Pasquale.' Come with me." They went to the composer's house. Rummaging
among a pile of manuscripts, Donizetti pulled out a song. "This is
what 'Don Pasquale' wants," he said. "Take it to Mario and tell him to
learn it at once." Mario obeyed, and when the opera was performed sang
it to the accompaniment of a tambourine, which Lablache played behind
the scenes. The opera was a success at once, and no song has ever been
more popular.

In strange contrast with the gay humor of "Don Pasquale," it may be
stated that in the same year Donizetti wrote the mournful "Don
Sebastian," which has been described as "a funeral in five acts."
Crowest, in his "Anecdotes," declares that the serenade is suggestive
of Highland music, and that many of his other operas are Scottish in
color. He accounts for this upon the theory that the composer was of
Scotch descent, his grandfather having been a native of Perthshire, by
the name of Izett, and that his father, who married an Italian lady,
was Donald Izett. The change from Donald Izett to Donizetti was an
easy one. The story, however, is of doubtful authenticity.


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR.

"Lucia di Lammermoor," an opera in three acts, words by Cammarano, was
first produced at Naples in 1835, with Mme. Persiani and Sig. Duprez,
for whom the work was written, in the principal rôles of Lucia and
Edgardo. Its first presentation at Paris was Aug. 10, 1839; in London,
April 5, 1838; and in English, at the Princess Theatre, London, Jan.
19, 1843. The subject of the opera is taken from Sir Walter Scott's
novel, "The Bride of Lammermoor," and the scene is laid in Scotland,
time, about 1669.