Excerpt from Martha, or the Fair at Richmond: A Comic Romantic Opera in Four ActsThe history of Flotow's. Martha, the ever popular, as it has come to. Be called in England, is full of incident, but does not appear ever to have been correctly set down in all its details. The hand-books disagree hopelessly as to t-itles, dates and performers. Who sang_ the role of Lz'ozzc/ at the first perform? Ance of the opera in Vienna? The lexicons say herr'ander, the widow of the composer, who wrote his biography ten years after his death, says Erl. The latter was a popular singer at the, Court Opera Ill 1847, at the zénith of his career and the height of his powers, the former was still a novice on the stage and ten years Erl's junior. I have, therefore, accepted the statement of the widow.of the composer, although she did not become his wife until twenty-one years after the original production of the opera and may not' have written from original information. Who sang the part of Nancy when the opera was given for the first time in its Italian garb in Paris? The Dictionnaire des Opéras, by Clément and Larousse, says it. Was Madame nantier-didiée, Flotow's biog rapher says it was Marietta Alboni. One book gives the title of the French ballet which provided Flotow with his story as Lady Henriette, ou 1a Foire de Richmond, another as Lady Harriette, ou 1a Servante de Greenwich. So among the German titles oi-the opera we find Marth'a, oder der Markt zu Richmond, and also Martha, oder der M'zigdemarkt zu Richmond, yet Martha is a German opera, and its correct title ought not to have caused bewilderment.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.