Identifier: victrolabookofop00vict (find matches)
Title: The Victrola book of the opera : stories of one hundred and twenty operas with seven-hundred illustrations and descriptions of twelve-hundred Victor opera records
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Victor Talking Machine Company Rous, Samuel Holland
Subjects: Operas
Publisher: Camden, N.J. : Victor Talking Machine Co.
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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eets with but ironical praise from Mephistopheles, and he volunteers his famous Romanceof the Flea, a curiosity of music as effective as it is difficult to render. Chanson de la puce (Song of the Flea) By Pol Plancon, Bass (In French) 8108Z 10-inch, $2.00 Gounods Mephistopheles is mild and innocent by the side of the strange utterances ofthe Devil as portrayed by Berlioz. This is one of the most interesting numbers in the work, for Berlioz has described, bymeans of clever forms in the accompaniment, the skipping of the flea in various directions.The words are most fantastic— Once a king, be it noted, had a fine and lusty flea,And on this flea he doted, cherishd him tenderly,So he sent for his tailor, and to the tailor spake:Please to measure this youngster, and coat and breechesmake! Faust dislikes the scene, and the two vanish from the gaze of the astonished studentsamid a fiery glow. In velvet and in satinHe now was duly drestHad jewels rare his hat in,And medals deckd his breast!
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LE THEATRE DANCE OF THE SYLPHS We next discover Faust asleep in a lonely forest on the banks of the Elbe, where the demon murmurs a softly penetrating melody into his ear, lulling him to slumber with these seductive words— Mid banks of roses, softly the light reposes, On this fair, fragrant bed, rest, O Faust, rest thy head—Here slumber, while lovely visions haunt thy dreamO f radiant forms, rare lips and eyes that fondly beam! while the gnomes and sylphs dance through his dreams, and the vision of Marguerite is seen for the first time. 82 VICTROLA BOOK OF THE O P E R A—B E R L I O Z S FAUST The next scene corresponds to the Garden Scene of Gounod, and shows ain Marguerites cottage. mmim. buhThe demon now sum-mons the will - o*- the- Wisps in this eVOCation: Ye spir • its of in-constam fire, Has.en bo* ontnewing,o(...r. The sprites come flying to Marguerites door, and the demon continues: Ye spirits of caprice and of evil, conspire To enchant and subdue, and win a maiden soul. Now

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