alled it "La Mort d'Adam et son Apotheose," and
it involved him in a disastrous quarrel with the directors of the
Conservatoire and the Academie. Pursuing the search chronologically,
the librettists next came upon Cain and Abel, who offered a more
fruitful subject for dramatic and musical invention. We know very
little about the sacred operas which shared the list with works based
on classical fables and Roman history in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries; inasmuch, however, as they were an outgrowth of the pious
plays of the Middle Ages and designed for edifying consumption in Lent,
it is likely that they adhered in their plots pretty close to the
Biblical accounts. I doubt if the sentimental element which was in
vogue when Rossini wrote "Mose in Egitto" played much of a role in such
an opera as Johann Philipp Fortsch's "Kain und Abel; oder der
verzweifelnde Brudermorder," which was performed in Hamburg in 1689, or
even in "Abel's Tod," which came along in 1771. The first fratricidal
murder seems to have had an early and an enduring fascination for
dramatic poets and composers. Metastasio's "La Morte d'Abele," set by
both Caldara and Leo in 1732, remained a stalking-horse for composers
down to Morlacchi in 1820. One of the latest of Biblical operas is the
"Kain" of Heinrich Bulthaupt and Eugen d'Albert. This opera and a later
lyric drama by the same composer, "Tote Augen" (under which title a
casual reader would never suspect that a Biblical subject was lurking),
call for a little attention because of their indication of a possible
drift which future dramatists may follow in treating sacred story.

Wicked envy and jealousy were not sufficient motives in the eyes of
Bulthaupt and d'Albert for the first fratricide; there must be an
infusion of psychology and modern philosophy. Abel is an optimist, an
idealist, a contented dreamer, joying in the loveliness of life and
nature; Cain, a pessimist, a morose brooder, for whom life contained no
beautiful illusions. He gets up from his couch in the night to question
the right of God to create man for suffering. He is answered by
Lucifer, who proclaims himself the benefactor of the family in having
rescued them from the slothful existence of Eden and given them a
Redeemer. The devil discourses on the delightful ministrations of that
Redeemer, whose name is Death. In the morning Abel arises and as he
offers his sacrifice he hymns the sacred mystery of life and turns a
deaf e