The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1872-04-25
now Rossna wRorE TnE OPERA OF
oTWEHLo.

eAffEG&Ff vas AAC A&NVNh iAtAffeeAAtt1 Hl
San Carlo, Domeulco Bafbala
without giving tbc great composer
Time 70 take 5 step, Or % speak a word
Barbaia addressed him
have three proposals 10 make to youi
and hope you will refuse neither Of
them.
Let me hear them, said Rossini, with
that arch smile so characteristic Of him.
propose that you make my house
( your home during your stay in Naples.
accept
1 propose to entertain you and your
I friends st my own table daily.
accept
+ propose that you should write a new
opera for me and my theatre
4 shall not accept the third proposal.
+ What You refuse 10 work for me
will not work for you, or anyone else
+ II am not going to compose any more
music.
+ You are crazy, my dear fellow
That may be-but / have told you the
exact truth
+ What are YOU going 10 do then, at
/ Naples5
i am going TO eat macaroni and ice
+ have a perfect passion for both.
+ will have lees made for you by my
confectioner, who is the most renowned
/ 10 the city, and ] will myself prepare
macaroni for you, which win give you
satisfaction, I'll warrant you,
+ This begins TO look interesting.
/ But YOU must give me an opera in ex-
change.
We will see.
Take one month, two months, six
months
4 Agreed; six months letit be-
Come, then, TO supper.
From that very evening the palace OF
Barbaia was put at Rossini's disposal,
+ The proprietor withdrew from all inter.
ference, and the celebrated composer
made himself at home, III the strictest ac-
eeptation of the term. All the friends,
or even the merest acquaintances whom
he met in his promenades, he invited TO
Barbaia's table without hesitation; he
/ did the honors as host to these guests
with perfect ease and grace. Sometimes
he complained that he could not find
friends enough to make the banquets
gay-with all the efforts he could make,
he could not always get more than twelve
or fifteen to join him at table-those were
unlucky days.
AS to Barbaia, faithful to the role OF
cook which no had imposed upon himself
be invented new dishes every day,
brought out the Oldest and best wine from
his cellar, and was as gracious to all the
unknown people whom Rossini invited
to his table as if they had been his Oldest
friends. Only at the end Of the repast,
with infinite address and smiling lips, he
would slip in, between the fruit and the
cheese, few words about the promised
opera, aud the great success il was sure
| TO have.
But in spite of the graceful way in
which the impressario ventured to alludc
to the debt which the composer had con-
tracted, these remarks produced the same
effect upon Rossini as the three terrible
words did upon Belshazzar at his famous
feast. Therefore, Barbaia, whose pres
ence had been tolerated for time at des-
sert, was politelyrequested by his guest
not to present himself in future.
Months slipped by. The libretto was
completed but the composer showed no
signs Of putting himself at work. Din
ners, drives, picnics followed each other
+ in rapid succession. Hunting, fishing,
horseback exercise divided the time OF
/ the noble musician, but there was not a
hint Of so much as a single note Of music
among his many occupations. Twenty
I times a day Barbaia found himself prey
to fits Of anger. TO nervous and almost
/ irresistible desires to make an expostu-
Iation against such Incidence. But he
controlled himself, for no one had greater
faith than he in the wonderful genius OF
( Rossini.
Barbaia therefore kept silence for five
months with the most exemplary resigna-
ton. But the morning Of the first day Of
the sixth month, feeling that there was
no more time to be lost, be drew the ar.
list aside and addressed him as follows:
Ny dear fellow, do you know that there
are only twenty-nine days before the ap-
pointed timer
What time do you mean? asked Rossini
with the air OF amazement Of man who
has been mistaken for somebody else, and
to whom one has made an incomprehen-
sibe remark.
The 30th Of May, rcioined Barbaia.
The 30th Of May? repeated Rossini,
with bewildered look.
Did YOU not promise me new opera
to be played on that precise dayf
I--pr0mise-
This Is no time 70 pretend astouishment
cried the manager, ont Of all patience. |
have waited as long as possible, counting
on your genius and the extraordinary
rapidIty aud facility for work which God
has bestowed upon sou. But now can
walt no longer | must have my opera.
Can't sou arrange some old opera, and
change the title oft, 80 that il viii do as
welis
what "a idea. What should do with
the artislos who are engaged expressly to
play In a new opera
- fftafp pffgFnhie