Ecology The Economy of Nature 7th Edition Ricklefs

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Chapter 6: Terrestrial and Aquatic Biomes

Terrestrial biomes are categorized by their major plant growth forms.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Topic: biomes
Level: medium
Which of the following pairs is an example of convergent evolution?
a. dogs and cats
b. wolves and deer
c. birds and bats
d. giraffes and trees
Answer: c

2. Topic: biomes
Level: easy
Biomes are
a. geographic regions with the same key species.
b. geographic regions with species that have not evolved convergently.
c. geographic regions with the same range of temperatures.
d. geographic regions whose plant communities have similar adaptations.
Answer: d

3. Topic: biomes
Level: easy
Which of the following species does not easily fit with the expectations of biome classification?
a. organ pipe cactus
b. eucalyptus trees
c. feral dogs
d. cattails
Answer: b

4. Topic: climate diagrams

Level: easy
On a climate diagram the growing season of a biome occurs when
a. the temperature line is above the precipitation line.
b. the precipitation line is above the temperature line.
c. the temperature is above 0ºC.
d. a and c.
e. b and c.
Answer: c

5. Topic: biomes
Level: easy
Which of the following does NOT have a secondary influence on plant communities in biomes?
a. topography
b. soils
c. herbivory
d. fire
e. humidity
Answer: e

6. Topic: climate diagrams

Level: easy
How much additional precipitation is required to meet water needs for every 10ºC increase in
temperature?
a. 2 cm
b. 5 cm
c. 6 cm
d. 10 cm
e. 20 cm
Answer: a

7. Topic: biomes
Level: easy
Which of the following is used to distinguish aquatic biomes?
I. salinity
II. depth
III. flow

a. I and II
b. I and III
c. II and III
d. I, II, and III
Answer: d

8. Topic: biomes
Level: medium
Why is the biome concept difficult to apply to aquatic systems?
a. Temperature is similar over the majority of aquatic biomes, unlike terrestrial systems.
b. Aquatic communities vary little from place to place because of the ability of fish to travel between
oceans.
c. Nutrients from terrestrial biomes limit most aquatic systems, so terrestrial systems must be
considered when determining the aquatic biomes.
d. Producers in many aquatic systems are algae, which have little characteristic large-scale structure.
Answer: d

9. Topic: biomes
Level: easy
At what average temperatures do we see the greatest variation in precipitation among biomes?
a. warm temperatures (approximately 20° to 30°C)
b. moderate temperatures (approximately 5° to 20°C)
c. cold temperatures (approximately −5° to 5°C)
d. very cold temperatures (less than −5°C)
Answer: a

SHORT ANSWER

10. Topic: biomes

Level: medium
Few biomes have cold temperature combined with high precipitation. Why is this?
Answer: The combination of cold temperature and high precipitation is globally rare because in the
cold little energy is available to evaporate moisture from Earth's surface, which is a necessary precursor
to precipitation. Cold air also has little capacity to hold moisture and thus yields relatively little
precipitation.

11. Topic: biomes

Level: difficult
Why are animals not used as the distinguishing features for biomes?
Answer: Animals are generally less variable in their forms than plants as climate changes. This is
partially due to the inability of plants to move; they must adapt to the stresses of each environment.
Animals are mobile and can seek shelter or specific microclimates in ways that plants cannot, which
means that they often live in multiple biomes.

12. Topic: climate diagrams

Level: difficult
In climate diagrams the location of the temperature and precipitation lines are used to determine which
of the two limits plant growth in the biome. Explain why higher temperatures also require increased
precipitation.
Answer: As the temperature increases, plants must transpire more to cool, increasing their water use.
This limits the amount of growth they can do, since, as with most organisms, plant cells are primarily
water.

13. Topic: biomes

Level: difficult
Human activity has caused many species to spread from their original areas. Use the concept of biomes
to explain why some species are able to spread easily and even become a problem in a new community.
Answer: Through convergent evolution many species have developed for biomes in different locations
and will thrive when moved to another location in the same biome. They can become problematic
because they are not as susceptible to predation or herbivory in the new location.

There are nine categories of terrestrial biomes.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

14. Topic: temperate seasonal forest biome

Level: easy
Where could you NOT go to see well-developed examples of the temperate seasonal forest biome?
a. United States and southeastern Canada
b. Europe
c. South America
d. Eastern Asia
Answer: c

15. Topic: temperate seasonal forest biome

Level: easy
Warmer and drier parts of the temperate seasonal forest biome are dominated by
a. rain forests.
b. deciduous forests.
c. needle-leaved forests.
d. grasslands.
e. woodlands.
Answer: c

16. Topic: woodlands/shrublands

Level: easy
The Mediterranean woodland/shrubland biome is characterized by thick evergreen shrubby vegetation.
The small, drought-resistant leaves of these plants are said to be
a. sclerophyllous.
b. epiphytic.
c. limnetic.
d. emergent.
Answer: a

17. Topic: tundras

Level: easy
Which biome occurs at the highest altitude?
a. boreal forest
b. temperate rainforest
c. woodland/shrubland
d. tundra
Answer: d

18. Topic: temperate rainforest

Level: easy
Which biome is home to the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)?
a. temperate seasonal forest
b. temperate rainforest
c. boreal forest
d. tropical rainforest
e. tropical seasonal forest
Answer: b

19. Topic: tropical rainforests

Level: easy
Which biome has the highest biodiversity?
a. temperate rainforest
b. temperate seasonal forest
c. tropical rainforest
d. tropical seasonal forest
Answer: c

20. Topic: temperate grasslands/cold deserts

Level: easy
Overgrazing has caused significant changes in vegetation in
a. boreal forest.
b. temperate grasslands.
c. tropical seasonal forest/savannah.
d. woodlands/shrublands.
Answer: b

21. Topic: tropical seasonal forest/savannah

Level: easy
Which biome has distinct wet and dry seasons?
a. tropical seasonal forest/savannah
b. boreal forest
c. temperate grasslands
d. tropical rainforest
e. tundra
Answer: a

22. Topic: temperate grasslands/cold deserts

Level: easy
Which of the following helps to prevent tree growth in tallgrass prairies?
a. low precipitation
b. high temperatures
c. frequent fires
d. human land use
e. acidic soils
Answer: c

23. Topic: boreal forest

Level: easy
Which of the following is another name for boreal forest?
a. matorral
b. pampas
c. steppes
d. taiga
Answer: d

24. Topic: temperate grasslands/cold deserts

Level: medium
In which biome is plant growth primarily constrained by precipitation?
a. boreal forest
b. temperate seasonal forest
c. temperate grassland
d. tundra
Answer: c

25. Topic: tropical rainforest

Level: easy
Which biome has soil that degrades quickly once converted to agricultural use?
a. temperate seasonal forest
b. tropical rainforest
c. tropical seasonal forest/savannah
d. woodland/shrubland
Answer: b

26. Topic: subtropical desert

Level: easy
Succulent plants are a defining feature of
a. temperate seasonal forest.
b. temperate rainforest.
c. subtropical desert.
d. woodland/shrubland.
Answer: c

27. Topic: tropical seasonal forest/savannah

Level: easy
Savannah gradually changes to tropical seasonal forest as
a. temperature increases.
b. temperature decreases.
c. precipitation increases.
d. precipitation decreases.
Answer: c

28. Topic: temperate rainforest

Level: easy
Which biome has the most standing biomass per unit of area?
a. temperate seasonal forest
b. tropical seasonal forest
c. temperate rainforest
d. tropical rainforest
Answer: c

29. Topic: tropical rainforests

Level: medium
Which combination of factors causes the fastest nutrient cycling in a biome?
a. high precipitation and high temperatures
b. high precipitation and low temperatures
c. low precipitation and high temperatures
d. low precipitation and low temperatures
Answer: a
30. Topic: woodland/shrubland
Level: easy
Which is a characteristic agricultural use of the woodland/shrubland biome?
a. grapes
b. wheat
c. cattle
d. coffee
Answer: a

31. Topic: boreal forests

Level: easy
Although precipitation is fairly low in boreal forests, soils are often saturated because of
a. ground water recharge.
b. frequent flooding.
c. prevalence of succulent plants.
d. reduced evaporation of water.
Answer: d

32. Topic: temperate seasonal forest

Level: medium
Which of the following global factors accounts for the difference between temperate seasonal forests
and temperate rainforests?
a. decreased precipitation in the seasonal forests due to the edge of Hadley cells
b. increased temperatures in the rainforest due to ocean currents
c. decreased precipitation in the seasonal forests due to rain shadows
d. increased temperatures in the rainforest due to lower latitudes
Answer: b

SHORT ANSWER

34. Topic: temperate grasslands/cold desert

Level: medium
Biomes occupying the extremes of the precipitation spectrum (very moist or very dry) burn
infrequently, while biomes with moderate precipitation and seasonal drought burn readily and regularly.
Explain this phenomenon.
Answer: Fire is uncommon in very moist forests because fuels are rarely dry enough to sustain fire.
Because of their low productivity, dry biomes like deserts rarely accumulate sufficient fuel to burn.
Seasonally dry but still productive grasslands and shrublands have both abundant fuels and the
appropriate conditions for fire.

35. Topic: tundra

Level: medium
Compare and contrast arctic and alpine tundra.
Answer: Arctic and alpine tundra are superficially similar in their vegetation and even species
composition; they are characterized by low-growing plants adapted to harsh conditions, including
extreme winter weather. However, alpine tundra is characterized by warmer and longer growing
seasons, less severe winters, greater productivity, better-drained soils, and higher species diversity.

Aquatic biomes are categorized by their flow, depth, and salinity.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

35. Topic: open ocean

Level: medium
The ocean zone with the highest productivity is the
a. neritic zone.
b. photic zone.
c. aphotic zone.
d. benthic zone.
Answer: a

36. Topic: streams and rivers

Level: easy
Which of the following is NOT an effect of dams on streams and rivers?
a. increased water temperature upstream of the dam
b. increased sediment settling
c. increased levels of dissolved oxygen downstream of the dam
d. habitat fragmentation
Answer: c

37. Topic: open ocean

Level: medium
The open ocean is most similar to
a. subtropical desert.
b. temperate seasonal forest.
c. tropical rainforest.
d. woodland/scrubland.
Answer: a

38. Topic: coral reefs

Level: easy
A symbiotic relationship with algae is central to
a. mangrove swamps.
b. intertidal zones.
c. coral reefs.
d. ponds and lakes.
Answer: c

39. Topic: streams and rivers

Level: easy
As a river flows downstream, it generally
a. moves faster.
b. has more nutrients.
c. is more shaded.
d. narrows.
Answer: b

40. Topic: freshwater wetlands

Level: easy
An important characteristic of freshwater wetlands is
a. basic soils.
b. anoxic soil conditions.
c. sections of open water.
d. acidic water.
Answer: b

41. Topic: coral reefs

Level: medium
Coral reefs are most similar to
a. subtropical deserts.
b. woodlands/shrublands.
c. temperate seasonal forests.
d. tropical rainforests.
Answer: d

42. Topic: streams and rivers

Level: easy
An important characteristic of streams is
a. high allochthonous inputs.
b. high autochthonous inputs.
c. lack of interaction with the riparian zone.
d. many photosynthetic organisms.
Answer: a

43. Topic: circulation in ponds and lakes

Level: easy
Which is the surface water of thermally stratified lake?
a. the epilimnion
b. the hypolimnion
c. the littoral zone
d. the thermocline
Answer: a

44. Topic: open ocean

Level:

The aphotic zone is a feature in

a. coral reefs.
b. freshwater wetlands.
c. mangrove swamps.
d. open ocean.
e. intertidal zones.
Answer: d

45. Topic: ponds and lakes

Level: easy
Lakes are generally divided into zones, each of which has unique physical and biological attributes. In
which zone would you expect to find rooted vegetation?
a. littoral
b. limnetic
c. pelagic
d. benthic
e. neritic
Answer: a

46. Topic: salt marshes/estuaries

Level: easy
Which is a unique characteristic of estuaries?
a. the prevalence of aquatic woody vegetation
b. the seasonal overturn of water stratification
c. the mixing of fresh and salt water
d. the large variety of benthic organisms
Answer: c

47. Topic: circulation in ponds and lakes

Level: easy
Why is water at the bottom of a temperate lake likely to be close to 4°C year-round?
a. Cooling water below 4°C requires enormous amounts of energy.
b. Soil temperatures are close to 4°C for most of the year in temperate regions
c. Air temperatures in the temperate zone rarely fall below 4°C.
d. Water is densest at 4°C.
Answer: d

48. Topic: circulation in ponds and lakes

Level: easy
During which seasons does overturn occur in a lake?
a. winter and spring
c. fall and spring
b. winter and summer
d. fall and summer
e. winter and fall
Answer: c

49. Topic: open ocean

Level: easy
In which aquatic environment are organisms most likely to produce bioluminescence?
a. aphotic zones
b. coral colonies
c. intertidal zones
d. mangrove swamps
Answer: a

50. Topic: mangrove swamps

Level: easy
What important role do mangrove swamps play in maintaining their environment?
a. They transfer sediment from terrestrial to aquatic biomes.
b. They filter water, which refreshes groundwater reservoirs.
c. They prevent coastal erosion.
d. They increase the sedimentation of coral reefs.
Answer: c

SHORT ANSWER

51. Topic: streams and rivers

Level: medium
Explain how the riparian zone might affect an adjacent terrestrial biome.
Answer: The flooding in a riparian zone will bring additional water to an adjacent terrestrial biome,
much like increased precipitation. The most noticeable changes will occur in desert biomes. This is
what causes a significant increase in vegetation along rivers like the Nile, where the flood plains are
much more fertile than the surrounding subtropical desert.

52. Topic: intertidal zones

Level: medium
Explain why the communities in intertidal zones must be adapted to survive a wide range of conditions.
Answer: Organisms living in intertidal zones must be able to survive in both high tide and low tide
conditions. High tide brings water and lower temperatures, while low tide conditions can be dry and hot
because of sun exposure. There can also be variations in salinity as well as harsh conditions from
waves.

53. Topic: circulation in ponds and lakes

Level: medium
Biological activity is severely limited in a thermally stratified temperate lake in midsummer. Explain
this phenomenon with reference to both surface and deeper waters.
Answer: Thermal stratification prevents water from circulating between the surface and the depths.
Without this circulation, biological processes stagnate. Surface waters are enriched with oxygen and
are illuminated by the sun, but nutrient depletion severely limits the productivity of plants and the
activities of animals that ultimately depend on plants for their food. In contrast, the nutrient-rich deeper
waters lack sunlight and are oxygen-depleted, which limits biological activity. When the lake turns
over in the fall, oxygen levels increase in deeper waters and the surface waters become more nutrient-
rich, which stimulates biological activity throughout the lake.

54. Topic: freshwater wetlands

Level: medium
Explain the similarities and differences between bogs, marshes, and swamps.
Answer: All three are types of freshwater wetlands with plants that have adapted to soil saturated with
water. Bogs are characterized by acidic water and are prevalent in the high latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere. Swamps contain emergent trees, while marshes have primarily nonwoody vegetation such
as cattails.

Mean, Median, and Mode

MULTIPLE CHOICE

55. Topic: mean, median, and mode

Level: easy
What is the mean in the following data set?
17, 20, 26, 26, 27, 30, 31, 39
a. 26
b. 26.5
c. 27
d. 28
Answer: c

56. Topic: mean, median, and mode

Level: easy
What is the median in the following data set?
17, 20, 26, 26, 27, 30, 31, 39
a. 26
b. 26.5
c. 27
d. 28
Answer: b

57. Topic: mean, median, and mode

Level: easy
What is the mode in the following data set?
17, 20, 26, 26, 27, 30, 31, 39
a. 26
b. 26.5
c. 27
d. 28
Answer: a

SHORT ANSWER

58. Topic: mean, median, and mode

Level: Easy
What is the difference between the mean and the median?

The mean is the average of all of the numbers in a data set. The median is the value in the middle when
they are ordered numerically.

Changing Biome Boundaries

MULTIPLE CHOICE

59. Topic: changing biome boundaries

Level: easy
Which of the following is NOT a barrier to shifting biomes?
a. mountains
b. rivers
c. large highways
d. oceans
Answer: b

SHORT ANSWER

60. Topic: changing biome boundaries

Level: medium
How might global climate change affect current agricultural regions?
Answer: One negative effect could be the increase in transition from grassland and savannah biomes to
desert biomes as temperatures get too high to support more water-dependent plants.
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 CHAPTER XXIII
Opera Makers of France, Germany and Italy—1741 to Wagner

As with all things that are over-popular and over-used, the opera in
the 18th century became trifling and empty, except for the work of
some few geniuses.
The music of the ancient Egyptians and Chinese advanced very
little, on account of fast and firm laws, and opera remained the same
for a long time, because of the strict rules. For there were laws
governing the kind of arias, the number of men’s parts and women’s
parts, when and where ballets and choruses should come in, the
number of acts and many another clogging rule. But, worst of all, the
people in the audiences knew the rules so well that they made a fuss
when any composer dared to depart from them. Such was the case
when Gluck came on the scene, and when he left it, with all the
changes he made, other rules became just as binding!
You saw the effort of Gluck to reform opera in order to arrive at
truth and sincerity; you saw how Mozart dignified the forms that
were being used by enriching them, by his sparkling humor, by his
new musical devices and limitless outpourings of melody. Beethoven,
too, made his one masterpiece, Fidelio, stand for sincerity rather
than triviality, and now von Weber we see adding to opera the story
of peasant life in Germany, combined with mystery and beauty. Yet,
with all these forerunners of a newer opera, many composers had to
work very hard and much time had to pass by until we reach the
great change under Wagner’s genius.
 Von Weber Writes Fairy Tale Opera

Because Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) had so great an

influence on opera writers, we will start with him.
Weber was the founder of romantic German opera,—the opera that
dealt with people and their feelings and the folk song of the German
nation. He was the first to combine the story of everyday life with the
charm of imagination. Being of a long line of barons and also a great
pianist, he raised the position of musicians to a high level in society,
so that after him, pianists and violinists were looked upon as artists
and not as artisans.
He seemed to understand the life of his time, and suited his work
to his surroundings so beautifully, that it immediately led away from
the trivialities into which Italian opera had drifted, into something
more worth while. He was a true romantic, as he put into his operas
warmth of feeling, elegance and delightful melody. He had a lovely
sense of what was dramatic or theatric, and he knew the orchestral
instruments as well as he knew the piano, for which he wrote
skilfully.
He was born at Eutin, near Lübeck, where Bach had lived, and
showed great musical gifts when he was a little boy. And although he
was delicate, his father dearly wanted him to be a second Mozart.
Michael Haydn, brother of Papa Haydn taught him and Weber
showed great ability at the piano and could sit down and improvise
and read music at sight.
He was taught by Abbé Vogler in Vienna, who first introduced him
to folk music, which he used with such pleasing skill later. (By the
way, Abbé Vogler, a famous organist and teacher, was the Abt Vogler
of Robert Browning’s poem.) Weber became conductor of the
orchestra at Breslau at 18. But, being a delicate boy, he could not
stand many of the things he did and he broke down in health.
Later he was unfortunate enough to become secretary to Duke
Ludwig of Württemberg at Stuttgart who was not a fit companion for
a young man. Weber mixed in the gay life of the Duke and his
friends, fell into bad habits, and drifted into money difficulties.
Strange to say, during this time he read much and even wrote some
music encouraged by Danzi, his friend.
However, he got into a scrape trying to help his father out of a
financial difficulty, angered the King and was banished in 1810; and
though cleared of his guilt, he remained in exile for some time. Then
deciding to turn over a new leaf, with a mind teeming with ideas, he
settled down to work.
He soon became known for his compositions and was made
Musical Director at the Prague Theatre, where he won popular favor
by writing national songs. He undertook to organize a Dresden
troupe, after having done a similar work in Prague, but he was
annoyed by bad health and the jealousies of his rivals. Nevertheless,
here he produced Der Freischütz, Enchanted Huntsman, which
Berlin received in 1821 with wild enthusiasm, while Euryanthe, given
almost at the same time, was not, in Vienna, very successful.
Weber’s operas, as the beginning of German romantic opera, are
on the direct road to Wagner’s. Wagner inherited from Gluck and
Weber, and Gluck inherited directly from the German Singspiel
(sing-play) of the 18th century, which was a play composed of dances
and songs not unlike the English masque and the French ballet and
vaudeville. It came before opera in Germany, yet made the basis for a
German school, for it used German song and German subjects.
Mozart, too, was one of Weber’s musical fathers, especially in his
Magic Flute.
We see Weber, now, as we saw Mozart, combining the
supernatural with national or German melody, and using both
imagination and realistic effects. His Oberon is full of fairy
atmosphere and Der Freischütz is often uncanny and awesome. He
keeps the spoken dialogue of the old Singspiel and in Der Freischütz
deals for the first time with peasant life. His orchestration is lovely
and his skill with it was so great that he is still looked upon as one of
the important men in the development of the orchestra. He paints
the individual characters beautifully by giving each one suitable
music to sing.
He reached dramatic heights by his contrasts between mellow
quietness and brilliant effects. He made use of all the resources on
his instruments, their defects as well as their good points. No one
had ever before written more weird music than in the scene of the
Wolf’s Glen, in Der Freischütz.
His piano music, including many fine sonatas, was rich with new
and brilliant effects and his Concertstück (Concert-piece) was the
father of the symphonic poems which were later written by Franz
Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss. Thus did
Weber give much to music’s growth.
Louis Spohr (1784–1854) who was later a kind friend to Wagner,
wrote ten operas which belong, too, in the Romantic School of
Weber. He, however, was best known for his violin concertos, written
in the classic style of Haydn and Mozart. He wrote these because he
lived in the time of the great piano and violin virtuosi (brilliant
performers) in Vienna. His work is tiresome to us because of his
many mannerisms.
 Grétry and Opéra Comique

Now we will go back a little and take up the French School with
Grétry, the first man of importance in France after Rameau, and the
founder of the comedy opera (opéra comique).
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741–1813), was born in Liège. He
excelled in the opera buffa imported from Italy, which, due to the
great sense of humor of the French, immediately became popular. In
spite of their vulgarity there was much in these comedy operas that
was delightful and they were on subjects which interested the people.
Grétry was very skilful and successful in this kind of opera of which
he wrote fifty in addition to much church music, six symphonies and
many instrumental pieces.
Later, opéra comique, a more refined form of this opera buffa, had
a long vogue in France. It became more serious, too, getting very
close to grand opera, except that it had spoken words. Opéra
comique always kept its naturalness, was simple, straightforward in
story and informal in action. Another important difference from
grand opera was that it could be easily given in small theatres, for it
needed no spectacular scenes. This of course made opéra comique
popular, for composers liked to write it, as they had a better chance
to have their works performed than if they had written grand opera
with costly scenes. This form has been the inspiration of many of the
French composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Opéra comique is first found in Paris at the time of the War of the
Buffoons in 1752 the year that Pergolesi’s little opera La Serva
Padrona, took Paris by storm.
Now, Paris had become the great meeting place for composers, and
we find Italians and Germans going there to give operas, combining
the ideas of Rameau, Lully and Gluck, with their own national styles.
They often displaced the French musicians and Paris was a center of
jealousies and heart aches in the midst of its brilliancy.
 Cherubini—Musical Czar of Paris

The first of these foreigners to invade France was Luigi Cherubini

(1760–1842), a Florentine, who became the musical czar of Paris. He
was educated in Italy and in the beginning wrote Italian opera in the
popular style. He went to London on invitation and was made
composer to the King. In 1788 we see him in Paris giving his opera
Demophon. In this, instead of being trivial in the waning Italian
style, he became “grand” and pompous! Nearly every one that
followed, copied him. Beethoven himself thought him to be the
greatest living composer, because of his Lodoiska (1791) and The
Water Carrier.
Cherubini started as a composer of church music and wrote most
of his operas from 1780 to 1800. He returned to church music later
in life and wrote his great Credo for eight voices. He composed in all
forms required of the Roman Catholic service and one of the noblest,
sacred writings is his Requiem in C.
But his opera writing influenced his church music and made him
and many who followed him, compose such spectacular church
music that the solemn polyphony of the 17th century was well-nigh
lost. About twenty years ago, the Pope decided that this style of
writing was not suitable for the church and so ordained it, that only
Gregorian Chant should be sung in the Roman Catholic Church.
History repeats itself and Church music, as in the time of St. Gregory
and of Palestrina, had to have another “house-cleaning.”
Cherubini’s orchestration was broad and fine and his overtures
were classic models. He seemed to have followed Mozart’s style
rather than Gluck’s and joined the classic style with the modern. He
had vigor, and was free from mannerisms, and was looked upon as a
great man. As the head of the Paris Conservatory he was able to
befriend many a struggling composer. He died after a long useful life,
at 82.
His Medée and The Water Carrier (Les deux journées) mark the
greatest accomplishment in his life—both are tragic yet are opéra
comique because they contain spoken dialogue. Remember this
instance of tragic opéra comique and it will explain how it differs
from what we call comic opera.
 Followers of Gluck

Following the time of Gluck in Paris there was a group of

composers who were so much influenced by him that they are looked
upon as his disciples. One of these was his own pupil, Antonio Salieri
(1750–1825), who in turn taught Beethoven, Schubert and others.
One of the links between the 18th and 19th centuries was Etienne
Nicholas Méhul (1763–1817), a Frenchman, who worked with Gluck.
He dared to take his themes from life and wrote opéra comique with
a serious aim. Even though he lived in the turbulence of the French
Revolution, he wrote thirty operas, among which the greatest is
Joseph. He was made inspector at the new Conservatory and also an
Academician, and was one of the most loved composers of his day.
He was often noble in musical expression and handled his chorus
and orchestra with skill. He wrote little of anything but opera, but
pointed the way for others, especially in the use of local color and
national feeling.
The next follower of Gluck, Gasparo Spontini (1774–1851), born in
Italy, of peasant stock, was one of the first to write historic opera,
which was further developed by Meyerbeer and others. Technically,
this is known as French Grand Opera, which was being developed at
the same time as opéra comique. It appealed to hearts and
imagination, for the people loved the great scenes and patriotism
portrayed.
Spontini first went to Paris in 1803 and the people did not like his
work. But he persisted, studied Gluck and Mozart as hard as he
could, and produced Milton, which showed the public that his work
had some beauty. After this he wrote La Vestale, a noble work which
swept him into favor and he won a prize offered by Napoleon and
judged by Méhul, Gossec (a composer), and Grétry.
Weber, however, while Spontini was absent came to Paris with Der
Freischütz, and took his place in the hearts of the people. Cast down
by losing his popularity, Spontini returned to Italy. His musical
ability was not equal to his great plots, yet, as the first writer of
historic opera he deserves a place in the growing up of musical
drama.
 Grétry made French opéra comique out of opéra bouffe. Among
the well known writers of opéra comique in France were François
Adrienne Boieldieu, Daniel François Esprit Auber, Louis Joseph
Ferdinand Hérold, Jacques François Halévy.
Boieldieu (1775–1834) was born in Rouen and became, in 1800,
professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory. He wrote piano pieces
and operas, and is best known for his La Dame Blanche (“The White
Lady”) which is still heard in Paris. His operas combine sweet
melody, amusing rhythm with not a little dramatic style. He shows in
his works a real understanding of how characters and action should
be handled.
Auber (1782–1871) called “The Prince of Opéra Comique,” was
born in Paris, and later he became the Director of the Conservatory
and Imperial Chapel Master to Napoleon III. His best known operas
are Fra Diavolo, The Black Domino, Masaniello, or La Muette de
Portici (The Dumb Girl of Portici). He had great popularity during
his day.
Hérold (1791–1833) was not as accomplished as either Auber or
Boieldieu. He was the son of a piano teacher and studied at the
Conservatory under Méhul. In 1812 he won the Prix de Rome (the
prize given by the Conservatory for composition, which permitted
the student to go to Rome to perfect himself in his art, and to
increase his culture, at the expense of the Government.) His best
operas are Zampa and Le Pré aux Clercs. He was particularly good in
orchestration, and his works are still heard.
The last one in this group is Jacques François Halévy (1799–1862),
who is chiefly famous for La Juive (The Jewess), a type of historic
opera, even though he wrote many in the style of opéra comique. It is
still given today, and it was while singing in this opera, at the
Metropolitan Opera House that Caruso was stricken with his fatal
illness and Martinelli, a few years later was taken ill, and so it is
looked upon with superstition by some of the singers.
 Meyerbeer Composes Very Grand “Grand Opera”

Next, comes Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), and he followed the

historic style that Spontini had begun. He, though a German,
captured the French audiences and is famous chiefly for writing
grand scenes, rather than for noble music in grand opera. His name
was Jacob Liebmann Beer, but he changed it to Meyerbeer. He was
the son of a Jewish banker and had no struggle for money as did so
many of the composers. He began as a pianist and was also a pupil of
Abbé Vogler. He was unsuccessful in Germany, so went to Italy. After
an invitation to hear his opera Il Crociato (The Crusader) performed
in Paris, he took up his residence there.
His style was a queer mixture of German counterpoint, Italian
melody and French rhythm, and after blotting up all the popular
fashions of the day, he gave his Robert le Diable (Robert the Devil),
The Huguenots and Le Prophète (The Prophet) with different
degrees of success in Paris. Eugène Scribe was chief librettist in this
period. Later Meyerbeer’s operas were given in Berlin, with Jenny
Lind in the title rôles and he became very famous. Dinorah and
L’Africaine (The African Maid) were very popular and are still in the
repertory of opera companies. But his style seems insincere and
showy according to those who expect more of opera than grand
effects, glitter and elaborate scenery. The Huguenots was probably
his finest piece of work.
Among other composers in Germany whose names you may come
upon in other places are: Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861), Conradin
Kreutzer, Lortzing (1801–1851), von Flotow (1812–1883), composer
of Stradella and Martha, and Otto Nicolai (1810–1849) who wrote
the delightful bit of fluff, The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Later we see the old Singspiel take the form of Comic Opera (not
opéra comique) with such Germans as Carl Millocker and von Suppé
and Victor Nessler in his Trumpeter of Sakkingen and The Pied
Piper of Hamelin, and Johann Strauss, the great Viennese Waltz
King, whose “Blue Danube” and other waltzes are so familiar.
(Vienna was as famous for the waltz as America is for jazz.)
 Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann

Another German who went to Paris was Jacques Offenbach (1819–

1880) from Cologne, who became more of a Parisian than the
Parisians. He was quite a fop and Wagner once called him “the
musical Clown” for he was often seen wearing a yellow waist-coat
and trousers, sky blue coat, grey gloves, a green hat and he carried a
red sun shade. How like an electric sign he must have looked! But
withal, he was so popular in Vienna that when Wagner approached
the Opera House about his Meistersinger he was told that they were
too busy producing Offenbach’s operas to consider his. He was the
best box-office attraction of his time, and the managers could not get
enough of his works. Offenbach was important because he founded a
new kind of light opera, or the operetta, which is light in story,
charming and winsome. His chief operas are The Grand Duchess of
Gerolstein, La Belle Hélène and his masterpiece The Tales of
Hoffmann of which you probably know the often-played Barcarolle.
He felt that it was his finest work and was very eager to be present at
its first performance at the Opéra Comique in Paris, but before he
had finished orchestrating it, he died. When it was given, the
following year, it was praised as the work of a genius.
His followers were Planquette, with Chimes of Normandy, Lecocq
and his La Fille de Mme. Angot, and Giroflé-Girofla, and Franz von
Suppé with Fatinitza, Boccaccio and the Poet and Peasant overture,
played at all movie-houses!
In Vienna Johann Strauss with his waltzes, and the most perfect
comic opera of its kind, Die Fledermaus (The Bat) still sparkling and
delightful, Zigeuner-Baron (Gypsy-Baron), all owe their start in life
to Offenbach’s genius. We too, in America, have had the gifted Victor
Herbert with his Mlle. Modiste, The Serenade, The Red Mill and
many other lovely operettas and Reginald De Koven with Robin
Hood. The inimitable pair in England, Sir Arthur Sullivan and his
librettist W. S. Gilbert, wrote comic operas that have become classics.
(See page 341.)
So, the foppish Offenbach sowed fruitful seed, and the crop that
followed him have given high pleasure and delightful times to many,
and probably will, for years to come.
 An Italian Trio—Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti

We have dipped into Germany and France so now we must see

what was going on in Italy.
Few Italians realized that great musical advances were being made
in other countries and kept on doing the same old things. But one or
two became famous because they left Italy to mingle with the other
composers and audiences of Europe.
Among the best known of these was Giacchino Rossini (1792–
1868), who became director of the Theatre Italien, in Paris, after
visits to Vienna and London. His masterpiece was William Tell,
based on the Schiller poem dealing with the hero of Swiss history.
Among other things, and very delightful, was his Barber of Seville,
which was modelled after the Marriage of Figaro, the conversational
opera invented by Mozart, whose influence can also be seen in his
Semiramide.
Rossini’s church music, such as the well known Stabat Mater is
also florid but full of beautiful living melody. This and the Solemn
Mass are often given today. He was a brilliant composer, an
innovator and did much to abolish the foolish cadenza in opera. His
work is very ornate but shows skill in concerted pieces,—choruses
and the endings or finales of the acts.
One of the best known followers of Rossini in Italy was Gaetano
Donizetti (1797–1848) with his Daughter of the Regiment, Lucrezia
Borgia and Lucia di Lammermoor from Sir Walter Scott’s story, The
Bride of Lammermoor. He wrote showy brilliant things like the
sextet and the mad scene from Lucia and by his very skill in these
musical fireworks, kept back opera founded on truth and sincerity.
Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835), unlike Donizetti, wrote only in the
grand style and not in the comique. His best known works are
Norma, I Puritani (The Puritan) and La Sonnambula (The Sleep
Walker). Though he was a better writer than Donizetti, Bellini is
heard far less often today. He also used too many frilly, frothy effects
and held back the advance of opera.
 Opera Singers of the Period

As there cannot be successful opera without opera singers, here

are the names of a few who have gone down to history: Angelica
Catalani, Giudittza Pasta, Henriette Sontag, Wilhelmine Schroeder-
Devrient, Maria Garcia Malibran, Pauline Viardot Garcia, Henriette
Nissen, Giulia Grisi, Jenny Lind, Caroline Carvalho, Euphrosyne
Parepa-Rosa, Zelia Trebelli, Pauline Lucca, and Adelina Patti, and
Manuel Garcia, John Braham, Domenico Ronconi, Nicholas
Levasseur, Joseph Tichatschek, Guiseppe Mario, Enrico Tamberlick,
Theodor Wachtel, Charles Santley and John Sims Reeves.
 English Opera-Ballad
18th Century

Fifteen years after the period in which Purcell glorified English

music, Handel went to England and gathered about him composers
who wrote along the lines which he popularized. In addition to this,
ballad-operas, part songs, “catches” (separate songs or ballads) were
very popular. In London, there were comic plays made of strings of
songs such as Gay’s Beggar’s Opera which were sisters to opera
buffa in Italy, opéra bouffe in France, and the Singspiel in Germany.
Forty-five of these ballad-operas were produced in 15 years. The
arrangers of these amusing song-plays included the names of Dr.
Pepusch, a German who lived in London; Henry Carey (1692–1743),
famous as the composer of Sally in our Alley, God Save the King
(our America); and Thomas Arne (1710–1778) who wrote many
masques, numerous ballad-operas, and set many of the Shakespeare
lyrics and wrote many glees and ballads. Some of these part songs
were very beautiful and somewhat like the madrigals of earlier days.
Many of the church composers in their lighter moods wrote some
of these ballad-operas, among them: Samuel Arnold, with his Maid
of the Mill, a pasticcio, “Notable,” says Waldo Selden Pratt, “as the
first native music drama, since Purcell”; William Jackson; Thomas
Atwood and Charles Dibden who was so successful with his
Shepherd’s Artifice that he wrote seventy others, and thirty musical
monologues, among which were Sea Songs. Some other well known
men were Michael Arne, son of Dr. Thomas Arne with his Fairy Tale,
Almena and Cymon from Garrick’s play of the same name; James
Hook with some two thousand songs and twenty-five plays; William
Shield, the viola player and song writer; Stephen Storace, clever
violinist and the author of The Haunted Tower and Pirates, and his
sister Ann Storace, a singer. At this time there were two clubs, one
called the “Catch Club” and another the “Glee Club,” and one also
called “Madrigal Society,” and before 1800 we have a list of glee
writers including the two Samuel Webbs, Sr. and Jr., Benjamin Cook
and his son Robert, John Wall Callcott, a pupil of Haydn, who won
many medals from the “Catch Club.”
 From now on, England was influenced by foreign composers,
especially Mendelssohn, Weber and Gounod, and made ballad
operas and operettas freely adapted from continental works, besides
glees and songs and music for the Church of England services. The
interest in music was great and some of the church music and glees
at the time were excellent. In this period, the Birmingham Festivals
were started, Horsley founded the Concentores Sodales (1748–1847),
a group formed along the lines of the earlier Catch and Glee Clubs.
The Philharmonic Society also was formed (1813) and among its
great leaders were Cherubini in 1815, Spohr 1820 and 1843 and
Weber 1826 and Mendelssohn many times after 1829. Through the
effort of the Earl of Westmoreland, the Royal Academy of Music was
organized in 1822. Among the composers of this period were Samuel
Wesley (1776–1837). He was a Bach enthusiast and wrote much
church music and other classic forms; William Crotch (1775–1847),
George Stark, an intimate of Weber and Mendelssohn, who edited
Gibbon’s Madrigals; William Horsley, who edited Callcott’s Glees
and wrote glees himself, symphonies and songs and handbooks.
There were many others in this period but too numerous to mention
here.
In the next period England’s composers free themselves from the
Mendelssohn School and begin to branch out. Do not think that
Mendelssohn was not good for them. He gave much that England
needed, and also brought English composers in contact with
European music. But they liked church music and the ballad opera
and the charming part songs, rather than the heavier operas of
Europe. Among writers of cathedral music, are Sir George A.
MacFarren, John Bacchus Dykes, whose name appears in our hymn
books, Joseph Barnby, Samuel Wesley mentioned above, and Henry
Smart. In 1816, Sir William Sterndale Bennett was born, he was a
choir boy and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1835. The
House of Broadwood (English piano makers) sent him to Leipsic to
study and he came under the influence of Mendelssohn and
Schumann. He was the director of the Royal Academy of Music, a
fine pianist and wrote many compositions, among which his Cantata
A Woman of Samaria is not as dry as the usual sacred works of this
period.
 Another great writer of this time was Sir John Stainer (1840–
1901). Some of his things are given today in our churches and are
very beautiful and impressive. He is the author of valuable text-
books.
 Light Opera

At this time, some writers of a sort of belated ballad opera

appeared in the persons of:
Michael William Balfe who wrote thirty operas among which is
The Bohemian Girl, still played and greatly admired; William
Vincent Wallace, like Balfe an Irishman, who is famous for his
Maritana; and then of course, Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–
1900), who probably needs very little introduction to any American
or any Englishman for he wrote The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance,
Iolanthe, the only fairy opera without a mortal in it, Pinafore,
Patience, Princess Ida, Trial by Jury, Ruddigore and many others,
including the first light opera, Cox and Box, which was the first time
that he and W. S. Gilbert, as librettist, worked together. W. S. Gilbert
was the author of the inimitable and amusing Bab Ballads. If you
haven’t read them you have a treat in store for you! They wrote
together in a fresh, mock-heroic, humorous vein, and it seems as if
they were made for each other, so delightfully did they play into each
other’s hands.
Sullivan was the son of a clarinet player and teacher. He also
began, as did so many British Islanders, as a choir boy and entered
the Royal Academy of Music on a Mendelssohn Scholarship. Later he
went to the Leipsic Conservatory and wrote some music to
Shakespeare’s Tempest, which established his fame in England.
Besides his operas he wrote much incidental music, some anthems
and cantatas, among these The Golden Legend and The Prodigal Son
are the best. He wanted very much to write grand opera, but he never
seemed to work well in this vein and his Ivanhoe did him little good.
And so, we leave opera until the wand of the Wizard Wagner
changes the whole path of music.
 CHAPTER XXIV
The Poet Music Writers—Romantic School

Schubert—Mendelssohn—Schumann—Chopin

You have seen how Romantic Music began, and why Beethoven is
often the first name mentioned when Romanticism is talked about,
for he was the colossal guidepost pointing the way.
He was as far from the classical forms of Bach, as from later
writers who have “jumped over the musical traces” altogether. All
were, and still are, trying to free themselves from conventions, and to
express their feelings satisfactorily.
It is natural to begin the Romantic school with Schubert, the first
figure of great importance. But there was one John Field (1782–
1837) from totally different surroundings who is still remembered for
his fine piano nocturnes.
Impressed with the quiet and solemnity of the night, he knew how
to put it into beautiful melody. He was born in a little out-of-the-way
street in Dublin, not far from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and near the
birthplace of that romantic poet, Tom Moore. His father and his
grandfather, both musicians, forced the infant prodigy, and at ten, he
played, publicly, a concerto composed by his father.
At twelve, the boy was apprenticed, or “hired out,” as pupil and
salesman to Clementi, the composer and piano manufacturer in
London. He showed off the pianos so well to the customers, that
Clementi soon realized he had made a good bargain. The boy played
in London as the “ten-year-old pupil of Clementi,” on whom he no
doubt tried out his Gradus ad Parnassum. (Page 320.)
Five years later he played his own “Concerto for the grand
fortepiano, composed for the occasion.” Clementi was shrewd, and
started a branch of his piano business in St. Petersburg, taking Field
with him.
One of the ear-marks of Romantic music is the title of the piano
piece or song. Until the romantic period music was designated
usually by the number of the work or by its form such as gavotte,
minuet, rondo, sonata, etc., but the Romantics wrote what they felt,
and with the exception of Chopin, gave descriptive names to their
pieces. In 1817 John Field wrote a concerto named L’incendie par
l’orage (The Fire from the Storm), a musical picture.
His influence was more important than his music. We see his hand
in the playing and composing of the poet-pianist, Frederick Chopin.
Although Weber appeared in a different musical field he, too, had
a strong influence. He was four years younger than Field but had
greater opportunities and was one of the first of the Romantic
School.
Charles Mayer (1799–1862) was a direct follower and pupil of
Field. His études (studies) ranked with those of Henselt, who wrote
the delightful If I Were a Bird, and he had an influence upon Chopin,
too.