luscious jazz melody for strings.

_South Pacific_, produced on April 7, 1949, was both commercially and artistically of the magnitude of _Oklahoma!_ Its Broadway run of 1,925 performances was only 325 less than that of its epoch-making predecessor. In many other respects _South Pacific_ outdid _Oklahoma!_: In the overall box-office grossage; in sale of sheet music and records; in the capture of prizes (including the Pulitzer Prize for drama, seven Antoinette Perry and nine Donaldson awards). The book was adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan from _Tales of the South Pacific_, a series of short stories about American troops in the Pacific during World War II. In the adaptation two love plots are emphasized. The first involves the French planter, Emile de Becque, and the American ensign, Nellie Forbush; the other engages Liat, a Tonkinese girl, and Lieutenant Cable. The first ends happily, but only after complications brought on by the discovery on Nellie’s part that Emile was once married to a Polynesian and is the father of two Eurasian children. The other love affair has a tragic ending, since Lieutenant Cable dies on a mission. With Ezio Pinza as De Becque and Mary Martin as Nellie, _South Pacific_ was “a show of rare enchantment,” as Howard Barnes reported, “novel in texture and treatment, rich in dramatic substance, and eloquent in song.” Among its prominent musical numbers are De Becque and Nellie’s love song, “Some Enchanted Evening”; De Becque’s lament “This Nearly Was Mine”; Cable’s love song “Younger Than Springtime”; three songs by Nellie, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “A Cockeyed Optimist,” and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy”; two exotic numbers by the Tonkinese Bloody Mary, “Happy Talk” and “Bali Ha’i”; and a spirited and humorous choral number by the Marines, “There Is Nothing Like a Dame.”

_Victory at Sea_ is a nine-movement suite for symphony orchestra adapted by Robert Russell Bennett from the extended musical score for a series of documentary films on naval operations during World War II. These films were presented over NBC television in 1952 and received both the Sylvania and the George Foster Peabody Awards. Much of the acclaim accorded to these remarkable films belonged to Rodgers’ background music which, as Otis L. Guernsey said, “suggested courage, self-sacrifice and the indomitable spirit of the free man.” A _New Yorker_ critic described Rodgers’ music as a “seemingly endless creation, now martial, now tender, now tuneful, now dissonant ... memorable and tremendously moving.”

The first movement, “The Song of the High Seas,” is a picture of ships menaced by Nazi U-boats on the seas during the early part of World War II. They finally get involved in battle. “The Pacific Boils Over” describes the beauty of Hawaii at peace in a melody suggesting Hawaiian song and dance. War comes, and this idyllic mood is shattered. A broad melody for strings ending in forceful chords tells about the tragedy of Pearl Harbor and the grim business of repairing the damage inflicted upon it by the Japanese. The third movement is one of the most famous in the suite, often performed independently of the other sections. It is stirring and dramatic march music of symphonic dimensions entitled “Guadalcanal March.” This is followed by “D Day,” its principal melody a broad, strong subject for brass telling of the gradual build-up of men and materials for the invasion of Fortress Europe. The fifth movement, “Hard Work and Horseplay” provides the lighter side of war. American soldiers find relief from grim realities in mischievous escapades and playtime. “Theme of the Fast Carrier” brings up the picture of a battle scene and ends with moving funeral music. In “Beneath the Southern Cross” we get an infectious tango melody which Rodgers later borrowed for his hit song, “No Other Love,” for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play, _Me and Juliet_. “Mare Nostrum” recalls the harsh realities of war, first by presenting a serene Mediterranean scene, and then showing how it is torn and violated by the fierce naval attack on North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. The suite ends on a note of triumph with “Victory at Sea.” A hymn of thanksgiving is sounded. Then we hear reminders of the “Guadalcanal March” and the seductive tango melody from “Beneath the Southern Cross.” This tango is soon transformed into a rousing song of joy and triumph with which the suite comes to a magnificent culmination.

Sigmund Romberg

Sigmund Romberg was born in Szeged, Hungary, on July 29, 1887. His boyhood and early manhood were spent in Vienna where he studied engineering and fulfilled his military service with the 19th Hungarian Infantry stationed in that city. In Vienna, Romberg’s lifelong interest in and talent for music found a favorable climate. He heard concerts, haunted the city’s leading music salons, was a devotee of Viennese operettas at the Theater-an-der-Wien. Vienna’s influence led him to abandon all thoughts of becoming an engineer. In 1909 he came to the United States where he led salon orchestras in various restaurants and published his first popular songs. In 1912 he was engaged as staff composer for the Shuberts, for whose many and varied Broadway productions Romberg supplied all the music. Within a three-year period he wrote the scores for eighteen musicals, one of which was his first operetta in a European style, _The Blue Paradise_ (1915) for which he created his first outstanding song hit, “_Auf Wiedersehen_.” Though he continued writing music for many musical comedies, revues and extravaganzas—including some starring Al Jolson at the Winter Garden—it was in the field of the operetta that Romberg achieved significance in American popular music. His musical roots were so deeply embedded in the soil of Vienna that only in writing music for operettas in the manner and procedures of Vienna did he succeed in producing a lyricism that ran the gamut from sweetness and sentimentality to gaiety, masculine vigor and charm. His most successful operettas, which are discussed below, have never lost their capacity to enchant audiences however many times they are revived.

Romberg began writing music for motion pictures in 1930 with _Viennese Nights_. Out of one of his many scores for the screen came the poignant ballad, “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.” His last huge success on Broadway was achieved not with an operetta but with an American musical comedy with American backgrounds, settings and characters—and songs in a pronounced American idiom. It was _Up in Central Park_ in 1945. His last musical comedy was _The Girl in Pink Tights_ produced on Broadway posthumously in 1954. Romberg died in New York City on November 9, 1951. Three years after his death his screen biography, _Deep in My Heart_, was released, with José Ferrer playing the part of the composer.

_Blossom Time_ was first produced on Broadway on September 29, 1921 and proved so successful that to meet the demand for tickets a second company was formed to perform it at a nearby theater. There were also four national companies running simultaneously. This musical was derived from the successful German operetta, _Das drei Maederlhaus_, adapted by Dorothy Donnelly. The central character is the beloved Viennese composer of the early 19th century, Franz Schubert, and the plot is built around the composer’s supposed frustrated love for Mitzi, who, in turn, falls in love with Schubert’s best friend. The composer’s anguish in losing her makes it impossible for him to finish the symphony he was writing for her—and it remains forever unfinished. This tragic episode, however, has no basis in biographical fact and is entirely the figment of a fertile operetta librettist’s imagination.

Romberg’s most famous songs were all based on Schubert’s own melodies, and one became a hit of major proportions: “Song of Love” based on the beautiful main theme from the first movement of the _Unfinished Symphony_. Other popular selections include “Tell Me Daisy,” “Lonely Hearts,” “Serenade” and “Three Little Maids”—all possessed of that charm, grace and _Gemuetlichkeit_ which we always associate with the city of Vienna and its popular music.

_The Desert Song_, produced on November 30, 1926, had for its background the colorful setting of French Morocco. There Margot Bonvalet is in love with the Governor’s son but is being pursued by the bandit chief, The Red Shadow. In the end it turns out that the Governor’s son and The Red Shadow are one and the same person. The principal musical excerpts include the romantic duet of Margot and The Red Shadow, “Blue Heaven”; the rapturous love song of The Red Shadow, “One Alone”; and two virile episodes, “Sabre Song” and “French Marching Song.”

Unlike most Romberg operettas, _Maytime_, presented on August 16, 1917, did not have a foreign or exotic setting. The action takes place in Gramercy Park, New York, between 1840 and 1900. However, the tragic frustrations of the love affair of Ottilie and Richard belong inevitably in the make-believe world of the operetta. Ottilie is forced to marry a distant relative. Many years later, Ottilie’s granddaughter and Richard’s grandson find each other, fall in love, and fulfil the happiness denied their grandparents. The most important musical number in this play is the sweet and sentimental waltz, “Will You Remember?”, which is repeated several times during the course of the action. Other numbers include “Jump Jim Crow,” “It’s a Windy Day” and “Dancing Will Keep You Young.”

_The New Moon_—which came to Broadway on September 19, 1928—was described by its authors (Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab) as a “romantic musical comedy.” Its hero is a historical character, Robert Mission, an 18th-century French aristocrat who has come to New Orleans as a political fugitive. In the operetta he is a bondservant to Monsieur Beaunoir, with whose daughter, Marianne, he is in love. When the French police arrive to take him back to Paris for trial, Marianne boards his ship upon which a mutiny erupts on the high seas. The victorious bondservants now take possession of a small island off the coast of Florida where they set up their own government with Robert as leader, who then takes Marianne as his wife. This opulent score yields one of Romberg’s most beautiful love songs, “Lover Come Back to Me,” but it is significant to point out that its main melody was expropriated by Romberg from a piano piece by Tchaikovsky. Other delightful musical excerpts from this tuneful operetta include the tender ballads “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,” “One Kiss” and “Wanting You,” and the stirring male chorus, “Stout-Hearted Men.”

_The Student Prince_, like _Blossom Time_, was based on a successful German operetta, _Old Heidelberg_, once again adapted for the American stage by Dorothy Donnelly. Its first performance took place on December 2, 1924. It has become one of the best loved operettas of the American theater; there is hardly a time when it is not revived somewhere in the United States. The setting is the romantic German University town of Heidelberg in 1860. Prince Karl Franz falls in love with Kathie, a waitress at the local inn. Their romance, however, is doomed to frustration, since the Prince must renounce her to marry a Princess. Romberg’s music is a veritable cornucopia of melodic riches, including as it does the love duet of Kathie and the Prince, “Deep in My Heart,” the Prince’s love song “Serenade,” and with them, “Golden Days” and a vibrant male chorus, “Drinking Song.”

David Rose

David Rose was born in London, England, on June 15, 1910. His family came to the United States in 1914, settling in Chicago where Rose received his musical training at the Chicago Musical College. After working for radio and as pianist of the Ted Fiorito Orchestra, Rose came to Hollywood in 1938 where he became music director of the Mutual Broadcasting network. During World War II he served as musical director of, and composer for, _Winged Victory_, the Air Corps production by Moss Hart. After the war, Rose became outstandingly successful as musical director for leading radio and television programs (including the first Fred Astaire television show for which he received an “Emmy” Award), and as a composer of background music for many motion pictures. He has also appeared extensively in America and Europe as guest conductor of symphony orchestras.

Rose is the composer of several instrumental compositions in a popular style that have achieved considerable popularity. Indeed, it was with one of these that he first became famous as a composer. This was the _Holiday for Strings_, written and published in 1943, a three-part composition in which the flanking sections make effective use of plucked strings while the middle part is of lyrical character. _Holiday for Strings_ received over a dozen different recordings and sold several million records. Fifteen years later, Rose wrote another charming composition in a similar vein, _Holiday for Trombones_ in which virtuosity is contrasted with lyricism. Other instrumental works by Rose outstanding for either melodic or rhythmic interest are _Big Ben_, _Dance of the Spanish Onion_, _Escapade_, and _Our Waltz_.

Gioacchino Rossini

Gioacchino Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy, on February 29, 1792. He received his musical training at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. In 1810 he wrote his first opera, _La Cambiale di matrimonio_, produced in Venice. Success came in 1812 with his third opera, _La Pietra del paragone_, given at La Scala in Milan. _Tancredi_ and _L’Italiana in Algeri_, performed in Venice in 1813, further added to his fame and helped make him an adulated opera composer at the age of twenty-one. In 1815 Rossini was appointed director of two opera companies in Naples for which he wrote several successful operas. But his masterwork, which came during this period, was not written for Naples but for Rome: _The Barber of Seville_ introduced in the Italian capital in 1816. In 1822 Rossini visited Vienna where he became the man of the hour. In 1824 he came to Paris to assume the post of director of the Théâtre des Italiens. Among the operas written for Paris was _William Tell_, introduced at the Paris Opéra in 1829. Though Rossini was now at the height of his fame and creative power—and though he lived another thirty-nine years—he never wrote another work for the stage. He continued living in Paris, a dominant figure in its social and cultural life. His home was the gathering place for the intellectual élite of the city, the scene of festive entertainments. He died of a heart attack in Paris on November 13, 1868.

Rossini was the genius of Italian comic opera (_opera buffa_). His melodies are filled with laughter and gaiety; his harmonies and rhythms sparkle with wit and the joy of life. He was at his best when he brought to his writing an infallible instinct for comedy, burlesque, and mockery. But he was also capable of a lyricism filled with poetry and infused with heartfelt sentiments. He was, moreover, a master of orchestral effect—especially in his dramatic use of the extended _crescendo_—and highly skilled in contrasting his moods through rapid alternation of fast and slow passages. He was also a daring innovator in his instrumentation.

He is a giant in opera, but with his infectious moods and endless fund of melodies he is also a crowning master in semi-classical music. His masterwork, _The Barber of Seville_ (_Il Barbiere di Siviglia_) is as popular with salon orchestras through its merry overture and main selections as it is in the opera house. _The Barber of Seville_ is based on two plays by Beaumarchais, _Le Barbier de Séville_ and _Le Mariage de Figaro_, adapted by Cesare Sterbini. It is a vivacious comedy in which Count Almaviva, in love with Rosina (ward of Doctor Bartolo who is in love with her himself) tries to penetrate Bartolo’s household by assuming various disguises. The Count and Rosina plan to elope, but Rosina reneges when Bartolo convinces her that the Count is unfaithful to her. Eventually, Rosina discovers that Bartolo has deceived her. She marries the Count, and Bartolo finds consolation in the fact that the Count is willing to renounce Rosina’s dowry in his favor.

When this work was first performed in Rome on February 20, 1816 it was a dismal failure. This was largely due to a carefully organized uproar in the theater by admirers of another famous Italian composer, Paisiello, who had previously written an opera on the same subject. A sloppy performance did not help matters either. The furor in the auditorium was so great that it was impossible at times to hear the singers; and Rossini was in the end greeted with hisses and catcalls. But the second performance told a far different story. The singing and staging now went off much more smoothly, and Rossini’s enemies were no longer present to do their damage. Consequently the opera was acclaimed. Five years later, a tour of the opera throughout Italy established its fame and popularity on a solid and permanent basis.

The deservedly famous overture is so much in the carefree and ebullient spirit of the opera as a whole—and so felicitously sets the tone for what is soon to follow on the stage—that it comes as a shock to discover that it was not written for this work. Rossini had actually created it for an earlier opera, and then used it several times more for various other stage works, tragedies as well as comedies. The overture opens with a slow introduction in which the violins offer a graceful tune. A transition of four chords leads to the main body in which strings doubled by the piccolo offer a spicy little melody. The same infectious gaiety is to be found in the second theme which is first given by oboe and clarinet. A dramatic crescendo now leads into the development of both themes, and the overture ends with a vivacious coda.

Besides the overture, some of the principal melodies from this opera are frequently given in various orchestral potpourris and fantasias: Count Almaviva’s beautiful serenade, “_Ecco ridente in cielo_” and Figaro’s patter song, “_Largo al factotum_” from the first act; in the second act, Rosina’s coloratura aria, “_Una voce poco fa_” and Basilio’s denunciation of slander in “_La Calunnia_”; and in the third act, Basilio’s unctuous greeting “_Pace e gioia sia con voi_” and Figaro’s advice to the lovers to get married in haste and silence, “_Zitti, zitti, piano, piano_.”

_La Gazza ladra_ (_The Thieving Magpie_), first produced at La Scala on May 31, 1817, is also a light comedy; libretto by Giovanni Gherardini, based on a French play. The central character is a servant girl falsely accused of having stolen a silver spoon; she is exonerated when the spoon is found in a magpie’s nest just as the girl is about to be punished at the scaffold. The overture begins with an attention-arresting roll on the snare drum. This is followed by a brisk, march-like melody for full orchestra. In the main section, the principal themes consist of a sensitive little tune for strings and a pert melody for strings and woodwind.

_L’Italiana in Algeri_ (_The Italian Lady in Algiers_) is, on the other hand, a serious opera. It was first produced in Venice on May 22, 1813, libretto by Angelo Anelli. In Algiers, Lindoro and Isabella are in love, but their romance is complicated by the fact that Isabella is sought after by the Mustafa. The lovers manage to effect their escape while the Mustafa is involved in complicated rites serving as his initiation into a secret society. The solemn opening of the overture has for its main thought a beautiful song for oboe. A crescendo then carries the overture to its principal section in which two lively melodies are heard, the first for woodwind, and the second for oboe.

_La Scala di seta_ (_The Silken Ladder_) is an opera buffa which had its first performance in Venice on May 9, 1812. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi was based on a French farce involving a young girl who tries desperately to keep secret from her jealous guardian her marriage to the man she loves. A brief and electrifying opening for strings in the overture brings on a sentimental duet for flute and oboe. Two principal subjects in the main body of the overture include a gay and sprightly melody for strings, echoed by oboe, and a tender theme for flute and clarinet accompanied by strings.

_Semiramide_—introduced in Venice on February 3, 1823—is a serious opera based on Voltaire with libretto by Gaetano Rossi. Semiramis is the Queen of Babylon who is driven by her love for Asur to murder her husband. Her later love life is complicated when she discovers that the object of her passion, a Scythian, is actually her son. Semiramis is killed by a dagger which Asur directs at her Scythian son; Semiramis’ son then murders Asur and assumes the throne. The overture opens dramatically with a gradual crescendo at the end of which comes a slow and solemn melody for four horns, soon taken over by woodwind against plucked strings. A short transition in the woodwind brings on a return of the opening crescendo measures. We now come to the main part of the overture in which the first theme is for strings, and the second for the woodwind.

The most famous of all Rossini’s overtures, more celebrated even than that for _The Barber of Seville_, is the one for the tragic opera _William Tell_ (_Guillaume Tell_). This is perhaps the most popular opera overture ever written. It is much more than merely the preface to a stage work but is in itself an elaborate, eloquent tone poem, rich in dramatic as well as musical interest, and vivid in its pictorial and programmatic writing.

_William Tell_, which had its première in Paris on August 3, 1829, is based on the drama of Friedrich Schiller, the libretto adaptation being made by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. The hero is, of course, the Swiss patriot who triumphs over the tyrant Gessler and helps bring about the liberation of his country.

In the early measures of the overture we get a picture of sunrise over the Swiss mountains, its beautiful melody presented by cellos and basses. A dramatic episode for full orchestra then depicts an Alpine storm. When it subsides we get a pastoral scene of rare loveliness evoked by a poignant Swiss melody on the English horn. Trumpet fanfares then bring on the stirring march music which, in our time and country, has been borrowed by radio for the theme melody of “The Lone Ranger.” The overture ends triumphantly in telling of William Tell’s victory over tyranny and oppression.

The contemporary British composer, Benjamin Britten, has assembled various melodies by Rossini into two delightful suites for orchestra. _Soirées musicales_ (1936) is made up of five compositions by Rossini—from _William Tell_ and from several pieces from a piano suite entitled _Péchés de vieillesse_. The five movements are marked; I. March; II. Canzonetta; III. Tyrolese; IV. Bolero; V. Tarantella. _Matinées musicales_ (1941) also gets its material from _William Tell_ and the piano suite. Here the movements are: I. March; II. Nocturne; III. Waltz; IV. Pantomime; V. Moto Perpetuo.

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein was born in Viakhvatinetz, Russia, on November 28, 1829. He studied the piano with Alexandre Villoing after which, in 1839 he came to Paris with his teacher, deeply impressing Chopin and Liszt with his performances. Between 1841 and 1843 Rubinstein made a concert tour of Europe, but his career as a world-famous virtuoso did not begin until 1854 when his formidable technique and musicianship aroused the enthusiasm of Western Europe. After that he made many tours of the world, his reputation as pianist second only to that of Liszt; his first American appearance took place in 1872-1873 when he gave more than two hundred concerts. He also distinguished himself as conductor of the Russian Musical Society, and as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory which he helped found in 1862. He was one of the most highly honored musicians in Russia of his generation. He resigned his post as director of the Conservatory in 1891, and on November 20, 1894 he died in St. Petersburg.

Rubinstein was an extraordinarily prolific composer, his works including many operas, symphonies, concertos, overtures, tone poems, chamber music together with a library of music for solo piano. About all that has survived from his larger works is his Fourth Piano Concerto which is flooded with Romantic ardor and is often in the recognizable style of Mendelssohn. Beyond this concerto, only a few of his smaller pieces for piano are still heard, so delightful in their melodic content and so charming in mood and atmosphere that they have lost little of their universal appeal.

_Kamenoi-Ostrow_, though best known as a composition for orchestra, originated as a piece for the piano. Actually the name _Kamenoi-Ostrow_ belongs to a suite of twenty-four compositions for solo piano, op. 10. But the twenty-second number has become so popular independent of the suite, and in so many different guises, that its original title (“_Rêve angelique_”) has virtually been forgotten and it is almost always referred to now by the name of its suite. Kamenoi-Ostrow is a Russian town in which the Grand Duchess Helena maintained a summer palace. Rubinstein was its chamber virtuoso from 1848 on for a few years, and while there he wrote his piano suite, naming it after the Grand Duchess’ residence. The solemn melody and its equally affecting countermelody have an almost religious character, emphasized in orchestral transcription by a background of tolling bells. Victor Herbert made an effective orchestral adaptation.

The _Melody in F_ is one of the most popular piano pieces ever written. It is found in the first of _Two Melodies_, for solo piano, op. 3, but is most often heard in orchestral transcription, or adaptations for solo instrument and piano. The vernal freshness of its spontaneous lyricism has made it particularly appropriate describing Springtime; indeed, verses about Spring have been written for this melody.

The _Romance in E-flat major_ is almost as well known as the _Melody in F_. This sentimental melody—filled with Russian pathos, yearning and dark brooding—is the first number in a set of six pieces for solo piano collectively entitled _Soirées de St. Petersbourg_, op. 44.

Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-saëns was born in Paris on October 9, 1835. He was extraordinarily precocious. After some piano instruction from his aunt he gave a remarkable concert in Paris in his ninth year A comprehensive period of study followed at the Paris Conservatory where he won several prizes, though never the Prix de Rome. In 1852 he received a prize for _Ode à Sainte Cécile_, and in 1853 the première of his first symphony attracted considerable praise. From 1858 to 1877 he was the organist of the Madeleine Church in Paris, a position in which he achieved renown as a performer on the organ. From 1861 to 1865 he was an eminent teacher of the piano at the École Niedermeyer, and in 1871 he helped organize the distinguished Société Nationale in Paris devoted to the introduction of new music by French composers. From 1877 his principal activity was composition in which, as in all the other areas in which he had been engaged, he soon became an outstanding figure. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1868; Officer in 1884; Grand Officer in 1900; and in 1913 the highest rank in the Legion of Honor, the Grand-Croix. He became a member of the Institut de France in 1881. Saint-Saëns paid his first visit to the United States in 1906, and made his first tour of South America in 1916 when he was eighty-one. He remained active until the end of his long life, appearing as pianist and conductor in a Saint-Saëns festival in Greece in 1920, and performing a concert of his own music in Dieppe a year later. He was vacationing in Algiers when he died there on December 16, 1921.

Though Saint-Saëns lived well into the 20th century and was witness to the radical departures in musical composition taking place all about him, he remained a conservative to the end of his days. He was, from a technical point of view, a master. There is no field of musical composition which he did not cultivate with the most consummate skill and the best possible taste. He was gifted not merely with a fine lyrical gift but also at other times with passion, intensity, and a sardonic wit. He wrote numerous compositions in a light style, but many of his most serious efforts are readily assimilable at first hearing and readily fall into the category of semi-classics.

_The Carnival of Animals_ (_Le Carnaval des animaux_), for two pianos and orchestra (1886) finds the composer in a gay mood. This is witty, ironic and at times satiric music. The composer regarded the writing of this work as a lark, thought so little of the composition that he did not permit a public performance or a publication during his lifetime. Nevertheless it is one of the composer’s most infectious compositions, one that never fails to enchant audiences young and old. It was described by the composer as “a grand zoological fantasy,” and its fourteen sections represent pictures of various animals. The suite begins with a march (“Introduction and Royal March of the Lion,” “_L’Introduction et marche royale du lion_”). After a brief fanfare, sprightly march music is heard. We can readily guess who is at the head of the parade by the lion’s roar simulated by the orchestra. After this we are given a picture of a hen through the cackle in piano and strings, and of a cock through a clarinet call (“Hens and Cocks,” “_Poules et coqs_”). This is followed by music for two unaccompanied pianos intended to depict “Mules” (“_Hémiones_”). Actually this portion was planned by the composer as a satire on pianists who insist on playing everything in a strict rhythm and unchanging dynamics. In the fourth movement, “Tortoises” (“_Tortues_”), two amusing quotations are interpolated from Offenbach’s _Orpheus in the Underworld_. A cumbersome melody in a stately rhythm then introduces us to the “Elephant” (“_L’Eléphant_”). In this part the composer’s fine feeling for paradox and incongruity asserts itself in contrasting a ponderous theme with a graceful waltz tune. In the halting music of the next movement, “Kangaroos” (“_Kangourous_”), the composer aims his satirical barbs not on these graceless animals but upon concert audiences who insist on talking throughout a performance. “Aquarium” consists of a sensitive melody for flute and violin against piano arpeggio figures. In “Personages With Long Ears” (“_Personnages à longues oreilles_”) donkeys are represented by a melody with leaping intervals. The “Cuckoo in the Woods” (“_Le Coucou au fonds des bois_”) consists of a melody for clarinet. “Aviary” (“_Volière_”) reproduces the flight and singing of birds. “Pianists” (“_Pianistes_”), the composer feels, belongs to the animal kingdom; the attempt by embryo pianists to master his scales is here described amusingly. “Fossils” (“_Fossiles_”) quotes four popular themes from the classics: from Rossini’s _The Barber of Seville_, Saint-Saëns’ _Danse macabre_, and two French folk songs. Satire and wit are replaced by the most sensitive lyricism and winning sentiment in the thirteenth movement, a section so famous that it is most often heard apart from the rest of the suite, and in many different versions and arrangements. This is the movement of “The Swan” (“_Le Cygne_”), a beautiful melody for the cello in which the stately movement of the swan in the water is interpreted. A dance inspired by this music was made world famous by Anna Pavlova. The suite ends with the return of all the preceding characters in a section entitled “Finale.” In the present-day concert hall, it is sometimes the practice to present _The Carnival of Animals_ with an appropriate superimposed commentary in verse by Ogden Nash preceding each section.

_Danse macabre_, tone poem for orchestra, op. 40 (1874) is a musical interpretation of a poem by Henri Cazalis. The composition opens with a brief sequence in the harp suggesting that the hour of midnight has struck. Death tunes his violin and almost at once there begins a demoniac dance, its abandoned theme first presented by the flute. Another equally frenetic dance tune is given by Death, the xylophone simulating the rattle of bones. In the midst of the orgy the solemn refrain of the “Dies Irae” is sounded. Dawn is announced by the crowing of a cock. The wild dance dies down and the dancers disappear in the mist.

_The Deluge_ (_Le Déluge_), op. 45 (1876), is an orchestral prelude to a Biblical poem, text by Louis Gillet. The inspiration for this music comes from a passage in the _Genesis_: “And God repented of having created the world.” Solemn chords preface a fugal passage built from a theme in violas. After this a beautiful melody for solo violin unfolds symbolizing humanity in its original state of purity.

The _Havanaise_, op. 83 (1887) is a popular composition for violin and piano which makes effective use of a languorous Spanish melody set against the habanera rhythm. “Havanaise” is the French term for “Habanera,” a popular Spanish dance in slow ²/₄ time said to have originated in Cuba.

_Henry VIII_, an opera, is remembered for its effective ballet music. The opera, with libretto by Leonce Detroyat and Armand Sylvestre was first performed at the Paris Opéra on March 5, 1883. Since its setting is England during the Tudor Period, the popular ballet music is restrained, sensitive and graceful. It is heard in the second act during a festival given by the King of Richmond to honor the Papal Legate. Much of the material for these dances was acquired by the composer from a collection of Scottish and Irish tunes and dances provided him by the wife of one of his librettists. The Ballet Music is made up of five sections. The first is a restrained Introduction. Then comes “The Entry of the Clans.” This music, it is amusing to remark, is English rather than Scottish in style because the composer confused the English Dee with the Scottish river of the same name and decided to use the English melody “The Miller of the Dee.” The third movement is a “Scotch Idyll,” this time a bright Scottish tune in the oboe. The Ballet Music continues with a “Gypsy Dance” in which a Hungarian-type melody for English horn is followed by brisker music whose main subject is offered by the violins. The suite concludes with “Gigue and Finale.”

The _Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso_, op. 28 (1863) is for violin and orchestra. The main theme of the Introduction is found in the solo violin in the second measure, accompanied by the strings. A forceful chord for full orchestra brings on the Rondo Capriccioso section, whose main melody is presented by the solo violin. The solo instrument later on also introduces a contrasting second theme. After some embellishment of both ideas, the orchestra loudly interpolates a third subject which is repeated by the solo violin. All this material is amplified, often with brilliant virtuoso passages in the violin. A climactic point is reached when the first theme of the Rondo Capriccioso is pronounced by the orchestra against broken chords in the violin. This composition concludes with a coda marked by virtuoso passages for the solo instrument.

The _Marche heroïque_, for orchestra, op. 34 (1871) was originally written for two solo pianos but later the same year orchestrated by the composer himself. The composition is dedicated to one of Saint-Saëns’ friends, the painter Alexandre Regnault, who served in the French army and was killed during the Franco-Prussian War. This music has a seven-bar introduction following which the principal march subject is given by the woodwind accompanied by plucked strings. In the middle trio section a contrasting theme is offered by the trombone against an accompanying figure taken from the earlier march melody. The march music returns in the closing section, but more vigorously than heretofore. The composition ends with a powerful coda.

_Le Rouet d’Omphale_ (_Omphale’s Spinning Wheel_), is an orchestral tone poem, op. 31 (1871), based on an old legend. Hercules is the slave of the Lydian queen. He disguises himself as a woman and is put to the task of spinning. The whirr of the spinning wheel is simulated by the violins at the beginning of the composition. The abused Hercules is then represented by a somber subject for the bass. Soon the whirr returns in an increased tempo to point up Hercules’ return to the business of spinning.

The composer’s most famous opera, _Samson and Delilah_, is represented on semi-classical programs with its colorful, exciting _Bacchanale_. The opera was first performed in Weimar in 1877, its libretto (by Ferdinand Lemaire) based on the famous Biblical story. The Bacchanale comes towards the end of the opera, the second scene of the third act. At the Temple of Dagon, the Philistines are celebrating their victory over Samson and the Hebrews with wild revelry in front of a statue of their god. A part of these festivities consists of a bacchanale to wild music Semitic in melodic content, orgiastic in tone colors, and barbaric in rhythms. The most celebrated vocal selection from this opera is Delilah’s seductive song to Samson, “My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice” (“_Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix_”).

The _Suite algérienne_, for orchestra, op. 60, is a set of four “picturesque impressions of a voyage to Algeria,” in the composer’s own description. The opening movement is a prelude. The sea is here depicted in a swelling figure while brief snatches of melody suggest some of the sights of Algiers as seen from aboard ship. “Moorish Rhapsody” (“_Rapsodie mauresque_”) is made up of three sections. The first and last are brilliant in sonority and tonal colors, while the middle one is an Oriental song. “An Evening Dream at Blidah” (“_Rêverie du soir_”) is a dreamy nocturne picturing a famous Algerian fortress. The most popular movement of the suite is the last one, a rousing “French Military March” (“_Marche militaire française_”)—vigorous, at times even majestic, music representing the composer’s delight and sense of security in coming upon a French garrison.

Pablo de Sarasate

Pablo de Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Spain, on March 10, 1844. As a child prodigy violinist he made his debut in Spain when he was six, and soon thereafter toured the country. In 1859 he completed with honors a three-year period of violin study at the Paris Conservatory. He was only fifteen when he initiated a worldwide career as virtuoso which continued until the end of his life and placed him with the foremost violinists of his generation. In his concerts he featured prominently his own arrangements and fantasias of opera arias as well as his original compositions in all of which he could exhibit his phenomenal technique. Some of his compositions are now staples in the violin repertory. They include the _Gypsy Airs_ (_Zigeuenerweisen_), _Caprice Basque_, _Jota aragonesa_, _Zapatadeo_, and the _Spanish Dances_.

The _Gypsy Airs_ is a fantasia made up of haunting gypsy tunes and dance rhythms. The heart of the composition comes midway with a sad gypsy song which finds contrast in the electrifying dance melodies and rhythms that follow immediately.

Sarasate produced four sets of _Spanish Dances_, opp. 21, 22, 23, and 26, all for violin and piano. The identifiable Spanish melodies and rhythms of folk dances are here exploited most effectively. The most famous of these is the _Malagueña_, a broad and sensual gypsy melody followed by a rhythmic section in which the clicking of castanets is simulated.

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 31, 1797. He was extraordinarily precocious in music and was early trained to play the violin, viola and organ. From 1808 to 1813 he attended the Imperial Chapel School where he received a thorough musical background while preparing to be a chorister in the Chapel Choir. He showed such remarkable and natural gifts for music that one of his teachers, the renowned Antonio Salieri, did not hesitate to call him a “genius.” When the breaking of his voice compelled him to leave the school in 1813, Schubert was encouraged by his father, a schoolmaster, to enter the field of education. For two years, from 1814 on, Schubert taught in the school owned and directed by his father. During this period he demonstrated phenomenal fertility as a composer by producing operas, symphonies, masses, sonatas, string quartets, piano pieces, and almost 150 songs including his first masterpiece, _The Erlking_ (_Der Erlkoenig_). After 1817, Schubert devoted himself completely to composition. He remained singularly productive even though recognition failed to come. Few of his works were either published or performed—and those that were heard proved dismal failures. He managed to survive these difficult years only through the kindness and generosity of his intimate friends who loved him and were in awe of his genius. Combined with the frustration in failing to attract public notice with his music—and the humiliation of living on the bounty of friends—was the further tragedy of sickness brought on by a venereal disease. A concert of his works in Vienna on March 26, 1828 seemed to promise a turn in his fortunes. But it came too late. He died in Vienna on November 19, 1828—still an unrecognized composer. So completely obscure was his reputation that for many years some of his crowning master works lay forgotten and neglected in closets of friends and associates, none of whom seemed to realize that they were in the possession of treasures.

Schubert was undoubtedly one of the greatest creators of song the world has known. His almost five hundred art songs (_Lieder_) is an inexhaustible source of some of the most beautiful, most expressive, most poetic melodies ever put down on paper. He created beauty as easily as he breathed. The most inspired musical thoughts came to him so spontaneously that he was always reaching for quill and paper to get them down—whether at his home, or at the houses of his friends, in restaurants, café-houses, and even while walking through the country. “The striking characteristics of Schubert’s best songs,” wrote Philip Hale, “are spontaneous, haunting melody, a natural birthright mastery over modulation, a singular good fortune in finding the one inevitable phrase for the prevailing sentiment of the poem, and in finding the fitting descriptive figure for salient detail. His best songs have an atmosphere which cannot be passed unnoticed, which cannot be misunderstood.” But far and beyond his natural gift at lyricism was his genius in translating the slightest nuances and suggestions of a line of poetry into tones. It is for this very reason that he is often described as the father of the _Lied_, or art song.

Because Schubert’s melodies come from the heart and go to the heart they have been staples in semi-classical literature by way of orchestral transcription. Thus though they are as lofty and as noble a musical expression as can be found anywhere, Schubert’s songs have such universality that they are as popular as they are inspired. These are a few of the Schubert songs that have profited from instrumental adaptations:

“_Am Meer_” (“By the Sea”), poem by Heinrich Heine. This stately melody seems to catch some of the vastness and mystery of the sea. This is the twelfth song from the song cycle _Schwanengesang_ (1828).

“_An die Musik_” (“To Music”), poem by Franz von Schober (1817). The glowing melody has caught the composer’s wonder and awe at the magic of music.

“_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_” (“To Be Sung on the Water”) poem by Stolberg. This gay, heartfelt tune expresses the composer’s delight in floating on the water.

“_Ave Maria_,” based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott (1825). This is a melody of exalted spiritual character touched with serenity and radiance. August Wilhelmj’s transcription for violin and piano is a staple in the violin repertory.

“_Du bist die Ruh’_” (“You are Peace”), poem by Rueckert. An atmosphere of serenity is magically created by a melody of wondrous beauty.

“_Der Erlkoenig_” (“The Erlking”), poem by Goethe (1815). This is one of Schubert’s most dramatic songs, describing the death of a child at the hands of the Erlking, symbol of death.

“_Die Forelle_” (“The Trout”), poem by Schubert (1817). This gay tune gives a lively picture of a trout leaping happily in and out of the water. Schubert used this melody for a set of variations in his piano quintet in A major, op. 114 (1819).

“_Gretchen am Spinnrade_” (“Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel”), poem by Goethe (1814). Against an accompaniment suggesting the whirr of the spinning wheel, comes Marguerite’s haunting song as she thinks of her loved one.

“Hark, Hark, the Lark” (“_Horch, Horch, die Lerch_”), poem by Shakespeare (1826). The melody reflects the light-hearted mood of the famous Shakespeare verse from _Cymbeline_.

“_Der Lindenbaum_” (“The Linden Tree”), poem by Mueller is a poignant poem of unhappy love. It is the fifth song in the cycle _Die Winterreise_ (1827).

“_Staendchen_” (“Serenade”), poem by Rellstab. This is probably one of the most famous love songs ever written. It is the fourth song in the cycle _Schwanengesang_ (1828).

“_Der Tod und das Maedchen_” (“Death and the Maiden”), poem by Claudius (1817). This dramatic song consists of a dialogue between a young girl and Death, the words of death appearing in a solemn melody while that of the girl in a breathless entreaty. Schubert used this melody for a set of variations in his string quartet in D minor (1824).

Like Beethoven and Mozart Schubert wrote a considerable amount of popular dance music for solo piano, and also for orchestra: German Dances, Laendler, and Waltzes. All have a vigorous peasant rhythm and with melodies reminiscent of Austrian folk music. Schubert’s waltzes are of particular interest since he was one of the first composers to unite several different waltz tunes into a single integrated composition. The Schubert waltzes, each a delight, are found in _Valses sentimentales_, op. 50 (1825) and _Valses nobles_, op. 77 (1827). Liszt adapted nine of the more popular of these waltz melodies in _Soirées de Vienne_ for solo piano. The 20th-century French Impressionist composer, Maurice Ravel, was inspired by these Schubert waltzes to write in 1910 the _Valses nobles et sentimentales_ in two versions, for solo piano, and for orchestra.

_Marche militaire_ (_Militaermarsch_) is a popular little march in D major originally for piano four hands, the first of a set of three marches gathered in op. 41. This is one of Schubert’s most popular instrumental numbers. Karl Tausig transcribed it for solo piano, and it has received many other adaptations including several for orchestra, in which form it is undoubtedly best known.

_Moment Musical_ is a brief composition for the piano. It is in song form and of an improvisational character, and is a _genre_ of instrumental composition created and made famous by Schubert. He wrote many such pieces, but the one always considered when this form is designated is No. 3 in F minor, a graceful and lovable melody, the very essence of Viennese _Gemuetlichkeit_, although it is subtitled “Russian Air” (_Air Russe_). Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano and it is, to be sure, familiar in orchestral adaptations including one by Stokowski, as well as versions for cello and piano, string quartet, clarinet quartet, four pianos, and so forth.

The incidental music to _Rosamunde_ (1823) includes an often played overture and another of Schubert’s universally loved instrumental numbers, the _Ballet Music_. When _Rosamunde_ was introduced in Vienna on December 20, 1823 it was a failure, but this was due more to the insipid play of Helmina von Chézy than to Schubert’s music. The overture heard upon that occasion is not the overture now known as _Rosamunde_. The latter is one which Schubert had written for an earlier operetta, _Die Zauberharfe_. A dignified introduction is dominated by a soaring melody for oboe and clarinet. The tempo changes, and a brisk little melody is given by the violins; a contrast is offered by a lyric subject for the woodwind.

The Entr’acte No. 2 in B-flat major from _Rosamunde_ is one of Schubert’s most inspired melodies, whose beauty tempted H. L. Mencken once to point to it as the proof that God existed. Schubert himself was fond of the melody for he used it twice more, in his String Quartet in A minor (1824) and for a piano Impromptu in B-flat major (1827).

There are two musical episodes in _Rosamunde_ designated as _Ballet Music_. The famous one is the second in G major, a melody so sparkling, infectious and graceful—and so full of the joy of life—that once again like the _Moment Musical_ in F minor it embodies the best of what today we characterize as Viennese. Fritz Kreisler’s transcription for violin and piano is famous.

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany, on June 8, 1810. Though he demonstrated an unusual gift for music from earliest childhood he was directed by his father to law. While attending the Leipzig Conservatory in 1828 he studied the piano with Friedrich Wieck. In 1829, in Heidelberg, where he had come to continue his law study, he completed the first of his works to get published, the _Abegg Variations_ for piano. He returned to Leipzig in 1829, having come to the decision to make music and not law his lifework, and plunged intensively into study. His ambition was to become a great virtuoso of the piano. In his efforts to master his technique he so abused his hands that a slight paralysis set in, putting to rest all hopes of a career as pianist. He now decided on composition. After an additional period of study with Heinrich Dorn, he completed his first major work, the _Paganini Etudes_ for piano, and started work on his first symphony. He became active in the musical life of Leipzig by helping found and editing the _Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik_, which became a powerful medium for fighting for the highest ideals in music. He also formed a musical society called the _Davidsbuendler_ made up of idealistic young musicians who attacked false values and philistinism in music. All the while his creative life was unfolding richly. He wrote two unqualified masterworks for piano between 1833 and 1835, the _Carnaval_ and the _Études symphoniques_. In 1840 Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his one-time piano teacher. Their love affair had been of more than five years’ duration, but Clara’s father was stubbornly opposed to their marriage and put every possible obstacle in their way. Schumann finally had to seek the sanction of the law courts before his marriage could be consummated. He now entered upon his most productive period as composer, completing four symphonies, three string quartets, a piano quartet, numerous songs, a piano concerto among other works. In 1843, he helped found the Leipzig Conservatory where for a while he taught the piano, and between 1850 and 1853 he was municipal music director for the city of Duesseldorf. After 1853 there took place a startling deterioration of his nervous system, bringing on melancholia, lapses of memory, and finally insanity. The last two years of his life were spent in an asylum at Endenich, Germany, where he died on July 29, 1856.

Schumann was a giant in German Romantic music. His works abound with the most captivating lyricism, heartfelt emotion, subtle moods, and an unrestricted imagination. There is not much in this wonderful literature that falls naturally within the category of semi-classics—only three piano pieces familiar in transcriptions, and a song.

_Abendlied_ (_Evening Song_), a gentle mood picture in the composer’s most rewarding Romantic vein, comes from _Twelve Four-Hand Pieces for Younger and Older Children_, op. 85 (1849) where it is the final number.

“_Die beiden Grenadiere_” (_The Two Grenadiers_) op. 49, no. 1 (1840) is probably the most familiar of Schumann’s many songs. The poem is by Heine. The music describes with telling effect the reaction of two French grenadiers on learning that their Emperor Napoleon has been captured. The song reaches a powerful climax with a quotation from the _Marseillaise_.

The _Traeumerei_ (_Dreaming_) is the seventh number in a set of thirteen piano pieces collectively entitled _Scenes from Childhood_ (_Kinderscenen_), op. 15, (1838). Like the _Abendlied_, it is an atmospheric piece, perhaps one of the most popular compositions by Schumann.

_Wild Horseman_ (_Wilder Reiter_) can be found in the _Album for the Young_ (_Album fuer die Jugend_), op. 68, no. 3 (1848). It was made into an American popular song in the early 1950’s by Johnny Burke.

Cyril Scott

Cyril Meir Scott was born in Oxton, England, on September 27, 1879. His musical training took place at Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfort, Germany, and privately with Ivan Knorr. He went to live in Liverpool in 1898 where he taught piano and devoted himself to composition. Performances of several orchestral and chamber-music works at the turn of the century helped establish his reputation. He also distinguished himself as a concert pianist with performances throughout Europe and a tour of America in 1921. Though frequently a composer with _avant-garde_ tendencies—one of the first English composers to use the most advanced techniques of modern music—Scott is most famous for his short pieces for the piano which have been extensively performed in transcription. His writing is mainly impressionistic, with a subtle feeling for sensitive atmosphere and moods. The best of these miniatures, each a delicate tone picture, are: _Danse nègre_ (_Negro Dance_), op. 58, no. 3 (1908); and _Lotus Land_, op. 47, no. 1 (1905). The latter was transcribed for violin and piano by Kreisler and for orchestra by Kostelanetz.

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was born in Tavastehus, Finland, on December 8, 1865. Though he early revealed a pronounced gift for music he planned a career in law. After a year at the University of Helsinki he finally decided upon music. From 1886 to 1889 he attended the Helsinki Conservatory where one of his teachers was Ferruccio Busoni, after which he studied in Berlin with Albert Becker and in Vienna with Robert Fuchs and Karl Goldmark. He was back in his native land in 1891, and one year after that conducted in Helsinki the première of his first work in a national style, _Kullervo_. From then on, he continued producing works with a pronounced national identity with which he became not only one of Finland’s leading creative figures in music but also its prime musical spokesman. In 1897 he was given the first government grant ever bestowed on a musician which enabled him to give up his teaching activities for composition. He now produced some of his greatest music, including most of his symphonies. In 1914 he paid his only visit to the United States, directing a concert of his works in Norfolk, Connecticut. After World War I, he toured Europe several times. Then from 1924 on he lived in comparative seclusion at his home in Järvenpää, which attracted admirers from all parts of the world. Sibelius wrote nothing after 1929, but by then his place in the world’s music was secure as one of the foremost symphonists since Brahms. In Finland he assumed the status of a national hero. He died at his home in Järvenpää on September 20, 1957.

Some of the compositions by Sibelius enjoying popularity as semi-classics are in the post-Romantic German style which he had assumed early in his career; only one or two are in the national idiom for which he is so famous.

In the former category belongs a slight, sentimental piece called _Canzonetta_, for string orchestra, op. 62a (1911). As its name implies it is a small and simple instrumental song for muted strings, deeply emotional in feeling, at times with deeply somber colorations.

_Finlandia_, for symphony orchestra, op. 26 (1900) is one of Sibelius’ earliest national compositions, and to this day it is the most famous. Both in and out of Finland this music is as much an eloquent voice for its country as its national anthem. One can go even further and say that more people in the world know the melodies of _Finlandia_ than the Finnish anthem. So stirring are its themes, so identifiably Finnish in personality and color, that for a long time it was believed Sibelius had utilized national folk tunes; but the music is entirely Sibelius’. It opens with a proud exclamation in the brass. After this comes a sensitive melody for the woodwind, and a prayer-like song for the strings. The music now enters a dramatic phase with stormy passages. But there soon arrives the most famous melody in the entire work, a beautiful supplication sounded first by the woodwind and then by the strings. A forceful climax ensues with a strong statement which seems to be speaking in loud and ringing tones of the determination of the people to stay free.

Performances of _Finlandia_ played a prominent role in the political history of Finland. When performed in its first version, in 1899, it was used to help raise funds for a Press Pension fight against the suppression of free speech and press by the Russians. Within the next two years (following a radical revision of the music in 1900) the work was given under various titles: In France it was first performed as _Suomi_ and then as _La Patrie_; in Germany, as _Vaterland_. In Finland the music proved so inflammatory in arousing national ardor that Russia suppressed its performances in that country, while permitting it to be played in the Empire so long as the title _Impromptu_ was used. When, in 1905, Russia made far-reaching political concessions to Finland, Sibelius’ tone poem was once again permitted performances. For the next twelve years it became the national expression of a people stubbornly fighting for its independence. Performances kept alive the national fire to such an extent that it has been said that they did more to promote the cause of Finland’s freedom than all the propaganda of speeches and pamphlets.

When the Soviets invaded Finland in the first stages of World War II, _Finlandia_ once again acquired political importance. In the free world, particularly in the United States, the music was used to speak for the spirit of a people refusing to accept oppression and defeat.

Another piece of stirring national music that has become a lighter classic comes out of the _Karelia Suite_ for orchestra, op. 11 (1893), the _Alla Marcia_ section. This work was written for a historical pageant presented by the students of Viborg University and consists of an overture, two melodious sections (_Intermezzo_ and _Ballade_) and the _Alla marcia_, march music of dramatic surge and sweep, in which effective use is made of abrupt key changes.

Sibelius wrote several delightful _Romances_ in the German-Romantic idiom of his early _Canzonetta_. One of these was originally for solo piano, in D-flat major, op. 24, no. 9 (1903); another for violin and piano, F major, op. 78, no. 2 (1915). The former has become popular in transcriptions for salon orchestra; the latter, for violin and orchestra, and cello and piano. Perhaps the most famous of Sibelius’ _Romances_ is that in C major, for string orchestra, Op. 42 (1903). It begins with an unorthodox opening, unusual in harmonic structure and varied in inflections, but its principal melody—a soulful song—is in the traditional idiom of an uninhibited Romanticist.

The best known of Sibelius’ Romantic compositions, a universal favorite with salon orchestras, is the _Valse Triste_, for orchestra, op. 44 (1903). This is a section from the incidental music for _Kuolema_, a play by Sibelius’ brother-in-law, Arvid Jaernefelt; but it is the only one from this score to get published. This slow and lugubrious melody, bathed in sentimentality, is a literal musical interpretation of the following program, translated by Rosa Newmarch: “It is night. The son who has been watching by the bedside of his sick mother has fallen asleep from sheer weariness. Gradually a ruddy light is reflected through the room; there is a sound of distant music; the glow and the music steal nearer until the strains of a valse melody float distinctly to our ears. The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed, and, in her long white garment which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins to move slowly and silently to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible guests. And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning and gliding to an unearthly valse rhythm. The dying woman mingles with the dancers, she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink exhausted on her couch, and the music breaks off. But presently she gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once again with more energetic gestures than before. Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a knock at the door, which flies wide open; the mother utters a despairing cry; the spectral guests vanish; the music dies away. Death stands on the threshold.”

Christian Sinding

Christian Sinding was born in Kongsberg, Norway, on January 11, 1856. After attending the Leipzig Conservatory from 1877 to 1881 he settled in Oslo as a teacher of the piano. His first published composition was a piano quintet in 1884, and in 1885 he directed a concert of his own music in Oslo. Though he wrote in large forms, including symphonies, concertos, suites, tone poems and various chamber-music compositions, he is best known for his smaller pieces for the piano. In 1890 he received an annual subsidy from his government to enable him to devote himself completely to composition. One of Norway’s most significant composers, he was given a handsome life pension in 1915, and in 1916 an additional government gift of 30,000 crowns. In 1921-1922 he visited the United States when he served for one season as a member of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. He died in Oslo on December 3, 1941.

His smaller pieces for the piano include etudes, waltzes, caprices, intermezzos and various descriptive compositions. It is by one of the last that he is most often remembered, a favorite of young pianists throughout the world, and of salon and pop orchestras in instrumental adaptations. This is the ever-popular _Rustle of Spring_ (_Fruehlingsrauschen_), probably the most popular piece of music describing the vernal season. This is the second of _Six Pieces_, for solo piano, Op. 32 (1896). The rustle can be found in the accompaniment, against which moves a soft, sentimental song filled with all the magic of Nature’s rebirth at springtime. In this same suite, a second number of markedly contrasting nature, has also become familiar—the first number, played in a vigorous and picaresque style, the _Marche grotesque_.

Leone Sinigaglia

Leone Sinigaglia was born in Turin, Italy, on August 14, 1868. His preliminary music study took place at the Liceo Musicale of his native city and was completed with Mandyczewski in Vienna and Dvořák in Prague. The latter encouraged him to write music in a national Italian idiom. It was in this style that he created his earliest significant compositions, the first being _Danze piemontesi_, introduced in Turin in 1905, Toscanini conducting. Later works included _Rapsodia piemontese_ for violin and orchestra; _Piemonte_, for orchestra; a violin concerto; and various works for chamber music groups, solo instruments and orchestra. He died in Turin on May 16, 1944.

His best known and most frequently played composition is a gay, infectious little concert overture, _Le Baruffe chiozzotte_ (_The Quarrels of the People of Chiozzo)_, op. 32 (1907). It was inspired by the Goldoni comedy of the same name which offers an amusing picture of life in the little town of Chiozzo. There Lucietto and Tita are in love, quarrel, and become reconciled through the ministrations of the magistrate. A loud theme for full orchestra provides the overture with a boisterous beginning. A passing tender thought then comes as contrast. After some elaboration of these ideas, a delightful folk song is heard first in the oboe, and then in violins. The tempo now quickens, the mood becomes restless, and the music grows sprightly. An amusing little episode now appears in woodwind and violins after which the folk song and the loud opening theme are recalled.

_Piemonte_, a suite for orchestra, op. 36 is a charming four-movement composition in which the folk melodies and dances of Piedmont are prominently used. The first movement, “Over Woods and Fields,” opens with a folk tune, which the composer repeats in the finale. Two other delightful ideas follow: the first in the horn, repeated by the cellos; the second in muted first violins. In the second movement, “A Rustic Dance,” the principal Piedmont dance tune is heard in solo violin and oboe; a second subject occurs after the development of the first in lower strings and woodwind. The heart of the third movement, “In the Sacred Mountain,” is a folk song first offered by the horns, accompanied by cellos and double basses. The suite ends with a picture of a festival, “Piedmontese Carnival,” its two vigorous ideas heard respectively in full orchestra, and in trumpet and first violins.

Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana was born in Leitomischl, Bohemia, on March 2, 1824. Though he was interested in music from childhood on, he received little training until his nineteenth year when he came to Prague and studied with Josef Proksch. For several years after the completion of his music study he worked as teacher of music for Count Leopold Thun. He soon became active in the musical life of his country; in 1848 he was a significant force in the creation of Prague’s first music school. In 1849, Smetana was appointed pianist to Ferdinand I, the former Emperor of Austria residing in Prague. From 1856 to 1861 Smetana lived in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he was active as conductor, teacher, and pianist. After returning to his native land in 1861 he became one of its dominant musical figures. He served as director of the music school, conducted a chorus, wrote music criticisms, founded and directed a drama school, and organized the Society of Artists. He also wrote a succession of major works in which the cause of Bohemian nationalism was espoused so vigorously and imaginatively that Smetana has since become recognized as the father of Bohemian national music. His most significant works are the folk opera, _The Bartered Bride_, and a cycle of orchestral tone poems collectively entitled _My Country_ (_Má Vlast_). Smetana was stricken by deafness in 1874, despite which he continued creating important works, among them being operas and an autobiographical string quartet called _From My Life_ (_Aus meinem Leben_). Total deafness was supplemented by insanity in 1883 which necessitated confinement in an asylum in Prague where he died on May 12, 1884.

The rich folk melodies and pulsating folk rhythms of native dance music overflow in Smetana’s music, providing it with much of its vitality and popular interest. Smetana’s gift at writing music in the style, idiom, and techniques of Bohemian folk dances is evident in many of his compositions, but nowhere more successfully than in his delightful folk comic opera, _The Bartered Bride_ (_Prodaná nevešta_). This little opera, first performed in Prague on May 30, 1866, is the foundation on which Bohemian national music rests securely. It is a gay, lively picture of life in a small Bohemian village. The principal action involves the efforts of the village matchmaker to get Marie married to Wenzel, a dim-witted, stuttering son of the town’s wealthy landowner. But Marie is in love with Hans who, as it turns out, is also the son of the same landowner, though by a previous marriage. Through trickery, Hans manages to win Marie, though for a while matters become complicated when Marie is led to believe that Hans has deserted her.

In its first version, _The Bartered Bride_ was presented as a play (by Karel Sabina) with incidental music by Smetana. Realizing that this work had operatic possibilities, Smetana amplified and revised his score, and wrote recitatives for the spoken dialogue. In this new extended form the opera was heard in Vienna in 1892 and was a sensation; from then on, and to the present time, it has remained one of the most lovable comic operas ever written.

There are three colorful and dynamic folk dances in this opera which contribute powerfully to the overall national identity, but whose impact on audiences is by no means lost when heard apart from the stage action. “The Dance of the Comedians” appears in the third act, when a circus troupe appears in the village square and entertains villagers with a spirited dance. The “Furiant”—a fiery type of Bohemian dance with marked cross rhythms—comes in the second act when villagers enter the local inn and perform a Corybantic dance. The “Polka,” a favorite Bohemian dance, comes as an exciting finish to the first act as local residents give vent to their holiday spirits during a festival in the village square.

The effervescent overture which precedes the first act is as popular as the dances. The merry first theme is given by strings and woodwind in unison against strong chords in brasses and timpani. This subject is simplified, at times in a fugal style, and is brought to a climax before a second short subject is stated by the oboe. Still a third charming folk tune appears, in violins and cellos, before the first main subject is recalled and developed. The coda, based on this first theme, carries the overture to a lively conclusion. Gustav Mahler, the eminent music director of the Vienna Royal Opera which gave this opera its first major success outside Bohemia, felt this overture was so much in the spirit of the entire work, and so basic to its overall mood and structure, that he preferred using it before the second act so that latecomers into the opera house might not miss it.

Smetana’s most famous work for orchestra comes from his cycle of six national tone poems entitled _My Country_ (_Má Vlast_), which he wrote between 1874 and 1879 in a tonal tribute to his native land. Each of the tone poems is a picture of a different facet of Bohemian life, geography, and background. The most famous composition of this set is _The Moldau_ (_Vltava_), a portrait of the famous Bohemian river. This is a literal tonal representation of the following descriptive program interpolated by the composer in his published score:

“Two springs gush forth in the shade of the Bohemian forest, the one warm and spouting, the other cold and tranquil. Their waves, gayly rushing onward over their rocky beds, unite and glisten in the rays of the morning sun. The forest brook, fast hurrying on, becomes the river Vltava, which, flowing ever on through Bohemia’s valleys, grows to be a mighty stream; it flows through thick woods in which the joyous noise of the hunt and the notes of the hunter’s horn are heard ever nearer and nearer; it flows through grass-grown pastures and lowlands where a wedding feast is celebrated with song and dancing. At night the wood and water nymphs revel in its shining waves, in which many fortresses and castles are reflected as witnesses of the past glory of knighthood and the vanished warlike fame of bygone ages. At St. John Rapids the stream rushes on, winding in and out through the cataracts, and hews out a path for itself with its foaming waves through the rocky chasm into the broad river bed in which it flows on in majestic repose toward Prague, welcomed by time-honored Vysehrad, whereupon it vanishes in the far distance from the poet’s gaze.”

The rippling flow of the river Moldau is portrayed by fast figures in the strings, the background for a broad and sensual folk song representing the river itself heard in violins and woodwind. Hunting calls are sounded by the horns, after which a lusty peasant dance erupts from the full orchestra. Nymphs and naiads disport to the strains of a brief figure in the woodwind. A transition by the wind brings back the beautiful Moldau song. A climax is built up, after which the setting becomes once again serene. The Moldau continues its serene course towards Prague.

John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa, America’s foremost composer of march music, was born in Washington, D. C., on November 6, 1854. The son of a trombone player in the United States Marine Band, John Philip early received music instruction, mainly the violin from John Esputa. When he was about thirteen, John enlisted in the Marine Corps where he played in its band for two years. For several years after that he played the violin in and conducted the orchestras of various theaters; in the summer of 1877 he played in an orchestra conducted by Jacques Offenbach at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Between 1880 and 1892 he was the musical director of the Marine Band. It was during this period that he wrote his first famous marches. In 1892 he formed a band of his own with which he toured Europe and America for many years, and with which he gave more than a thousand concerts. His most popular marches (together with his best transcriptions for band of national ballads and patriotic airs) were always the highlights of his concerts. Besides the marches, Sousa wrote the music for numerous comic operas, the most famous being _El Capitan_ (1896) and _The Bride Elect_ (1898). In 1918 Sousa and his band were heard in the Hippodrome extravaganza, _Everything_. He published his autobiography, _Marching Along_, in 1928, and died in Reading, Pennsylvania, on March 6, 1932.

In the closing years of the 19th century, and in the first part of the 20th, America was undergoing expansion in many directions: art, science, literature, commerce, finance, world affairs. Hand in hand with this development and growth came an aroused patriotism and an expanding chauvinism. Sousa’s marches were the voice of this new and intense national consciousness.

As Sigmund Spaeth has pointed out, most of Sousa’s famous marches follow a similar pattern, beginning with “an arresting introduction, then using a light, skipping rhythm for his first melody, going from that into a broader tune,” then progressing to the principal march melody. A massive climax is finally realized with new, vibrant colors being realized in the main march melody through striking new combinations of instruments.

The following are some of Sousa’s most popular marches:

_El Capitan_ (1896) was adapted from a choral passage from the comic opera of the same name. This music was played aboard Admiral Dewey’s flagship, _Olympia_, when it steamed down Manila Bay for battle during the Spanish-American War. And it was again heard, this time performed by Sousa’s own band, when Dewey was welcomed as a conquering hero in New York on September 30, 1900.

_King Cotton_ (1895) was written on the occasion of the engagement of the Sousa Band at the Cotton States Exposition. _Semper Fideles_ (1888) was Sousa’s first famous composition in march tempo, and to this day it is still one of his best known marches, a perennial favorite with parades of all kinds. Since Sousa sold this march outright for $35.00 he never capitalized on its immense popularity.

Sousa’s masterpiece—and probably one of the most famous marches ever written—was the _Stars and Stripes Forever_, completed on April 26, 1897. In 1897 Sousa was a tourist in Italy when he heard the news that his friend and manager had died in the United States. Sousa decided to return home. Aboard the _Teutonic_ a march melody kept haunting him. As soon as he came home he put the melody down on paper, and it became the principal subject of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” This principal melody achieves an unforgettable climax in the march when it is proudly thundered by the full orchestra to figurations in the piccolo.

_The Thunderer_ and _The Washington Post March_ were written in 1889. The latter was commissioned by the _Washington Post_ for the ceremonies attending the presentation of prizes in a student essay contest.

Among Sousa’s other marches are _The Bride Elect_ (1897) from the comic opera of the same name; _The Fairest of the Fair_ (1908); _Hands Across the Sea_ (1899); _Invincible Eagle_ (1901); and _Saber and Spurs_ (1915) dedicated to the United States Cavalry.

It was long maintained that Sousa was the composer of the famous hymn of the Artillery branch of the United States armed services, “The Caisson Song.” Sousa played this march in his own brilliant new band arrangement at a Liberty Loan Drive at the Hippodrome, in New York, in 1918. For some time thereafter Sousa was credited as being the composer. But further research revealed the fact that the words and music had been written in 1908 by Edmund L. Gruber, then a lieutenant with the 5th Artillery in the Philippines.

Oley Speaks

Oley Speaks was born in Canal Winchester, Ohio, on June 28, 1874. He received his musical training, principally in voice, from various teachers including Armour Galloway and Emma Thursby. He then filled the post of baritone soloist at churches in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City, including the St. Thomas Church in New York from 1901 to 1906. He also filled numerous engagements in song recitals and performances of oratorios. He died in New York City on August 27, 1948.

Speaks was the composer of more than 250 published art songs which have placed him in a front rank among American song composers. Three have become outstandingly popular; there is hardly a male singer anywhere who has not sung such all-time favorites as “Morning,” “On the Road to Mandalay” and “Sylvia,” each of which is among the most widely circulated and most frequently heard art songs by an American. “Morning,” words by Frank L. Stanton, was published in 1910. Where “Morning” is lyrical, “On the Road to Mandalay” (published in 1907) is dramatic, a setting of the famous poem by Rudyard Kipling. The persistent rhythmic background suggesting drum beats, and the effective key change from verse to chorus, have an inescapable effect on listeners. “Sylvia,” poem by Clinton Scollard, published in 1914, is in a sentimental mood, and like “Morning” reveals the composer’s marked gift for sensitive lyricism.

Robert Stolz

Robert Stolz was born in Graz, Austria, on August 25, 1882. His parents were musical, his father being a successful conductor and teacher, and his mother a concert pianist. Robert’s music study took place first with his father, then with Robert Fuchs in Vienna and Humperdinck in Berlin. In 1901 he assumed his first post as conductor, at an opera house in Brunn. When he was twenty-five he was appointed conductor of the Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna where he remained twelve years, directing most of the masterworks in the field of Austrian and German operettas. His own career as composer of operettas had begun in 1903 with _Schoen Lorchen_ produced in Salzburg. Since then Stolz has written music for about sixty operettas, scores for more than eighty films, and a thousand songs in all. His music is in the light, graceful, ebullient style that has characterized Viennese operetta music since the time of Johann Strauss II. His most famous operettas are: _Die lustigen Weiber von Wien_ (1909), _Die Gluecksmaedel_ (1910), _Die Tanzgraefin_ (1921), _Peppina_ (1931), _Zwei Herzen in dreiviertel Takt_ (1933), _Fruehling im Prater_ (1949) and _Karneval in Wien_ (1950). In 1938 Stolz came to the United States where for several years he worked in Hollywood. After the end of World War II he returned to Vienna, remaining active as a composer not only in that city but also in Berlin and London.

Stolz’ most famous song is “_Im Prater bluehn wieder die Baeume_” (“In the Prater the Trees Are Again Blooming”), a glowing hymn not only to a district in Vienna famous for its frolic and amusement but even more so to the city of Vienna itself.

A waltz from his operetta, _Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time_ (_Zwei Herzen in dreiviertel Takt_) is perhaps one of the most celebrated pieces in three-quarter time written in Vienna since Lehár, and it is loved the world over. This operetta originated in 1931 as a German motion-picture which won accolades around the world for its charm and freshness, for which Stolz wrote a score that included his famous waltz. It was then adapted for the stage by Paul Knepler and J. M. Willeminsky and introduced in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1933. This delightful text concerns the trials and tribulations of producing an operetta. That operetta is accepted for production on the condition that a good waltz melody is written for it, and the composer Toni Hofer gets his inspiration for that tune from lovely Hedi, the young sister of the librettist. This waltz, of course, is the title number, which, in its lilt and buoyancy and Viennese love of life, is in the best tradition of Viennese popular music.

Oscar Straus

Oscar Straus was no relation to any of the famous Viennese Strausses; nevertheless in the writing of light, gay music in waltz tempo and spirited melodies for the operetta stage he was certainly their spiritual brother. He was born in Vienna on March 6, 1870, and studied music with private teachers in Vienna and Berlin, including Max Bruch. In 1901 he settled in Berlin where he became conductor at a famous cabaret, _Ueberbrettl_, for whose productions of farces he wrote a number of scores. Soon after that he turned to writing operettas, becoming world famous with _The Waltz Dream_ in 1907 and _The Chocolate Soldier_ in 1908, both introduced in Vienna. He wrote about thirty operettas after that, many heard with outstanding success in the music centers of the world. The best of these were _Der letzte Walzer_ (1920), _Die Teresina_ (1921), _Drei Walzer_ (1935), and _Bozena_ (1952). He was at his best writing waltz melodies but he was also skilful in interpolating satirical elements into his musical writing through the exploitation of ragtime, jazz, and the shimmy. Straus lived in Berlin until 1927, and for a decade after that he made his home in Vienna and Paris. In 1939 he became a French citizen, and from 1940 to 1948 he lived in the United States, filling some assignments in Hollywood. He returned to his native land in 1948, and died at Bad Ischl, Austria, on January 11, 1954.

_The Chocolate Soldier_ (_Der tapfere Soldat_) was the operetta adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s comedy, _Arms and the Man_, by R. Bernauer and L. Jacobsen. Its première took place in Vienna on November 14, 1908, with the first American performance taking place a year later at the Casino Theater in New York. The setting is Serbia in 1885 where the hero, Lieutenant Bumerli, gains the nickname of “chocolate soldier” because of a sweet tooth. While escaping from the enemy, he finds refuge in the bedroom of Nadina, daughter of Colonel Popoff. Nadina becomes the instrument by means of which the lieutenant is now able to effect his escape, disguised in the coat of Colonel Popolf. But before the final curtain Bumerli and Nadina also become lovers.

The waltz, “My Hero,” (“_Komm, Komm, Held meiner Traeume_”) Nadina’s waltz of love to the chocolate soldier, is the most celebrated excerpt from this operetta. Other familiar pages include the lovely first act duet of Nadina and Bumerli, “Sympathy”; the little orchestral march in the second act, a satirical take off on military pomp and circumstance; and Nadina’s “Letter Song” in the third act.

_A Waltz Dream_ (_Ein Walzertraum_), book by Felix Doermann and Leopold Jacobsen, was introduced in Vienna on March 2, 1907, and in New York in April 1908. Lieutenant Niki of the Austrian army is ordered by the Austrian Emperor to marry Princess Helen, but he falls in love with Frantzi, a violinist in a girl’s orchestra. This love affair becomes frustrated when Niki must return to Vienna to become Prince Consort.

The main musical selection from this operetta is the title number, a waltz which first appears as a duet between Niki and a fellow officer in the first act, then recurs throughout the operetta, and finally brings it to a close. Two sprightly march excerpts, from the second and third acts respectively, and the duet, “Piccolo, piccolo, tsin, tsin, tsin” are also popular.

Eduard Strauss

Eduard Strauss, the younger brother of Johann Strauss II, was born in Vienna on March 15, 1835. He studied music in Vienna with G. Preyer following which he made his café-house debut in 1862 by conducting his father’s orchestra at the Dianasaal. He continued to lead his father’s orchestra at the Volksgarten and Musikverein as well as at various leading café-houses in Vienna. He also made many tours, including two of the United States in 1892 and 1901. In 1902 he dissolved the musical organization which his father had founded three-quarters of a century earlier and which all that time had dominated the musical life of Vienna. Besides conducting this orchestra, he also substituted from time to time for his famous brother, Johann Strauss II, and in 1870 he succeeded him as conductor of the court balls. Eduard Strauss died in Vienna on December 28, 1916.

Eduard wrote over three hundred popular instrumental compositions in the style of his celebrated brother but without ever equalling his remarkable creative freshness and originality. But there is a good deal of pleasurable listening in Eduard’s waltzes and polkas. In the former category belongs the _Doctrinen_ (_Faith_) Waltzes, op. 79; in the latter, the gay _Bahn Frei_ (_Fast Track_) Polka, op. 45. In collaboration with his two brothers, Johann and Josef, Eduard wrote the _Trifolienwalzer_ and the _Schuetzenquadrille_.

Johann Strauss I

Johann Strauss I was one of the two waltz kings of Vienna bearing that name. The more famous one, the composer of “The Blue Danube” was the son. But the father was also one of Vienna’s most popular composers and café-house conductors. He was born in Vienna on March 14, 1804, and as a boy he studied both the violin and harmony. His love for music, combined with the decision of his parents to make him a bookbinder, led him to run away from home. When he was fifteen he joined Michael Pamer’s orchestra which played at the Sperl café; another of its members was Josef Lanner, soon also to become a major figure in Vienna’s musical life. As Lanner’s star rose, so did Johann Strauss’. First Strauss played in the Lanner Quartet at the _Goldenen Rebbuhn_ and other cafés; after that he was a member of the Lanner Orchestra which appeared in Vienna’s leading cafés. When Lanner’s mounting success made it necessary for him to create two orchestras, he selected Johann Strauss to conduct one of them. Then, in 1826, Johann Strauss formed an orchestra of his own which made its debut at the Bock Café. For the next two decades he was the idol of Vienna, Lanner’s only rival. By 1830 he had two hundred musicians under him. His major successes as a café-house conductor came at the Sperl and the Redoutensaal. But his fame spread far beyond Vienna. In 1833 he toured all Austria, and in 1834 he appeared in Berlin. After that he performed in all the major European capitals, achieving formidable successes in London and Paris. Meanwhile, in 1833, he had become bandmaster of the first Vienna militia regiment, one of the highest honors a performer of light music could achieve in Austria. In 1845 he was appointed conductor of the Viennese court balls. He died in Vienna on September 25, 1849.

Like Lanner, Strauss wrote a considerable amount of dance and café-house music, over 250 compositions. His first composition was the _Taeuberlwalzer_, named after the café _Zwei Tauben_ where he was then appearing. After that he wrote waltzes, galops, polkas, quadrilles, cotillons, contredanses, and marches—which Vienna came to love for their rhythmic vitality and appealing lyricism. People in Vienna used to say that the waltzes of the first Johann Strauss were _made_ for dancing because their rhythmic pulse excited the heart and made feet restless.

Not much of the father Strauss’ library of music has survived. The exceptions are the following waltzes: _Caecilien_, _Donaulieder_, the _Kettenbruecken_, and the _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_. To the waltz, the older Johann Strauss brought a symphonic dimension it had heretofore not known, particularly in his spacious introductions of which the thirty-bar prelude of the _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_ is an outstanding example. He also carried over to the waltz a variety of mood and feeling and a lightness of touch new for this peasant dance. “This demon of the ancient Viennese folk spirit,” wrote Richard Wagner after hearing Strauss perform one of his own waltzes in Vienna, “trembled at the beginning of a new waltz like a python preparing to spring, and it was more the ecstasy produced by the music than the drinks among the enchanted audience that stimulated that magical first violin to almost dangerous flights.”

Of his other music the most famous is the _Radetzky March_. Count Radetzky was an Austrian military hero, victor over the Italians in 1848-1849. In honor of his Italian triumphs and suppression of the Italian nationalist movement, Strauss wrote the spirited, sharply accented march in 1848 which almost at once became the musical symbol of Hapsburg Vienna and Austrian military power. The following programmatic interpretation of this music by H. E. Jacob is of interest: “Drunk with triumph, the Generalissimo’s battalions hurl themselves down into Lombardy. They are close on the heels of the fleeing troops of King Albert, the King of Sardinia. And then comes a new phase of the march to accompany the victorious troops. A different sun shines down on this, a memory of Vienna, a lingering trace of the feel of girls’ arms; scraps of a dance song with a backward glance at three-quarter time. But on they go, still forward. There are no more shots, there is laughter. The trio follows. The ... superdominant ... hoisted as if it were a flag.... Finally comes the return of the principal theme with the laurels and gaiety of victory.”

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II, son of the first Johann Strauss, was born in Vienna on October 25, 1825. Though he showed an unmistakable bent for music from his childhood on, he was forbidden by his father to study music or to indulge in any musical activity whatsoever. The young Johann Strauss, encouraged by his mother, was forced to study the violin surreptitiously with a member of his father’s orchestra. Only after the father had deserted his family, to set up another home with his mistress, did young Johann begin to devote himself completely and openly to music. After studying the violin with Kohlmann and counterpoint with Joseph Drechsler, he made his debut as a café-house conductor and composer at Dommayer’s Casino in Hietzing, near Vienna, on October 15, 1844. The event was widely publicized and dramatized in Vienna, since the son was appearing as a rival to his father. For this momentous debut, the son wrote the first of his waltzes—the _Gunstwerber_ and the _Sinngedichte_—which aroused immense enthusiasm. He had to repeat the last-named waltz so many times that the people in the café lost count. “Ah, these Viennese,” reported the editor of _The Wanderer_. “A new waltz player, a piece of world history. Good night, Lanner. Good evening, Father Strauss. Good morning, Son Strauss.” The father had not attended this performance, but learned of his son’s triumph from one of his cronies.

Thus a new waltz king had arisen in Vienna. His reign continued until the end of the century. For fifty years Johann Strauss II stood alone and unequalled as the musical idol of Vienna. His performances were the talk of the town. His own music was on everyone’s lips. After the death of father Strauss in 1849, he combined members of the older man’s orchestra with his own, and toured all of Europe with the augmented ensemble. From 1863 to 1870 he was conductor of the Viennese balls, a post once held by his father. In 1872 he made sensational appearances in Boston and New York. All the while he was writing some of the most famous waltzes ever written, as well as quadrilles and polkas and other dance pieces. And in 1871, with the première in Vienna of _Indigo_ he entered upon a new field, that of the operetta, in which once again he was to become a dominating figure. He was admired not merely by the masses but also by some of the greatest musicians of his generation—Brahms, Wagner, Verdi, Hans von Buelow, Offenbach, Goldmark, Gounod, all of whom expressed their admiration for his music in no uncertain terms. In 1894, Vienna celebrated the 50th anniversary of his debut with a week of festive performances; congratulations poured into Vienna from all parts of the civilized world. He died five years after that—in Vienna on June 3, 1899—and was buried near Schubert, Beethoven, and Brahms.

It is perhaps singularly fitting that Johann Strauss should have died in 1899. A century was coming to an end, and with it an entire epoch. This is what one court official meant when he said that “Emperor Francis Joseph reigned until the death of Johann Strauss.” History, with its cold precision, may accurately record that the reign of Francis Joseph actually terminated in 1916. But its heyday had passed with the 19th century. The spirit of old Vienna, imperial Vienna of the Hapsburgs, the Vienna that had been inspiration for song and story, died with Johann Strauss. After 1900, Vienna was only a shadow of its former self, and was made prostrate by World War I.

If the epoch of “old Vienna” died with Johann Strauss, it was also born with him. After 1825, the social and intellectual climate in the imperial city changed perceptibly. The people, always gay, now gave themselves up to frivolity. For this, political conditions had been responsible. The autocratic rule of Francis I brought on tyranny, repression, and an army of spies and informers. As a result, the Viennese went in for diversions that were safe from a political point of view: flirtation, gossip, dancing. They were partial to light musical plays and novels. Thus, an attitude born out of expediency, became, with the passing of time, an inextricable part of everyday life in Vienna.

Of the many light-hearted pleasures in which the Viennese indulged none was dearer to them than dancing. It has been recorded that one out of every four in Vienna danced regularly. They danced the polka, and the quadrille; but most of all they danced the waltz.

Johann Strauss II was the genius of the Viennese waltz. More than anybody before him or since he lifted the popular dance to such artistic importance that his greatest waltzes are often performed at symphony concerts by the world’s greatest orchestras under the foremost conductors. Inexhaustible was his invention; richly inventive, his harmonic writing; subtle and varied his gift at orchestration; fresh and personal his lyricism; aristocratic his structure. To the noted 20th century German critic, Paul Bekker, the Strauss waltz contained “more melodies than a symphony of Beethoven, and the aggregate of Straussian melodies is surely greater than the aggregate of Beethoven’s.”

Actually the waltz form used by Strauss is basically that of Lanner and of Strauss’ own father. A slow symphonic introduction opens the waltz. This is followed by a series of waltz melodies (usually five in number). A symphonic coda serves both as a kind of summation and as a conclusion. But here the similarity with the past ends. This form received from the younger Strauss new dimension, new amplification. His introductions are sometimes like tone poems. The waltz melodies are incomparably rich in thought and feeling, varied in mood and style. A new concept of thematic developments enters waltz writing with Strauss. And his codas, as his introductions, are symphonic creations built with consummate skill from previously stated ideas, or fragments of these ideas. No wonder, then, that the waltzes of Johann Strauss have been described as “symphonies for dancing.”

The following are the most popular of the Johann Strauss waltzes:

_Acceleration_ (_Accelerationen_), op. 234, as the title indicates, derives its effect from the gradual acceleration in tempo in the main waltz melody. Strauss had promised to write a waltz for a ball at the Sofiensaal but failed to deliver his manuscript even at the zero hour. Reminded of his promise, he sat down at a restaurant table on the night of the ball and hurriedly wrote off the complete _Acceleration Waltz_ on the back of a menu card, and soon thereafter conducted the première performance.

_Artist’s Life_ (_Kuenstlerleben_), op. 316, opens in a tender mood. A transition is provided by an alternation of soft and loud passages, after which the first waltz melody erupts zestfully as a tonal expression of the lighthearted gaiety of an artist’s life. A similar mood is projected by the other waltz melodies.

_The Blue Danube_ (_An der schoenen blauen Donau_), op. 314, is perhaps the most famous waltz ever written, and one of the greatest. It is now a familiar tale how Brahms, while autographing a fan of Strauss’ wife, scribbled a few bars of this waltz and wrote underneath, “alas, not by Brahms.” Strauss wrote _The Blue Danube_ at the request of John Herbeck, conductor of the Vienna Men’s Singing Society; thus the original version of the waltz is for chorus and orchestra, the text being a poem by Karl Beck in praise of Vienna and the Danube. Strauss wrote this waltz in 1867, and it was introduced on February 15 of the same year at the Dianasaal by Strauss’ orchestra, supplemented by Herbeck’s singing society. The audience was so enthusiastic that it stood on the seats and thundered for numerous repetitions. In the Spring of 1867, Strauss introduced his waltz to Paris at the International Exposition where it was a sensation. A tremendous ovation also greeted it when Strauss performed it for the first time in London, at Covent Garden in 1869. When Johann Strauss made his American debut, in Boston in 1872, he conducted _The Blue Danube_ with an orchestra numbering a thousand instruments and a chorus of a thousand voices! Copies of the music were soon in demand in far-off cities of Asia and Australia. The publisher, Spina, was so deluged by orders he had to have a hundred new copper plates made from which to print over a million copies.

It is not difficult to see why this waltz is so popular. It is an eloquent voice of the “charm, elegance, vivacity, and sophistication” of 19th century Vienna—so much so that it is second only to Haydn’s Austrian National Anthem as the musical symbol of Austria.

_Emperor Waltz_ (_Kaiserwalz_), op. 437, was written in 1888 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reign of Franz Joseph I. This is one of Strauss’ most beautiful waltzes. A slow introduction spanning seventy-four bars that has delicacy and grace, and is of a stately march-like character, is Viennese to its very marrow. A suggestion of the main waltz tune then appears quickly but is just as quickly dismissed by a loud return of the main introductory subject. Trombones lead to a brief silence. After some preparation, a waltz melody of rare majesty finally unfolds in the strings. If this wonderful waltz melody can be said to represent the Emperor himself then the delightful waltz tunes that follow—some of almost peasant character—can be said to speak for the joy of the Austrian people in honoring their beloved monarch. An elaborate coda then comes as the crown to the whole composition.

_Morning Journals_ (_Morgenblaetter_), op. 279, was written for a Viennese press club, the Concordia. Offenbach had previously written for that club a set of waltzes entitled “_Evening Journals_.” Strauss decided to name his music _Morning Journals_. The Offenbach composition is today remembered only because it provided the stimulus for Strauss’ title. But Strauss’ music remains—the four waltzes in his freshest and most infectious lyric vein, and its introduction highlighted by a melody of folk song simplicity.

_Roses from the South_ (_Rosen aus dem Sueden_), op. 388, is a potpourri of the best waltz tunes (each a delight) from one of the composer’s lesser operettas, _Spitzentuch der Koenigen_ (_The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief_). The “south” in the title refers to Spain, the background of the operetta, but there is nothing Spanish to this unmistakably Viennese music.

_Tales from the Vienna Woods_ (_G’schichten aus dem Wiener Wald_), op. 325—performed for the first time by the Strauss orchestra at the _Neue Welt_ café in 1868—is a bucolic picture of Nature’s beauty in the forests skirting Vienna. The beauty of Nature is suggested in the stately introduction with its open fifths and its serene melody for cello followed by a flute cadenza. All the loveliness of the Vienna woods is then represented by a waltz melody (originally scored for zither, but now most often presented by strings), a loveliness that is carried on with incomparable grace and charm by the ensuing waltz tunes.

_Vienna Blood_ (_Wiener Blut_), op. 354, like so many other Strauss waltzes, is a hymn of praise to Strauss’ native cities; but where other waltzes are light and carefree, this one is more often moody, dreamy, and at times sensual. After the introduction come four waltz melodies, the first full of fire and the last one touched with sentimentality. The second and third waltz tunes are interesting for their rhythmic vitality and marked syncopations.

_Voices of Spring_ (_Fruehlingstimmen_), op. 410—dedicated to the renowned Viennese pianist, Albert Gruenfeld—is (like the _Tales from the Vienna Woods_) an exuberant picture of the vernal season, the joy and thrill that the rebirth of Nature always provides to the Viennese.

_Wine, Woman and Song_ (_Wein, Weib und Gesang_), op. 333, opens with an eloquent mood picture that is virtually an independent composition, even though it offers suggestions of later melodies. This is a spacious ninety-one bar introduction that serves as an eloquent peroration to the four waltz melodies that follow—each graceful, vivacious, and at times tender and contemplative. Richard Wagner, upon hearing Anton Seidl conduct this music, was so moved by it that at one point he seized the baton from Seidl’s hand and conducted the rest of the piece himself.

Strauss wrote other dance music besides waltzes. He was equally successful in bringing his wonderful melodic invention, fine rhythmic sense, and beautiful instrumentation to the Polka, the native Bohemian dance in duple quick time and in a lively mood. The best of the Strauss polkas are: _Annen-Polka_, op. 117; _Electrophor Polka_, op. 297 dedicated to the students of a Vienna technical school, its effect derived from its breathless tempo and forceful dynamics; _Explosions Polka_, op. 43, written when Strauss was only twenty-two and characterized by sudden brief crescendos; _Pizzicato Polka_, written in collaboration with the composer’s brother Josef, and, as the name indicates, an exercise in plucked strings; and the capricious _Tritsch-Tratsch_ (or _Chit-Chat_) _Polka_, op. 214.

Of Strauss’ other instrumental compositions, the best known is a lively excursion in velocity called _Perpetual Motion_, op. 257, which the composer himself described as a “musical jest.”

Beyond being Vienna’s waltz king, Johann Strauss II was also one of its greatest composers of operettas. Indeed, if a vote were to be cast for the greatest favorite among all Vienna operettas the chances are the choice would fall on Strauss’ _Die Fledermaus_ (_The Bat_), first produced in Vienna on April 5, 1874, book by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée based on a French play by Meilhac and Halévy. This work is not only a classic of the light theater, but even a staple in the repertory of the world’s major opera houses. It is a piece of dramatic intrigue filled with clever, bright and at times risqué humor, as well as irony and gaiety. The plot, in line with operetta tradition, involves a love intrigue: between Rosalinda, wife of Baron von Eisenstein, and Alfred. The Baron is sought by the police for some slight indiscretion, and when they come to the Baron’s home and find Alfred there, they mistake him for the Baron and arrest him. Upon discovering he is supposed to be in jail, the Baron decides to take full advantage of his liberty by attending a masked ball at Prince Orlovsky’s palace and making advances there to the lovely women. But one of the masked women with whom he flirts is his own wife. Eventually, the identity of both is uncovered, to the embarrassment of the Baron, and this merry escapade ends when the Baron is compelled to spend his time in jail.

The overture is a classic, recreating the effervescent mood that prevails throughout the operetta. It is made up of some of the principal melodies of the opera: Rosalinda’s lament, “_So muss allein ich bleiben_” first heard in the woodwind; the chorus, “_O je, o je, wie ruhrt mich dies_” in the strings; and most important of all, the main waltz of the operetta and the climax of the second act, also in the strings.

Other delightful episodes frequently presented in instrumental versions include the lovely drinking song, “_Trinke, Liebchen, trinke schnell_”; the laughing song of the maid, Adele, “_Mein Herr Marquis_”; the blood-warming czardas of the “Hungarian countess” who is actually Rosalinda in disguise, “_Klaenge der Heimat_”; the stirring hymn to champagne, “_Die Majistaet wird anerkannt_”; and the buoyant waltz, “_Du und du_.”

_The Gypsy Baron_ (_Die Ziguenerbaron_) is almost as popular as _Die Fledermaus_. This is an operetta with libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer, introduced in Vienna on October 24, 1885. Sandór Barinkay returns to his ancestral home after having left it as a child. He finds it swarming with gypsies who have made it their home, and he falls in love with one of them, Saffi.

The overture is made up of material from the concerted finales, beginning with the entrance of the gypsies in the first finale; continuing with Saffi’s celebrated gypsy air, “_So elend und treu_”; and culminating with the celebrated waltz music of the second act, the _Schatz_, or _Treasure_, waltzes.

Other familiar excerpts include Sandór’s exuberant aria with chorus from the first act “_Ja, das alles auf Ehr_,” probably the most celebrated vocal excerpt from the entire operetta; and the _Entry March_ (_Einzugmarsch_) from the third act—for chorus and orchestra in the operetta, but often given by salon ensembles in an orchestral version.

Josef Strauss

Josef Strauss, like Eduard, is a younger brother of Johann Strauss II, and son of Johann Strauss I. He was born in Vienna on August 22, 1827. He was an extremely talented young man not only in music but even as architect and inventor. Of more serious and sober disposition than either of his two brothers, he long regarded café-house music condescendingly, his musical preference being for the classics. His famous brother, Johann Strauss II, needing someone to help him direct his orchestra, finally prevailed on Josef to turn to café-house music. Josef made his debut as café-house conductor and composer simultaneously on July 23, 1853, his first waltz being _Die Ersten_. After that he often substituted for brother Johann in directing the latter’s orchestra in Vienna and on extended tours of Europe and Russia. Josef died in Vienna on July 21, 1870.

Josef Strauss wrote almost three hundred dance compositions. Though certainly less inspired than his brother, Johann, he was also far more important than Eduard. Josef’s best waltzes have much of the lyrical invention, and the harmonic and instrumental invention of those by Johann Strauss II. Perhaps his greatest waltz is the _Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich_ (_Swallows from Austria_), op. 164, a nature portrait often interrupted by the chirping of birds. Here Josef’s outpouring of the most sensitive lyricism and delicate moods is hardly less wondrous than that of Johann Strauss II. H. E. Jacob went so far as to say that “since Schubert’s death there has been no such melody. It is in the realm of the Impromptus and Moments Musicaux. It breathes the sweet blue from which the swallows come.”

Another Josef Strauss classic in three-quarter time is _Sphaerenklaenge_ (_Music of the Spheres_), op. 285, equally remarkable for its spontaneous flow of unforgettable waltz tunes. Among Strauss’ other delightful waltzes are the _Aquarellen_, op. 258; _Delirien_, op. 212; _Dynamiden_, op. 173; _Marienklaenge_, op. 214. A theme from _Dynamiden_ waltzes was used by Richard Strauss in his famous opera _Der Rosenkavalier_.

In collaboration with his brother, Johann, Josef wrote the famous _Pizzicato Polka_ and several other pieces including the _Monstrequadrille_ and _Vaterlandischer March_. With Johann and Eduard he wrote the _Schuetzenquadrille_ and the _Trifolienwalzer_.

Sir Arthur Sullivan

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan—musical half of the comic-opera team of Gilbert and Sullivan—was born in London, England, on May 13, 1842. The son of a bandmaster, Sullivan was appointed to the Chapel Royal School in 1854. One year after that his first published composition appeared, an anthem. In 1856 he was the first recipient of the recently instituted Mendelssohn Award which entitled him to attend the Royal Academy of Music where he studied under Sterndale Bennett and Goss. From 1858 to 1861 he attended the Leipzig Conservatory. After returning to London in 1862, he achieved recognition as a serious composer with several ambitious compositions including the _Irish Symphony_, a cello concerto, a cantata, and an oratorio. Meanwhile, in 1866, he had become professor of composition at the Royal Academy, and in 1867 he completed his first score in a light style, the comic opera _Cox and Box_, libretto by F. C. Burnand, which enjoyed a successful engagement in London.

In 1871, a singer introduced Sullivan to W. S. Gilbert, a one-time attorney who had attracted some interest in London as the writer of burlesques. An enterprising impresario, John Hollingshead of the Gaiety Theater, then was responsible for getting Gilbert and Sullivan to work on their first operetta. This was _Thespis_, produced in London in 1871, and a failure. It was several years before librettist and composer worked together again. When they did it was for a new impresario, Richard D’Oyly Carte, for whom they wrote a one-act comic opera, _Trial by Jury_, a curtain raiser to a French operetta which Carte was producing in London on March 25, 1875. _Trial by Jury_—a stinging satire on court trials revolving around a breach of promise suit—inaugurates the epoch of Gilbert and Sullivan. D’Oyly Carte now commissioned Gilbert and Sullivan to create a new full length comic opera for a company he had recently formed. The new light opera company made a successful bow with _The Sorcerer_, on November 17, 1877. _Pinafore_, a year later on May 25, 1878, made Gilbert and Sullivan a vogue and a passion both in London and in New York. In 1879 Gilbert and Sullivan came to the United States where on December 31 they introduced a new comic opera, _The Pirates of Penzance_, that took the country by storm. Upon returning to London, Gilbert and Sullivan opened a new theater built for them by D’Oyly Carte—the Savoy—with _Patience_, a tumultuous success on April 25, 1881. After that came _Iolanthe_ (1882), _Princess Ida_ (1884), _The Mikado_ (1885), the _Yeomen of the Guard_ (1888) and _The Gondoliers_ (1889).

Gilbert and Sullivan came to the parting of the ways in 1890, the final rift precipitated by a silly argument over the cost of a carpet for the Savoy Theater. But the differences between them had long been deep rooted. An attempt to revive the partnership was made in 1893 with _Utopia Limited_, and again with _The Grand Duke_ in 1896. Both comic operas were failures.

After 1893, Sullivan wrote a grand opera, _Ivanhoe_, and several operetta scores to librettists other than Sullivan. None of these were successful. During the last years of his life he suffered from deterioration of his health, and was almost always in acute pain. He died in London on November 22, 1900. Gilbert died eleven years after that.

Of Sullivan’s other achievements in the field of music mention must be made of his importance as a conductor of the concerts of the London Philharmonic from 1885 to 1887, and of the Leeds Festival from 1880 to 1898. Between 1876 and 1881 he was principal of, and professor of composition at, the National Training School for Music. In recognition of his high estate in English music, he was the recipient of many honors. In 1878 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, and in 1883 he was knighted by Queen Victoria.

It is irony fitting for a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera that the music on which Sullivan lavished his most fastidious attention and of which he was most proud has been completely forgotten (except for one or two minor exceptions). But the music upon which he looked with such condescension and self apology is that which has made him an immortal—in the theater if not in the concert world. For where Sullivan was heavy-handed, pretentious, and often stilted in his oratorios, serious operas, and orchestral compositions, he was consistently vital, fresh, personal, and vivacious in his lighter music. In setting Gilbert’s lyrics to music, Sullivan was always capable of finding the musical _mot juste_ to catch every nuance of Gilbert’s wit and satire. So neatly, even inevitably, does the music fit the words that it is often difficult to think of one without the other. Like Gilbert, Sullivan was a master of parody and satire; he liked particularly to mock at the pretensions of grand opera, oratorio, and the sentimental ballad, pretensions of which he himself was a victim when he endeavored to work in those fields. Like Gilbert, he had a pen that raced with lightning velocity in the writing of patter music to patter verses. Sullivan, moreover, had a reservoir of melodies seemingly inexhaustible—gay tunes, mocking tunes, and tunes filled with telling sentiment—and he was able to adapt the fullest resources of his remarkable gift at harmony, rhythm and orchestration to the manifold demands of the stage. He was no man’s imitator. Without having recourse to experimentation or unorthodox styles and techniques, his style and manners were so uniquely his that, as T. F. Dunhill has said, “his art is always recognizable.... The Sullivan touch is unmistakable and can be felt instantly.”

Of the universality of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, Isaac Goldberg wrote: “They [Gilbert and Sullivan] were not the rebels of an era, yet as surely they were not the apologists. Their light laughter carried a pleasant danger of its own that, without being the laughter of a Figaro, helped before the advent of a Shaw to keep the atmosphere clear. Transition figures they were, in an age of transition, caught between the personal independence of the artist and the social imperatives of their station. They did not cross over into the new day, though they served as a footbridge for others. Darwin gave them ... only a song for _Princess Ida_, their melodious answer to the revolt of woman against a perfumed slavery; Swinburne and Wilde ... characters for _Patience_. They chided personal foibles, and only indirectly social abuses. They were, after all, moralists not sociologists. It was in their natures; it was of their position. Yet something vital in them lives beyond their time. From their era of caste, of smug rectitude, of sanctimoniousness, they still speak to an age that knows neither corset nor petticoat, that votes with its women, and finds Freud insufficiently aphrodisiac. Perhaps it is because they chide individuals and not institutions that their work, so admirably held in solution by Sullivan’s music, has lived through the most critical epoch in modern history since the French Revolution. For, underneath the cataclysmic changes of history remain the foibles that make us the fit laughter of the gods.”

Overtures to and potpourris from the principal Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas are integral to the repertory of salon and pop orchestras everywhere. In all cases, the overture is made up of the opera’s main melodies, and in most cases these overtures were written by others.

_The Gondoliers_ was the last of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas to survive in the permanent repertory. It was produced on December 7, 1889. After the operatic pretension of the _Yeomen of the Guard_ which had preceded it, _The Gondoliers_ represented a welcome return by the authors to the world of paradox, absurdity, and confusion. It has aptly been described as a “farce of errors.” The setting is Venice in the middle of the 18th century. The Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro come to Venice accompanied by their daughter, Casilda, and a drummer boy, Luiz, who loves her. In her childhood, Casilda had married the infant heir to the throne of Barataria. This heir had then been stolen and entrusted to the care of a gondolier who raised him as one of his two sons. In time the gondolier himself has forgotten which of his two boys is of royal blood. To complicate matters even further, the two gondolier boys, Marco and Giuseppe, are married. Thus it seems impossible to solve the problem as to who really is the heir to Barataria’s throne and by the same token Gasilda’s husband. But when this problem is finally unscrambled it turns out that the heir is neither Marco nor Giuseppe, but none other than Luiz.

The following are the principal selections from _The Gondoliers_: Antonio’s song, “For the Merriest Fellows Are We”; the duet of Marco and Giuseppe, “We’re Called Gondolieri”; the autobiographical chant of the Duke of Plaza-Toro, “The Duke of Plaza-Toro”; the duet of Casilda and Luiz, “There Was a Time”; the song of the Grand Inquisitor, “I Stole the Prince”; Tessa’s song, “When a Merry Maiden Marries”; the duet of Marco and Giuseppe, “For Everyone Who Feels Inclined”; Giuseppe’s patter song, “Rising Early in the Morning”; Marco’s serenade, “Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes”; and the song of the Duchess, “On the Day that I was Wedded.”

_Iolanthe_, introduced on November 25, 1882, carried Gilbert’s love of paradox, confusion and absurdity into the fairy kingdom. To Isaac Goldberg, this comic opera, both as words and as music is “a peer among its kind. It is surprisingly complete. It is, indeed, of Gilbert and of Sullivan, all compact. The Gilbertian conflict between reality and fantasy is mirrored in details great and small—in scene, costume, in line, in gesture.... It would be difficult to find among the remaining thirteen comic operas one that reveals the collaborators playing so neatly into each other’s hands—responding so closely to the conscious and unconscious demands of the reciprocal personality.” The heroine, Iolanthe, is a fairy who has married a mortal and thus has been banished to the bottom of a stream by the Queen of her kingdom. But the Queen eventually forgives Iolanthe. Upon returning to her fairy kingdom, Iolanthe discovers she is the mother of a son, Strephon, who is half fairy and half mortal; and Strephon is in love with the mortal, Phyllis, who, in turn, is being pursued not only by her guardian, the Lord Chancellor, but even by the entire House of Peers. When Phyllis finds Strephon with Iolanthe she suspects him of infidelity, since she has no idea that Iolanthe is Strephon’s mother. Immediately she begins to bestow her kindly glances upon two members of the House of Peers. Summoned for help, Iolanthe reveals that Strephon is, indeed, her son, and that his father is none other than the Lord Chancellor. By this time the other fairies of the kingdom have succumbed to the charms and appeal of the Peers. Iolanthe is saved from a second punishment when the Lord Chancellor helps change fairy law to read that any fairy _not_ marrying a mortal is subject to death.

Leading numbers from _Iolanthe_ include the following: the opening chorus of the fairies, “Tripping Hither, Tripping Thither”; Strephon’s song, “Good Morrow, good Mother”; the love duet of Phyllis and Strephon, “Thou the Tree and I the Flower”; Entrance, chorus, and march of the Peers, “Loudly Let the Trumpet Bray” followed immediately by the Lord Chancellor’s monologue, “The Law is the True Embodiment”; the Lord Chancellor’s personal credo, “When I Went to the Bar”; the song of Willis, the sentry, “When All Night Long a Chap Remains”; Lord Mount Arrat’s chauvinistic hymn, “When Britain Really Ruled the Waves”; the Fairy Queen’s song, “Oh, Foolish Fay”; the Lord Chancellor’s patter song about a nightmare, “When You’re Lying Awake”; the trio of the Lord Chancellor, Mount Ararat and Tolloler, “If You Go In”; Strephon’s song, “Fold Your Flapping Wings”; and the finale, “Soon as We May.”

_The Mikado_ was a sensation when first performed in London on March 14, 1885; and with many it is still the favorite of all Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. By 1900, it had received over one thousand performances in London and five thousand in the United States. Since then these figures have multiplied. It has been adapted for motion pictures, and in New York it has been given in two different jazz versions (_The Hot Mikado_ and _Swing Mikado_). In 1960 it was presented over television with Groucho Marx as the Lord High Executioner.

In its own day much of its appeal was due to its exotic setting of Japan and strange Japanese characters. Such a novelty for the English stage was the strong spice that endowed the play with much of its succulent flavor. Gilbert’s inspiration had been a miniature Japanese village set up in the Knightsbridge section of London which aroused and stimulated the interest of the English people in all things Japanese. Gilbert was one of those who became fascinated by this Oriental exhibit, and his fascination led him to conceive a comic opera with a Japanese background.

But while the Japanese are certainly no longer curiosities in the theater—have, indeed, become a vogue on Broadway since the end of World War II—_The Mikado_ has never lost its tremendous popularity. For _The Mikado_ represents Gilbert and Sullivan at their creative peak. The whimsical characters, absurd situations, the savage malice of the wit and satire, and the strange and paradoxical deviations of the plot find Gilbert at the height of his whimsical imagination and skill; and at every turn, Sullivan was there with music that captured every subtle echo of Gilbert’s fancy.

The thought of having to marry the unattractive Katisha proves so distasteful to Nanki-Poo, son of the Mikado, that he puts on the disguise of a wandering minstrel and flees. After coming to the town of Titipu, he meets and falls in love with Yum-Yum who, in turn, is being sought after by her own guardian, Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. The Lord High Executioner faces a major problem. The ruler of Japan has sent a message to Titipu stating that since no execution has taken place there for many years the office of Lord High Executioner will be abolished if somebody is not executed shortly. When Ko-Ko discovers that Nanki-Poo is about to commit suicide, rather than live without Yum-Yum, he finds a solution to his own problem. Ko-Ko is willing to allow Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum and live with her for a month if at the end of that time he allows himself to be beheaded. The wedding takes place, but before the beheading can be consummated the Mikado arrives on the scene with Katisha. Only then is the discovery made in Titipu that Nanki-Poo is the Mikado’s son and that anyone responsible for his death must boil in oil. The news that Nanki-Poo is alive saves Ko-Ko from this terrible fate; but he soon confronts another in the form of Katisha, whom he must now marry to compensate her for her loss of Nanki-Poo.

Many of the excerpts from _The Mikado_ are known to anyone who has ever heard or whistled a tune. These are the most significant: the opening chorus of the Japanese nobles, “If You Want to Know Who We Are”; Nanki-Poo’s self-introductory ballad, “A Wandering Minstrel I”; Pish-Tush’s description of the Mikado’s decree against flirtation, “Our Great Mikado”; Ko-Ko’s famous patter song, “I’ve Got a Little List”; the song of Yum-Yum’s companions, “Three Little Maids”; the affecting duet of Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, “Were You Not to Ko-Ko Plighted”; Yum-Yum’s radiant song, “The Sun Whose Rays”; Ko-Ko’s allegorical song, “Tit Willow”; the madrigal of Yum-Yum, Pitti Sing, Nanki-Poo and Pish Tush, “Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day”; the sprightly trio of Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko, “Here’s a How-de-do”; the song of the Mikado, “My Object All Sublime”; the duet of Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko, “The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring.”

_Patience_ in 1881 directed its well aimed satirical pricks and barbs at the pre-Raphaelite movement in England with its fetish for simplicity and naturalness; and with equal accuracy at poets and esthetes like Oscar Wilde and Algernon Swinburne, leaders of an esthetic movement that encouraged postures, poses, and pretenses. Twenty maidens are turned into esthetes through their common love for the “fleshly poet” Bunthorne. Because of this love they hold in disdain their former sweethearts, the officers of the Heavy Dragoon. Bunthorne, however, is in love with the simple, unselfish milkmaid Patience, who dotes after the idyllic poet of heavenly beauty, Grosvenor. Since Patience is unselfish she cannot hope to win Grosvenor’s love, for to be loved by one so beautiful is the most selfish thing in the world. She decides to accept Bunthorne. Now the twenty love-sick maidens fall in love with Grosvenor and through his influence abandon estheticism for simplicity. Unaware of this new direction in their loved ones, the Dragoons desert their uniforms for esthetic garb, substitute their former practical everyday behavior for extravagant postures and poses. Weary of the demands made upon him by the doting maids, Grosvenor (with a push from Bunthorne) becomes commonplace. But, unfortunately for Bunthorne, since it is no longer selfish to be loved by a commonplace man, Patience returns to Grosvenor. The maidens, now interested in the commonplace, can now return to their Dragoons. But poor Bunthorne is left alone with nothing but a lily in his hand to console him.

The following are the principal selections from _Patience_: the opening female chorus, “Twenty Lovesick Maidens We”; Patience’s simple query about the nature of love, “I Cannot Tell What This Love May Be”; the chorus of the Dragoons, “The Soldiers of Our Queen” followed immediately by the Colonel’s patter song, “If You Want a Receipt”; Bunthorne’s recipe for success in the business of being an esthete, “If You’re Anxious For to Shine”; Grosvenor’s duet with Patience, “Prithee, Pretty Maiden”; Jane’s soliloquy, “Silvered is the Raven Hair” with which the second act opens; Grosvenor’s fable to the lovesick maidens, “The Magnet and the Churn”; Patience’s ballad, “Love is a Plaintive Song”; and the gay duet of Bunthorne and Grosvenor, “When I Go Out of Doors.”

_Pinafore_ was the first of the successful Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas in which we encounter that strange topsy-turvy world over which Gilbert and Sullivan ruled; that we confront the accidents, coincidences, paradoxes, and mishaps that beset its hapless inhabitants. _Pinafore_ is a devastating satire on the Admiralty in general and William H. Smith, its First Lord, in particular. But it also makes a mockery of social position. Ralph Rackstraw, a humble seaman, is in love with Josephine, daughter of Captain Corcoran, commanding officer of the _H.M.S. Pinafore_. But the first Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Joseph Porter, is also in love with her. Since Josephine’s father would never consent to have his daughter marry one so lowly as Ralph, the lovers decide to elope. But the plans are overheard by the seaman, Dick Deadeye, who reports them to the Captain with the result that Ralph is put in irons. An impasse is thus reached until Little Buttercup, a “Portsmouth Bumboat woman,” reveals an incident of the distant past. Entrusted the care of two infants she mixed them up with the result that the lowly born child, Corcoran, was mistaken for the one of high station and was thus able to rise to the station of Captain; but the child of high station believed to have been of lowly origin, Ralph, had been forced to become a seaman. By order of Sir Joseph, Ralph now becomes the master of the ship and can claim Josephine as his bride. The proud Captain, now reduced to a seaman, must content himself with Little Buttercup.

_Pinafore_ was a sensation when introduced in London in 1878, enjoying seven hundred consecutive performances. But it proved even more sensational in the United States, following its première there at the Boston Museum on November 25 of the same year. Ninety different companies presented this comic opera throughout the country in that first season, with five different companies operating simultaneously in New York. _Pinafore_ was given by colored groups, children’s groups, and religious groups. It was widely parodied. Some of its catch phrases (“What never? No never!” and “For he himself has said it”) entered American _argot_.

As a bountiful source of popular melodies, the score of _Pinafore_ is second only in importance to that of _The Mikado_. Here are the main ones: the opening chorus of the sailors, “We Sail the Ocean Blue”; Buttercup’s forthright self-introduction, “I’m Called Little Buttercup”; Ralph’s madrigal, “The Nightingale,” and ballad, “A Maiden Fair to See”; the Captain’s colloquy with his crew, “I Am the Captain of the _Pinafore_”; Josephine’s poignant ballad, “Sorry Her Lot”; Sir Joseph’s exchange with his sisters, cousins, and aunts, “I am the Monarch of the Sea,” and his autobiographical, “When I Was a Lad”; the Captain’s sad reflection, “Fair Moon to Thee I Sing”; the choral episode, “Carefully on Tip-Toe Stealing” followed by the tongue-in-the-cheek paean to England and Englishmen, “He Is an Englishman.”

_The Pirates of Penzance_ was the only Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera to receive its world première outside England. This took place in New York at the Fifth Avenue Theater in 1879. (There was a single hastily prepared performance in Paignton, England, on December 30, 1879 but this is not regarded as an official première.) The reason why _The Pirates_ was introduced in New York was due to the presence there of its authors. Numerous pirated versions of _Pinafore_ were then being given throughout the United States in about a hundred theaters, and Gilbert and Sullivan decided to come to America for the dual purpose of exploring the conditions under which they might protect their copyright and to offer an authorized version of their opera. In coming to the United States, they brought with them the manuscript of their new work, _The Pirates of Penzance_, and arranged to have its première take place in New York.

_The Pirates of Penzance_ is a blood relative of _Pinafore_. Where _Pinafore_ made fun of the British Navy, _The Pirates_ concentrates on the British Army and constabulary. In _Pinafore_ two babies are mixed up in the cradle for a confusion of their identities; in _The Pirates_ it is the future professions of babies which are confounded in the cradle. In _Pinafore_ the secret is divulged by Buttercup, in _The Pirates_ by Ruth. _Pinafore_ boasts a female chorus of cousins, sisters and aunts while _The Pirates_ has a female chorus made up of the Major General’s daughters.

The hero is young Frederic, apprenticed to a band of pirates by his nurse Ruth, who mistakes the word “pilot” for “pirate.” Frederic falls in love with Mabel, one of the many daughters of Major General Stanley and looks forward eagerly to his freedom from his apprenticeship to the pirate band, which arrives on his twenty-first birthday. But Frederic discovers that since he was born on leap year the year of his freedom—his twenty-first _birthday_—is many, many years off; that by the calendar he is still only a little boy of five. As a pirate he must join his confederates in exterminating Mabel’s father and the constables attending him. But all turns out happily when the pirates actually prove to be ex-noblemen, and are thus found highly acceptable as husbands for the daughters of Major General Stanley. The Major General is also in favor of the union of Mabel and Frederic.

The following are the leading musical selections: the opening chorus of the pirates, “Pour, Oh Pour, the Pirate Sherry”; the Pirate king’s hymn to his profession, “For I am a Pirate King”; the chorus of the Major General’s daughters, “Climbing Over Rocky Mountain”; Frederic’s plaintive plea for a lover, “Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast”; the Major General’s autobiographical patter song, “I Am the Very Pattern of a Modern Major General”; the rousing chorus of the constabulary, “When the Foeman Bares His Steel”; the tripping trio of Ruth, Fred and the Pirate King on discovering Fred is only a child of five, “A Paradox, a Most Ingenious Paradox”; Mabel’s haunting ballad, “Oh, Leave Me Not to Pine”; the Police Sergeant’s commentary on his profession, “When a Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment”; the Pirates’ chorus, “Come Friends Who Plough the Sea,” a melody expropriated by an American, Theodore Morse, for the lyric “Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here”; and the General’s idyllic ballad, “Sighing Softly To the River.”

_Ruddigore_, a travesty on melodrama, was first performed on January 22, 1887. Because the Murgatroyd family has persecuted witches, an evil spirit had fated it to commit a crime a day. Ruthven Murgatroyd tries to flee from this curse by assuming the identity of simple Robin Oakapple. He meets and falls in love with Rose who is being sought after by Ruthven’s foster brother, Richard. Since Ruthven as Robin Oakapple has the upper hand with Rose, Richard avenges himself by revealing the fact that his brother is really a member of the Murgatroyd family and like all of them is the victim of the ancient family curse. Back in his ancestral home, Ruthven must fulfil his quota of crimes, a job he bungles so badly that his ancestors suddenly come alive out of the picture frames on the wall, to condemn him. But after numerous convolutions of typically Gilbertian logic and reasoning, the curse is broken and Ruthven can live happily with his beloved Rose.

From _Ruddigore_ come the following familiar sections: the opening chorus of the bridesmaids, “Fair Is Rose as the Bright May Day”; Hannah’s legend, “Sir Rupert Murgatroyd”; Rose’s ballad, “If Somebody There Chanced to Be”; the extended duet of Robin and Rose, “I Know a Youth Who Loves a Little Maid”; Richard’s ballad, “I Shipped, D’ye See, in a Revenue Sloop”; Robin’s song, “My Boy You May Take it From Me”; the chorus of the bridesmaids, “Hail the Bride of Seventeen Summers” followed by Rose’s madrigal, “Where the Buds Are Blossoming”; the duet of Robin and Adam, “I Once Was As Meek as a New Born Lamb”; Rose’s ballad, “In Bygone Days”; the chorus of the family portraits, “Painted Emblems of a Race”; Sir Roderic’s patter song, “When the Night Wind Howls”; and Hannah’s ballad, “There Grew a Little Flower.”

_The Sorcerer_, the first successful Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, was introduced in 1877. Alexis, in love with Aline, wishes to spread around the blessings of love. For this purpose he enlists the cooperation of John Wellington Wells, the creator of a love brew. In an effort to perpetuate Aline’s love for him, Alexis has her drink this potion, only to discover that his beloved has fallen for the vicar, Dr. Daly, he being the first man she sees after drinking the draught. Since Alexis is not the only one to suffer from this now-general epidemic of loving, a serious effort must be made to offset the effects of this magic: a human sacrifice. Naturally that sacrifice becomes none other than John Wellington Wells who is driven to self immolation before things can once again be set normal.

The music of _The Sorcerer_ is not so well known as that of the other famous comic operas, but it does contain several Gilbert and Sullivan delights. Among them are: the song with which Wells introduces himself and his black art, “Oh! My Name Is John Wellington Wells,” the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs; the vicar’s haunting ballad, “Time Was When Love and I Were Well Acquainted”; and the romantic duet of Aline and Alexis, “It Is Not Love.”

In the _Yeomen of the Guard_, produced on October 3, 1888, the topsy-turvy world of Gilbert and Sullivan is temporarily sidestepped for another of operatic pretensions. Of all the Gilbert and Sullivan plays this one comes closest to resembling an opera. The immediate stimulus for the writing of the text came to Gilbert from an advertisement in a railway station depicting a Beefeater. Out of this acorn grew the oak of Gilbert’s play in which Colonel Charles Fairfax is falsely accused by his kinsman, Poltwhistle, of sorcery. For this he must be condemned to death in the Tower of London. Since Fairfax is not married, his fortune will pass on to his accuser. But Charles thwarts such evil designs by marrying Elsie Maynard, a strolling player—if only for an hour. Then he manages to escape from the Tower disguised as a yeoman of the guard. When the execution is to take place there is no victim. Eventually, a reprieve enables Charles to live permanently with Elsie.

The most important selections from the _Yeomen of the Guard_ are: Phoebe’s song with which the opera opens, “When Maiden Loves”; the chorus of the yeomen, “In the Autumn of Our Life”; Fairfax’ ballad, “Is Life a Boon?”; the extended duet of Point and Elsie, “I Have a Song to Sing, O”; Phoebe’s ballad, “Were I Thy Bride”; Point’s patter song, “Oh, a Private Buffoon Is a Light-Hearted Loon”; the quartet of Elsie, Fairfax, Dame Carruthers and Meryll, “Strange Adventure”; the trio of Fairfax, Elsie and Phoebe, “A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid”; the quartet of Elsie, Fairfax, Phoebe and Point, “When a Wooer Goes a-Wooing”; and the finale, “Oh, Thoughtless Crew.”

Besides his music for the comic operas there exists a vast repertory of serious music by Sullivan. Of this hardly more than two songs have retained their popularity. One is “The Lost Chord,” lyric by Adelaide Proctor, written by Sullivan in December 1876 at the deathbed of his brother, Fred. From Charles Willeby we get an account of how this deeply moving piece of music came into being: “For nearly three weeks he watched by his bedside night and day. One night—the end was not very far off then—while his sick brother had for a time fallen into a peaceful sleep, and he was sitting as usual by the bedside, he chanced to come across some verses by Adelaide Proctor with which he had some five years previously been struck. He had then tried to set them to music, but without satisfaction to himself. Now in the stillness of the night he read them over again, and almost as he did so, he conceived their musical equivalent. A stray sheet of music paper was at hand, and he began to write. Slowly the music took shape, until, becoming quite absorbed in it, he determined to finish the song. Even if in the cold light of day it were to prove worthless, it would at least have helped to while away the hours of watching. So he worked on at it. As he progressed, he felt sure this was what he had sought for, and failed to find on the occasion of his first attempt to set the words. In a short time it was complete and not long after in the publisher’s hands. Thus was written ‘The Lost Chord,’ perhaps the most successful song of modern times.”

“Onward Christian Soldiers,” words by Sabine Baring-Gould, is the most celebrated of Sullivan’s more than fifty religious hymns. It is effective not merely for its religious mood but also for its martial spirit. “The music,” says Isaac Goldberg, “has the tread of armies in it, and a broad diatonic stride.” Sullivan wrote it in 1873 upon being appointed editor of the _Hymnal_, a collection of hymns published by Novello for the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the Hymnary.

Franz von Suppé

Franz von Suppé was born Francesco Suppé-Demelli in Spalato, Yugoslavia, on April 18, 1819. He played the flute at eleven, at thirteen started the study of harmony, and at fifteen completed a Mass. Nevertheless, for a while he entertained the idea of becoming either a physician or a teacher of Italian. When he finally decided upon music as a profession he attended the Vienna Conservatory. After serving an apprenticeship as conductor of operettas in Pressburg and Baden, he was appointed principal conductor at Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna. In 1862 he assumed a similar post with the Karlstheater, and from 1865 until his death at the Leopoldstadttheater. While absorbing the influence and traditions of the opéra-bouffe of Offenbach, he began writing operettas of his own in a style uniquely his, setting and establishing many of the traditions and clichés which would henceforth identify the Viennese operetta. He had an unusual gift for light, caressing tunes, a gay and infectious spirit, and a direct emotional appeal. His first operetta was _Jung lustig in alter traurig_ in 1841. Success came with his incidental music to _Poet and Peasant_ (_Dichter und Bauer_), introduced on August 24, 1846; its overture is still his best known composition and a classic in the musical literature in a lighter vein. A succession of popular operettas, over twenty-five in number, made him one of Europe’s most celebrated composers for the stage. His most famous operettas were: _Das Maedchen vom Lande_ (1847), _Die schoene Galatea_, or _Beautiful Galathea_ (1865), _Leichte Cavallerie_, or _Light Cavalry_ (1866), _Fatinitza_ (1876), _Boccaccio_ (1879), and _Donna Juanita_ (1880). Suppé died in Vienna on May 21, 1895.

The overture to _The Beautiful Galathea_ (_Die schoene Galatea_) opens with brisk music. Horns and woodwind lead into an extended portrayal of exaltated character by strings. Once again horns and woodwind appear, this time providing a transition to a caressing melody that soon develops into a fulsome song. After a theatrical passage, the overture’s main melody is heard in the strings, with harmonies filled in by the woodwind; this is a graceful dance tune which, towards the end of the overture, is repeated with harmonic and tonal amplitude by the full orchestra.

The _Light Cavalry_ Overture (_Leichte Cavallerie_) is, as its name indicates, stirring music of martial character. Horn calls and forceful chords in full orchestra provide at once the military character of this music. A vivacious tune for the violins follows this forceful introduction after which comes the brisk melody for woodwind followed by the full orchestra that has made this overture so famous; the gallop of the cavalry is here simulated in a brisk rhythm. The agitation is dissipated by a sensitive transition in strings and clarinet to a spacious melody in strings in a sensual Hungarian style. The brisk military music and the open horning calls then give the overture a dynamic conclusion.

_Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna_ (_Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien_) is one of the composer’s famous concert overtures. A dramatic introduction—with forceful chords in full orchestra—leads to a beautiful and fully realized song for solo cello against plucked strings, one of Suppé’s most inspired flights of melody. The song ended, the dramatic opening is recalled to serve as a transition to two buoyant and graceful Viennese tunes in the strings, the second repeated vigorously and amplified by full orchestra. The overture ends in a robust rather than lyrical vein.

The _Pique Dame_ (_Queen of Spades_) Overture begins with a murmuring passage for strings that grows in volume and changes character before an expressive melody unfolds in lower strings against an accompanying figure borrowed from the opening passage. A vigorous interlude of strong chords and a vigorous pronouncement by the brass lead into the most famous theme of the composition, a vivacious and jaunty melody for strings and woodwind. This subject is developed at some length before a melodic episode is offered by the lower strings as a preface to a soft, idyllic interlude for the woodwind. The conclusion of the overture is in a vigorous manner with an energetic restatement of earlier thematic material.

Of all the Suppé overtures, whether for the stage or the concert hall, the most famous undoubtedly is the _Poet and Peasant_ (_Dichter und Bauer_). After a stately introduction there arrives a gentle song for the strings. This is succeeded by a more robust theme. The main melody of the overture is a pulsating melody in ⅜ time. Indicative of the enormous popularity of this overture in all parts of the world is that it has been adapted for almost sixty different combinations of instruments.

Johan Svendsen

Johan Svendsen was born in Oslo, Norway, on September 30, 1840. The son of a bandmaster, he dabbled in music for many years before receiving formal instruction. When he was twenty-three he embarked for the first time on a comprehensive musical education by attending the Leipzig Conservatory where he was a pupil of Ferdinand David, Reinecke, and others. After that he toured Europe as a concert violinist and lived for a while in Paris where he played in theater orchestras. In 1870 he visited the United States where he married an American woman whom he had originally met in Paris. Following his return to his native land he was the conductor of the Christiana Musical Association from 1872 to 1877 and again from 1880 to 1883. In 1883 he settled in Copenhagen where for sixteen years he was court conductor, and part of that time conductor at the Royal Theater as well. As a composer Svendsen distinguished himself with major works for orchestra in a pronounced Norwegian style, the most famous being four Norwegian Rhapsodies and the _Carnaval des artistes norvégiens_, in all of which Norwegian folk melodies are used extensively. He also produced many works not of a national identity, among which were symphonies, concertos, chamber-music works, and the highly popular _Carnival in Paris_, for orchestra. Svendsen died in Copenhagen on June 14, 1911.

_The Carnival in Paris_ (_Carnaval à Paris_), for orchestra, op. 9 (1873) is one of Svendsen’s best-known works, even though it is not in his characteristic Norwegian style. His early manhood in Paris had been one of the composer’s happiest experiences in life, and some of that joy and feeling of excitement is found in this music describing a Mardi Gras in Paris. The full orchestra enters after a swelling trumpet tone over drum rolls. There is then heard an exchange among the wind instruments and a quickening of the tempo to lead into the first main theme, a delicate subject for flutes and clarinets. This theme is twice repeated after which the music becomes stormy. Divided violins then bring on the second theme, which like the first is quiet and gentle. In the development, in which much is made of the first subject, there are effective frequent alternations of tempo. A rhapsodic section, with a subject for divided strings, followed by extended drum rolls and calls for muted horns, precede the concluding section.

Deems Taylor

Joseph Deems Taylor was born in New York City on December 22, 1885. He received his academic education in New York, at the Friends School, Ethical Culture School, and New York University. All the while he studied music with private teachers. Following his graduation from college, Taylor appeared in vaudeville, worked for several magazines, and from 1921 to 1925 was the music critic of the New York _World_. He first distinguished himself as a composer in 1919 with the orchestral suite, _Through the Looking Glass_. In 1925 he resigned from the _World_ to concentrate on composition. In the next half dozen years he completed two operas, each successfully performed at the Metropolitan Opera: _The King’s Henchman_ (with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay) in 1927, and _Peter Ibbetson_ in 1931. Since 1927, Taylor has followed several careers besides that of one of America’s most important serious composers. He was editor of _Musical America_, music critic for the _New York American_, master of ceremonies on radio and television, program annotator, intermission commentator for broadcasts of opera and orchestral music, and author of several best-selling books on music. A highly sophisticated composer with a consummate technical skill, Taylor’s works are not for popular consumption. But he did write one composition in a popular style, _Circus Day_; and a second of his works, _Through the Looking Glass_, while intended for symphonic concerts, has enough wit and charm to fall gracefully into the semi-classical category.

_Circus Day_ is a fantasy for orchestra, op. 18 (1925) written on commission from Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. When Whiteman and his orchestra introduced it that year, the work was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, but since then Taylor has prepared his own symphonic adaptation. Subtitled “eight pictures from memory” this fantasy strives “to convey one’s early impressions of a day at the circus.” The composer has provided his own program notes for the eight movements. The first, entitled “Street Parade,” describes the circus parade as it “passes on down the street.” “The playing of the band grows fainter and dies away in the distance.” “The Big Tops” tells in musical terms about “peanuts, popcorn, pink lemonade, bawling side-show barkers.” This is followed by “Bareback Riders.” “As the ringmaster cracks his whip, the riders perform the miraculous feats ... that make horseback riders the objects of such awe and admiration.” The fourth movement is in three parts. The first is devoted to “The Lion’s Cage.” “The roar of the lions is blood curdling, but they go through their tricks with no damage to any of us.” The second speaks about “The Dog and the Monkey Circus.” “Into the ring dash a whole kennel full of small dogs guised as race horses, ridden by monkeys dressed as jockeys.” In the third, we get a picture of “The Waltzing Elephants.” “The great beasts solemnly waltz to a tune that is a pachydermous version of the theme of the bareback riders.” In the fifth movement, “Tight-Rope Walker,” the performer “balances his parasol; he pirouettes and slips and slides as he makes his perilous way along the taut wire.” “The Jugglers,” in the sixth movement, “juggle little balls and big ones, knives, dishes, hats, lighted candles....” Even the orchestra is seized by the contagion and finally juggles its main theme, keeping three versions of it in the air. In “Clowns,” two of them “come out to play us a tune.... Finally, after a furious argument, the entire clown band manages to play the tune through, amid applause.” The finale, the composer goes on to explain, “might better be called ‘Looking Back.’ For the circus is over, and we are back at home, trying to tell a slightly inattentive family what we saw and heard. The helpful orchestra evokes recollections of jugglers, clowns, bareback riders, tight-rope walkers, trained animals.”

_Through the Looking Glass_, a suite for orchestra (1919) is a musical setting of episodes from Lewis Carroll’s delightful tale of the same name. Taylor’s suite is in four movements, for which he has provided his own program. The first movement, “Dedication; The Garden of Live Flowers,” consists of “a simple song theme, briefly developed,” which leads immediately to the brisk music of “The Garden of Live Flowers.” In the second movement, “Jabberwocky,” the theme of the frightful beast, the Jabberwock, “is first announced by the full orchestra. The clarinet then begins the tale [with] the battle with the monsters recounted in a short and rather repellant fugue.” The third movement, “Looking Glass Insects” tells of “the vociferous _diptera_ that made such an impression on Alice—the Bee-elephant, the Gnat, the Rockinghorse fly, and the Bread-and-butter fly.” The last movement, “The White Knight” has two themes. “The first is a sort of instrumental prance, being the knight’s own conception of himself as a slashing daredevil. The second is bland, mellifluous, a little sentimental—much more like the knight as he really was.”

Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky

Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840. Serious music study began comparatively late, since he prepared for a career in law and then for three years served as clerk in the Ministry of Justice. He had, however, revealed unusual sensitivity for music from earliest childhood, and had received some training on the piano from the time he was five. Intensive music study, however, did not begin until 1861 when he became a pupil of Nicholas Zaremba, and it was completed at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His professional career began in 1865, the year in which he was appointed professor of harmony at the newly founded Moscow Conservatory. This was also the year when one of his compositions was performed for the first time: _Characteristic Dances_, for orchestra, introduced by Johann Strauss II in Pavlovsk, Russia. Tchaikovsky’s first symphony was introduced in Moscow in 1868; his first opera, _The Voivoda_, in Moscow in 1869; and his first masterwork—the orchestral fantasy _Romeo and Juliet_—in Moscow in 1870. During the next half dozen years he reached maturity as composer with the completion of his second and third symphonies, first two string quartets, famous Piano Concerto No. 1, and the orchestral fantasy, _Francesca da Rimini_.

In 1877, Tchaikovsky embarked precipitously on a disastrous marriage with Antonina Miliukova. He did not love her, but was flattered by her adoration of his music. In all probability he regarded this marriage as a convenient cloak with which to conceal his sexual aberration which was already causing some talk in Moscow and of which he was heartily ashamed. In any event, this marriage proved a nightmare from the beginning. Always hypersensitive, he now became a victim of mental torment which led him to try suicide. Failing that, he fled from his wife to find refuge in his brother’s house where he collapsed physically. For a year after that he traveled about aimlessly in Europe.

This strange relationship with his wife was followed by another one, even more curious and unorthodox, with the woman whom he admired and loved above all others. She was the wealthy patroness and widow, Nadezhda von Meck, with whom he maintained a friendship lasting thirteen years. But during all that time he never once met her personally, their friendship being developed through an exchange of often tender at times even passionate letters. She had written him to speak of her admiration for his music and he had replied in gratitude. Before long, she endowed him with a generous annual subsidy to allow him full freedom to write music. From then on, they wrote each other frequently, with Tchaikovsky often baring his heart and soul. The reason why they never met was that Mme. von Meck had firmly established that condition for the continuation of their friendship and her financial generosity. Why this strange request was made, and why she adhered to it so tenaciously, has never been adequately explained. She may have been influenced by their different stations in life, or by her excessive devotion to her children, or even by a knowledge of the composer’s sexual deviation.

Now financially independent—and strengthened by the kindness, affection and sympathy of his patroness—Tchaikovsky entered upon one of his richest creative periods by producing one masterwork after another: the fourth and fifth symphonies, the opera, _Eugene Onegin_; the violin concerto; the _Capriccio italien_, for orchestra; a library of wonderful songs. Inevitably he now assumed a rank of first importance in Russian music. In 1884 he was honored by the Czar with the Order of St. Vladimir, and in 1888 a life pension was conferred upon him by the Russian government.

In 1890, while traveling in the Caucasus, Tchaikovsky heard from Mme. von Meck that she had recently suffered financial reverses and was compelled to terminate her subsidy. The composer replied that he was no longer in need of her financial help but that he hoped their friendship might continue. To this, and to all subsequent letters by Tchaikovsky, Mme. von Meck remained silent. Upon returning to Moscow, Tchaikovsky discovered that his patroness was in no financial difficulties whatsoever, but had used this as an excuse to terminate a relationship of which she had grown weary. The loss of his dearest friend, and the specious reason given for the termination of their relationship, was an overwhelming blow, one largely responsible for the fits of melancholia into which Tchaikovsky lapsed so frequently from this time on.

In 1891, Tchaikovsky paid his only visit to the United States where he helped open Carnegie Hall in New York by directing a performance of his own _Overture 1812_. After returning to Russia, he became so morbid, and succumbed so helplessly to fits of despair, that at times he thought he was losing his mind. In such a mood he wrote his last symphony, the _Pathétique_, one of the most tragic utterances in all music; there is good reason to believe that when Tchaikovsky wrote this music he was creating his own requiem. He died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893, a victim of cholera contracted when he drank a glass of boiled water during an epidemic.

The qualities in his major serious works that made Tchaikovsky one of the best loved and most frequently performed composers in the world are also the traits that bring his lesser works into the permanent semi-classical repertory: an endless fund of beautiful melody; an affecting sentiment that at times lapses into sentimentality; a lack of inhibitions in voicing his deepest emotions and most personal thoughts.

The _Andante Cantabile_ is a gentle, melancholy song in three-part form which comes from one of the composer’s string quartets, in D major, op. 11 (1871). This is the second movement of the quartet, and the reason why this work as a whole is still occasionally performed. This famous melody, however, is not original with the composer, but a quotation of a Russian folk song, “Vanya Sat on the Divan,” which the composer heard a baker sing in Kamenka, Russia. Tchaikovsky himself adapted this music for orchestra. In 1941, this melody was adapted into the American popular song, “On the Isle of May.”

_Chanson Triste_ is another of the composer’s soft, gentle melodies that is filled with sentiment. This is the second of twelve children’s pieces for the piano “of moderate difficulty,” op. 40 (1876-1877).

_Humoresque_, op. 10, no. 2 (1871)—a “humoresque” being an instrumental composition in a whimsical vein—finds Tchaikovsky in a less familiar attitude, that of grotesquerie. This sprightly little tune is almost as celebrated as the very popular _Humoresque_ of Dvořák; and like that of Dvořák, it originated as a composition for the piano, a companion to a _Nocturne_ which it follows. Fritz Kreisler made a fine transcription for violin and piano, while Stokowski was one of several to adapt it for orchestra.

The _Marche Slav_, for orchestra, op. 31 (1876) was intended for a benefit concert in St. Petersburg for Serbian soldiers wounded in the war with Turkey. At that performance, the work aroused a “whole storm of patriotic enthusiasm,” as the composer himself reported. The work opens with a broad Slavic march melody which Tchaikovsky borrowed from a Serbian folk song. The middle trio section is made up of two other folk tunes. The composition ends with a triumphant restatement of the opening march melody, now speaking for the victory of the Serbs over the Turks.

The _Melodie_, in E-flat major, op. 42, no. 3 (1878) is a simple and haunting little song that originated as a piece for violin and piano. It appears in a set of three such pieces entitled _Souvenir d’un lieu cher_, of which it is the closing number. This melody was used in 1941 for the American popular song, “The Things I Love.”

_The Months_, op. 37b (1876) is a suite for piano out of which come several compositions exceedingly popular in transcriptions. Each movement of this suite is devoted to a month of the year. The sixth movement is _June_, a little barcarolle, or Venetian boat song. The tenth, for October, is _Autumn Song_, a gentle melody lightly touched by sadness. The eleventh, for November, is by contrast a lively piece entitled _Troika en Traneaux_, or _The Troika_.

“None But the Lonely Heart” is one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous songs, a melancholy setting of Goethe’s poem. This is the last of a set of six songs, op. 16 (1872) which is extensively performed in transcriptions of all sorts.

The _Nutcracker Suite_, or _Casse-Noisette_, op. 71a (1892) is a suite for orchestra adapted from a ballet score. The ballet (introduced in St. Petersburg in 1892) tells about a nutcracker, received as a Christmas gift by a little girl, which in her dreams becomes a handsome prince. He leads toys into battle against mice, and conducts the little girl to Jam Mountain, Arabia, where she is delighted with all kinds of games and dances. Those accustomed to associate the name of Tchaikovsky with lugubrious music will find this suite a revelation, for it is filled with the most enchanting moods, and is consistently light of heart and spirit. The highly popular suite for orchestra is made up of eight little movements. “Miniature Overture” is built from two lively tunes. The main subject of the “March” is a pert melody for clarinet, horn, and two trumpets; the trio section consists of a vivacious staccato melody for the woodwind and strings. “The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” is a sensitive melody for the celesta, the “Trepak” is a vigorous, rhythmic Russian dance, the “Arabian Dance” is an exotic melody for the clarinet, and the “Chinese Dance” an Oriental subject for flute and piccolo. The two last movements are the “Dance of the Flutes” in which a sensitive melody for flutes is contrasted by a more robust section for trumpets, and the “Waltz of the Flowers,” where the waltz tune in horns and then in clarinets is followed by two more important ideas, the first in the strings, and the second in flutes and oboe.

The _Overture 1812_ is a concert overture for orchestra, op. 49 (1880) commissioned for the consecration of a temple built as a memorial to Napoleon’s defeat in Russia in 1812. This overture was intended by the composer to describe the historic events of Napoleon’s invasion of and flight from Russia. An introductory section quotes the well-known Russian hymn, “God Preserve Thy People.” In the main body of the overture, the Battle of Borodino is dramatically depicted, the two opposing armies represented by quotations from the _Marseillaise_ and the Russian national anthem. A climax is reached with a triumphant restatement of the Russian national anthem.

The _Polonaise_ is one of two celebrated dance episodes in the opera _Eugene Onegin_. (The other is the Waltz discussed below.) This three-act opera is based on a poem by Pushkin, adapted by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer himself, and was introduced in Moscow on March 29, 1879. The setting is St. Petersburg in or about 1815, and its central theme concerns the frustrated love affair of Eugene Onegin and Tatiana. The brilliant music of the Polonaise is heard in the first scene of Act 3. In the palace of Prince Gremin there takes place a reception during which the guests dance to the vital strains of this courtly Polish dance, its vigor derived from sharp syncopations and accents on the half beat.

_Romance_, in F minor, op. 5 (1868) is a composition for piano written by the composer when he believed himself in love with the singer, Désirée Artôt, to whom the piece is dedicated. This music gives voice to a romantic ardor.

The _Sérénade mélancolique_ in B-flat minor, op. 26 (1875) is a work for violin and orchestra. As the title indicates it is a sentimental rather than romantic effusion. Here a brief subject leads to a soaring three-part song for the violin.

_Serenade for Strings_, in C major, op. 48 (1880) is particularly famous for its second and third movements. The second is a Waltz, perhaps the most popular of this composer’s many well loved waltzes. This is a graceful, even elegant, dance movement, the waltz of the Parisian salon rather than the more vital and earthy dance of Vienna. Such a light-hearted mood is instantly dispelled by the gloom of the third movement, an eloquent _Elegy_, in which the sorrow is all the more poignant because it is so subdued and restrained.

Solitude, op. 73, no. 6 (1893)—sometimes known as Again as Before—is a song set to a poem by D. M. Rathaus. This is the last of a set of six songs. Stokowski made an effective arrangement for orchestra.

_Song Without Words_ (_Chanson sans paroles_), in F major is the third of a set of three pieces for the piano collectively entitled _Souvenir de Hapsal_, op. 2 (1867). This tender melody is far more familiar in transcriptions than it is in its original version.

Tchaikovsky wrote three Suites for orchestra. From two of these come movements which must be counted with the composer’s most popular works. The Suite No. 1 in D minor, op. 43 (1880) is famous for its fourth movement, a _Marche Miniature_. The inclusion of this section into the suite was something of an afterthought with the composer, since it was interpolated into the work only after it had been published, placed as a fourth movement between an intermezzo and a scherzo. This march is in the grotesque, fantastic style of the piano _Humoresque_. The main subject is heard in the piccolo against plucked-string accompaniment. A transitory episode in strings and bells leads to a development of this melody.

The third movement from this same suite, _Intermezzo_, has two main melodies: the first appears in first violins, violas, bassoons and flute; the second, in cellos and bassoon. The coda is based on the first theme.

The suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55 (1884) is a four-movement work of which the second is particularly celebrated. This is a _Valse mélancolique_ for 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. The _Valse sentimentale_, op. 51, no. 6 comes from a set of six pieces for the piano (1882) where it is the final number. The opera _Eugene 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 Beauty_ and _Swan Lake_. In the orchestral suite derived from the score of _Sleeping 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. The _Swan Lake_ consists 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

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 was _La double échelle_, produced at the Opéra-Comique in 1837. His first success was realized in 1843 with _Mina_, and in 1866 the opera by which he is remembered, _Mignon_, was triumphantly introduced at the Opéra-Comique. Later operas included _Hamlet_ (1868) and _Françoise 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.

_Mignon_ represents 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 parts _Mignon_ remains 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.

The _Raymond_ Overture is even more popular than that to _Mignon_. _Raymond_ was 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-like melody 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

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 Paolo Tosti

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

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 with _Nabucco_ in 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 were _Ernani_ (1844), _Macbeth_ (1847) and _Luisa Miller_ (1849). A new era began for Verdi in 1851 with _Rigoletto_, an era in which he became Italy’s greatest master of opera, and one of the foremost in the world. _Il Trovatore_ and _La Traviata_ came in 1853, to be followed by _I Vespri Siciliani_ (1855), _Simone Boccanegra_ (1857), _Un ballo in maschera_ (1859), _La Forza del destino_ (1862), and _Aida_ (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 of _Aida_, 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 after _Aida_. 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) and _Falstaff_ (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 from _Nabucco_, 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.

_Aida_ is 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 the _Dance of the Moorish Slaves_, an oriental dance performed before Amneris by the Moorish boys. The _Ballabile_ is 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 the _Grand 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 where many 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’amuse_ adapted 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_. Its central 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 of _La Traviata_ in 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 Traviata_ went 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 from _La 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 and improbabilities; 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 from _Il Trovatore_ includes 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 popular _Anvil Chorus_ of 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-famous _Miserere_ (“_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_.”

While _I Vespri siciliani_, or _Les 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 first _Allegro_ theme speaks of the massacre of the French garrison. A second melody—a beautiful lyrical passage _pianissimo_ against tremolos—is taken from the farewell scene of the hero and the heroine who are about to die.

Richard Wagner

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, _Rienzi_ in 1840, and _The Flying Dutchman_ in 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, and _Lohengrin_, 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 formal ballets, recitatives and arias, production scenes, and so forth. And he put his theories into practice with a monumental project embracing four dramas, collectively entitled _The 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 entitled _The Rhinegold_ (_Das Rheingold_), _The Valkyries_ (_Die Walkuere_), _Siegfried_, and _The 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, including _Tristan and Isolde_ in 1859 and _The 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 with _Tristan and Isolde_ in 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 entire _Ring_ cycle. 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 works abound 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.

From _The 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 from _The Flying Dutchman_ are 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_.”

_Lohengrin_ was 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 upper registers of the violins, then repeated by other instruments. This theme is developed into a _crescendo_ and culminates in an exultant statement by trumpets and trombones. Now the theme is given in a _decrescendo_, and the prelude ebbs away _pianissimo_, 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 of _Lohengrin_. 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. For _The Mastersingers_ is 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 completed _The Mastersingers_ in 1867—eight years after _Tristan and Isolde_ and more than a decade following the first two dramas of the _Ring_ cycle. 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 in the 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, _Rienzi_ made 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.

_Tannhaeuser_ boasts 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 confesses to 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 the _Bacchanale_ in 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 stately _March_ of 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 from _Tannhaeuser_ is 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 this meager 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 of _Tristan 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.

The _Kaiser March_ was 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

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 peines_ and _Manola_. The latter so enchanted the Prince of Wales that he willingly accepted the dedication of Waldteufel’s next waltz, _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; and _The 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 the _Acclamations_, op. 223; _Dolores_, op. 170; _Estudiantina_, op. 191; _Mon rêve_, op. 151; _Les Sirènes_, op. 154; _Toujours ou jamais_, op. 156; and _Violettes_, op. 148.

Karl Maria von Weber

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 to intensive 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 opera _Der 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, and _Oberon_, 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 the _Invitation 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.

The _Jubilee 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

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 were _The Royal Palace_ in 1927; _The Three-Penny Opera_, a sensation when first produced in 1928; _The Czar Has Himself Photographed_, also in 1928; and _The 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 of _Zeitkunst_ (Contemporary Art) and _Gebrauchsmusik_ (Functional Music). In the fall of 1935, Weill established permanent residence in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1943. He soon assumed 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”; and _Lost 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 concludes with 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

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 Dudelsackpfeifer_ first 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 major works 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 the _Prelude and Fugue on Dixie_ for 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 a _Polka and Fugue_ for orchestra that is undoubtedly the most familiar excerpt from the opera. The vivacious _Polka_—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.

Henri Wieniawski

Henri Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Poland, on July 10, 1835. When he was eight he entered the Paris Conservatory, from which he was graduated three years later with first prize in violin-playing, the first time this institution conferred such an honor on one so young. Sensational appearances as child prodigy followed throughout Europe. After an additional period of study at the Paris Conservatory between 1849 and 1850, he initiated his career as a mature performer, and as one of the world’s foremost violinists, with performances in Europe and Russia. In 1872 he toured the United States with the pianist, Anton Rubinstein. Meanwhile, in 1859, he was appointed solo violinist to the Czar of Russia, and from 1862 to 1867 he was professor of the violin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1874 he succeeded Vieuxtemps as professor of the violin at the Brussels Conservatory where he remained fourteen years. He suffered a heart attack while performing in Berlin in 1878, and died in Moscow on March 31, 1880.

Wieniawski produced a rich repertory of music for the violin which is still performed extensively. This includes the famous Concerto in D minor and many smaller compositions. Among the latter can be found pieces which have become favorites with salon orchestra in transcription. These, like other major works by the composer, are characterized by broad and expressive melodies and brilliant technical effects.

The _Kujawiak_, in A minor, op. 3 is a brilliant rhythmic number—a spirited mazurka which derives its name from the fact that it has come out of the Kuawy district of Poland. The _Légende_, op. 17, on the other hand, is outstanding for its sentimental lyricism. This piece is an eloquent song, originally for violin and orchestra, that seems to be telling a romantic tale. The _Polonaise brillante_, in D major, op. 4, like the _Kujawiak_, is a successful attempt to incorporate within a concert work the characteristics of a popular Polish dance. This composition is appealing for its sharp accentuations on the half beat, syncopations, and brilliant passage work. The _Souvenirs of Moscow_ (_Souvenirs de Moscou_), op. 6, is a fantasia on famous Russian airs, the most important of which is “The Red Sarafin.”

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in Down Ampney, England, on October 12, 1872. After attending the Royal College of Music, he studied composition privately with Max Bruch in Berlin. In 1901 he was appointed organist of the St. Barnabas Church in London. For the next few years he devoted himself mainly to church music. His interest in the English folk songs of the Tudor period, first stimulated in 1904, proved for him a decisive turning point. Besides dedicating himself henceforth to intensive research in English folk music (much of which he helped to revive from neglect and obscurity through his editions and adaptations) he found a new direction as composer: in the writing of music with a national identity, music absorbing the melodic, harmonic and modal techniques—at times even the actual material—of these old songs and dances. This new trend first became evident in 1907 with his _Norfolk Rhapsodies_. After an additional period of study with Maurice Ravel in Paris, Vaughan Williams embarked upon the writing of his first major works which included the famous _Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis_, _London Symphony_, and the opera _Hugh the Drover_. Subsequent works in all fields of composition placed him with the masters of 20th-century music. These compositions included symphonies, operas, concertos, fantasias, choral and chamber music. For more than thirty years, Vaughan Williams taught composition at the Royal College of Music in London; from 1920 to 1928 he was the conductor of the Bach Choir, also in that city. He paid two visits to the United States, the first time in 1922 to direct some of his works at a music festival in Connecticut, and the second time a decade later to lecture at Bryn Mawr College. He received the Order of Merit in 1935 and the Albert medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1955. He died in London on August 26, 1958.

Only a meagre number of Vaughan Williams’ compositions have popular appeal. One of these is the _Fantasia on Greensleeves_, for orchestra. “Greensleeves” is an old English folk song dating from the early 16th century, and mentioned in Shakespeare’s _The Merry Wives of_ _Windsor_. In the 17th century it became the party song of the Cavaliers. Americans know it best through a popular-song adaptation in 1957. Vaughan Williams’ delightful fantasia appears as an orchestral interlude in his opera _Sir John in Love_ (1929), based on _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. A brief episode for flute leads to “Greensleeves,” which is harmonized opulently for strings. Two brief variations follow. Then the opening flute episode is recalled as is the folk song itself—the main melody in lower strings with embellishments in the upper ones.

_The March of the Kitchen Utensils_ is an amusing little episode for orchestra, part of the incidental music prepared by the composer for a production of Aristophanes’ _The Wasps_ in Cambridge in 1909. This march opens with a humorous little theme for the wind instruments in the impish style of Prokofiev. The theme is taken over by the strings. The middle section is much more in the identifiable national style of Vaughan Williams with a melody that resembles an old English folk dance.

Jacques Wolfe

Jacques Wolfe, composer of songs in the style of Negro Spirituals familiar in the repertory of most American baritones, was born in Botoshan, Rumania on April 29, 1896. He was trained as a pianist at the Institute of Musical Art. While serving in the army during World War I, a member of the 50th Infantry Band, he was stationed in North Carolina where he first came into contact with Negro folk songs. This made such a profound impression on him that he devoted himself to research in this field. After the war he made many appearances on the concert stage both as a solo performer and as an accompanist. For several years he was also a teacher of music at New York City high schools.

Wolfe’s two best known songs in the style of Negro folk songs appeared in 1928. One is “De Glory Road,” words by Clement Wood, a work of such extraordinary fervor and dramatic character that it has proved a sure-fire number with concert baritones throughout the country, and notably with Lawrence Tibbett with whom it was a particular favorite. The other was “Short’nin’ Bread,” to Wolfe’s own words. The latter in all probability is not original with Wolfe but an adaptation of one of the melodies he discovered in North Carolina. Several Negro composers have been credited with being its composer; one of them was Reese d’Pres who is said to have written the melody in or about 1905.

Among Wolfe’s other familiar songs are “God’s World,” “Goin’ to Hebb’n” and “Hallelujah Rhythm.”

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice, Italy, on January 12, 1876. Originally planning to make art his career he went to Rome, but while there became so fascinated by opera that then and there he decided to become a musician. He completed his musical training in Munich in 1895 with Josef Rheinberger. In 1899 he returned to his native city where his first major work—an oratorio, _La Sulamite_—was successfully performed. His first opera, _Cenerentola_ (_Cinderella_) was introduced in Venice in 1900. His first comic opera (or opera buffa) came to Munich in 1903: _Le Donne Curiose_. He achieved world renown with still another comic opera, _The Secret of Suzanne_, first performed in Munich in 1909. This distinguished achievement was followed by an equally significant achievement in a serious vein, the grand opera, _The Jewels of the Madonna_, first heard in Berlin in 1911. One year later Wolf-Ferrari paid his first visit to the United States to attend in Chicago the American première of _The Jewels of the Madonna_. He wrote many operas after that, both in a comic and serious style, but his fame still rests securely on _The Secret of Suzanne_ and _The Jewels of the Madonna_. From 1902 to 1912 he was director of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice. He died in that city on January 21, 1948.

From _The Jewels of the Madonna_ (_I Gioielli della Madonna_) have come several familiar orchestral episodes. This tragedy—libretto by the composer with verses by Carlo Zangarini and Enrico Golisciani—was successfully introduced in Berlin on December 23, 1911. Rafaele, leader of the Camorrists, and Gennaro, a blacksmith, are rivals for the love of Maliela. After Rafaele appears to have won Maliela’s love, Gennaro wins her away from his rival by stealing for her the jewels decorating the image of the Madonna. Maliela confesses to Rafaele and other Camorrists about this theft, then rushes off into a raging sea to meet her death. After Gennaro has returned the jewels to the Madonna, he plunges a dagger into his own breast.

Two melodious intermezzos for orchestra are often played by salon and pop orchestras. The first comes between the first and second acts and is in a languorous mood. The second, heard between the second and third acts, opens with a light subject and continues with a broadly lyrical episode. A third popular orchestral excerpt from this opera is the dramatic “Dance of the Camorristi” during a revel in the Camorristi hideout in the opening of the third act.

As an opera _The Secret of Suzanne_ (_Il Segreto di Susanna_) is a trifle. The libretto by Enrico Golisciani concerns a terrible secret harbored by the heroine, Suzanne: she is addicted to smoking. Since her husband finds cigarette butts in their house he suspects her of entertaining a lover during his absence. Spying on her through the window, one day, he learns about his wife’s secret to his infinite relief, and does not hesitate to join her in a smoke. Light, breezy, infectious, and unpretentious, this little opera has been a favorite with operagoers everywhere since its world première in Munich on December 4, 1909.

The overture is as gay and as capricious as this merry tale. It begins vivaciously with the main theme in first violins and the woodwind. After this idea has been elaborated upon, a second melody is heard in the flute and clarinet accompanied by strings. The two melodies are soon merged contrapuntally, with the first theme heard in woodwinds and trumpet and the second in the strings.

Sebastián Yradier

Sebastián Yradier was born in Sauciego, Álava, Spain on January 20, 1809. Little is known of his career beyond the fact that his music instruction took place with private teachers; that in 1851 he was appointed singing master to the Empress Eugénie in Paris; and that for a period he lived in Cuba. He died in Vitoria, Spain, on December 6, 1865. He was a successful composer of Spanish songs. The most famous is “_La Paloma_,” which is in the habanera rhythm, its melody in the sensual, sinuous style of a flamenco song. “_El Arreglito_,” also a habanera, was borrowed by Bizet for his opera _Carmen_ where it re-emerges as the world-famous “Habanera”; Bizet made only minor changes in the melody while retaining Yradier’s tonality and accompaniment. A third popular Yradier song, in a style similar to “_La Paloma_,” is “_Ay Chiquita!_”

Carl Zeller

Carl Zeller was born in St. Peter-in-der-Au, Austria on July 19, 1842. Music, the study of which he had pursued since boyhood with private teachers, was an avocation. He earned his living as an official in the Ministry of Education in Austria. Nevertheless, he managed to write many operettas, two of which were among the most successful written in Austria during his time. Among his first works for the stage were _Joconde_ (1876), _Die Carbonari_ (1880), and _Der Vagabund_ (1886). His first major success came with _Der Vogelhaendler_ in 1886, still a great favorite on the Continent. The second of his operetta classics, _Der Obersteiger_, was introduced in 1894. A later successful, though less well known, operetta, _Der Kellermeister_, was produced posthumously in 1901. Zeller died in Baden near Vienna on August 17, 1898.

_Der Obersteiger_ (_The Master Miner_)—book by M. West and L. Held—received its première in Vienna on January 5, 1894. The setting is a salt-mining district of Austria in or about 1840. Martin instigates a strike among the miners, for which he is deprived of his job. To support himself he organizes a band of musicians from among the miners and tours the country. Eventually Martin returns to his mining town where he finally manages to regain his job and to win Nelly, with whom he has always been in love. The most popular song in the operetta is Martin’s air with chorus, “_Wo sie war, die Muellerin_,” and its most delightful waltz is “_Trauet nie dem blossen schein_.”

_Der Vogelhaendler_ (_The Bird-Seller_), once again with a book by M. West and L. Held, was first heard in Vienna on January 10, 1891; but in 1933 it was presented in a new version in Munich adapted by Quedenfelt, Brugmann and Bauckner. In the Rhine Palatinate in the 18th century, Adam, a wandering bird-seller, is in love with Christel, but she refuses to consider marriage unless he gets a permanent job. He gets that job on the estate of the Elector Palatine at which point Christel is all too willing to give up a projected marriage with Count Stanislaus for the sake of her beloved Adam. The lovable melodies from this operetta—in the best traditions of Suppé and Johann Strauss II—have made it a favorite not only in Germany and Austria, but also throughout the rest of Europe, in North and South America, and in South Africa. Among the musical highlights of this operetta are the waltz “_Schau mir nur recht ins Gesicht_”; the “Nightingale Song” (“_Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr_”); the pert march tune “_Kaempfe nie mit Frau’n_”; and Christel’s sprightly air, “_Ich bin die Christel von der Post_.”

Karl Michael Ziehrer

Karl Michael Ziehrer, beloved Viennese composer of waltzes and operettas, was born in Vienna on May 2, 1843. He was completely self-taught in music. In 1863 he formed a café-house orchestra with which he toured Austria and Germany, often featuring his own dance pieces and marches. He later expanded this orchestra into an ensemble numbering fifty players with which he gave a series of successful concerts of semi-classical music in Vienna. In 1907 he became music director of the court balls. After World War I he suffered extreme poverty, his personal fortune having been lost with the collapse of the Hapsburg monarchy. He died in want and obscurity in Vienna on November 14, 1922.

Ziehrer wrote more than five hundred popular pieces for orchestra, including numerous marches and waltzes. His waltzes were particularly favored, many of these in the style of Johann Strauss II. Some are still extensively played. Probably the most famous of all his waltzes is Wiener Maedchen (“Vienna Maidens”), which must rank with Lehár’s “Merry Widow Waltz” as one of the most popular such dances produced in Vienna since the time of Johann Strauss II. Its first melody sounds like a Schubert Laendler, with the peasant vigor of its rhythm and its robust tune; but the main subject is a soaring waltz in the finest traditions of Viennese café-house music. The following are other famous Ziehrer waltzes: “_Alt Wien_” (“Old Vienna”), “_Faschingskinder_” (“Carnival Children”), and “_Wiener Buerger_” (“Viennese Citizens”), all three of which come closest among his works in assuming the structural outlines and the melodic identity of the Johann Strauss waltz classics. Also popular are the “_Donauwalzer_” (“Waltzes from the Danube”) and “_Evatochter_” (“Daughter of Eve”).

Ziehrer’s most famous operetta is _Die Landestreicher_ (_The Vagabonds_)—book by L. Krenn and C. Lindau, first performed in Vienna on July 26, 1899. In upper Bavaria two tramps—Fliederbusch and his wife Bertha—manage to live by their wits. Disguised respectively as Prince Gilka and a dancer they visit a famous resort hotel and are involved in numerous adventures. By managing to retrieve a supposedly valuable lost necklace for the Prince they finally win his favor and enter his service. Of particular interest is the captivating waltz at the end of the first act, “_Sei gepriesen, du lauschige Nacht_.”

From several of Ziehrer’s other operettas there come other delightful waltzes, notably “_Samt und Seide_” from _Der Fremdenfuehrer_ (1902) and “_Hereinspaziert_” from _Der Schatzmeister_ (1904).

An Alphabetical Listing of the Lighter Classics in Music

“_Abendlied_” (Schumann) _Abendsterne_ (Lanner) _Acceleration Waltzes_ (Johann Strauss II) _Acclamations_ (Waldteufel) “_Ach, ich hab’ sie ja nur die Schulter gekuesst_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_ _Adagio pathétique_ (Godard) “_Addio_” (Tosti) “_Addio all madre_” (Mascagni), see _Cavalleria Rusticana_ “_Addio del passato_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_ “_Addio fiorito asil_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_ _Adoration_ (Borowski) _L’Africaine_: Selections (Meyerbeer) _Agnus Dei_ (Bizet) “_Ah! che la morte ognora_,” or “_Miserere_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ “_Ah, fors è lui_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_ “_Ah Sweet Mystery of Life_” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_ _Aida_: Overture, Ballet Music, and Selections (Verdi) “_Ai nostri monti_” (Verdi) see _Il Trovatore_ _Air_, or _Air on the G String_ (Bach) _Al fresco_ (Herbert) “_Allia marcia_” (Sibelius), see _Karelia Suite_ “_Allmaecht’ge Jungfrau_,” or “Elisabeth’s Prayer” (Wagner), see _Tannhaeuser_ Alley Tunes (Guion) “Almost Like Being in Love” (Loewe), see _Brigadoon_ _Alsatian Scenes_ (Massenet) “_Als Bueblein klein_” (Nicolai), see _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ _Alt Wien_ (Godowsky) _Alt Wien_ (Ziehrer) _Amelia_ (Lumbye) _American Fantasia_ (Herbert) _American Salute_: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (Gould) _American Suite_ (Cadman) _American Symphonette No. 2_ (Gould) “_Am Meer_” (Schubert) _An American in Paris_ (Gershwin) _Andalucia_ (Lecuona) _Andaluza_ (Granados), see _Spanish Dances_ _Andante cantabile_ (Tchaikovsky) _Andante religioso_ (Halvorsen) _Andantino_ (Kreisler) _An der schoenen blauen Donau_ (Johann Strauss II), see _The Blue Danube_ “_An die Musik_” (Schubert) “The Angelus” (Herbert) _Anitra’s Dance_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt Suite_, No. 1 _Annen-Polka_ (Johann Strauss II) _Anvil Chorus_ (Verdi), see “_Vedi, le fosche notturne spoglie_,” _Il Trovatore_ _Apache Dance_ (Offenbach) “_Après un rêve_” (Fauré) _Aquarellen_ (Josef Strauss) _Arabian Dance_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ _Arkansas Traveler_ (Guion) _L’Arlésienne_, Suite Nos. 1 and 2 (Bizet) “_El Arreglito_” (Yradier) _Artist’s Life_ (Johann Strauss II) _Ascot Gavotte_ (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ _Ase’s Death_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt Suite_, No. 1 _As You Like It_: Dances (German) “At Dawning” (Cadman) “_A te questo rosario_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_ _Aubade provençale_ (Kreisler) “_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_” (Schubert) _Aufforderung zum Tanz_ (Weber), see _Invitation to the Dance_ “_Auf Fluegeln des Gesanges_” (Mendelssohn), see “On Wings of Song” “_Au mont Venus_” (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_ Austrian National Anthem (Haydn), see “_Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser_” _Autumn Song_ (Tchaikovsky), see _The Months_ “_Ave Maria_” (Gounod) “_Ave Maria_” (Schubert) “_Ay Chiquita_” (Yradier)

_Babes in Toyland_: Selections (Herbert) Bacchanale, from _The Queen of Sheba_ (Karl Goldmark) Bacchanale, from _Samson and Delilah_ (Saint-Saëns) Bacchanale, from _Tannhaeuser_ (Wagner) _Bahn-Frei Polka_ (Eduard Strauss) “Bali H’ai” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ _Ballabile_ (Verdi), see _Aida_ “_Ballade vom angenehmen Leben_” (Weill), see “The Ballad of Pleasant Living,” _The Three-Penny Opera_ “Ballad of Herne the Hunter” (Nicolai), see _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ “The Ballad of Pleasant Living” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ _Ballatella_, or “Bird Song” (Leoncavallo), see “_Stridono lassu_” _Pagliacci_ _Ballet Égyptien_ (Luigini) Ballet Music from _Rosamunde_ (Schubert) _Ballet Suite_ (Gluck-Mottl), see Gluck _The Banjo_ (Gottschalk) _Barbara-Song_ (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ _The Barber of Seville_: Overture and Selections (Rossini) _Barcarolle_ from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (Offenbach) _Bartered Bride_: Overture and Selections (Smetana) _Le Baruffe Chiozzotte_, Overture (Sinigaglia) _The Bat_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_ _Bavarian Dances_ (Elgar) “Beautiful Dreamer” (Foster) _Beautiful Galathea_, Overture (Suppé) “_Die beiden Grenadiere_” (Schumann) _The Beggar Student_: Selections (Milloecker) “_Bella figlia dell’ amore_,” Quartet (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_ _La Belle Hélène_: Selections (Offenbach) _Berceuse_ from _Jocelyn_ (Godard) _Berceuse_ (Järnefelt) “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ _Der Bettelstudent_ (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_ _Big Ben_ (Rose) “Bill” (Kern), see _Show Boat_ _Bird Song_, “_Stridono lassu_” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_ “_Bist du’s, lachendes Glueck_” (Lehár), see _The Count of Luxembourg_ _Black, Brown and Beige_ (Ellington) _The Black Domino_: Overture (Auber) “Blow High, Blow Low” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ _The Blue Danube_ (Johann Strauss II) “Blue Heaven” (Romberg), see _The Desert Song_ _Blue Tango_ (Anderson) _La Bohème_: Selections (Puccini) _The Bohemian Girl_: Selections (Balfe) _Bolero_ (Moszkowski) _Bolero_ (Ravel) _Boris Godunov_: Polonaise (Mussorgsky) _Bridal Procession_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Le Coq d’or_ _Brigadoon_: Selections (Loewe) _Brigg Fair_ (Grainger) “Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ _Brindisi_ (Verdi), see “_Libiamo, Libiamo_,” _La Traviata_ _Bugler’s Holiday_ (Anderson) “The Bully’s Ballad” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_

_Caecilien_ (Johann Strauss II) _Cakewalk_ (Gottschalk-Kay), see Gottschalk _Caliph of Bagdad_: Overture (Boieldieu) “_La Calunnia_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_ “Camptown Races” (Foster) _The Canary_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_ Can-Can (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_, _Orpheus in the Underworld_ “Canon Song” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” (Kern), see _Show Boat_ “_Cantique Noël_” (Adam) “_Canto Siboney_” (Lecuona) _Canzonetta_ (Sibelius) _Capriccio espagnol_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Spanish Caprice_ _Caprice Basque_ (Sarasate) _Caprice Viennois_ (Kreisler) “Card Song” (Bizet), see _Carmen_ “Carefully on Tip-Toe Stealing” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ _Carmen_: Preludes and Selections (Bizet) _Carnaval à Paris_ (Svendsen), see _Carnival in Paris_ _Carnival of Animals_ (Saint-Saëns) _Carnival Overture_ (Glazunov) “_Caro nome_” (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_ _Carousel_: Selections (Rodgers) _Carousel Waltz_ (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ _Casse-noisette_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ “_Casta diva_” (Bellini), see _Norma_ _Catalonia_ (Albéniz) _Catfish Row_ (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ _Cavalleria Rusticana_: Selections (Mascagni) _Caucasian Sketches_ (Ippolitov-Ivanov) _Cavatina_ (Raff) “_Celeste Aida_” (Verdi), see _Aida_ _Central Park_ (Goldman) _Champagne Galop_ (Lumbye) _Chanson bohème_ (Bizet), see _Carmen_ _Chanson Louis XIII et Pavane_ (Kreisler) _Chanson sans paroles_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Song Without Words_ _Chanson triste_ (Tchaikovsky) “_Che gelida manina_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_ _Children’s Corner_ (Debussy) _Children’s Dance_ (German), see _As You Like It_ _Children’s Games_ (Bizet) _Children’s March_ (Goldman) _Children’s March_ (Grainger) _Children’s Symphony_ (McDonald) _Chimes of Normandy_: Selections (Planquette) _The Chocolate Soldier_: Selections (Straus) “Chorus of Swords” (Gounod), see _Faust_ _Christmas Festival_ (Anderson) _Le Cid_: Ballet Music (Massenet) “Cider Song” (Planquette), see _The Chimes of Normandy_ “_Cielo e mar_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_ _Circus Day_ (Taylor) _Clair de lune_ (Debussy) “Climbing Over Rocky Mountain” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ _Les Cloches de Corneville_ (Planquette), see _The Chimes of Normandy_ _Clog Dance_ (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_ _Cockaigne Overture_ (Elgar) “Cockeyed Optimist” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ _Colas Breugnon_: Overture (Kabalevsky) _The Comedians_ (Kabalevsky) _Comedy Overture on Negro Themes_ (Gilbert) “Come Friends Who Plough the Sea” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “Come, Sweet Death” (Bach) “_La Comparasa_” (Lecuona) “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (Loewe), see _Brigadoon_ _Concert Polka_ (Lumbye) Concerto in F (Gershwin) “_Connais-tu le pays?_” (Thomas) see _Mignon_ _Les Contes d’Hoffmann_ (Offenbach), see _Tales of Hoffmann_ _Contredanses_ (Beethoven) _Contretaenze_ (Mozart), see _Country Dances_ _Conversation Piece_: Selections (Coward) _Coppélia_: Suite (Delibes) _Le Coq d’or_: _Bridal Procession_, _Hymn to the Sun_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) _La Coquette_ (Borowski) _Córdoba_ (Albéniz) _Cornish Rhapsody_ (Bath) _Coronation March_ (Meyerbeer), see _Le Prophète_ _El Corpus en Seville_ (Albéniz), see _Fête-Dieu à Seville_ _Cottilon_ (Benjamin) _Countess Maritza_: Selections (Kálmán) _The Count of Luxembourg:_ Selections (Lehár) _Country Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_ _Country Dances_ (Mozart) _Country Gardens_ (Grainger) _Cowboy Rhapsody_ (Gould) “Cradle Song” (Brahms) _The Crown Jewels_: Overture (Auber) _Cuban Overture_ (Gershwin) _Le Cygne_ (Saint-Saëns), see _The Swan_, _Carnival of Animals_ _Czar and Carpenter_: Selections (Lortzing) _Czardas_ (Delibes), see _Coppélia_ _Die Czardasfuerstin_ (Kálmán), see _The Gypsy Princess_ _Czar und Zimmermann_ (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_

_Dagger Dance_ (Herbert) “_Da geh’ ich zu Maxim_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_ _La Dame blanche_: Overture (Boieldieu) _Damnation of Faust_: Selections (Berlioz) “_D’amor sull’ ali rosee_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ _Dance in Place Congo_ (Gilbert) _Dance of the Blessed Spirits_ (Gluck) _Dance of the Buffoons_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) _Dance of the Camorristi_ (Wolf-Ferrari), see _The Jewels of the Madonna_ _Dance of the Chinese Girls_ (Glière), see _The Red Poppy_ _Dance of the Comedians_ (Smetana), see _The Bartered Bride_ _Dance of the Flutes_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ _Dance of the Moorish Slaves_ (Verdi), see _Aida_ _Dance of the Rose Girls_ (Khatchaturian), see _Gayane_ _Dance of the Spanish Onion_ (Rose) _Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ _Dance of the Sylphs_ (Berlioz), see _Damnation of Faust_ _Dance of the Tumblers_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Dance of the Buffoons_ _Dance of the Waves_ (Catalani), see _The Loreley_ _Dance of the Wheat_ (Ginastera), see Dances from _Estancia_ _Dancers of Mardi Gras_ (Cadman) Dances from _Estancia_: _Dance of the Wheat_ (Ginastera) “Dancing Will Keep You Young” (Romberg), see _Maytime_ _Danse macabre_ (Saint-Saëns) _Danse nègre_ (Scott) _Danza della ore_ (Ponchielli), see _Dance of the Hours_, _La Gioconda_ _Daughter of the Regiment_: Overture (Donizetti) “Dawn of Love” (Friml), see _The Firefly_ “Death and the Maiden” (Schubert), see “_Der Tod und das Maedchen_” “Deep in My Heart” (Romberg), see _The Student Prince_ “De Glory Road” (Wolfe) “_Dein ist mein ganzes Herz_” (Lehár), see _The Land of Smiles_ _Delirien_ (Josef Strauss) _The Deluge_ (Saint-Saëns) “_De’ miei bollenti spiriti_” (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_ “_Deserto sulla terra_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ _The Desert Song_: Selections (Romberg) _Deutsche Taenze_ (Beethoven), see _German Dances_ _Deutsche Taenze_ (Mozart) see _German Dances_ _Les Diamants de la couronne_ (Auber), see _The Crown Jewels_ _Dichter und Bauer_, _Overture_ (Suppé), see _Poet and Peasant_ “_Dich teurer Halle_” (Wagner), see _Tannhaeuser_ “_Di Provenza il mar_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_ “_Di quella pira_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ “_Dis moi Venus_” (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_ _Divertissement_ (Ibert) _Doctrinen_ (Eduard Strauss) _Dolly_ (Fauré) _Dolores_ (Waldteufel) _Le Domino noir_ (Auber), see _The Black Domino_ _Donaulieder_ (Johann Strauss I) “Donkey Serenade” (Friml) _Donna Diana_: Overture (Rezniček) “_La donne è mobile_” (Verdi) see _Rigoletto_ _Donnerwetter_ (Mozart), see _Country Dances_ _Don Pasquale_: Overture (Donizetti) _Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich_ (Josef Strauss) _Dream Pantomime_ (Humperdinck), see _Hansel and Gretel_ _Dream Pictures_ (Lumbye) _Die Dreigroschenoper_ (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ “Drinking Song” (Romberg), see _The Student Prince_ “_Du bist die Ruh_” (Schubert) “The Duke of Plaza-Toro” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ “_Du and Du_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_ _Dynamiden_ (Josef Strauss)

“_Ecco ridente in cielo_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_ _Eight Russian Folk Songs_ (Liadov) _Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien_ (Suppé), see _Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna_ _Einzugmarsch_ (Johann Strauss II), see _The Gypsy Baron_ _El Capitan_ (Sousa) _Electrophor-Polka_ (Johann Strauss II) _Élégie_ (Massenet), see _Les Érynnies_ _Elegy_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Serenade for Strings_ _L’Elisir d’amore_: Selections (Donizetti) “Elisabeth’s Prayer” (Wagner), see “_Allmacht’ge Jungfrau_,” _Tannhaeuser_ “_E lucevan le stelle_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_ _Embassy Waltz_ (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ _Emperor Waltz_ (Johann Strauss II) _En bateau_ (Debussy), see _Petite suite_ “The End of a Perfect Day” (Bond) “Entry March” (Johann Strauss II), see _The Gypsy Baron_ “_Der Erlkoenig_” (Schubert) _Les Érynnies_ (Massenet) _Escapade_ (Rose) _España_ (Chabrier) _España_ (Waldteufel) “_Estrellita_” (Ponce) _Estudianta_ (Waldteufel) Etudes (Chopin), see also _Revolutionary Etude_ _Evatochter_ (Ziehrer) _Evening in the Tivoli_ (Lumbye) “_Evening Song_” (Schumann), see “_Abendlied_” _Explosions Polka_ (Johann Strauss II)

_Facsimile_: Suite (Bernstein) _The Fair at Sorochinsk_: Hopak (Mussorgsky) “Fair Is the Rose as the Bright May Day” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ “Fair Moon to Thee I Sing” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ _Family Album_ (Gould) _Fancy Free_: Suite (Bernstein) _Fantasia and Fugue on Oh, Susanna_ (Caillet) _Fantasia on Greensleeves_ (Vaughan Williams) Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor (Chopin) “The Farmer and the Cowman” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ _Faschingskinder_ (Ziehrer) _Faust_: Selections (Gounod) _Fête-Dieu à Seville_ (Albéniz) _Fiddle Faddle_ (Anderson) _La Fileuse_ (Raff) _La Fille aux cheveux de lin_ (Debussy), see _The Girl With the Flaxen Hair_ _La Fille de Mme. Angot_: Selections (Lecocq) _Fingal’s Cave_, or _Hebrides_, Overture (Mendelssohn) _Finlandia_ (Sibelius) _The Firefly_: Selections (Friml) _Die Fledermaus_: Overture, Selections (Johann Strauss II) _Der fliegende Hollaender_ (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_ _Flight of the Bumble Bee_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) “Flower Song” (Bizet), see _Carmen_ “The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ _The Flying Dutchman_: Overture, Selections (Wagner) “Fold Your Flapping Wings” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “_Die Forelle_” (Schubert) “For I am a Pirate King” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “For Everyone Who Feels Inclined” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ “For He is an Englishman” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “For the Merriest Fellows are We” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ _Fortune Teller_: Selections (Herbert) _La Forza del destino_: Overture (Verdi) _Four Centuries_ (Coates) _Fra Diavolo_: Selections (Auber) _Frasquita Serenade_ (Herbert) “French Marching Song” (Romberg), see _The Desert Song_ _French Military March_ (Saint-Saëns), see _Suite algérienne_ “_Freudig begruessen_” (Wagner), see _Tannhaeuser_ _Friedrich-Karl March_ (Kéler-Béla) “From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water” (Cadman) _From the Middle Ages_ (Glazunov) _Fruehlingsrauschen_ (Sinding), see _Rustle of Spring_ _Fruehlingsstimmen_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Voices of Spring_ _Funeral March_ (Chopin) _Furiant_ (Smetana) see _The Bartered Bride_

_La Gaieté parisienne_ (Offenbach-Rosenthal), see Offenbach Galops (Offenbach), see _La Grand Duchesse de Gerolstein_ _Gavotte_ (Gossec) _Gavotte_ (Thomas), see _Mignon_ _Gayane_: Suite (Khatchaturian) _La Gazza ladra_: Overture (Rossini) _German Dances_ (Beethoven) _German Dances_ (Haydn) _German Dances_ (Mozart) _German Dances_ (Schubert) “Get Me to the Church on Time” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ “Getting to Know You” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_ “Giannina Mia” (Friml), see _The Firefly_ _Gingerbread Waltz_ (Humperdinck), see _Hansel and Gretel_ _La Gioconda_: Selections (Ponchielli) “The Girl at Maxim’s” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_ _The Girl With the Flaxen Hair_ (Debussy) _Giroflé-Girofla_: Selections (Lecocq) _Giselle_: Suite (Adam) _La Gitana_ (Kreisler) _Gitanerias_ (Lecuona) “_Gloire au grand Dieu vengeur_” (Meyerbeer), see _Les Huguenots_ “_Gloria all’ Egitto_” (Verdi), see _Aida_ “The Glow-Worm” (Lincke) “_Gluewuermchen_” (Lincke), see “The Glow-Worm” “God’s World” (Wolfe) “Goin’ to Heaven” (Wolfe) _Gold and Silver Waltzes_ (Lehár) _Golliwogg’s Cakewalk_ (Debussy), see _Children’s Corner_ _The Gondoliers_: Selections (Sullivan) “Goodbye, Forever” (Tosti), see “_Addio_” “Good Morning, Good Mother” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ Gopak, from _The Fair at Sorochinsk_ (Mussorgsky), see Hopak “_Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser_,” Austrian national anthem (Haydn) _Grafin Mariza_ (Kálmán), see _Countess Maritza_ _Der Graf von Luxemburg_ (Lehár), see _The Count of Luxembourg_ _Grand Canyon Suite_ (Grofé) Grand March, from _Aida_ (Verdi) _La Grand Pâque Russe_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Russian Easter Overture_ _Greensleeves_ (Vaughan Williams), see _Fantasia on Greensleeves_ “_Gretchen am Spinnrade_” (Schubert) _G’schichten aus dem Wiener Wald_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Tales from the Vienna Woods_ _Guadalcanal March_ (Rodgers), see _Victory at Sea_ _Guillaume Tell_ (Rossini), see _William Tell_ _Guitarre_ (Moszkowski) _Gypsy Airs_ (Sarasate) _Gypsy Baron_: Selections (Johann Strauss II) _Gypsy Love_: Selections (Lehár) “Gypsy Love Song” (Herbert), see _The Fortune Teller_ _Gypsy Princess_: Selections (Kálmán) _Gypsy Rondo_ (Haydn)

Habanera (Bizet), see _Carmen_ “_Hab ein blaues Himmelbett_” (Lehár), see _Frasquita Serenade_ “Hail the Bride of Seventeen Summers” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ _Handel in the Strand_ (Grainger) “Hallelujah Chorus” from _Messiah_ (Handel) _Hansel and Gretel_: Overture and Selections (Humperdinck) “Happy Talk” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ “Hark, Hark, the Lark” (Schubert) _Harlequin Serenade_ (Drigo), see _Serenade_ _Harlequin Serenade_ (Leoncavallo), see “_O, Columbina!_”, _Pagliacci_ _Harmonica Player_ (Guion), see _Alley Tunes_ _Harmonious Blacksmith_ (Handel) _Havanaise_ (Saint-Saëns) “The Heart Bowed Down” (Balfe), see _The Bohemian Girl_ “Heather on the Hill” (Loewe), see _Brigadoon_ _Hebrew Melody_ (Achron) _Hebrides Overture_, (Mendelssohn), see _Fingal’s Cave_ _Hejre Kati_ (Hubay), see _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_ “Hello, Young Lovers” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_ _Henry VIII_: Dances (German) _Henry VIII_: Ballet Music (Saint-Saëns) “_Hereinspaziert_” from _Der Schatzmeister_ (Ziehrer) “Here’s a How-de-do” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ _Heroic Polonaise_ (Chopin) _Hesperus_ (Lumbye) _Hindu Chant_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) _His Lullaby_ (Bond) _Hoffballtanz_ (Lanner) _Hoffnungssterne_ (Kéler-Béla) _Holberg Suite_ (Grieg) _Holiday for Strings_ (Rose) _Holiday for Trombones_ (Rose) _Holiday Suite_ (Gould) _Holzschutanz_ (Lortzing), see _Clog Dance_, _Czar and Carpenter_ “Home on the Range” (Guion) Hopak, from _The Fair at Sorochinsk_ (Mussorgsky) _Hora staccato_ (Dinicu) “_Horch, horche die Lerche_” (Schubert), see “Hark, Hark, the Lark” _Horse and Buggy_ (Anderson) _Hudson River Suite_ (Grofé) _Les Huguenots_: Overture, Selections (Meyerbeer) _Humoresque_ (Dvořák) _Humoresque_ (Tchaikovsky) _Hungarian Comedy Overture_ (Kéler-Béla) _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_ (Hubay) _Hungarian Dances_ (Brahms) _Hungarian Rhapsody_ (Hubay), see _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_ _Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2_ (Liszt) _Hurrah-Sturm_ (Kéler-Béla) “Hymn to the Sun” (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Le Coq d’or_

“I Am the Captain of the Pinafore” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “I Am the Monarch of the Sea” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “I Am Titania” (Thomas), see “_Je suis Titania_,” _Mignon_ “I Am the Very Pattern of a Modern Major General” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “I Cannot Tell What This Love May Be” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “_Ich bin die Christel von der Post_” (Zeller), see _Der Vogelhaendler_ “_Ich bin ein Zigeuenerkind_” (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_ “_Ich hab’ kein Geld_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_ “_Ich knuepfte manche zarte Bande_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_ “_Ich setz den Fall_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_ “I Could Have Danced All Night” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ “_Ideale_” (Tosti) “I Dream’d I Dwelt in Marble Halls” (Balfe), see _The Bohemian Girl_ “If I Loved You” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ “If Somebody There Chanced to Be” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ “If You Go In” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “If You’re Anxious For to Shine” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “If You Want a Receipt” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “If You Want to Know Who We Are” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ “I Got Plenty of Nuttin’” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ “I Have a Song to Sing, O” (Sullivan) see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “I Have Dreamed” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_ “I Know a Youth Who Loves a Little Maid” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ “_Il balen_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ “I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” (Coward), see _Conversation Piece_ “I Love You” (Wright and Forrest), see _Song of Norway_, Grieg “I Love You, Porgy,” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ “I Love You, Truly” (Coward), see _Bitter Sweet_ “I’m Called Little Buttercup” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “I’m Falling in Love With Someone” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_ “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ “_Im Prater bluehn wieder die Baeume_” (Stolz) _Impressions of Italy_ (Charpentier) _In a Chinese Garden_ (Ketelby) _In a Monastery Garden_ (Ketelby) _In a Persian Garden_ (Ketelby) _In Autumn_ (Grieg) “In Bygone Days” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ _Indian Lament_ (Dvořák) “Indian Love Call” (Friml), see _Rose Marie_ _Indian Sketches_ (Gilbert) _Indian Summer_ (Herbert) _In Spring_ (Karl Goldmark) _Intermezzo_, from _Cavalleria Rusticana_ (Mascagni) _Intermezzo_, from _Goyescas_ (Granados) _Intermezzo_, from _Pagliacci_ (Leoncavallo) _Intermezzo_, from _The Violin Maker_ (Hubay) _Intermezzo_ (Tchaikovsky), see Suite for Orchestra, No. 1 _Intermezzos_ from _The Jewels of the Madonna_ (Wolf-Ferrari) _Interplay_ (Gould) “In the Autumn of Our Life” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ _In the Hall of the Mountain King_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt Suite_, No. 1 _In the South_ (Elgar) _In the Steppes of Central Asia_ (Borodin) _Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso_ (Saint-Saëns) _Invitation to the Dance_ (Weber) _Iolanthe_: Selections (Sullivan) “I Once Was as Meek as a New Born Lamb” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ _Irish Rhapsody_ (Herbert) _Irish Suite_ (Anderson) _Irish Tune from County Derry_: “Londonderry Air” (Grainger) “I Shipped, D’ye See, in a Revenue Sloop” (Sullivan) see _Ruddigore_ “Isle of Dreams” (Herbert) see _The Red Mill_ “Is Love a Boon?” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “I Stole the Princess” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ _L’Italiana in Algeri_: Overture (Rossini) “Italian Street Song” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_ “It is Not Love” (Sullivan), see _The Sorcerer_ “It’s a Windy Day on the Battery” (Romberg), see _Maytime_ “I’ve Done My Work” (Bond) “I’ve Got a Little List” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ “I Whistle a Happy Tune” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_

“_Ja, das alles auf Ehr_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_ _Jamaican Rumba_ (Benjamin) _Jazz Legato_ (Anderson) _Jazz Pizzicato_ (Anderson) “Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair” (Foster) _Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_ (Bach) “_Je suis Titania_” (Thomas), see _Mignon_ _Jeux d’enfants_ (Bizet), see _Children’s Games_ “Jewel Song” (Gounod), see _Faust_ _Jewels of the Madonna_: Intermezzo, Dance of the Camorristi (Wolf-Ferrari) _Jewels from Cartier_ (Alter) _Jota aragonesa_ (Glinka) _Jota aragonesa_ (Sarasate) _Joyeuse marche_ (Chabrier) _Jubilee_ (Chadwick) _Jubilee Overture_ (Weber) “Jump Jim Crow” (Romberg), see _Maytime_ _June_ (Tchaikovsky), see _The Months_ “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ “Just a Wearyin’ for You” (Bond)

“_Kaempfe nie mit Frauen_” (Zeller), see _Der Vogelhaendler_ _Kaiser March_ (Wagner) _Kaiserwaltz_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Emperor Waltz_ _Kamarinskaya_ (Glinka) _Kamenoi-Ostrow_ (Rubinstein) _Der Kanarienvogel_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_ “Kansas City” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ _Karelia Suite_ (Sibelius) _Katharine Menuetten_ (Haydn), see _Minutes_ _King Frederick VII Homage March_ (Lumbye) _La Kermesse_ (Gounod), see _Faust_ _Kettenbruecken_ (Johann Strauss I) _Khovantschina_: Dances of Persian Slaves, Prelude to Act 1, and Entr’acte (Mussorgsky) _The King and I_: Selections (Rodgers) _King Cotton_ (Sousa) “Kiss Me Again” (Herbert), see _Mlle. Modiste_ _Kiss Me Kate_: Selections (Porter) “_Klaenge der Heimat_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_ _Eine kleine Nachtmusik_ (Mozart) _Knightsbridge March_ (Coates), see _London Suite_ “Knowest Thou the Land” (Thomas), see “_Connais-tu le pays?_”, _Mignon_ “_Komm, komm, Held meiner Traeume_” (Straus), see “My Hero,” _The Chocolate Soldier_ _Komm suesser Tod_ (Bach), see _Come, Sweet Death_ _Kommt ein Vogel_, Variations (Ochs)

_Das Land des Laechelns_ (Lehár), see _The Land of Smiles_ _The Land of Smiles_: Selections (Lehár) _Die Landestreicher_: Selections (Ziehrer) _Laendler_ (Schubert) _Largo_, from the _New World Symphony_ (Dvořák) _Largo_, from _Xerxes_ (Handel) “Largo al factotum” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_ _Latin-American Symphonette_ (Gould) “Laughing Song” (Johann Strauss II), see “_Mein Herr, Marquis,_” _Die Fledermaus_ “The Law is the True Embodiment” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “_Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch’ Maedchen_” (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_ _Légende_ (Wieniawski) _Leichte Cavallerie_ Overture (Suppé), see _Light Cavalry_ _Der Leiermann_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_ _Les Préludes_ (Liszt) “Letter Song” (Straus), see _The Chocolate Soldier_ “_Libiamo, libiamo_,” or “_Brindisi_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_ “_Lieber Freund, man greift nicht_” (Lehár), see _Count of Luxembourg_ _Liebesfreud_ (Kreisler) _Liebesleid_ (Kreisler) “_Liebeslied_” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ _Liebestraum_ (Liszt) _A Life for the Tsar_: Overture, Mazurka and Waltz (Glinka) “Life’s Garden” (Bond) _Light Cavalry Overture_ (Suppé) “_Der Lindenbaum_” (Schubert) _Lohengrin_: Prelude to Acts 1 and 3, Wedding March (Wagner) _London Suite_ (Coates) “Londonderry Air (Grainger),” see _Irish Tune from County Derry_ “Lonely Hearts” (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_ “The Lord’s Prayer” (Malotte) _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_ (Johann Strauss I) “The Lost Chord” (Sullivan) _Lotus Land_ (Scott) “Loudly Let the Trumpet Bray” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ _Love for Three Oranges_: March (Prokofiev) “Love is a Firefly” (Friml), see _The Firefly_ “Love is a Plaintive Song” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “Lover Come Back to Me” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_ “Love Song” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ _Lucia di Lammermoor_: Selections (Donizetti) _Lullaby_ (Khatchaturian), see _Gayane_ _Die lustige Witwe_ (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_ _Lyric Suite_ (Grieg)

“Mack the Knife” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ _Madama Butterfly_: Selections (Puccini) “_Madre pietosa_” (Verdi), see _La Forza del destino_ “Mad Scene” (Donizetti), see _Lucia di Lammermoor_ “_Maedel klein, Maedel fein_” (Lehár), see _The Count of Luxembourg_ “The Magnet and the Churn” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “A Maiden Fair to See” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “_Die Majistaet wird anerkannt_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_ _Malambo_ (Ginastera), see Dances from _Estancia_ _Malagueña_ (Lecuona) _Malagueña_, from _Boabdil_ (Moszkowski) _Malagueña_ (Sarasate) _Manhattan Masquerade_ (Alter) _Manhattan Moonlight_ (Alter) _Manhattan Serenade_ (Alter) Manon: Gavotte, Minuet (Massenet) “A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “Many a New Day” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ March, from _Tannhaeuser_ (Wagner) _March of the Gladiators_ (Fučík) _March of the Little Fauns_ (Pierné) _March of the Little Lead Soldiers_ (Pierné) _March of the Royal Siamese Children_ (Rodgers), see _The King and I_ _March of the Smugglers_ (Bizet), see _Carmen_ March of the Toys (Herbert), see _Babes in Toyland_ _Marche miniature_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Suite for Orchestra, No. 1_ _Marche Slav_ (Tchaikovsky) “_Marechiare_” (Tosti) _Marienklaenge_ (Josef Strauss) _Mark Twain: A Portrait for Orchestra_ (Kern) _Masaniello_ (Auber), see _The Mute of Portici_ _Masquerade_ (Khatchaturian) “Massa’s in De Cold, Cold Ground” (Foster) _The Mastersingers_: “Prize Song” (Wagner) _Matinées musicales_ (Rossini-Britten), see Rossini “_Mattinata_” (Tosti) _Maytime_: Selections (Romberg) _Mazurka_ (Delibes), see _Coppélia_ _Mazurka_ (Glinka), see _A Life for the Tsar_ Mazurkas (Chopin) _Meditation_, from _Thaïs_ (Massenet) “_Mein Herr, Marquis_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_ _Die Meistersinger_ (Wagner), see _The Mastersingers_ _Mélodie_ (Tchaikovsky) _Melody in F_ (Rubinstein) _Menuet à l’antique_ (Paderewski), see _Minuet_ _Merrie England_: Selections (German) _Merrymaker’s Dance_ (German), see _Nell Gwynn_ _The Merry Widow_: Selections (Lehár) _The Merry Widow Waltz_: “_S’fuersten Geigen_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_ _The Merry Wives of Windsor_: Overture, Selections (Nicolai) _Mexican Rhapsody_ (McBride) “_Mi chiamano Mimi_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_ _Midsommarvaka_ (Alfvén), see _Midsummer Vigil_ _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite (Mendelssohn) _Midsummer Vigil_ (Alfvén) “Mighty Lak’ a Rose” (Nevin) _Mignon_: Overture, Selections (Thomas) _The Mikado_: Selections (Sullivan) _Military Polonaise_ (Chopin) _Miniature Overture_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ _Minstrel Show_ (Gould) _Minuet in G_ (Beethoven) _Minuet_ (Boccherini) _Minuet_ (Bolzoni) _Minuet_ (Kreisler) _Minuet_, from _Don Giovanni_ (Mozart) _Minuet_, from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (Offenbach) _Minuet_ (Paderewski) _Minuet_, from _Rigoletto_ (Verdi) _Minuet of the Will’o-the-Wisp_ (Berlioz), see _The Damnation of Faust_ Minuets (Haydn) Minuets (Mozart) _Minute Waltz_ (Chopin) _Mlle. Modiste_: Selections (Herbert) _Mireille_: Overture (Gounod) “_Miserere_” (Verdi), see “_Ah, che la morte ognora_,” _Il Trovatore_ _Mississippi Suite_ (Grofé) _The Moldau_, or _Vltava_ (Smetana) _Molly on the Shore_ (Grainger) “_Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix_” (Saint-Saëns), see _Samson and Delilah_ _Mon rêve_ (Waldteufel) _The Months_ (Tchaikovsky) “Moonbeams” (Herbert), see _The Red Mill_ _Moonlight Sonata_ (Beethoven) _Moorish Rhapsody_ (Humperdinck) _Morgenblaetter_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Morning Journals_ “_Morgenlich leuchtend_” (Wagner), see “Prize Song,” _The Mastersingers_ “Moritat” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_ _Morning_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt_, Suite No. 1 “Morning” (Speaks) _Morning Journals_ (Johann Strauss II) _Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna_ (Suppé) _Morris Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_ _La Muette de Portici_ (Auber), see _The Mute of Portici_ _Musetta’s Waltz_ (Puccini), see _La Bohème_ _The Music Box_ (Liadov) _Music of the Spheres_ (Josef Strauss), see _Sphaerenklaenge_ _The Mute of Portici_: Overture (Auber) “My Boy You May Take it From Me” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ _My Fair Lady_: Selections (Loewe) “My Heart at Your Sweet Voice” (Saint-Saëns), see _Samson and Delilah_ “My Hero” (Straus), see _The Chocolate Soldier_ “My Ideal” (Tosti), see “_Ideale_” “My Man’s Gone Now” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ “My Object All Sublime” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ “My Old Kentucky Home” (Foster)

_Naïla Waltz_ (Delibes) _Narcissus_, from _Water Scenes_ (Nevin) _Naughty Marietta_: Selections (Herbert) _Navarra_ (Albéniz) “’Neath the Southern Moon” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_ _Negro Heaven_ (Cesana) _Negro Rhapsody_ (Rubin Goldmark) _Nell Gwynn_: Dances (German) _New Moon_: Selections (Romberg) “The Nightingale” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “The Nightingale Song” (Zeller), see “_Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr_,” _Der Vogelhaendler_ _Nocturne_ (Borodin) _Nocturne in E-flat_ (Chopin) _Nocturne_ (Mendelssohn), see _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite “_Noël_,” or “_Cantique de Noël_” (Adam) “None But the Lonely Heart” (Tchaikovsky) “_Non la sospiri la nostra casetta_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_ _Norma_: Overture, “_Casta Diva_” (Bellini) _North American Square Dances_ (Benjamin) _Norwegian Dances_ (Grieg) _Norwegian Rhapsody_ (Lalo) _Nutcracker Suite_, or _Casse-noisette_ (Tchaikovsky)

“_O beau pays de la Touraine_” (Meyerbeer), see _Les Huguenots_ “_Obéissons quand leur voix appelle_” (Massenet), see _Manon_ _Der Obersteiger_: Selections (Zeller) “_O, Columbina!_,” Harlequin’s Serenade (Leoncavallo), _Pagliacci_ “Ode to the Evening Star” (Wagner), see “_O du, mein holder Abendstern_,” _Tannhaeuser_ _Of Thee I Sing_ (Gershwin) “Oh Foolish Fay” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast?” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “Oh a Private Buffoon is a Light-Hearted Loon” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “Oh, Leave Me Not to Pine” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “Oh My Name is John Wellington Wells” (Sullivan), see _The Sorcerer_ “Oh, Susanna!” (Foster) “Oh, Thoughtless Crew” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ _Oklahoma!_: Selections (Rodgers) “Ol’ Black Joe” (Foster) “Old Folks at Home,” or “Swanee River” (Foster) _The Old Refrain_ (Kreisler) “Ol’ Man River” (Kern), see _Show Boat_ “_O Lola Bianca_” (Mascagni), see _Cavalleria Rusticana_ “_O Mimi, tu più_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_ _Omphale’s Spinning Wheel_ (Saint-Saëns), see _Le Rouet d’Omphale_ “One Kiss” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_ “Only a Rose” (Friml), see _The Vagabond King_ “Only Make Believe” (Kern), see _Show Boat_ “On the Day that I Was Wedded” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ _On the Campus_ (Goldman) _On the Farm_ (Goldman) _On the Mall_ (Goldman) “On the Road to Mandalay” (Speaks) “On the Street Where You Live” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ _On the Trail_ (Grofé), see _Grand Canyon Suite_ “Onward Christian Soldiers” (Sullivan) “On Wings of Song” (Mendelssohn) “_O Patria mia_” (Verdi), see _Aida_ “_O Paradiso!_” (Meyerbeer), see _L’Africaine_ _The Organgrinder_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_ _Orientale_ (Cui) _Orphée aux enfers_ (Offenbach), see _Orpheus in the Underworld_ _Orpheus in the Underworld_: Selections (Offenbach) “_O Sancta justa_” (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_ “_O soave fanciulla_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_ “_O terra addio_” (Verdi), see _Aida_ “Our Great Mikado” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ “Out of My Dreams” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ _Ouverture solennelle_ (Glazunov) _Overture 1812_ (Tchaikovsky)

“_Pace e gioia sia con voi_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_ _Pagliacci_: Selections (Leoncavallo) “Painted Emblems of a Race” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ “_La Paloma_” (Yradier) _Pan-Americana_ (Herbert) “A Paradox, a Most Ingenious Paradox” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “_Parigi, o cara_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_ _Passacaglia on Green Bushes_ (Grainger) _Pastoral Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_ _Patience_: Selections (Sullivan) _Les Patineurs_ (Waldteufel), see _The Skaters_ _La Patrie_ (Bizet) _Pavane_ (Fauré) _Pavane_ (German), see _Romeo and Juliet_ _Pavane_ (Gould), see _American Symphonette No. 2_ _Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ (Ravel) _Peer Gynt_, Suites Nos. 1 and 2 (Grieg) “People Will Say We’re in Love” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ _Perpetual Motion_ (Johann Strauss II) “_Pescator, affond a l’esca_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_ _Die Pesther_ (Lanner) _Peter and the Wolf_ (Prokofiev) _Petite suite_ (Debussy) _Phèdre Overture_ (Massenet) “_Piccolo, piccolo, tsin, tsin, tsin_” (Straus), see _A Waltz Dream_ _Picturesque Scenes_ (Massenet) _Piemonte_ (Sinigaglia) _Pinafore_: Selections (Sullivan) _Pique Dame Overture_ (Suppé) _Pirates of Penzance_: Selections (Sullivan) _Pizzicato Polka_ (Johann Strauss II) “_Plaisir d’amour_” (Martini) “Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies” (Kálmán), see _Countess Maritza_ _Plink, Plank, Plunk_ (Anderson) “_Plus blanche que la blanche hermine_” (Meyerbeer) see _Les Huguenots_ _Poet and Peasant Overture_ (Suppé) _Polichinelle_ (Kreisler) _Polka_ (Smetana), see _The Bartered Bride_ _Polka and Fugue_, from _Schwanda_ (Weinberger) _Polonaise_, from Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky) _Polonaise_, from Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) _Polonaises_ (Chopin) _Polonaise brilliante_ (Wieniawski) _Polovtsian Dances_, from _Prince Igor_ (Borodin) _Pomp and Circumstance_ (Elgar) _Pop Goes the Weasel_ (Caillet) _Porgy and Bess_: Selections (Gershwin) _Portrait of a Frontier Town_ (Gillis) _Poupée valsante_ (Poldini) “Pour, Oh, Pour the Pirate Sherry” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ _Praeludium_ (Järnefelt) _Praeludium and Allegro_ (Kreisler) _Praise Be to God_ (Bach) _La Précieuse_ (Kreisler) _Prelude in E major_ (Bach) _Prelude in A major_ (Chopin) _Prelude and Fugue on Dixie_ (Weinberger) _Prelude and Waltz_ (Addinsell) Preludes (Chopin) Preludes (Gershwin) Preludes (Rachmaninoff) “Prithee, Pretty Maiden” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “Prize Song” from _The Mastersingers_ (Wagner) _Le Prophète_: Coronation March, Prelude to Act 3 (Meyerbeer) _Punchinello_ (Herbert) “A Puzzlement” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_

“_Quando m’en vo’ soletto_,” Musetta’s Waltz (Puccini), see _La Bohème_ Quartet, from _Rigoletto_ (Verdi), see “_Bella figlia dell’ amore_” _Queen of Spades Overture_ (Suppé), see _Pique Dame Overture_ “_Questa o quella_” (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_

_Radetzky March_ (Johann Strauss I) _Railway Galop_ (Lumbye) _Raindrop Etude_ (Chopin) _Rakóczy March_ (Berlioz), see _The Damnation of Faust_ _Raymond Overture_ (Thomas) _Raymonda_: Suite (Glazunov) “_Recondita armonia_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_ _The Red Mill_: Selections (Herbert) _The Red Poppy_: Selections (Glière) _Rêve angelique_ (Rubinstein), see _Kamenoi-Ostrow_ _Rêverie_ (Debussy) _Revolutionary Etude_ (Chopin) _Rhapsody in Blue_ (Gershwin) _Rienzi_: Overture (Wagner) _Rigoletto_: Selections (Verdi) “_Rimpianto_” (Toselli), see “_Serenata_” “Rising Early in the Morning” (Sullivan), see _Gondoliers_ “_Ritorna vincitor_” (Verdi), see _Aida_ _Ritual Fire Dance_ (Falla) _Le Roi l’a dit_: Overture (Delibes) _Romance_ (Drdla) Romances (Beethoven) _Romance in E-flat_ (Rubinstein) _Romance in F minor_ (Tchaikovsky) Romances (Sibelius) _Die Romantiker_ (Lanner) _Romeo and Juliet_: Waltz (Gounod) _Rondalla aragonesa_ (Granados), see _Spanish Dances_ _Rondino_ (Kreisler) “The Rosary” (Nevin) _Rosamunde_: Overture, Ballet Music (Schubert) _Rose Marie_: Selections (Friml) _Rosen aus dem Sueden_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Roses from the South_ “Roses are in Bloom” (Bond) _Roses from the South_ (Johann Strauss II) _Le Rouet d’Omphale_ (Saint-Saëns) _Ruddigore_: Selections (Sullivan) _Rumanian Rhapsodies_, Nos. 1 and 2 (Enesco) _Rumba_ (McDonald) _Ruslan and Ludmilla_: Overture (Glinka) _Russian Easter Overture_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) _Russian Sailors’ Dance_ (Glière), see _The Red Poppy_ _Rustle of Spring_ (Sinding) _Rustic Dance_ (German), see _As You Like It_ _Rustic March_ (Grieg), see _Lyric Suite_ _Rustic Wedding Symphony_ (Karl Goldmark) _Ruy Blas Overture_ (Mendelssohn)

_Saber Dance_ (Khatchaturian), see _Gayane_ “Saber Song” (Romberg), see _Desert Song_ “Sailors’ Chorus” (Wagner), see “_Steuermann! lass die Wacht_,” _The Flying Dutchman_ _Sakuntala Overture_ (Karl Goldmark) _Salut d’amour_ (Elgar) _Samson and Delilah_: Selections (Saint-Saëns) “_Samt und seide_” from _Der Fremdenfuehrer_ (Ziehrer) _Saraband_ (Anderson) _Sari_: Selections (Kálmán) _La Scala di Seta_: Overture (Rossini) _Scarf Dance_ (Chaminade) _Scenario_ (Kern) _Scènes alsaciennes_ (Massenet), see _Alsatian Scenes_ _Scènes de ballet_ (Glazunov) _Scènes pittoresques_ (Massenet), see _Picturesque Scenes_ “_Schafe koennen sicher weiden_” (Bach), see _The Wise Virgins_ _Schatz_, Waltzes (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_ “_Schau mir nur recht ins Gesicht_” (Zeller), see _Der Vogelhaendler_ _Scheherazade_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) _Scherzo_ (Kreisler) _Scherzo_ (Mendelssohn), see _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite _Die Schlittenfahrt_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_ _Die Schoenbrunner_ (Lanner) _Die schoene Galatea_ (Suppé), see _The Beautiful Galathea_ _Schoen Rosmarin_ (Kreisler) _School of Dancing_ (Boccherini-Françaix), see Boccherini _Scuola di Ballo_ (Boccherini-Françaix), see _School of Dancing_, Boccherini “_Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_ _The Seasons_: Suite (Glazunov) _Second Rhapsody_ (Gershwin) _Secrets of Suzanne_: Overture (Wolf-Ferrari) “_Segreto_” (Tosti) “_Seguidille_” (Bizet), see _Carmen_ “_Sei gepreissen, du lauschige Nacht_” (Ziehrer), see _Die Landestreicher_ “_Sei nicht bos, es kann nicht sein_” (Zeller), see _Der Obersteiger_ _Semiramide_: Overture (Rossini) _Semper fideles_ (Sousa) “_Sempre libera_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_ _Serenade_ (Drigo) _Serenade in A_ (Drdla) _Serenade_ (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_, _The Student Prince_ _Serenade_ (Schubert), see _Staendchen_ _Sérénade espagnole_ (Chaminade) _Serenade for Strings_ (Tchaikovsky) _Sérénade mélancolique_ (Tchaikovsky) _Serenata_, “_Rimpianot_” (Toselli) _La Serenata_ (Tosti) _Sevillañas_ (Albéniz) Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), see “_Chi mi frena_” “_S’fuersten Geigen, Lippen schweigen_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_ “Shall We Dance?” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_ _Shepherd’s Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_ _Shepherd’s Hey_ (Grainger) _Shepherd’s Madrigal_ (Kreisler) “Shepherd’s Song” (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_ “Short’nin’ Bread” (Wolfe) _Show Boat_: Selections (Kern) “_Siboney_,” or “_Canto Siboney_” (Lecuona) _Siciliano_ (Bach) _Sicilienne_ (Fauré) _Sicilienne et Rigaudon_ (Kreisler) _Side Street in Gotham_ (Alter) “Sighing Softly to the River” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ _Si j’etais roi_ (Adam), see _If I Were King_ “Silvered is the Raven Hair” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “_Si può_” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_ _Les Sirènes_ (Waldteufel) “Sir Rupert Murgatroyd” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ _The Skaters_ (Waldteufel) _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ (Rodgers) _Slavonic Dances_ (Dvořák) _Slavonic Fantasia_ (Kreisler) _Sleigh Bells_ (Anderson) _The Sleighride_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_ “_So elend und treu_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_ “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_ _Soirées de Vienne_ (Schubert-Liszt), see Schubert _Soirées musicales_ (Rossini-Britten), see Rossini “So in Love” (Porter), see _Kiss Me Kate_ “Soldiers’ Chorus” (Gounod), see _Faust_ “Soldiers’ Chorus” (Verdi), see “_Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera_,” _Il Trovatore_ _Solitude_ (Tchaikovsky) “Solveig’s Song” (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt_, Suite No. 2 “Some Enchanted Evening” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ _Song of India_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Hindu Chant_ “Song of Love” (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_ _Song of Norway_ (Wright and Forrest), see Grieg “Song of the Vagabond” (Friml), see _The Vagabond King_ _Song Without Words, Chanson sans paroles_ (Tchaikovsky) “Songs My Mother Taught Me” (Dvořák) “_Sonst spielt ich mit Zepter_” (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_ “Soon as We May” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ _Sophie_ (Lumbye) “Sorry Her Lot” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ _South Pacific_: Selections (Rodgers) _Southern Nights_ (Guion) _Souvenir_ (Drdla) _Souvenirs of Moscow_ (Wieniawski) _Spanish Caprice_ (Rimsky-Korsakov) _Spanish Dance No. 1_ (Falla) _Spanish Dances_ (Granados) _Spanish Dances_ (Moszkowski) _Spanish Dances_ (Sarasate) _Sphaerenklaenge_ (Josef Strauss) _Spinning Song_ (Mendelssohn) _Spring Song_ (Mendelssohn) “_Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera_,” or “Soldiers’ Chorus” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ “_Staendchen_” (Schubert) _Stars and Stripes Forever_ (Sousa) _Stephen Foster Suite_ (Dubensky) “_Steuermann! lass die Wacht_” (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_ “Stout-Hearted Men” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_ “Strange Adventure” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “Strange Music” (Wright and Forrest), see _Song of Norway_, Grieg “_Stride la vampa_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ “_Stridono lassu_,” “Bird Song” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_ “Strike Up the Band” (Gershwin) _Student Prince_: Selections (Romberg) _Stuff in G_ (McBride) “_Suicidio!_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_ _Suite algérienne_ (Saint-Saëns) Suite for Orchestra, Nos. 1 and 3 (Tchaikovsky) _Suite of Serenades_ (Herbert) _Suite pastorale_ (Chabrier) _Suite romantique_ (Herbert) “_Summ und brumm_” (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_ _Summer Day_ (Prokofiev) “Summertime” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ “The Sun Whose Rays” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_ _Swallows from Austria_ (Josef Strauss), see _Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich_ _The Swan_ (Saint-Saëns) “Swanee River,” or “Old Folks at Home” (Foster) _Swing Sextet_ (Cesana) _Swing Stuff_ (McBride) _Les Sylphides_ (Chopin-Rosenthal), see Chopin _Sylvia_: Suite (Delibes) “Sylvia” (Speaks) “Sympathy” (Friml), see _The Firefly_ “Sympathy” (Straus), see _The Chocolate Soldier_ _Symphonic Picture_ (Gershwin-Bennett), see _Porgy and Bess_, Gershwin _Symphony in D_, “Dodgers” (Bennett) _Symphony No. 5½_ (Gillis) _Syncopated Clock_ (Anderson)

“_Tacea la notte placide_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ “Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” (Sullivan), see _Gondoliers_ _Tales from the Vienna Woods_ (Johann Strauss II) _Tales of Hoffmann_: Barcarolle, Minuet, and Waltz (Offenbach) _Tambourin Chinois_ (Kreisler) _Tango in D major_ (Albéniz) _Tannhaeuser_: Overture, Selections (Wagner) _Tannhaeuser’s Pilgrimage_ (Wagner), see Prelude to Act 3, _Tannhaeuser_ _Te Deum_ (Puccini), see _Tosca_ “Tell Me Daisy” (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_ _Tempo di minuetto_ (Kreisler) _Thaïs: Meditations_ (Massenet) “Then You’ll Remember Me” (Balfe), see _The Bohemian Girl_ “There Grew a Little Flower” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ “There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ “There Was a Time” (Sullivan), see _Gondoliers_ “Thine Alone” (Herbert) “Thine Is My Heart Alone” (Lehár), see _The Land of Smiles_ “This is a Real Nice Clambake” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ “Thou the Tree, and I the Flower” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ _The Three Bears_ (Coates) _The Three Elizabeths_ (Coates) “Three Little Maids” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ _The Three-Penny Opera_: Selections (Weill) _The Thunderer_ (Sousa) _The Thunderstorm_ (Mozart), see _Country Dances_ “This Nearly Was Mine” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ “Time Was When Love and I Were Acquainted” (Sullivan), see _Sorcerer_ “Tit Willow” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ _To a Water Lily_ (MacDowell) _To a Wild Rose_ (MacDowell) “_Der Tod und das Maedchen_” (Schubert) _Torch Dance No. 1_ (Meyerbeer) _Toujours ou jamais_ (Waldteufel) “_Traeume_” (Wagner) “_Traft ihr Das Schiff_” (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_ “_Trauet nie dem Blossen schein_” (Zeller), see _Der Obersteiger_ _La Traviata_: Prelude to Acts 1 and 3, Selections (Verdi) _Trepak_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ “The Trout” (Schubert), see “_Die Forelle_” _Triumphant Entry of the Boyars_ (Halvorsen) _Troïka_, or _Troïka en Traneaux_ (Tchaikovsky), see _The Months_ _Il Trovatore_: Selections (Verdi) _The Trumpeter’s Holiday_ (Anderson) “The Two Grenadiers” (Schumann), see “_Die beiden Grenadiere_” _Through the Looking Glass_ (Taylor) “_Treulich gefuert_” (Wagner), see _Lohengrin_ _Tubby the Tuba_ (Kleinsinger) _Turkey in the Straw_ (Guion) _Turkish March_ (Beethoven) _Turkish March_ (Mozart) “Tu, tu piccolo idio” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_ “Twenty Lovesick Maidens We” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ _Two Elegiac Melodies_ (Grieg) “Two Hearts in Three-Quarters Time” (Stolz) _Two Northern Melodies_ (Grieg) _The Typewriter_ (Anderson)

“_Un bel di_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_ “_Una furtiva lagrima_” (Donizetti), see _L’Elisir d’amore_ “_Una voce poco fa_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_ “_Un nenn’ mein Lieb’ dich_” (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_

_The Vagabond King_: Selections (Friml) _Valse bluette_ (Drigo) _Valse de concert_, Nos. 1 and 2 (Glazunov) _Valse de la poupée_ (Delibes), see _Coppélia_ _Valse mélancolique_ (Tchaikovsky), see Suite for Orchestra, No. 3 _Valses nobles_ (Schubert) _Valses sentimentales_ (Schubert) _Valse triste_ (Sibelius) _Valsette_ (Borowski) _Variations on I Got Rhythm_ (Gershwin) _Variations on Kommt ein Vogel_ (Ochs) _Variations on a Theme by Jerome Kern_ (Kern-Bennett), see Kern “_Vedi! le fosche_” or “Anvil Chorus” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_ _I Vespri siciliani_, or _Les Vêpres siciliennes_: Overture (Verdi) “_Vesti la giubba_” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_ _Victory at Sea_ (Rodgers) “_Viene la sera_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_ “_Vieni amor mio_” (Verdi), see _Aida_ _Vienna Blood_ (Johann Strauss II) “_Vilia_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_ _Violetta_ (Waldteufel) “_Vissi d’arte_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_ _Vltava_ (Smetana), see _The Moldau_ _Vocalise_ (Rachmaninoff) _Der Vogelhaendler_: Selections (Zeller) _Voices of Spring_ (Johann Strauss II) “_Voi lo sapete_” (Mascagni), see _Cavalleria Rusticana_ “_Vorrei morire_” (Tosti)

_Walpurgis Night_, Ballet Music (Gounod), see _Faust_ _Waltz in A-flat_ (Brahms) _Waltz in C-sharp minor_ (Chopin) _Waltz_ (Glinka), see _A Life for the Tsar_ _Waltz_ (Offenbach), see _Tales of Hoffmann_ _Waltz_, from _Eugene Onegin_ (Tchaikovsky) _Waltz_, from _Serenade for Strings_ (Tchaikovsky) _Waltz_, from _Sleeping Beauty_ (Tchaikovsky) _Waltz_, from _Swan Lake_ (Tchaikovsky) Waltzes (Chopin) Waltzes (Schubert) _Waltz of the Flowers_, from _Loreley_ (Catalani) _Waltz of the Flowers_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_ _A Waltz Dream_: Selections (Straus) “_Waltz Huguette_” (Friml), see _The Vagabond King_ _Ein Walzertraum_ (Straus), see _A Waltz Dream_ _The Waltzing Cat_ (Anderson) “Wanting You” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_ “A Wandering Minstrel I” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ _War March of the Priests_ (Mendelssohn) _Warsaw Concerto_ (Addinsell) _Washington Post_ (Sousa) _Water Music_ (Handel) _Water Scenes_ (Nevin) _Waves of the Balaton_ (Hubay), see _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_ _Waves of the Danube_ (Ivanovici) _Wedding March_ (Mendelssohn), see _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite _Wedding March_ (Wagner), see _Lohengrin_ _Wein, Weib, Gesang_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Wine, Women, and Song_ “_Im weissen Roessl_” (Benatzky), see _The White Horse Inn_ “We Kiss in the Shadow” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_ _Welsh Rhapsody_ (German) _Die Werber_ (Lanner) “We’re Called Gondolieri” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ “Were I Thy Bride” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “Were Thine That Special Face” (Porter), see _Kiss Me Kate_ “Were You Not to Ko-Ko Plighted” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_ “We Sail the Ocean Blue” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “What God Hath Done Is Rightly Done” (Bach), see _The Wise Virgins_ “When a Felon’s Not Engaged in his Employment” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “When All Night Long a Chap Remains” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “When a Maiden Loves” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “When a Merry Maiden Marries” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_ “When a Wooer Goes a-Wooing” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_ “When Britain Really Ruled the Waves” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “When I Go Out of Doors” (Sullivan), see _Patience_ “When I Was a Lad” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_ “When I Went to the Bar” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_ “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (Gould), see _The American Salute_ “When the Foeman Bares His Steel” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_ “When the Night Wind Howls” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ “Where the Buds are Blossoming” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_ _The White Horse Inn_: Selections (Stolz) “_Wiegenlied_” (Brahms), see “Cradle Song” “_Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr_,” the “Nightingale Song” (Zeller), see _Der Vogelhaendler_ _Wiener Buerger_ (Ziehrer) _Wiener Maedchen_ (Ziehrer) _Wild Horsemen_ (Schumann) _William Tell_: Overture (Rossini) _Wine, Women and Song_ (Johann Strauss II) “Wintergreen for President” (Gershwin), see _Of Thee I Sing_ _The Wise Virgins_ (Bach-Walton), see Bach “With a Little Bit of Luck” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_ “A Woman is a Sometime Thing” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_ _Woodland Dance_ (German), see _As You Like It_ _Woodland Fancies_ (Herbert) “_Wunderbar_” (Porter), see _Kiss Me Kate_ “Why Do I Love You?” (Kern), see _Show Boat_

_Yankee Doodle Went to Town_ (Gould) _Yeomen of the Guard_: Selections (Sullivan) “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_ “Younger than Springtime” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_ _Youthful Suite_ (Grainger)

_Zampa_: Overture (Hérold) _Zapatadeo_ (Sarasate) _Zar und Zimmermann_ (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_ “_Zigeuener_” (Coward), see _Bitter Sweet_ _Zigeunerbaron_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_ _Zigeuenerliebe_ (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_ _Die Zirkusprinzessin_ (Kálmán), see _The Circus Princess_ “_Zitti, Zitti, piano, piano_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_ “_Zorike, kehre zurueck_” (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_ “_Zuhaelterballade_” (Weill), see “The Bully’s Ballad,” _The Three-Penny Opera_ “_Zwei Herzen in drei-viertel Takt_” (Stolz), see _Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time_

Ewen’s LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC

by DAVID EWEN

In one brilliant volume, David Ewen offers a classic in musical literature. Here are the treasured semi-classical works of two continents—enduring, always alive—analyzed by a famed authority, acclaimed as “music’s interpreter to the American people.” A must for the music lover THE LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC is the first reference book of its kind in any language.

Here is the music of Victor Herbert, Eric Coates, Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss and Franz Lehár. This is the music of the salon, café-house, pop concert, and operetta theatre.

THE LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC is also the story of the spontaneity and creative invention of popular contemporary composers; Duke Ellington (“Black, Brown, and Beige”), Morton Gould (“Yankee Doodle Went To Town”), George Gershwin. These favorites are universally loved; their long life-span is assured.

There is still a third story—a story of the genius of classical masters who have produced works whose popular interest and subtle freshness compels an immediate emotional impact. Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Chopin, Schubert—all have brought forth wonderlands of sound to delight the senses.

The author needs no introduction to music afficionados. MUSIC FOR MILLIONS went through six printings in as many years. A revised, up-dated edition, EWEN’S MUSICAL MASTERWORKS, was soon demanded and brought about. On the whimsical side, illustrator A. Birnbaum and Mr. Ewen put their heads together and came up with LISTEN TO THE MOCKING WORDS, a medley of anecdotes about music and musicians.

Now Mr. Ewen turns a brilliant musical literacy and easy, non-pompous style exclusively to the lighter classics. Here are the lives of 187 composers; over 1000 perceptive analyses of musical masterpieces in the lighter style prefaced by biographical sketches. An easy-to-use alphabetical listing of the lighter classics makes it easy to get the specific information you need.

THE LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC is an enduring book to be cherished by the concertgoer, record collector, musician, instructor, historian—all music lovers who know the universal sounds of music in the lighter style.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos; did not modernize spelling.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.