Musical Reminiscences Past and Present

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

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text excerpt

The opera-house is a noble building, standing in the immense square, opposite to the museum. I was told that I should hear “something anti- classical, neither Gluck, Mozart, or Beethoven; certainly not Bach, but Offenbach!” The opera proved to be La Belle Helene. The orchestra of forty selected players did more than justice to the sparkling and brilliant tunes of the lively French composer ; indeed, the accompaniment to all the songs was throughout delicate and artistic ; the principal singers were, however, scarcely equally excellent; the fair Helene, especially, indulging in an extravagant amount of tremolando on nearly every note she produced. To me the most striking part of the affair was the engrossing attention paid to every detail of the performance by the crowded audience; they seemed to know every point in the opera, and would evidently have made the performers aware of their knowledge, had they been guilty of any faults of omission or commission.

The opera-house is a noble building, standing in the immense square, opposite to the museum. I was told that I should hear “something anti- classical, neither Gluck, Mozart, or Beethoven; certainly not Bach, but Offenbach!” The opera proved to be La Belle Helene. The orchestra of forty selected players did more than justice to the sparkling and brilliant tunes of the lively French composer ; indeed, the accompaniment to all the songs was throughout delicate and artistic ; the principal singers were, however, scarcely equally excellent; the fair Helene, especially, indulging in an extravagant amount of tremolando on nearly every note she produced. To me the most striking part of the affair was the engrossing attention paid to every detail of the performance by the crowded audience; they seemed to know every point in the opera, and would evidently have made the performers aware of their knowledge, had they been guilty of any faults of omission or commission.

excerpt from 'Musical Reminiscences Past and Present' pp. 17 (158 words)

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