In both the Prophete
and Favorita the contralto plays the principal part, the soprano
having a very subsidiary role. Meyerbeer wrote the part of the
Prophet himself specially for Roger, the great tenor, and that of
"Fides" for Mme. Viardot. By the way, the famous skating scene in
the Prophete was part of the original production in Paris of 1849,
and yet we think roller-skating an invention of yesterday.
I had German lessons from a Professor Hentze. This old man was the
first example of a militant German that I had come across. He was
always talking of Germany's inevitable and splendid destiny.
Although a Hanoverian by birth, he was a passionate admirer of
Bismarck and Bismarck's policy, and was a furious Pan-German in
sentiment. "Where the German tongue is heard, there will be the
German Fatherland," he was fond of quoting in the original. As he
declared that both Dutch and Flemish were but variants of Low
German, he included Holland and Belgium in the Greater Germany of
the future, as well as the German-speaking Cantons of Switzerland,
and Upper and Lower Austria.
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