1911. Found in this work are descriptions of the text and music of some of the most famous masterpieces. The opera is never more enjoyed than by a music lover who is incapable of criticism from lack of musical knowledge: music being first and last an emotional art; and as our emotions are refined it requires compositions of a more and more elevated character to appeal to them. The history of opera should be known and composers classified, just as it is desirable to know and to classify authors, painters, sculptors and actors. Contents: Balfe: The Bohemian Girl; Beethoven: Fidelio; Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust; Bizet: Carmen; DeKoven: Robin Hood; Flotow: Martha; Humperdinck: Hansel land Gretel; Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana; Meyerbeer: The Prophet; Mozart: The Magic Flute; Sullivan: Pinafore; Verdi: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Aida; Wagner: The Nibelung Ring, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Lohengrin.