art. Mr. William F. Apthorp, in a list of Shakespearian operatic settings, counts up seventeen operas that have been made of Shakespeare's play. They range from Bellini's "I Capuletti ed i Montecchi," with a female Romeo (Madame Pasta loved the part), to a burlesque entitled, with punning ardour, "Rhum et Eau en Juillet," "Rum and Water in July!" Gounod's sugar-plum, skilfully manufactured out of this subject, is the most popular of all the settings, and will be so as long as a romantic tenor and an attractive soprano can be found for the chief pair of the opera. Its performances in Paris alone are numbered by many hundreds, and its popularity is by no means confined to France.

"All the world loves a lover," and here the composers find two of the most attractive of them made to their hands; therefore it is not astonishing to discover the orchestral settings of the theme as numerous and as important as the operatic treatments. It would be well-nigh impossible to collect a list of all the orchestral settings extant; it may suffice to mention the two most important. Berlioz has given to the world a "Romeo and Juliet" symphony, which is not a symphony at all, but rather a free cantata, with much orchestral interluding, or a set of orchestral movements with vocal adjuncts. This is the very best musical outcome of the Shakespearian subject up to the present time. We have already stated

that Berlioz may be ranked as the best French Shakespearian in music; for this preeminence there was a cause. Berlioz's grande passion was his sudden and vehement affection (not so lasting as intense) for the young Irish actress, Harriet Smithson. The beautiful actress had carried Paris by storm when she appeared there in Shakespearian rôles. Berlioz saw her and was one of her willing captives. Moved by his love, he began to study the poets that Miss Smithson must have read, and Moore, Byron, and Shakespeare were studied with some degree of enthusiasm. Each of these poets transmuted himself into music in Berlioz's hands, but it is pleasant to notice that only with Shakespeare does he remain faithful to the poetic model. In addition to the two Shakespearian works already mentioned, he composed this third one, the "Romeo and Juliet" symphony. It is a commendable, at times a glorious, Shakespearian picture. The ball at the Capulets, the picture of Queen Mab, Romeo brooding alone in the garden, the combats of the two houses, and, above all, the balcony scene (purely instrumental, this last) are beautiful illustrations of the transmutation of our greatest poet into tones. It was falsely stated that Berlioz resolved to marry Harriet Smithson, and to picture in music the scene that won him, when he first saw her, in the part of Juliet; he has denied this, although he accomplished both tasks; yet it is not

too much to say that his fiery passion led him to Shakespeare, and Shakespeare led him to some of his greatest music.

Tschaikowsky, the famous Russian composer, has also won an orchestral triumph through this play. His "Romeo and Juliet" overture must be ranked among his very best works, and as one of the worthy pictures of Shakespeare in orchestral music. It is, however, far less lyrical than Berlioz's romantic scenes, or Gounod's tender amativeness.

In this final chapter we have not endeavoured to give a complete list of Shakespearian orchestral or operatic music. Such a list would be of great dimensions and might even require a volume to itself. We have sought rather to show, by the citation of some of the master-works, what an inspiration Shakespeare has been to the general musician. He has been the same to the painter and to the sculptor. His influence has permeated every art.

Lawyers have been amazed at Shakespeare's legal references; physicians at his medical knowledge; theologians at his evident study of their polemics; we hope that we have shown by this book (and may its faults and shortcomings be pardoned for the sake of its intention) that the musician has more reason than any of these to join in the chorus of homage. Shakespeare loved our art, he understood it, and he most perfectly voiced its beauties to the world. We

can, in common with many another profession, pay to him the tribute which was written of a lesser

66

Long shall we seek his likeness

-

-long in vain,
And turn to all of him which may remain,
Sighing that Nature formed but one such man,
And broke the die."

'Byron's lines on Sheridan.

THE END.

Act. v. Sc. 3, 65-66, 190-193. | Brawl, The, 139–140, 142.