25 APRIL 1896, Page 13

Masters of Italian Music. By R. A. Streatfield. (Osgood, Mcllvaine,

and Co.) —This volume belongs to the series of "Masters of Contemporary Music," in which English, French, and German have already bad their place. Between England and Italy there is, as Mr. Streatfield points out, the radical dif- ference that in Italy opera is everything, in England practically nothing. Verdi occupies nearly half the volume, and Verdi is of course known even here, but the other names of Boito, Mascagni, Puccini, Leon Cavallo, though known to experts, will be strange to the average Englishman.