The interest of the public on this particular occasion was centred in
the new Opera, which had only been given three times before, and in
which the little dancer, Pequita, played the part of a child-heroine.
The _libretto_ was the work of Paul Zouche, and the music by one
of the greatest violinists in the world, Louis Valdor. The plot was
slight enough;--yet, described in exquisite verse, and scattered
throughout with the daintiest songs and dances, it merited a
considerably higher place in musical records than such works as
Meyerbeer's "Dinorah," or Verdi's "Rigoletto." The thread on which the
pearls of poesy and harmony were strung, was the story of a wandering
fiddler, who, accompanied by his only child (the part played by
Pequita), travels from city to city earning a scant livelihood by his
own playing and his daughter's dancing. Chance or fate leads them to
throw in their fortunes with a band of enthusiastic adventurers, who,
headed by a young hare-brained patriot, elected as their leader, have
determined to storm the Vatican, and demand the person of the Pope,
that they may convey him to America, there to convene an assemblage of
all true Christians (or 'New Christians'), and found a new and more
Christ-like Church. Their expedition fails,--as naturally so wild a
scheme would be bound to do,--but though they cannot succeed in
capturing the Pope, they secure a large following of the Italian
populace, who join with them in singing "The Song of Freedom," which,
with Paul Zouche's words, and Valdor's music was the great _chef
d'oevre_ of the Opera, rousing the listeners to a pitch of something
like frenzy.
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