entious and dull, and the pretty little tunes, which the
composer could not keep out of his head, sound absurdly out of place in
a serious drama. Fenella, the dumb girl of Portici, has been seduced by
Alfonso, the son of the Spanish Viceroy of Naples. She escapes from the
confinement to which she had been subjected, and denounces him on the
day of his marriage to the Spanish princess Elvira. Masaniello, her
brother, maddened by her wrongs, stirs up a revolt among the people, and
overturns the Spanish rule. He contrives to save the lives of Elvira and
Alfonso, but this generous act costs him his life, and in despair
Fenella leaps into the stream of boiling lava from an eruption of
Vesuvius. The part of Fenella gives an opportunity of distinction to a
clever pantomimist, and has been associated with the names of many
famous dancers; but the music of the opera throughout is one of the
least favourable examples of Auber's skill. Auber had many imitators,
among whom perhaps the most successful was Adolphe Adam (1803-1856),
whose 'Chalet' and 'Postillon de Longjumeau' are still occasionally
performed. They reproduce the style of Auber with tolerable fidelity,
but have no value as original work. The only other composer of this
period who deserves to be mentioned is Felicien David (1810-1876). His
'Lalla Rookh,' a setting of Moore's story, though vastly inferior to his
symphonic poem 'Le Desert,' is a work of distinction and charm. To
David belongs the credit of opening the eyes of musicians to the
possibilities of Oriental colour. Operas upon Eastern subjects have
never been very popular in England, but in France many of them have been
successful. 'Le Desert' founded the school, of which 'Les Pecheurs de
Perles,' 'Djamileh,' 'Le Roi de Lahore,' and 'Lakme' are well-known
representatives. The career of the other musicians--many in number--of
this facile and thoughtless epoch may be summed up in a few words. They
were one and all imitators; Clapisson (1808-1866), Grisar (1808-1869),
and Maillart (1817-1871), clung to the skirts of Auber; Niedermeyer
(1802-1861), threw in his lot with Halevy. So far as they succeeded in
reproducing the external and superficial features of the music of their
prototypes, they enjoyed a brief day of popularity. But with the first
change of public taste they lapsed into oblivion, and their works
nowadays sound far more old-fashioned than those of the generation which
preceded them.

CHAPTER IX