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miracle, the backsliding of the Israelites and their worship of the
golden calf, the reception of the Tables of the Law, the battle between
the Israelites and Modbites on the threshold of the Promised Land, and
the evanishment and apotheosis of Moses are the contents of the
remainder of the work.

It is scarcely to be wondered at that the subjects which opera
composers have found adaptable to their uses in the New Testament are
very few compared with those offered by the Old. The books written by
the evangelists around the most stupendous tragical story of all time
set forth little or nothing (outside of the birth, childhood,
teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth)
which could by any literary ingenuity be turned into a stage play
except the parables with which Christ enforced and illustrated His
sermons. The sublime language and imagery of the Apocalypse have
furnished forth the textual body of many oratorios, but it still
transcends the capacity of mortal dramatist.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son there is no personage whose
presentation in dramatic garb could be looked upon as a profanation of
the Scriptures. It is this fact, probably, coupled with its profoundly
beautiful reflection of human nature, which has made it a popular
subject with opera writers. There was an Italian "Figliuolo Prodigo" as
early as 1704, composed by one Biffi; a French melodrama, "L'Enfant
Prodigue," by Morange about 1810; a German piece of similar character
by Joseph Drechsler in Vienna in 1820. Pierre Gaveaux, who composed
"Leonore, ou l'Amour Conjugal," which provided Beethoven with his
"Fidelio," brought out a comic opera on the subject of the Prodigal Son
in 1811, and Berton, who had also dipped into Old Testament story in an
oratorio, entitled "Absalon," illustrated the parable in a ballet. The
most recent settings of the theme are also the most significant:
Auber's five-act opera "L'Enfant Prodigue," brought out in Paris in
1850, and Ponchielli's "Il Figliuolo Prodigo," in four acts, which had
its first representation at La Scala in 1880.

The mediaeval mysteries were frequently interspersed with choral songs,
for which the liturgy of the Church provided material. If we choose to
look upon them as incipient operas or precursors of that art-form we
must yet observe that their monkish authors, willing enough to trick
out the story of the Nativity with legendary matter drawn from the
Apocryphal New