BOOKS.
THE BOOK OF THE OPERA.*
WE are glad of the opportunity to offer a welcome to the reissue, in a revised and enlarged form, of Mr. Streatfeild's useful and pleasant volume on the opera, which was over- looked in these columns on the occasion of its original publication some six years ago. The scope of the work is not ambitious, but within the limits imposed the author has done his work in excellent fashion, giving us a brightly written sketch of the development of opera from 1600 to the present day, interspersed with condensed accounts of the plots of all the chief pieces in the operatic reper- tory during the last hundred and fifty years. A certain amount of criticism is inevitably involved in Mr. Streatfeild's sur- vey, but in the main be avoids adopting a controversial attitude, and if he errs at all it is certainly not on the side of deprecia- tion. Mr. Streatfeild writes with a catholic sympathy with all schools, and, for a staunch Wagnerian, with a readiness to recognise the merits of the Italian masters by no means in- variably encountered among the worshippers of Bayreuth. Wagner necessarily looms larger than any other figure in Mr. Streatfeild's panorama, but, in view of the prodigious influence he exerted on the evolution of opera, it cannot be said-that the space allotted to him is disproportionate.
Perhaps the chief interest of Mr. Streatfeild's volume resides in the extremely instructive contrast it affords between opera as it is and opera as it might be. Here in the richest and largest city in the world the opera still remains, as it was in the days when Carlyle paid his solitary visit to Her Majesty's, a monumental example of dis- proportion between means and ends, of inadequate achieve- ment at enormous cost, of unsatisfactory compromise between the demands of those who care for music and those who regard it as a social function. That there has been solid improvement in many respects cannot be denied. The repertory has been strengthened by the inclusion of Wagner's operas, more care and attention have been bestowed on scenic accessories, and a certain amount of encouragement has been given to native talent. Yet, when all is said and done, our grand opera remains in its essentials what it has been at any time for the last two hundred years,—an imported luxury, lacking in continuity of organisation, and dominated by the tastes of a plutocratic minority. Read in the light of a commentary upon the actual history of operatic performances in London, Mr. Streatfeild's pages are most tantalising. He discourses with legitimate enthusiasm on a number of delight- ful works which we never hear, and never are likely to hear so long as opera remains on its present basis. He reminds us how rich is the ideal repertory, and consequently enables us to realise how meagre the actual repertory still remains. For this unsatisfactory state of affairs the concentration of operatic enterprise within the walls of Covent Garden is largely respon- sible. Given a huge opera-house, a. number of charming operas are ruled out by the operation of the law of propor- tion,—just as chamber music is out of place in the Albert Hall, or vers de societe in the pages of the Quarterly Review. But even with these deductions there are a good many operas the absence of which from the Covent Garden repertory is at first sight difficult to account for. Why should we never hear Der Freischiitz or William. Tell? why should Verdi's Falstaff he shelved, and Mozart's Nozze and Don Giovanni be only given at rare intervals and with lamentable disregard of ensemble ? The official answer no doubt would be that these operas do not draw. Personally we doubt if the explanation could be reduced to a single categorical statement. The real reasons for their withdrawal are manifold. Some are old- fashioned in plot ; some, again, are too thinly orchestrated to please the modern passion for sonority ; some, and this is a most potent reason, fail to give " opportunities for dis- tinction" to the favourite singers of the moment—e.g., there is neither prima donna nor a great tenor part in Verdi's Falstaff; some, again, and this is especially true of Mozart, demand for their adequate interpretation a com- • The Opera : a Sketch of the Development of Opera. With Full Descriptions of AU Works on the Modern Repertory. By B. A. Streatieild. With an Introduc- tion by J. A. raller.hLaitlaud. New Edition, Revised and Enlarged. London J. C. Iiinuno. [6e.] bination - of " all the talents," which is excessively difficult of realisation, though, thanks to attention • to ensemble, patience in rehearsal, and continuity of organisation, admirable performances of these works are given at many of the German opera-houses. In other words, we cannot admit that the reasons for the limitation of the London repertory are convincing ; but so long as the opera-house is in the last resort controlled by social rather than artistic principles, one can only be thankful that the results do not fall a great deal further below the ideal standard. If, on the other band, opera is ever to be established on a demo- cratic basis, Mr. Streatfeild's volume cannot fail to be most useful and suggestive to those entrusted with the framing and carrying out of the policy of reconstruction.
The field covered by a book of this description is so wide that rigorous condensation is necessary, and many inter- esting points connected with the evolution of opera are of necessity passed over. Thus, for example, Mr. Streatfeild says nothing about the introduction of modern costume into Bruneau's operas,—in Le Rive, if we remember aright, the hero comes on in a " bowler " hat. Such omissions are inevitable, but we do not for a moment admit that Mr. Streatfeild justifies his exclusion of the work of men like Offenbach and the Viennese Strausses from his scheme. Some of his obiter dicta, again, are highly disputable,—e.g., "Balfe had to the full his share of that vein of maudlin sentiment which is typical of one side of the Irish character." It would be just as fair to contend that Balfe's weakness was due not to original Irish sin, but acquired English vulgarity. And one cannot help smiling at the statement that " Leoncavallo's latest work, Zaza,' founded upon a French play which recently achieved a scandalous notoriety, has found little favour even in Italy. It is not likely ever to be heard in England." All things are possible with a licenser of plays. But we do not wish to insist on minor blemishes in a very useful and interesting book.
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