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THE

CENTURY

LIBRARY

OF

MUSIC

EDITED BY

IGNACE

JAN

PADEREWSKI

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

FANNYMORRIS SMITH

BERNARD BOEKELMAN

IN

TWENTY

VOLUMES

VOLUME THREE


11/122

Copyright, 1900,

By The

Ckntubt

Co .

The

De Vinne

Press.


12/122

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume III

TEXT

Giacomo Meyerbeer . . . . Moritz Moszkowski .

( 5 1

Meyerbeer's Brandus Correspondence 75

The

Methods

op

the Masters

of

Piano-Teaching in

Europe:

Symposium

on the Training of the

Thumbs

and Fourth and Fifth Fingers 92

MUSIC

Fantaisie

and Fugue. G Minor Bach-Liszt ....

1 61

Papillons

Schumann

.... 1 79

Ballade. G Minor.

Op .

23 Chopin 1 95

Mazurka.

B

Minor. Op . 33, No.

4 Chopin

21 0

Rhapsodie

Hongroise,

No. 1 2 Liszt

21 7

162643


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GIACOMO MEYERBEER

MOEITZ

MOSZKOWSKI

THEd

of

May,

1894,

was th e thirtieth anniversary

of

th e death

of

Meyerbeer,

and

according

to

the pro vision of his

w i l l ,

on that day

his heirs

entered

into

possession

of

his

musical estate.

Among other

conditions to inheritance, Meyerbeer stipulated

that

his unpublished

manuscripts be given to that one of his grandsons who should have

developed

most

musical a b i l i t y . These

posthumous

works,

however,

will

not be

published.

In commemoration of this anniversary of

Meyerbeer's

death L'Afri-

caine

was

given at th e Berlin royal

opera-house,

several papers made

cursory reference to the

import of th e day,

and there were

occasional

expressions of curiosity, in musical c i r c l e s ,

as

to th e nature of the master's

musical legacy. It was believ ed that there

existed

a completed

opera of

which

the

young Goethe

was

th e

hero,

but the facts only partly sustain

that assumption, for

th e

work proved to be

simply

a drama by Blaz e de

Bury, entitled La Jeunesse de

Goethe,

in which music i s accorded an

important r o l e .

All of these discussions and conjectures attracted l i t t l e attention from

the outer world, and aroused less

interest

among musicians of th e inner

circles than

could have

been expected, considering the

honored

and popu

lar name

with which they were associated. This circumstance

suggests

an

investigation of

Meyerbeer's

present

position

in

public

esteem,

of

what

i t

once

was, and

as to

what rank the

verdict

of future generations i s likely

to

assign

his

creations.

Music

i s

an

art

which rapidly alters

i t s

forms. We speak of

immor

tal masterpieces of music, forgetting that

barely

four hundred years

61


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62 THE CENTURY LIBRARY

OF

MUSIC

have passed

since

that

epoch

which

we

of to-day

look

upon as

the

dawn

of musical a r t . What enormous development, what unforeseen

perfection,

and

what wide

dissemination i t has

attained

during t h i s period How

much has been created, admired, and afterward buried And there has

been no lack of errors of

diagnosis

in

regard

to musical

works.

Many

have been adj udged dead that contained the life-impulse, while others

hav e been

accredited

with a

v i t a l i t y

that they did not possess. Factious

c r i t i c s have sometimes proved too ambitious to become grave-diggers, and

a t other times have worshiped musical corpses, as the Portuguese court

parasites

did

homage to the exhumed

remains

of Ines de Castro,

which

Pedro

had seated

upon the throne.

Among the energetic partizans of the so-called new German school,

the

men

whom I have denominated grave-diggers

were numerous, and

i t

strikes

me

that the arrangements

which

they made for the wholesale

burial not only of Meyerbeer's operas, but of a l l related works, were a

t r i f l e premature. I t i s

not t o be

denied that they succeeded

in somewhat

discrediting

the v alue

of

Meyerbeer's

music,

and

after

the

absolute

denial

of merit in

his

works had become

an

a r t i c l e of faith for Wagnerism there

was

no hesitation in i t s acceptance by

those

who desired to be modern

a t o u t p r i x .

The

public a t l a r g e , which has l i t t l e judgment i n things

musical,

soon

became

an

active participant in the war

for

the

reformation

of dramatic

music

; for

Wagner not

only

i l l u s t r a t e d his a r t principles

through his

operas, but also announced them in papers on a r t , which most s k i l f u l l y

accentuated the German national element in i t s

esthetic

ambitions. He

furthermore took

into consideration so much

that

was

foreign

to music,

attempting to establish p a r a l l e l s between

his reformatory

ideas in

his own

department

of

art

and

matters

which

concerned

apparently

remote

domains of

thought

and

action, that

manywho had originally been t o t a l l y

indifferent

came through

this

indirect

path

of reasoning into the

Wagner

f o l d .

The anti-Semitic propaganda found

a

capable champion in

Wagner.

Had there been

no

other available reasons for condemning Meyerbeer's

music than the Jewish origin of i t s

author,

t h a t , with Wagner's help,

would

have

s u f f i c e d . The

interesting

discovery was made

that

the

scores

of

Robert l e Diable and

Les Huguenots

were

i n

r e a l i t y nothing but

Jewish brogue, though they afforded valuable documentary

proof a t

the

same time of the existence of the famous French-Jewish a l l i a n c e . 1 I w i l l

not accuse Wagner of having greeted this

popularized interpretation

of

his

ideas

with

s a t i s f a c t i o n ,

although

in his

warfare

against

Meyerbeer

and

his

adherents

he

sometimes f a i l e d t o confine himself to purely a r t i s t i c

arguments.

I t should

be

mentioned,

however,

that before

Wagner's

appearance

1 A supposed alliance to

combat German

composers.—

Editors.


16/122

MEYERBEER'S HOME IN PARIS,

1851.

Rue do Richelieu, c orner rue S t . Marc. Me ye rbeer's Lome was at No . 9 1 , the house

on

th e

l e f t .

Opposite,

at

No .

9 0 ,

Berlioz

liv ed i n

1 8 3 0 .

At

No .

8 9 ,

th e

second

door

from the

corner

on th e l e f t , lived Ferdinand Palt, the

operatic

conductor, from 1830

until

his

death

in 1 8 3 9 .

upon

the

f i e l d the f i g h t against Meyerbeer had

been

conducted

with

great

personal

enmity.

Spontini, who was at

f i r s t

overestimated,

and

l a t e r saw

his fame

fade,

had done a l l that was possible in

this

reprehensible s t y l e

of

warfare.

As soon as

he

became convinced that

no

machinations could

prevail against the success of his hated r i v a l , he overreached himself in

the harebrained

assertion that

Meyerbeer did not compose his own operas,

but

that

they

were the products

of

a

certain

Gouin,

who preferred s e l l i n g

his fame

to

endangering

his position as postal clerk by the acquisition of

musical renommee.

In justice

i t

must be admitted that

Meyerbeer's ardent

admirers car

ried

the

g l o r i f i c a t i o n of their master

to the

borders of

the

ridiculous.

When

Dr. Schucht, for instance, in his work on

Meyerbeer,

says

that

the

Struensee overture

takes f i r s t rank among c l a s s i c a l overtures, and

when h e , in discussing that early work, Gott und d i e Natur, claims that

63


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64

THE

CENTURY

LIBRARY

OF MUSIC

i t evinces a command of counterpoint

equal

to that

displayed

by Handel

and other masters of polyphony, every

honest

and i n t e l l i g e n t person

who honors Meyerbeer

must

regard these assertions as regrettable exag

gerations.

Heine wrote of Meyerbeer in veins varying from extreme rapture to

b i t t e r

mockery. In those operas composed

during

Meyerbeer's Italian

period he found Rossiniisms i n t e n s i f i e d by means of the

most delicious

exaggerations, the

gold

g i l d e d ,

and

the flowers endowed

with

stronger

perfumes.

He

could

not reach a similar height

of

absurdity

in regard t o

Robert l e Diable and Les Huguenots, for their

qualities

precluded

such

a

r e s u l t , even though most recklessly loaded

with

superlative p r a i s e .

With

the

advent of

Le

Prophete

a

complete

change

manifested i t s e l f

i n

Heine's musical t a s t e . He had fallen

out

with the

composer,

and there

after saw in him

only a matt r e de plaisir of

the

aristocracy,

and

a

music-

corrupter,

who composed morbid

music, e t c .

I

remember

t h a t , even while a c h i l d , I was aware of the contradictions

contained

in

the

various

opinions

that

I

heard

expressed

in

regard

to

Meyerbeer's music. How I

longed

to hear a stage-performance of one of

his works When I

was

about ten years

old

my wish was f u l f i l l e d .

The

third

theatrical

performance that I was permitted

to attend made me

acquainted with Les

Huguenots. I

had previously heard

most

of the

opera played

upon

the

piano,

and

had

not been pleased with

i t thus pre

sented

;

but

through

the medium of v oices and orchestra i t made

an

immense impression

on

me, the d e t a i l s of which are s t i l l clear in my

memory.

I t was

not until

some

years l a t e r that I heard Robert l e

Diable

and

Le

Prophete. I t

seems strange to

me

that my present

estimate of

the

comparative a r t i s t i c value of these three operas should so

perfectly t a l l y with my youthful impressions. Le Prophete seems to

me

to approach Les

Huguenots

i n musical value, while Robert i s

far i n f e r i o r ;

but this order of rank does

not

accord

w 7 i t h the s c a l e

of

public

esteem. Recent years have developed a s l i g h t disposition to glorify

Le Prophete at the expense of Robert ; the l a t t e r

work

i s neverthe

l e s s thought

to possess greater melodic

spontaneity, and the

value

of

t h i s

quality i s certainly

beyond

dispute.

Notwithstanding the fact that music i s largely a matter of t a s t e , i t

possesses

elements

that

may be

assayed.

If

we

compare the scores of

Robert

and Le

Prophete

in a l l

their

d e t a i l s , taking into

considera

tion the attributes of each as a musical dramatic work, we find in Le

Prophete,

f i r s t of a l l ,

a

far

more characteristic

formation of the

con

certed

numbers.

The

sermon

of

the

Anabaptists

and

the

chorus

of

peas

antry associated

with

i t

form

together a masterpiece of choral develop

ment, evincing a power of climax possessed by no e a r l i e r dramatic com

poser. The

rhythmic

structure

and

modulations show a true a i i

percep

t i o n ,

just as the two principal motifs ( i n

C

minor

and C major)

show

a


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BY PERMISSION OF HRAUN, CLEMENT « CO., NEW YORK.

A DRINKING SONG.

I'ROM A PAINTING BY SIROl'Y.


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PRESENT OPERA HOUSE IN

BERLIN.

Where Meyerbeer's Ei n Feldlager in Schlesien

was f i r s t

given.

g i f t for melodic invention.

I

have always regarded the beginning of

the

l a t t e r , with i t s audacious

upward

progression to the chord of the

seventh,

as one of Meyerbeer's happiest inspirations. AVhen

this melody i s

r e

peated

by the whole

chorus i n

unison, i t seems l i k e a

veritable

cridupeuple,

and the accompanying sturdy tributes of the c e l l i , contrabassi, f a g o t t i ,

and tuba sound l i k e the dull tread of the

working-classes

marching to

revolution. The chorus Auf

tanzet

um Leichen, in the

third a c t ,

i s

endowed

with

characteristic color ; but Meyerbeer's sovereign command of

choral

and instrumental

forces i s

most b r i l l i a n t l y exemplified in

the

great

ensemble of the

church scene.

The movement in D

major,

Seht

den

Konig,

den

Propheten,

i s

Handelian

in

i t s

grandeur,

and

affords

the

most

e f f e c t i v e

contrast

possible t o the

allegretto

agitato

that

succeeds i t . The

excitement which

takes

possession

of

the

deluded people,

who

cannot

be

sure who

i s

their

betrayer, after

the recognition scene between Fides and

John ; the e c s t a t i c rejoicing called forth

by

the seeming miracle of the

6 6

in


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66 THE CENTURY LIBRARY

OF

MUSIC

Prophet

;

and the f i n a l blending of the Domine,

salvum

fac regem nos

trum with the triumphant c r i e s of the people—l l this

i s

handled with

such

mastery,

and

the manifold d e t a i l s are

so ingeniously

devised, t h a t ,

excepting the

sword consecration in

Les

Huguenots,

the

whole mass

of

opera l i t e r a t u r e furnishes no counterpart to i t . The

entire

act i s , besides,

very

rich

in

harmonic

and

instrumental

e f f e c t s ,

showing

that

Meyerbeer

was, even

in

these

spheres, a successful

innovator.

I t

i s

obvious

that

these

enormous

demands upon musical and dramatic

resources could have l e f t l i t t l e for the f i f t h a c t . Librettist and composer

were both

entirely

exhausted, and

could

hope for a satisfactory f i n a l e only

at the hands of the stage-machinists, to whom they could, to be s u r e , cry

as

does King Philip in Don Carlos,

Cardinal,

I hav e do ne my duty ;

do

yours.

Taking i t a l l

in a l l ,

we

may say that Meyerbeer

reached the

zenith of

his

technical s k i l l in Le Prophete,

and

that

his

creative power

had at that period hardly diminished. I t i s not to be denied

tbat

this

work

exhibits

numerousweak

movements. The whole of

the l a s t

act does

not

contain

one

important

musical

number

;

indeed,

there

i s

much

in

i t

that

i s repulsive. Fid&s's grand aria

(A

f l a t

major) i s

a model of disagree

able and misplaced vocal bravura, and the andante in E major, in the duet

between

John

and

his mother, direct t o r t u r e . What the composer in

tended

to express through

the

almost endless

repetition of B

in

the trum

p e t s , and l a t e r in the hautboys

and

v i o l i n s , i s to me incomprehensible.

Perhaps others may see his intention more c l e a r l y .

Of

the

b a l l e t music

in Le

Prophete

the skating

dance

alone has

obtained great popularity. The other

numbers

are entirely

i n e f f e c t i v e .

Meyerbeer evidently devoted l i t t l e care to their production, because

they

had

not

the slightest import in the

scheme

of the opera. In comparing

the b a l l e t s of Robert and Le

Prophete,

I prefer the former. As

both

are

incidental accessories,

the

superiority

weighs

l e s s . I t

i s of much

more moment that the l a s t act of Robert so

far

surpasses that of Le

Prophete

i n healthy

and

soulful

melody.

The f i n a l

t r i o

of A l i c e , Robert

Final

trio

of Alice, Bertram, and

Robert.

Andante eantabiU.

and Bertram

i s

one of the

most

beautiful

parts

of the

opera,

and

the pa

thetic melody played by the orchestra while Robert reads his mother's w i l l

reconciles us to the

bantering

of the preceding period, out of

which i t

grows. Unfortunately, the

composer's

intention

i s

never

entirely

realized

by our opera orchestras i n the performance of this melody.

Meyerbeer

designed that i t should be

played

underneath the s t a g e , and by keyed

bugles.

In order

to avoid the

considerable d i f f i c u l t y

of

securing

a

perfect

ensemble,

and

the t r i f l i n g extra expense

thus

involved, the

melody i s


22/122

SCENE

FROM

ROBERT LE

DIABLE.

From Album

de rOpera.

assigned

to

th e

orchestra

cornets,

and loses

materially

in poetic

e f f e c t .

Alice,

Robert and

Bertram have another

fine trio in the

third act, although

Trio i n the third act of the same opera.

Andantino eon moto.

f

BERTRAM: f:^rgg~~3 ẑ =Z;p̂

=*=9

Un

- s e l ' - ger Aa

gen - blick v o l l

Ba n

gen

i t

i s effective only from th e standpoint of

the

old Italian operatic

style,

on which the composer of

Robert

had

turned his

hack. Shreds

of that

school adhered to

him,

however,

for

a

long time. When we

consider

that

Meyerbeer had previously

written

seven

operas

purely in Rossini's

vein,

i t

ceases

to

seem

strange

that

many

traces of

Italianism

are

to

be

found

in

Robert.

If we

compare

Crociato

in

Egitto, th e last

of

Meyerbeer's

operas in

the

Italian

school, with Robert, which he began five years l a t e r , we

find an astounding change of style—

even greater than

that shown in th e

07


23/122

68

THE

CENTURY

LIBRARY OF MUSIC

period of Wagner's

development

between Rienzi

and

The

Flying

Dutchman.

Musical

historians

with

f i n e

perceptions, in t h i s , as in so many

sim

i l a r c a s e s , have given the world the benefit of their backward- glancing

prophecies.

They discover the claws of the l i o n in

Crociato.'

I f

one has the

whole

lion

before

him,

the genuineness

of

the claws

can

no

longer be

questioned.

Had the score of Crociato been submitted to me

as the

work

of a thirty-three-year-old composer,

and had

I been asked for

an estimate of his g i f t s

as

based

thereon,

I should

have made a

fool of

myself. The whole

opera

impresses me as a shallow

imitation

of Ros

s i n i ' s

mannerisms, and the only feature of i t which I find worthy of

praise i s the s k i l f u l treatment of the v o i c e s . Harmony,

s t r u c t u i - a l

forms,

and

impersonations

are unendurably

commonplace

: nothing

forecasts

greatness.

Meyerbeer's increasing musical a b i l i t y , as traceable through his suc

cessive operas,

Crociato,

Robert, and Les Huguenots, i s quite analo

gous to the gradual development shown in Beethoven's symphonies. Ber

l i o z

s a y s ,

quite

properly, of

the

First

Symphony,

This

i s

not

yet

Bee

thoven. No one would

question that the Second Symphony

bears

the

unmistakable impress

of i t s creator, but

not until

the Third Symphony

does

the master

exhibit

the f u l l

glory

of his genius.

The careers

of

Bee

thoven

and Meyerbeer are analogous,

in that each in his own province

showed not only the ripest individuality but also the

most

perfect

mas

tery of art forms ; for just as Beethoven i s the

mightiest

composer that

has

arisen in

the symphonic

f i e l d ,

so i s Meyerbeer s t i l l

the

foremost

repre

sentative of grand opera. The gap between the

highest and most

ideal

forms of instrumental music, and grand opera, distorted here and there

through

concessions

to stage-machinists and

ballet-dancers,

i s too

wide

to

push

the comparison further.

Whatever

one's opinion of Meyerbeer's music i n general, i t cannot be

denied that

Les

Huguenots

i s

a work

that exhibits entirely original

invention, a rare

wealth

of characterization, and a

wonderful mastery

of

technical resources. Even Richard Wagner, the most spiteful of Meyer

beer's

opponents, was aroused

by

the fourth act to the

expression

of the

warmest p r a i s e .

Schumann alone

saw

retrogression from

Robert

in

Les

Hugue

nots ; he

indeed

preferred

Crociato

to Robert.

*

This assignment of

rank

i s

incontrovertible evidence of the one-sidedness and untenableness

of Schumann's opinions. The individualities of the

two musicians

were

so unlike that they necessarily repelled each other. Schumann

could

accord

Meyerbeer

justice

as

long

as

he

showed

noteworthy

capacity

on

1

Schumann's Music and Musicians

(Fragments

Robert

li e wavers,

and

from Les

Huguenots

on

from Leipzig, No. IV) :

I

agree perfectly with Flores-

he is

distinctly a

Franconian. '

( Franconian

t a n , who clenched h i s

criticism o f the opera

with

the r e f e r s t o a character i n Schumann's writings

who

r e

words

: In Crociato Meyerbeer was a musician, i n presents the Philistine ways

of

thinking.)


24/122

AN

EARLY PORTRAIT

OF

MEYERBEER.

69


25/122

70

THE

CENTURY LIBRARY OF MUSIC

accepted l i n e s ; but as Meyerbeer became more and more Meyerbeer, as

his a r t i s t i c

physiognomy became more and more marked and s i g n i f i c a n t ,

he l o s t Schumann's sympathy.

Rivalry, unhappily, often enough leads to

enmity

; but

a no

l e s s de

plorable, because unjust, antagonism often a r i s e s between a r t i s t s having

SPONTINI.

Lithographed

in

1 8 2 3 , from h painting by

Jean Guerin.

irreconcilable t a s t e s . Such

was

the

case between

Meyerbeer the p o s i t i v -

i s t

and Schumann the symbolist. The former was

a

cosmopolitan,

and

the

l a t t e r a

national a r t i s t . The

one

was

attracted by

the brilliancy of the

footlights

;

the other

reveled

in

clair-obscure.

Meyerbeer

was

objective,

i . e . , worked

from

the

outside i n .

Schumann was subjective, i . e . , worked

from the inside o u t .

All music that

does not

belong to the c l a s s that might be

c a l l e d

ab


26/122

GIACOMO MEYERBEER 71

stractly contrapuntal grows obsolete. This s t y l e alone i s based on the

everlasting

laws

of unassailable l o g i c , for i t s structure rests upon combi

nations

of a c t u a l i t i e s which are inspired by the s p i r i t of mathematics.

I t

i s therefore

not

subject to the changing tastes of

passing

time.

Quite

other i s the fate of musical

works

in the conception of

which

imagination

plays the

principal

r o l e ,

which

arouse a

thousand

varying

moods in their

hearers,

and

in

which

the whole range of resources of

musical

expression

i s exhaustively applied ;

for

here we have to do wi th an art of individual

feeling

and

temporary t a s t e . Such music i s not deathless, but i t s l i f e may

be

shorter

or

longer

—long

l i f e certainly indicating inherent

strength.

I f

this be granted, we cannot refuse

Les

Huguenots

a place

among

the

masterpieces of musical dramatic l i t e r a t u r e . What composer would not

rejoice to see

his

creations the subject

of

s t r i f e for

f i f t y - e i g h t

y e a r s ' ?

While

thus calling

attention

to

the

enduring v i t a l i t y of Les Hugue

nots, I should go too

far

did I claim that this work s t i l l presents the f u l l

vigor of youth.

There

are

two

factors either of

which

may induce

decadence

in

the

effectiveness of

a musical

work.

The one

i s the natural dullness of sen

s i b i l i t i e s toward any pleasure or stimulus with which we are too familiar ;

the other

i s

the apparent change i n

our

t a s t e s . There

i s

of course a

wide

difference between that l o s s of charm

in a

composition occasioned by

too

frequent

hearing, and that

caused

by our having revised our estimate of

i t s value. In the case of Les Huguenots we s h a l l be obliged to con

cede

the presence of both f a c t o r s , but this may also be said of

a l l works

that belong to the same genre.

Did Rossini, Halevy, and Auber, in

their

operas,

make

l e s s damaging

concessions

to the public, and to the vanity of singers ?

Did

not their

works also

contain examples of

those

forced

and a r t i f i c i a l l y produced

e f f e c t s

that

Wagner quite

aptly

called

e f f e c t s

without motives

%

Even

i f we grant that Meyerbeer i s the greatest representative of the French

Grand

Opera, that

i s

no j u s t i f i c a t i o n

for

loading a l l of the shortcomings

of his school upon his shoulders.

The score of

Les

Huguenots

i s

so f u l l of veritable musical beau

t i e s ,

i t contains such

a

wealth of

noble melody

and

ingenious

dramatic

s e t

t i n g s , that one can well afford to

overlook

the many features of i t that have

become obsolete, and the few that are positively disagreeable. I t s instru

mentation

i s

replete

with characteristic

q u a l i t i e s .

A

certain virtuoso-like

treatment

of certain instruments, entirely different

from that

found

in Mo

z a r t ' s and Weber's writings, was one of Meyerbeer's

c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s .

RaouVs

romanza

in

the

f i r s t

act

suggested

to

the ingenious

composer

the

employ

ment of the long-disused

viola

d'amore, the

ethereal tones

of which

blend

most

exquisitely

with

the mezzo

voce

of the tenor s i n g e r .

This i s the

l a s t

occurrence of this instrument in a l l musical l i t e r a t u r e—robably because

the charm of i t s tone-color

i s fully

developed in but few keys,

best

in D


27/122

72

THE CENTURY LIBRARY OF MUSIC

major.

The bass c l a r i n e t , which Meyerbeer introduced into the opera

orchestra, and

which

he used as solo instrument in Les Huguenots and

Use of th e bass clarinet.'

Molto maestoso.

(Les

Huguenots.)

C l a r. b a s so .

JOHANN

:

C l ar . b a ss o .

0&

—> -~5 -

iW-i:

5 1 g

m

rbr-

p Cantabile.

Andante tottcnuto.

Lieb

-

test du die

- so n

Solm

?

ben marcato

(Le ProphHe.)

Le Prophete, has, however, been largely adopted by l a t e r composers.

Altogether Meyerbeer's treatment of the

wood-wind

was entirely original

and s u i t a b l e . Every

good

t r e a t i s e

on instrumentation contains

i l l u s t r a

tive excerpts

from

his works, because

they

show s uch an extraordinary

sense

for

tone-color,

and

such complete

familiarity

with

the

technic

of

each and a l l instruments.

Meyerbeer's

inventive faculty especially distinguished

i t s e l f

in

produc

ing melancholy,

weird,

and wild combinations.

This

was strikingly mani

fested

in Robert.

The

famous t r i p l e t passage for the bassoons in the

cemetery

scene

has always ranked as

one of the greatest strokes

of this

master's genius. He understood how to draw

new

and

characteristic

e f f e c t s from t h i s instrument. Les Huguenots furnishes especially

numerous examples in t h i s genre. Who does not

remember

the awful,

hollow

timbre

with which

the p i c c o l o ,

bassoon, contrabass, and grand

drum endow MarceVs war-song, or the

hissing

chromatic scales in which

The hissing

chromatic scales.

F l.

p i c e .

P I.

Ob

C l a r .

(Les Huguenots.)

,

i^ffijhjja

f ^ r i i ?*9

m

Strings

&

bassoons.

the f l u t e s , hautboys, and clarinets so horribly portray the

flaming-

bjood-

thirstiness of the

Catholic conspirators

? Meyerbeer's employment

of

the

trumpets to depict furious fanaticism, as

i n the

fourth and f i f t h a c t s , was

(Les Huguenots, Act

TV.) The

fanatic trumpets.

Allegro

furioto.

=̂̂ __̂

—

™ »̂™»

Allegro

feroee.

(Les

Huguenots,

Act

\.\

m̂ s m̂


28/122

MARGARET DE VALOIS,

QUEEN OF NAVARRE

AND

OF

FRANCE.

FROM

A

PAINTING

BY

AN

UNKNOWN

ARTIST (SIXTEENTH CENTURY).

Br PERMISSION OF BRAWN, CLEMENT

A

CO., NEW

YORK,


29/122


30/122

GIACOMO

MEYERBEER

73

markedly successful.

In other places

his

treatment of

the trumpets i s

not congenial to German t a s t e . French and Italian

operatic

scores have

always materially differed

from German in t h i s p a r t i c u l a r . Each of these

three nations has i t s

own physiognomic

character in instrumentation.

Berlioz once said

of

Meyerbeer that

he

not

only has

the luck to

have

t a l e n t ,

but

he has

the talent

to

have

luck. This was equally witty and

t r u e .

I f

i t was a rare good fortune for our

master

to have been aided in

his d i f f i c u l t career

as operatic

composer

by the

possession of

a

million

t h a l e r s , there was

a second good

fortune, not

l e s s

valuable, for

which

he

had every reason to be profoundly thankful.

This

second

good

fortune

was called

Scribe. The composer had in

Scribe

a l i b r e t t i s t who not only

possessed astonishing

dramatic inventive faculty and

knowledge of stage-

business, but

who

also had the

talent

of adaptability. Scribe

could

s u i t

his work to the peculiar and often

capricious

demands

of

his collaborators.

He complained

often enough

because of

the

changes that

Meyerbeer

required in his t e x t s ,

but

he always yielded until a difference of opinion

arose

with

regard

to

L'Africaine

which

no

amount

of

discussion

could

adjust. Meyerbeer in consequence l a i d aside this s c o r e , whichwas already

far advanced toward completion,

took

up the Prophete l i b r e t t o , and

after that

had

been

f i n i s h e d ,

wrote a comic opera, Dinorah, for

which

Carre

and

Barbier furnished

the t e x t . In

my

opinion Meyerbeer's

reason

for

the acceptance

of

this

l a t t e r unsympathetic and also technically weak

book i s

obvious. He

wished

to prove by

the

composition of

t h i s

dubious

idyl that the nature of

his

talent did not confine him to the heroic s t y l e ;

and

i t cannot be said that

he

f a i l e d to accomplish his purpose. Dinorah

i s not

poor in characteristic graceful and

b r i l l i a n t vocal

and instrumental

e f f e c t s . S t i l l , i t

shows unmistakable

evidence of decadence in

inventive

power, apparent in debilitating repetitions, rhythms, and in melismas

from his e a r l i e r works.

For this reason

Dinorah

h as never

secured

a

firm

foothold in German opera repertoires,

although even to-day

i t

i s

highly

regarded in France. The f e s t i v a l

opera,

A Camp in

S i l e s i a ,

composed for

the dedication of the new Berlin opera-house, has had

a

similar experience. The

French adaptation called

L'Etoile du Nord

i s

seldom

seen

in

Germany,

although

i t

has

obtained considerable popularity

in Paris.

Le

Prophete,

L'Etoile

du

Nord, Dinorah,

and

several composi

tions intended for

the

concert -room and dating

from the

same

period,

had long since been performed when Meyerbeer returned to the neglected

L'Africaine.

Negotiations with Scribe for the alterations of the

l a s t

two

acts

were

f r u i t l e s s ,

and

the

death

of

the

l i b r e t t i s t ,

in

1861,

blighted the

composer's hopes of ever seeing the l i b r e t t o revised to accord with his

d e s i r e s . He

was therefore

obliged to f i n i s h

the

opera

on

the

original

l i n e s .

What

displeased

Meyerbeer

in

the text

was

the

circumstance t h a t ,

according to Scribe, the supposed African heroine turns out to be a young


31/122

74

THE

CENTCBY LIBKABY

OF

MUSIC

East

Indian

queen

— somewhat violent transformation, but one that

Scribe regarded as essential. He maintained that India, with

her gor

geous costumes and her pompous religious ceremonials, lent herself easily

to

musical illustration, whereas Africa

was

no t operatically suggestive.

He was not entirely

wrong,

for

the f i r s t

performance

of M

L'Africaine

—

after

the death of

both authors

—eveloped th e

fact that the most effec

tive parts of

th e

opera were those the

scenes

of which were laid in India.

The composer was afforded exceedingly appropriate

musical

colors for

the

pomp

of th e Buddhist

religious

service,

with

i t s

exotic

magnificence

of

processions and

dances; whereas other parts of the opera are uninterest

ingly

dry, as

might be

expected

from

th e

long political and

geographical

discussions which they contain.

During his

years

of

exhausting labor in

th e

operatic f i e l d ,

Meyerbeer

found time to compose a not

inconsiderable

number of small choral and

orchestral

works,—any of them pieces

< T

occasion ,—he majority of which

are to-day entirely forgotten. Such

of

his cantatas and

churchmusic as

have

become

known

to

me

are

hardly

worthy

of earnest consideration,

but

I

must

no t f a i l

to

call attention

to

one

of

Meyerbeer's works which, a l

though small in

i t s

proportions, equals the best

creations

of the master

in artistic significance.

It

i s his music to Michael Beer's tragedy

Stru-

ensee.

The

score

embraces

only fourteen numbers, but

i t

belongs

to th e

masterworks of

i t s

genre, and may

be classed with

Beethoven's

Egniont,

Mendelssohn's Midsummer

Night's

Dream, Weber's

Preciosa,

Schu

mann's Manfred, and Bizet's L'Arlesienne. Meyerbeer, with the over

ture

to

Struensee, nullified, once for

a l l ,

the

reproach that

he co uld no t

write orchestral pieces in symphonic form.

Few, in advance,

would

have accredited

th e

great

master

Verdi with

th e

ability

to

produce

such a

Requiem as

he has given to the

world;

and when

the painter Lenbach incidentally showed that

he could paint

hands as well as heads, he also did so without th e permission of his c r i t i c s .

I t

i s

doubtless vexatious

that

artists sometimes

venture

to

exhibit new

features of

their talent,

regardless of th e

category to which critics have

consigned

them;

but

i t

i s certainly

most

disagreeable of

a l l

when any

one—ike Meyerbeer, for instance—

ersists

in living in his works, although

long

since

declared

artistically dead and buried.

Yes, he

l i v e s ,

to the sat

isfaction

of

a l l

unprejudiced

musicians, who know no one-sidedness in

a r t , and who

will no t

allow doctrinaire pedants and their sterile principles

to embitter their lov e of th e

beautiful.


32/122

MADAME

KRAUSS.

Best latter-day FidAs.

PHOTOGRAPH

BY

BARY,

PAR1B.

MADAME VIARDOT.

Original

Fid&s in

Le Prophete.'

PHOTOGRAPH BY BARY, PARIB.

MEYERBEER'S BRANDUS

CORRESPONDENCE

THEollowing

l e t t e r s ,

which illustrate the

a r t i s t i c l i f e of Meyerbeer during the

years 1859-63, are given

to

the public with

the

permission of Mr. Edward

Brandus,

the

o nly son of M. Gemmy Brandus of the old

music-publishing

house

of

Brandus et C i e . ,

Paris. The house of Brandus belongs

to

a

group of

great

firms to

whose

exertions

the literature

and music

of Europe

owe

an

enormous

debt. In the days of i t s great

est activity,

character and

individuality

en

tered into the

transaction of

business

to an

extent which modern commercialism i s mak

ing more and

more impossible. Great works

which could

by

no possibility bring

more than

a modest return for the outlay were under

taken to add to

the honor of the name. A

closer relation

existed between

the great com

posers

and their publishers than

we

find to

day.

Thus

i t was q uite in

accord

with i t s

habits

that

the

house of Brandus should not

only publish the works of Chopin, Rossini,

Meyerbeer,

Auber,

Adam,

Flotow,

Halevy,

Mendelssohn,

Offenbach, Lecocq, and others,

but also

should be

the

close friend

of the men

themselves. Meyerbeer especially found in

Louis and Gemmy Brandus his intimate

confidants. He depended on

them

for every

care that insured his personal comfort or the

fulfilment

of his a r t i s t i c

ambitions,

and in

his frequent separations from his family,

when he was busy rehearsing his works in

Paris, he

went

in and out

of

the

home of

M.

Gemmy

Brandus,

in the

Faubourg

Mont-

martre,

as

i f it

were

his

own.

How close the intimacy was,

and

to what

extent the

continuous interest which

Meyer

beer f e l t

in

the fate of his compositions was

shared

by his

publishers, these letters show

plainly.

The

correspondence also gives a

clue

to that practical side of a successful compos

e r ' s l i f e without which the

works

of

genius

hardly survive

the

struggle for existence,

—

however great their merit,—

ut

of which the

world

at

large seldom

takes

account.

The wide-awake interest which Meyerbeer

f e l t

in the

world

of

art

and letters i s

clear

from these pages. Much has been warmly

said of

his

disinterested

kindnesses

to Wagner

and other musicians

—nd

vigorously

denied.

The fact i s that Meyerbeer was interested in

a l l musicians,

and

helpfully disposed toward

them ; but he

did

not trouble

himself

about

their possible rivalry. He did not say with

75


33/122

76

THE

CENTURY

LIBRARY OF MUSIC

Berlioz,

who remarked

to

M.

Geminy Bran-

dus

as they

sat

together at

the

f i r s t perform

ance of

Gounod's

Faust, I trust that you

are not going

to

publish cette

cochonuerie l a .

He

would not have

permitted the publication

because i t would have interfered with Par

don

;

but

he

was

quite

ready

t o

have

Gou

nod's works played

under

his

own direction.

Meyerbeer's was not a mean nature.

Mr. Edward

Brandus

adds

the

following

particulars regarding the personality of his

f

ather's friend :

How well

I

remember our parlor in

Paris,

how

I peeped through

the

door

to

see Meyer

beer at

the

piano, teaching Marie Battu who

created Inez in

L'Africaine

her aria 'Adieu,

mon beau rivage'; or the tenor

Naudin,

with

his frightful accent, singing Ze vou, Nobles

Signors' instead of ' J ' a i

vu

Nobles Sei

gneurs';

or

Marie

Sasse,

who created

S i l i k a .

None of the divas suited Meyerbeer ; he was

urged

to accept La S t o l z ,

Cruvelli, Alboni, but

none

came up to hi s ideal for

the

r o l e . Marie

Sasse created the part after his death. She

relates how on e

evening

Meyerbeer

was

in

t he fr ont o rch es tr a row when I

sang

the

Huguenots,

and

after that whenever I went

to

Brandus,

Meyerbeer

would

seat himself

at

the piano and c a l l ou t to me, Come, Marie,

and

listen to t h i s ,

and

then he would

play

and sing

the morceau in

an undertone and

beg me to sing it to his accompaniment. That

was

his

way

of trying my

voice. He

be

queathed

the role

of

Kelusko

to Faure

and

that of

SMika

to me.'

. Meyerbeerwas

never weary of retouching

his

operas. When, after

his

death, the

task

of putting L'Af ricaine on the stage was

really

undertaken,

it

was found that he

had

written at

least

two

different

settings of every

scene, and the selection which f i n a l l y

consti

tuted

the

opera as

i t now stands

l e f t a sec

ond complete and different version of which

twenty- two pieces are

published.

The present

correspondence, too, shows

how

reasonable

he was, and how ready to make the best of

the voices of the a r t i s t s that undertook his

r o l e s .

He

was

very

s e t ,

however,

when the

matter involved what he regarded as

a

co n

sideration of vital i n t e r e s t . For instance,

when,

i n composing the 'Huguenots,'

he

arrived at

the third

a c t ,

the

idea of the great

duet between soprano and bass came to him,

and he applied to his l i b r e t t i s t , Eugene

Scribe,

for

the words of

a

dialogue

between

Valentine and

Marcel.

Scribe

refused

on

the

ground that no woman of such high

rank

as

l a Comtesse de Nevers would

be alone

with a

Huguenot

soldier in on e

of

the

public

squares

of

Paris

on

the

night

of

her

marriage.

Meyer

beer

said

no more,

but

went

to the

poet

Emile

Deschamps,

and

offered

him

on e

per cent

of

a l l the royalties paid on the work i f he would

write the

words of

the

duet for

him. I t

i s

safe

to estimate that in the

sixty-odd

years

which

have elapsed since then,

Deschamps

and his

heirs

have

received

at

least

sixty thousand

dollars from

this

source.

The

note

inspecting Rossini shows

a very

pleasing courtesy

between

these rival com

posers ; but

Rossini

was

not

without bitter

ness

toward

Meyerbeer.

One day Carafa,

who was accustomed to borrow of Rossini,

asked

for

a

new

loan.

Look

h e r e , '

said

Ros

s i n i ,

' I have no

money in

my

pocket, but

take this composition to Brandus and he will

buy i t , and you may

have

the

money.'

So

saying, h e to ok up a manuscript lying on the

piano

and wrote

on

the cover, Douees R6

miniscences

sur

L'Africaine de Meyerbeer,

pa r Rossini.' The man brought the music to

my father, who,

glancing at

the cover, bought

i t

for 1 0 0 0

francs, and

sent

i t to the engravers

without

opening

i t , secure in the sale which

Selections from Meyerbeer's

L'Africaine,

written for the piano by Rossini,' would have.

But when i t

came

back

printed

ready for

the

market,

and i t s

contents

were

really

looked

i n t o , th e trick came to

l i g h t . There

were no

melodies

by

Meyerbeer

—othing but a

fool

ish scrawl of

hideous

dissonances, as un

worthy of Rossini as the trick i t represented.

I t i s

said that Meyerbeer went to

Italy

to

become

Italianized. Perhaps he did, but the

fact

remains

that

when

he

started

on

that

journey

he brought

a

trunk of

compositions

to our house and asked permission to leave

them in

ou r

keeping.

While

he was gone,

Donizetti produced his 'Lucia

di Lammer-

moor,' which created a great furor. When

Meyerbeer came back to Paris he opened

the

trunk

in

the

presence

of

my

father,

and,

sitting

down

at

the piano, began playing over

some of the half-completed

scores

which i t

contained,

and

there,

almost note for

note,

was

the

famous septuor in Lucia Thus once

more

deep minds ran in the same channel.


34/122

0,W^**rjltiu,uy

/>/Vl*$iH4*


35/122


36/122

GIACOMO

MEYERBEER

77

Meyerbeer's

real name was Beer. The

Meyer he

added

in recognition of his affec

tion for his old music-master Meyer, who be

queathed him

his

name.

Michael

Beer,

his

brother,

the

author of Struensee,'

and

his

nephew Jules, alluded to in the present cor

respondence,

retained

their

original

patro

nymic.

The

composer

was of

medium height,

w it h a v e ry prominent forehead

bordered

with

thick

c u r l s .

His

maimer was

marked by ex

treme

courtesy

and

consideration

for

others.

When rehearsing his

operas,

unlike most

maestri,

he

was never

known to

lose

his tem

per.

'My

dear

Maitre,' he would

say

to some

humble member of the orchestra, with the

utmost

gentleness,

will you forgive me,

bu t

I

think

you

were

a l i t t l e in

error

in the

phrasing of the last page.' In f a c t , he was

much too

gentle

to

make

the

best

conductor

of

his

own

operas, although he

was

never

weary of rehearsing them.

Meyerbeer died in 1 86 4, at a hotel in the

Champs-Elysees,

which,

after his death,

took

the

name

of

Hotel

Meyerbeer, which i t

s t i l l

bears. He died at f i v e o'clock

in

the

morn

ing

in the arms of

my

uncle Louis.

My

father, Doctor

Nelaton, and his

nephew,

Jules

Beer, were present. The

funeral

cortege,

passing

through

ru e Lafayette on i t s way to

the Gare du Nord,

was

escorted by the

music

of the Garde Imperiale, which played the

composer's

own

Marche

aux

Flambeaux

and

the

Marche du

Sacre,'

while

military

honors

were rendered, he bei ng a Commander of the

Legion of Honor.

My

uncle, who was

the

executor of

the w i l l ,

took

the body

in

a special

funeral train to Berlin, where Meyerbeer held

the position of Director-General of Music

to

his Majesty the King of Prussia.

I t was i i i v irtue of this latter position

that

Meyerbeercame into relations

with

Wie-

precht,

mentioned in

these

l e t t e r s . Wieprecht,

by his individual exertions, had carried out

the reform of Prussian military music, in

cluding

the

improvement

of the instruments

used.

These

great reforms,

which

Meyer

beer

interested

himself

to

forward,

exactly

as

Berlioz befriended

the

similar

career

of Sax

in France, led

to

the composition of the

mili

tary music which remains an ornament to

his name.

Meyerbeer l e f t

a widow

and two daugh

t e r s , one of the

latter

being the wife of Baron

von

Korff,

a colonel

in

the

German

army, and

the other the

wife of

Richter, the

celebrated

German painter.

The earlier

of the

present

group of

l e t t e r s

indicates the composer's Parisian habits. He

excuses himself

for

missing a

c a l l

on

the

ground

that

the beautiful weather tempted

him

to

walk

in

the

Champs-Elysees.

He

buys

two

dozen

gants Jouvain,

which

his wife

ROGER IN LE PROPHETE.'

in

Baden-Baden

wishes to present to a friend,

and forwards them

to

her. He applies to

his friends to

purchase wood

and similar

housekeeping necessities for his bachelor l i f e .

He invites them to

dine

with

him at

his

favorite haunts ( a t six

o'clock) at

the Caf6

Voisin, ru e Luxembourg, corner of rue S t .

Gouve ; or

to

share

his box (No.

22 torcheuse

de f a c e ) , which he declares to be his favorite.

Perhaps M.Gemmy Brandus ha s

recovered

from

his

i l l n e s s ,

he

writes,

and may

like

to hear for himself

whether

the rehearsals in

his home

have produced satisfactory r e s u l t s .

If

I

f e e l

well enough I may come, too ; i f not

I shall stay at home.

He i s

also composing and

re-composing,

and requests M. Brandus to obtain a reader

to go over his

music so that

he

ca n

get the

e f f e c t of his changes from practical audition.

Hismethod of securing him i s characteristic.

He

i s in the habit of taking

his

siesta after

dinner at M. Brandus's

house.

He makes an

appointment

on

this neutral ground. He

i s


37/122

5

78


38/122

GIACOMO MEYERBEER

79

charmed

with

the

reader's

voice, one

M.

Calabert, and they haggle over the

terms.

The

price

i s finally

made

and the

hour

s e t ,

.which

the singer

ignores,

whereupon the

in

jured composer speaks his

mind:

I f

the

bass

[Calabert]

will

bind

himself

to the

engagement

of

coming

to

me

every

day at eight o'clock as he promised me yes

terday

(but

which promise

he

failed

to keep

to-day), and

i f

he will agree to

remain

until

six P . M . , and will discontinue the monstrous

practice

of losing an

hour and a half

over

his

d6jeuner,

I

will

( t o avoid further complica

tions)

consider

him s t i l l engaged to me

for

f i f t e e n

francs

a day,

dear

though i t

i s . But

he must give you his word to keep the condi

tions

faithfully.

I

beg you to

preach

him an

emphatic sermon.

Meyerbeer

i s

f u l l

of interest

in

everything

pertaining

to a r t . He goes to hear Ristori,

and buys the words of her tragedy, Giu-

d i t t a , next day,

to go over them privately.

He c a l l s

on Patti, who i s to sing in on e of his

operas, and

presses

forward his rehearsals and

composing.

All

the

world i s at his f e e t , and

his

favorite

opera,

the

Pardon

de

Ploermel

i s to be brought out. Then the scene changes.

He

i s away

in Berlin, or

at the

baths, and

the

care

of the great roles of his operas,

which i s

never

forgotten for

a moment, finds

expression in l e t t e r s . He ha s the capacity of

every singer

in Europe inventoried in

his

memory,

and from

behind

the scenes

arranges

for the adequate presentation of

his

composi

tions a l l over the world.

I take this opportunity of thanking you

most warmly for sending me

news

of my

dear

friend Gouin's health ; you would greatly

oblige me by

sending

me

word

now

and

then

how

he

i s . I

see that Herr Crosnier ha s

given

up

his appointment, and that Hen1 Al-

phonse Rover has

been chosen

in

his

place ;

I read

i t

in

to-day's

Revue

et

Gazette de

Th6atres' and should like to

know i f

it

i s

true.

I read in a German paper that the poet

Heine's widow

had

given Herr Duisberg the

order

to correct

and publish his memoirs.

It

would interest me greatly to know i f

this i s

really the

case.

I want

to

as k you

to

find i t

out

from him (not

in

my name, but

as though

you wanted to know).

Is

i t

true that

the editor of the feuilletons

in

L'Assemblee

Nationale,' who

signs him

s e l f Ch. de V i l l e , i s Henri Blaze?

I am curious to s ee

whether

Herr Alphonse

Royer

i s

going

to

l e t

Madame

Borghi-Mamo

sing again in

Le

Prophete

as he told you.

I wish very much

that

this

work

could be

produced again with this

great

a r t i s t

for

the

chief character.

If

this i s i d e a l l y the

case,

please l e t me

know what impression sh e made

upon the audience as Fidh.v

The

three

following

letters show

the usual

order of

events in Meyerbeer's diplomacy.

The suggestion

that

Madame Lauters sing

CAROLINE

DUPREZ

IN L'ETOILE DU

NORD.

in

the

Huguenots

i s

made

to

Meyerbeer

through

M.

Brandus,

and also to M. Rover

through

the same channel.

HeiT Formes i s shortly to sing

the

part

of the Prophete for the f i r s t time, which I

consider i s most beneficent to the opera,

as

until

now i t

ha s a lw ay s be en sung

by

an

inferior tenor. Now Herr

Formes

i s most

anxious to sing

the

Priere'

in the

third a c t ,

which,

however,

i s

only

in

the

piano

score

and not

in

the grand score. I t

i s No .

19 in

the

Italian

piano

score, and

the

f i r s t few

words

are

Eternel

Dieu Sauveur,' e t c .

Herr

Formes heard

Mario sing

this prayer in Lon

don. I do not know

i f

you have

my

original


39/122

80

THE

CENTURY

LIBRARY

OF

MUSIC

manuscript

s t i l l

in

your possession. If

s o ,

please get the opera

copyist

Lenorne to copy

i t at once ; i f not, the copyist

of the

Italian

Opera in

Covent

Garden must do i t . In any

case,

it

i s

most urgent and immediate.

This

Priere

i s very

short, only

from page

21 7 to

page

22 0 in

the Italian piano

score.

If

you

should

be

obliged to

have

it sent

from

Lon

don,

but only in

this

event,

please

have

the

coda copied t o o , which Costa

added

for

Mario in

the

third act

of the

Couplets Bach-

i q u e s . ' I

have not yet been

able

to make the

corrections of

the

Frenchwords of

the choral

song

'Das Vaterland';

neither have

I yet

been able to

correct

the cavatine from

the

Crociato.' But I will do this to-morrow.

I

have quite lately

composed another

German chorus for

men's voices, which I

will

send

you soon,

bu t

I must

f i r s t

have another

verse

written

to i t , as the

original

ha s only

one.

I

have

found

a

third

chorus

among

my

manuscripts, so i t would be best for them

a l l

to

appear together, under the

t i t l e of Drei

Chorlieder f i i r Miiimerstimmen ohne Be-

gleitung.'

Kindly send a piano score as well as the

grand

score of

the

Schiller Cantate

to

Herr

Guidi in

Florence. I

would also as k you

to

be so kind as to send on e more piano score to

me

here in

Berlin,

as

well

as the

libretto

of

the Ballo in Maschera.'

You write that Madame Lauters i s to

sing the part of Valentine in the Grand

Opera.

I

think

i t

would be well i f

you

could

remind Herr Royer

of

the

fact ( he

does not

seem

willing to

pay any attention

to what I

say).

Is i t

tr ue that Madame

Tedesco

was

nearly suffocated by opening the door of a

st ov e t oo

soon

after i t had been

lighted

t

I

should

be most grateful to you i f you would

send me the most detailed particulars regard

ing the

success of Auber's <

Circassienne.'

In

reply

to your

l e t t e r of July 2 1 , 1 beg

to

say

that you

misunderstood me in

think

ing that I did not wish Madame Lauters to

sing the part of

Valentine

; on the contrary,

I

most earnestly

desire her

to do s o . I only

meant that i f she refused to take this part

in

the

event

of

Niemann's

singing

the part

of

Raoul later on, in

which

case

I

should

pr o

pose Sachs.

Second,

I

donot wish

youby anymeans

to

try

and persuade

Niemann

t o sing one of my

parts

; only

i f

you

should hear

casually that

he intends taking

one,

then

I

would as k you

to

advise his taking Raoul

in

the

Huguenots.'

Third, I

will not allow

my prayer

from

Le Prophete

to

be orchestrated by

Costa, so

please

don't

have

i t copied.

Lastly, thank you very

much

for your

kind

promise

to

send me

full particulars of

Tannhauser's third performance ; i t will i n

terest me

greatly

to

hear a l l

about i t .

In

another

letter

he

writes :

With regard to what Herr Royer told

you

about Scribe's having

mentioned

my

in

tention to the

Minister

of State, Walewsky,

to produce L'Africaine for a certainty next

winter :

please

t e l l Herr Royer that

as I have

not seen Scribe for the last year

or more,

he

cannot possibly know my intention for L'Af-

r i c a i n e , ' and consequently

I look

upon this

as

only

the

result

of

his

f e r t i l e

imagination.

Berlin, October 2 6 , 1860.

You

would do

me a great favor by seeing

Herr

Carre as soon as possible

and

asking him

not to send me merely the second and third

acts of his l i b r e t t o ,

bu t to

wait

and send

i t

a l l at

the

same time, when

i t

i s

quite

finished,

as I can

only

judge i t properly

by

reading

the

whole

thing

through. I am

sending

you

by to-morrow's post the Romance of

the

fourth act of the

'Huguenots' for

Madame

Lauters. The

latter

writes

to

t e l l me

that

everybody

at the Opera i s talking of my

bringing

out

'L'Africaine'

for certain

next

season,

with Herr

Niemann

as

the

principal

tenor. Now. this must hurt Guymard most

deeply

as

he ha s

sung a l l my

operas

for so

many years

with

such faithful love and with

such great success. I do not wish to send

Madame Lauters

a written answer

to t h i s ,

but

I

should be exceedingly obliged

i f

you

would

take her the Romance yourself, and

t e l l

her,

at the

same

time, that

I cannot possibly

be

responsible for a l l

the

canards

which appear

in

the papers about

me.

Tell her, please,

that I

have

as yet settled

nothing

with re

gard to

the different

characters, and also that

I

have

not

the

faintest

notion

when

my

L'Africaine

i s

to be

produced

; but

at

any

rate i t will not be for a long

time

to come.

Besides

t h i s , will

you kindly t e l l Madame

Lauters that

i f she

f i n d s , during the rehear

sals of the Huguenots,' that anything seems


40/122

ADOLPHE NoURRIl

HK CRHATtU THE P A RT S O F R O B J i R T AND R A O U L . 1


41/122


42/122

GIACOMO MEYERBEER

81

unsuitable to

her voice, I

shall have great

pleasure in

altering whatever

places

she

l i k e s . Please ask her when s he th ink s of

singing Valentine.

Will

you also

t e l l Herr

Weyll for me that I

have

found out

the t i t l e

of

the

book

for

him

?

I t

i s

The

Opera

of

the Future,' and

can be had at

the Franco-

German bookstore of either

Avenarius

or

Franke.

Let me have the a r t i c l e

from

the

paper

regarding

which

the inclosed

notice

reads

:

The Journal Amusant gives Halevy as

the

composer

of the

Huguenots. I

wonder

whether

Meyerbeer

agrees

to this

or

not. '

In

the

meantime

the

Pardon

de

Ploer-

mel was

produced

(1859), and, having beeii

fairly well received, was

almost

immediately

sought

as

a novelty

for

the

United

States.

The

story i s

laid

in Brittany,

where

p i l

grimages (pardons)

are

s t i l l made to favorite

shrines.

The story i s developed in a

haunted

v alley ; Hoel, Dinorah, the Chevriere (goat

herd), and the Faucheur (mower) make up the

principal c a s t .

Spa, August 1 2 , 1859.

I

authorize you

to give

the grand score

of

'Pardon'

to Herr Strakovitz1 [Strakosch]

as he

requested

for NewYork, solely oncondi

tion that he pledges to you his word to give

the

part

of Hoel to the veiy best

barytone in

his

company,

and

also

promises not

to

give

the four smaller parts to so-called stop-gap

singers, but

to

f i r s t - c l a s s

a r t i s t s , as

was

the

case in London.

September 1 1 , 1859.

I should be greatly obliged i f , as soon as

Herr Parent ha s corrected the mistakes i n

the third

a c t ,

you would send a copy

to

Lard

with

the

request

that i t may

be

bound

in

red

morocco at once, with gilt-edged leaves, and,

i f possible,

the

Wurtemberg

coat of arms

embossed in

gold

on the

cover.

And

I

would

be glad i f he would l e t me know directly this

score

i s

bound.

I am here and, unhappily, i l l in bed. I do

not know

how long it will

be necessary for

me to stay here to recover. But please l e t

me

know

every detail concerning the reprise

'The Editors have thought best to leave unaltered

Meyerbeer's

version of the proper names i n his l e t t e r s .

of Le

Pardon

de

Ploermel,'

so that

the

game

may not be played on me of performing this

during my absence

;

for the

same reason

I

beg

you not

to t e l l

anybody

of

my

i l l n e s s , as

this Roqueplan would

be

quite capable of

performing

my opera

secretly,

thinking that

because I am away from

home

and

i l l I

should

not find

i t out.

HERMAN LEON

IN L'ETOILE DU NORD.

How does Musard play the

overture

to

'Pardon,' and does

i t

seem to

please

the

public ?

A

year later the adverse

criticism

of Meyer

beer's enemies

s t i l l vexed

him.

Berlin, March

1 9 , 1860.

In

my previous l e t t e r I requested

you

to

speak to Herr Le Roy. After earnest co n

sideration I have come to the

conclusion

that

i t

i s better

for you not to

do s o .

By the in

closed

article you will see with what mali

cious animosity R. i s f i ll ed . One must not do

him

the

honor of speaking to

him.

Unfor

tunately i t i s

too

late for

us

to withdraw the

work, so we

must

simply leave i t to i t s f a t e .

Please be kind enough to ascertain in

what month

the

Marchisio

s i s t e r s intend

making their debut in the French Opera, and

also

i f they would

be willing, as I have

once

heard, to sing in London

f i r s t i n

I t a l i a n .

The

accompanying extract

i s

from Le

Figaro :

12


43/122

LE CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAU.

Decoration

of

second

a ct o f

Lea Huguenots.

From

Album de 1'Opera.

A propos

de

th6atre on prete mi

j o l i

mot

de plus a

M. Nestor Roqueplan. M.

Meyer

beer,

dit-on,

se

plaignait de ce q ue l e spirituel

Directeur semblait

se

refroidir

beaucoup

a

so n 6gard.

'Le

Pardon

de

Ploe'rmel' e t a i t

n6glig6, on ne l e jouait plus assez souvent.

Soyez

tranquille ; je l a jouerai toujours, votre

p i e c e ,

je la

jouerai continuellement, impitoy-

ablement jusqu'a ce q u ' i l n'y a i t plus dans

la

s a l l e qu'un unique

spectateur.

The following l e t t e r ,

dated

May

2 0 ,

1860,

shows the solicitude

whichMeyerbeer showed

for the success of a l l his musical offspring.

One

of his biographers

quotes

Heine as say

ing that he could no t rest while one soul re

mained unconverted

to

his music, and the

amount

of

importance

which

he

attached

to

minutiee

usually disregarded by successful

composers i s

unparalleled.

As I

see

by the papers

that

th e festival

in

the Grand

Opera has

been postponed

for

a week, I

should

be very grateful to you if

you would

kindly

ask Royer not to pu t the

'Schiller Marsch' q uite as

near the end of

the

program

as

he

ha s

done,

as

by

that

time

the audience i s

quite

exhausted from having

heard so

much music.

I should prefer most

of a l l for

i t

to come immediately after

the

aria

< Pieta

Signor,'

by

Stradella, which Mi -

chant i s to sing, bu t on no account after an

important ensemble

piece.

From your brother's l et t e r I learn that

the

Opera Comique has a

new

Director in

the

person of

Heir

de

Beaumont.

I trust that he

will prove more sensible than Roqueplan.

Be

kind enough to attract

Herr

de

Beau

mont's

attention to t he g reat

success which

Mademoiselle

Boulard i s having

in

Brussels

with

Pardon.'

Please

ask

him to

engage

her for the

month

of June, when the Brussels

theater i s closed, to sing 'Pardon' at

the

Op6ra Comique.

You did quite

right to

allow Musard

to

play my

Schiller Marsch,'

but

you

certainly


44/122

GIACOMO

MEYERBEER

83

ought t o have s een that he did not put i t in

such

a disadvantageous part of

the

program.

He played

i t

at each concert as

the

f i r s t

piece

on the program, when, as you know, there i s

never an

audience.

And

now I find that

after playing i t

just a

few times, he ha s

crossed

i t

ou t

of his

repertoire

altogether,

thereby doing

the work

more

harm than

good.

You

told me that you had allowed

him

to

compose a

fantaisie from themes in

Pardon

; then

how

i s

i t that

he

ha s

not once

played

i t ?

You

can

understand how doubly trying

this eye

trouble i s to

me

in cutting me o f f

from

a l l

activity in music, and this happens

just when

1

am in

the

midst of a

new com

position to which

1

so

earnestly

wished to

devote

my whole love and energy.

Has

nothing yet been done to engage

Madame Miolan for

the next

season in S t .

Petersburg

?

Schwalbach,

August 2 ) , 1860.

Ilerr Wollheim writes me from Wies

baden

that

Mademoiselle Panatrat

ha s stud

ied and intends singing the

part

of

Dinorah

in the

Opera

Comique. And from your l e t

ter i t

appears

that

Mods, de

Beaumont told

Mons. Monnais that he

intended taking up

'Dinorah' again. We know that Demoiselle

Montrose

i s

angry with me because I

would

not allow her

to

sing Dinorah

at

her f i r s t

debut. But now i t would be an actual ca

lamity

for Dinorah

(after the long rest

that

this

opera has

had)

to

be

revived again

with an absolutely unknown singer like

the

Demoiselle

P anat ra t; i ndeed i t

would be

breaking the

neck

of this opera

forever. I t

would be

far

better for Dinorah not to be

given

at a l l

this season than

for

i t

to be

given

with

Demoiselle

Panatrat. So please find

out immediately whether

what

Herr

Woll

heim says

i s

really

true.

(Your

brother who

knows

Victor so intimately could ascertain

i t better than anybody e l s e . ) And i f it

really

i s

the

case, you must please go to Fiorentino

and beg him to help us in this matter. Tell

him,

I beg

you, how everything

stands,

and

get him

to

use

even'

means in his power to

prevent Demoiselle Panatrat from taking

this part.

Then

beg him

to

get De

Beau

mont

to give the part to Demoiselle Montrose

and to persuade her to begin i t immediately.

Fiorentino must hear

from

you

why

Demoi

s e l l e Montrose i s angry with me, and she

must by

no means

be allowed

t o think that

Herr de Beaumont feels any particular sym

pathy for me. The matter i s

by

no means

easy to arrange, but Fiorentino

has such

a

mighty

and influential position that when he

really

wants

to

do

a

thing,

however

d i f f i c u l t ,

he

ca n usually

carry

i t

out.

As we

have to

act in great haste, 1 think it i s best that you

t e l l

hun

candidly

that youcome

to

him in

my

name with

this

request, and

that

I beg

him

to

take

the

matter in hand and do what he

can

to

get my wishes f u l f i l l e d . You can

add,

as

though

from

yourself,

that

you

are

certain

that I shall be very grateful to him for his

trouble.

I

trust

you

will

soon l e t me hear a l l about

Demoiselle

Duprez's debut i n

Les

Hugue

n o t s . '

The

plan

for

producing

Pardon

i s

more

fully developed, and the next three letters

re

late

to the

f i l l i n g

of the

The Century Library of Music Vol 3

Documents

Transcript of The Century Library of Music Vol 3