,
E che vo-le-te voi che mi con-for-ti in co-si du-re sor-te, in co-si
gran mar-ti-re?
La-scia-te mi mo-ri-re,
La-scia-te mi mo-ri-re.]

[Music illustration: EXTRACT FROM SONG, "VAGHE STELLE."

(From the opera "Erismena," 1655. Francesco Cavalli.)

Va-ghe stel-le, Lu-ci-bel-le,
Non dor-mi-te, non dor-mi-te.
Va-ghe stel-le, Lu-ci-bel-le,
Non dor-mi-te, non dor-mi-te.]

[Music illustration: ARIA.--"LASCIAMI PIANGERE."

(From a cantata. Alessandro Scarlatti.)

La-scia-mi, la-scia-mi pian-ge-re ch'io so per-che io so, io so, io so
per-che.
La-scia-mi pian-ge-re, la-scia-mi pian-ge-re ch'io so per-che,
per-che, ch'io so perche,
La-scia-mi pian-ge-re ch'io so per-che, io so, io so, io so per-che.
Del-le mie la-gri-me
La sor-te per-fi-da
Sa-zia non e, sa-zia non e.
Del-le mie la-gri-me
La sor-te per-fi-da
Sa-zia non e,
Del-le mie la-gri-me
La sor-te per-fi-da
Sa-zia non e no, no, no, no, no, sa-zia non e.
_Da capo._ La-scia-mi....]

CHAPTER XIX.

BEGINNINGS OF OPERA IN FRANCE AND GERMANY.

I.

From Florence the art of dramatic song spread to all other parts of
the world, yet not so rapidly as would have been supposed. For it was
not until nearly half of the century had already elapsed that opera
made a beginning in France, the country where ruled the unfortunate
princess for whose nuptials the first opera had been written. French
opera grew out of the ballet. This term, which at present is
restricted to entertainments in which dancing is the principal
feature, and the story is entirely told in pantomime, had formerly a
more extended signification. It was equivalent to the English term
"Mask," a play in which dancing, songs and even dialogue found place.
This light and sprightly form of drama has been favored in France from
a remote period. As early as the first quarter of the seventeenth
century Antoine Boesset (1585-1643) composed ballets for the
entertainments of the king, Louis XIII. His son succeeded him at the
court of Louis XIV. Some of the ballets of the elder Boesset were
produced in 1635, and in these we must find the beginnings of French
opera, if indeed we do not go back still farther, and find it in the
play of "Robin and Marian," written by Adam de la Halle. In fact,
dramatic entertainment has been indigenous in France from an early
date, and it is by no means easy