Crispino follows her directions, and speedily
becomes famous, but success turns his head, and he is only brought back
to his senses by a strange dream, in which the fairy takes him down to a
subterranean cavern where the lamp of each man's life is burning and he
sees his own on the point of expiring. After this uncomfortable vision
he is thankful to find himself still in the bosom of his family, and the
opera ends with his vows of amendment. The music is brilliant and
sparkling, and altogether the little opera is one of the best specimens
of opera buffa produced in Italy after the time of Rossini. The other
men who devoted themselves to opera buffa during this period my be
briefly dismissed. Carlo Pedrotti (1817-1893), whose comic opera 'Tutti
in Maschera,' after a brilliant career in Italy, was successfully
produced in Paris, and Antonio Cagnoni (1828-1896), were perhaps the
best of them. A version of the latter's 'Papa Martin' was performed in
London in 1875, under the name of 'The Porter of Havre.'
CHAPTER VIII
MEYERBEER AND FRENCH OPERA
HEROLD--MEYERBEER--BERLIOZ--HALEVY--AUBER
The romantic movement was essentially German in its origin, but its
influence was not bounded by the Rhine. As early as 1824 Weber's
'Freischuetz' was performed in Paris, followed a few years later by
'Oberon' and 'Euryanthe.' French musicians, always susceptible to
external influences, could not but acknowledge the fascination of the
romantic school, and the works of Herold (1791-1833) show how powerfully
the new leaven had acted.
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