Favourite operas from Mozart to Mascagni : their plots, history and music . s, in 1839. SaintGeorges had taken his story from the NovelasExemplares of Cervantes, the author of DonQuixote (the same work which had furnishedWeber with his Preciosa). But Bunn did notknow this until some of the friendly pressmen toldhim of it after the first performance. There was a question about what the opera shouldbe called. Bunn himself thought of The Gipsy ;but that, it was found, had been the title of adiscredited transpontine drama, and so was givenup. Then he thought of Thaddeus of Warsaw;but as he had tak
Favourite operas from Mozart to Mascagni : their plots, history and music . s, in 1839. SaintGeorges had taken his story from the NovelasExemplares of Cervantes, the author of DonQuixote (the same work which had furnishedWeber with his Preciosa). But Bunn did notknow this until some of the friendly pressmen toldhim of it after the first performance. There was a question about what the opera shouldbe called. Bunn himself thought of The Gipsy ;but that, it was found, had been the title of adiscredited transpontine drama, and so was givenup. Then he thought of Thaddeus of Warsaw;but as he had taken the name of his Polish hero fromMiss Porters then popular novel, the idea of theopera being mistaken for an adaptation of the novelled him to abandon that too. La Bohdmiennewas next proposed. But why give an English opera aFrench name? objected certain advisers. Bunn, takingthe hint, decided for The Bohemian, but immedi-ately remembered that this would as readily indicatea creature of the male sex as his girlish Arline. Finally, The Bohemian Girl was decided upon. 176. The heart bowed down THE LIBRETTO Act 1.—The scene of the opera is laid in the curtain rises we see the Castle and groundsof Count Arnheira, the Governor of Presburg, whois entertaining a hunting-party. Presently the Counthimself enters, accompanied by his six-year-olddaughter Arline, and his nephew Florestein. After-wards a Polish exile and fugitive, Thaddeus, rushesin, seeking refuge from the Austrian military. ** Tissad to leave your Fatherland, he sings. Nextthere enters a band of passing gipsies, with oneDevilshoof for leader, singing a blithe Gipsy tells his story to Devilshoof, and the latterinduces the proscribed rebel to cast in his lot withthe wanderers Meanwhile, Florestein and certain of the sports-men dash excitedly across the Castle grounds, look-ing for Arline, who has been attacked by a , seizing a rifle, hurries away after them,finds Arline, and free
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectoperas, bookyear1910
