The commotion and tumult end in bringing the Caliph upon the scene, and
the unfortunate youth is discovered half dead in his hiding-place. He is
revived by the barber, and presented with the hand of Margiana. To this
silly story Cornelius wrote music of extraordinary power and beauty.
Much of it is of course light and trivial, but such scenes as that of
the Muezzin call, or the wild confusion of the last finale, are fully
worthy of the master upon whom Cornelius modelled his style. Cornelius
had a pretty gift for humorous orchestration, and his accompaniments
often anticipate the dainty effects of 'Die Meistersinger.' 'Das
Rheingold' being still unwritten in 1858, it would be too much to expect
a systematised use of guiding themes, but they are often employed with
consummate skill, and in the Muezzin scene the music of the call to
prayer forms the basis of a symphonic passage, which is thoroughly in
the style of Wagner's later works. Cornelius left two posthumous works,
'Der Cid' and 'Gunloed,' which have been produced during the last few
years. They are little more than imitations of Wagner's maturer style.
Hermann Goetz (1840-1876) was a composer whose early death cut short a
career of remarkable promise. He produced but one opera during his
lifetime, but that displayed an originality and a resource for which it
would be vain to look in the multifarious compositions of the
Kapellmeisters of the period.
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