e, is
masterly in its judicious and convincing use of local colour. Jan
Blockx's later works, 'Thyl Uylenspiegel' (1900), 'De Bruid van der Zee'
(1901) and 'De Kapelle' (1903) do not appear to have met with equal
success. Another Belgian composer, Paul Gilson, has of late won more
than local fame by his 'Princesse Rayon de Soleil,' produced at Brussels
in 1905.

In modern times the stream of opera comique has divided into two
channels. The first, as we have seen, under the guidance of such men as
Bizet, Delibes, and Massenet, has approached so near to the confines of
grand opera, that it is often difficult to draw the line between the two
_genres_ The second, under the influence of Offenbach, Herve, and
Lecocq, has shrunk into opera bouffe, a peculiarly Parisian product,
which, though now for some reason under a cloud, has added sensibly to
the gaiety of nations during the past thirty years. The productions of
this school, though scarcely coming within the scope of the present
work, are by no means to be despised from the merely musical point of
view, and though the recent deaths of Audran, Planquette and other
acknowledged masters of the _genre_ have left serious gaps in the ranks
of comic opera writers, there seems to be no valid reason for despairing
of the future of so highly civilised and entertaining a form of musical
art.

CHAPTER XII

MODERN ITALY

VERDI--BOITO--PONCHIELLI--PUCCINI--MASCAGNI--LEONCAVALLO--GIORDANO

The death of Verdi occurred so recently that it is still possible to
speak of him as representing the music of modern Italy in its noblest
and most characteristic manifestation, but his life's record stretches
back to a very dim antiquity. His first work, 'Oberto, Conte di San
Bonifacio,' was performed in 1839, when 'Les Huguenots' was but three
years old, and 'Der Fliegende Hollaender' still unwritten. It is
thoroughly and completely Italian in type, and, though belonging to a
past age in the matter of form, contains the germs of those qualities
which were afterwards to make Verdi so popular, the rough, almost brutal
energy which contrasted so strongly with the vapid sweetness of
Donizetti, and the vigorous vein of melody which throughout his career
never failed him. Verdi's next work, a comic opera known alternatively
as 'Un Giorno di Regno' and 'Il Finto Stanislao' (1840) was a failure.
'Nabucodonosor' (1842) and 'I Lombardi' (1843) established his
reputation in his own country and w