ts popularity,
was transferred from an earlier and unperformed work, 'Le Duc d'Albe.'
It would be waste of time to describe the plots of any other serious
works by this composer. Many of them, such as 'Betly,' 'Linda di
Chamonix,' and 'Anna Bolena,' were successful when produced; but
Donizetti aimed merely at satisfying the prevailing taste of the day,
and when a new generation sprang up with different sympathies from that
which had preceded it, the operas which had seemed the most secure of
popularity were soon consigned to oblivion. It is a significant fact
that Donizetti's lighter works have stood the test of time more
successfully than his more serious efforts. Though the grandiose airs
and sham tragedy of 'Lucia' have long since ceased to impress us, we can
still take pleasure in the unaffected gaiety of 'La Fille du Regiment'
and 'Don Pasquale.' These and many similar works were written _currente
calamo_, and though their intrinsic musical interest is of course very
slight, they are totally free from the ponderous affectations of the
composer's serious operas. Here we see Donizetti at his best, because
here he writes according to the natural dictates of his imagination, not
in accordance with the foolish or depraved taste of fashionable
connoisseurs.

The scene of 'La Fille du Regiment' is laid in the Tyrol, where Tonio, a
peasant, has had the good fortune to save the life of Marie, the
vivandiere of a French regiment. Many years before the opening of the
story, Marie had been found upon the battle-field by Sergeant Sulpice,
and adopted by the regiment whose name she bears. The regiment, as a
body, has the right of disposing of her hand in marriage, and when Tonio
presses his claim, which is not disallowed by the heroine, it is decided
that he shall be allowed to marry her if he will consent to join the
regiment. Everything goes well, when a local grandee in the shape of the
Marchioness Berkenfeld suddenly appears, identifies Marie as her niece
by means of a letter which was found upon her by the Sergeant, and
carries her off to her castle hard by, leaving the unfortunate Tonio to
the bitterest reflections. In the second act Marie is at the castle of
Berkenfeld though by no means at ease in her unaccustomed surroundings.
Her efforts to imbibe the principles of etiquette are pleasantly
interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the regiment, with Tonio now as
Colonel at its head. But even his promotion will not softe