Stories from the operas

Preface

Owing to the appreciation which has been accorded to my three series of " Stories from the Operas," it has been decided to re- issue the collection in one volume, and to include in this additional stories of uew and popular operas recently produced in England.

The plan of the work, as before, is to present all the incidents of each libretto in the clear, readable form of a short story ; and it is hoped that the combined volume will continue to prove of interest, not only to opera-goers but to all lovers of dramatic tales. The three volumes have been entirely reset and re-collated in a manner which it is hoped will make them easier for reference.

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AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I WISH to express my best thanks to the following Publishing Houses and holders of copyrights for their kind permission to include in this volume the stories of the various operas selected, and for the helpful information they have given me regarding libretti, etc.: —

Messrs. Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, Ltd., London. (For Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.)

Messrs. Boosey & Co., Ltd., London. (For Auber's Fra Diavalo, Flotow's Martha, and Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil.)

Messrs. Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzic. (For Wagner's Lohengrin and Tristan and Is o Ida).

kinder^ Messrs. Chappell & Co., Ltd., London. (For Gounod's

Fatist.) Messrs. Cramer & Co., Ltd, London. (For Offenbach's

Tales of Hoffmann) CovENT Garden Opera House Management. (For

courteous assistance.) Herr Adolph Furstner, Berlin, W.io, and Herr S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, W.57. (For Strauss' s Elektra and Rosenkavalier.)

CThe story of Elektra is published by authorization of Herr Adolph Furstner, Berlin, W. 10, and Herr S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, W.57. Copyright, 1908, by Adolph Fiirstner, Berlin.) (The story of Rosenkavalier is published by authorization of Herr Adolph Furstner, Berlin, W.io. Copyright, 1909, by Adolph Furstner, Berlin, W. 10.)

Messrs. Frederick Harris, London. (For Verdi's // Trovatore. )

Messrs. Heugel et Cie, Paris. (For Thomas's Mignon.)

Messrs. Hutchings & Romer, London. (For Wallace's Maritana. )

Mr. Charles Manners and the Moody-Manners Opera Company. (For Tschaikowsky's Eugene Ongein. )

Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd., London. (For Beethoven's Fidelio, Bellini's La Somnafubtila, Meyerbeer's Star of the Norths Verdi's La Traviafa and Rigoletto, and Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Tannhauser. )

Messrs. Rendle & Co., Ltd., London. (For Bizet's Carfnen and Gounod's Philemon and Baucis.)

Messrs. G. Ricordi & Co., London. (For Puccini's La Boheme, Madam Butterfly and Manon Lescaut.)

Messrs. Schott & Co., Ltd., London. (For Wagner's The Master singers^ The Nibehing' s Ring a.nd Parsifal.)

Herr Josef Weinberger, Vienna. (For Wolf - Ferrari's The /ewels of the Madonna. )

G. D.

Contents

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Fra Diavolo . , , , , , i