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He made a great noise in his day, but nothing keeps his memory green except the Bobèche of Offenbach's Barbe-Bleue. Tabarin, however, has a new lease of life in two of the handy little-volumes of the Bibliothèque Elzévirienne. "Everybody knows," said Beppo, my Roman model, "that the English are mad, signor.
And, perhaps, it was from the recollection of Monsieur Parole d'Honneur's kindness, and from my having been in company with him that winter in Paris, where I had heard that opera of Offenbach's for the first time, but the tune of the carriage wheels was strangely like the "Pars pour Crete" chorus in the second act of La Belle Helene where, if you remember, the unfortunate Menelaus is hustled off the stage, in company with his portly umbrella and other belongings, in order to make room for the advent of Paris, the "gay deceiver," the successful intriguant!
"Oh yes, we can easily arrange that," Mr Sharnall said obsequiously "`See the Conquering Hero comes, by Handel, would be very appropriate; or there is an air out of one of Offenbach's Operas that I think I could adapt to the purpose. It is a very sweet thing if rendered with proper feeling; or I could play a `Danse Maccabre' slowly on the full organ."
Beyond that we cannot go, for a third more and we are back to the basic note, two octaves away. But innovations in harmony are rare in Offenbach's work. What makes him interesting is his fertility in invention of melodies and few have equaled him in this. He improvised constantly and with incredible rapidity. His manuscripts give the impression of having been done with the point of a needle.
When we recall the fact that these five operas are the most widely known, the most popular and by far the best of M. Offenbach's works, there is no need to dwell on his indebtedness to MM. Meilhac and Halévy, or to point out how important a thing the quality of the opera-book is to the composer of the score.
Soon we were at it hammer and tongs; discussing Arius, Alexander, and Athanasius; the Council of Nicaea, Hosius of Cordova, homo-ousion and homoi-ousion; Eusebius of Nicomedia, and his namesake of Caesarea. Without intending any disrespect to these two eminent Fathers of the Church, the two Eusebius' always reminded me irresistibly of the two Ajaxes of Offenbach's opera-bouffe.
"And when are you coming to dine at Fulham?" cried one voice. "I shall certainly get those quadrilles of Offenbach's," said another. "How delightfully Mr. Lawsley sang that song of Santley's!" And anon a chorus of "Never enjoyed myself more!" "Most delightful evening!" "Pray don't come out in the cold." "Thanks; well, yes, yours are always capital." "No, I won't light up till I'm on the road."
She was always dressed very attractively, sometimes as La Belle Hélène in Offenbach's Opera, only rather more after the ancient Greek fashion; another time as an Odalisque in the Sultan's harem, and another time as a lighthearted Suabian girl, and so forth.
Thus for a little time these friends manifested for each other their affection; and then the boy seated himself on the pavement beside the ass and drew forth from his pocket a large mouth-organ on which he went to work with such a will that all the court-yard rang with the strains of Offenbach's music.
On my asking him what was the most amusing thing he had seen in America, he answered that it was a "sacred concert," on Sunday, at a church in Colorado Springs, in which the music of Strauss's waltzes and Offenbach's comic songs were leading features, the audience taking them all very solemnly. In the literary direction I found Prince John Galitzin's readings from French dramas delightful.
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