The Project Gutenberg eBook, Some Forerunners of Italian Opera, by William
James Henderson

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Title: Some Forerunners of Italian Opera

Author: William James Henderson

Release Date: November 28, 2006 [eBook #19958]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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OPERA***

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SOME FORERUNNERS OF ITALIAN OPERA

by

W. J. HENDERSON

Author of

"The Orchestra and Orchestral Music,"
"What Is Good Music,"
"The Art of the Singer," etc.

[Illustration: Publisher's Device]

New York
Henry Holt and Company
1911
Copyright, 1911,
by
Henry Holt and Company
Published March, 1911
The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.

TO HER

"_In a land of sand and ruin and gold
There shone one woman, and none but she._"

SWINBURNE

PREFACE

The purpose of this volume is to offer to the English reader a short
study of the lyric drama in Italy prior to the birth of opera, and to
note in its history the growth of the artistic elements and influences
which finally led the Florentine reformers to resort to the ancient
drama in their search for a simplified medium of expression. The author
has not deemed it essential to his aims that he should recount the
history of all European essays in the field of lyric drama, but only
that of those which directly affected the Italians and were hence the
most important. For this reason, while some attention is given in the
beginning to the French and German liturgical plays, the story soon
confines itself to Italy.

The study of the character and performance of the first I