THOMAS.

Charles Ambroise Thomas was born at Metz, Aug. 5, 1811, and entered the Paris Conservatory in 1828, where he carried off the Grand Prize in 1832, which entitled him to go to Italy.  During his Italian residence he wrote a cantata, “Hermann und Ketty,” and several instrumental works.  His first work at the Opera Comique was the one-act opera, “La double echelle,” produced in 1837 with success.  He then brought out several ballets at the Academie, but returned to the Opera Comique again, where, between 1840 and 1866, he composed thirteen operas, the most successful of which were “Le Songe d’une nuit d’ete” (1850), “Raymond” (1851), “Psyche” (1857), and “Mignon” (1866).  During this period he also wrote a large number of cantatas, choruses, part-songs, and instrumental works.  His next great work was “Hamlet,” first produced March 9, 1868, the success of which gained him the position of Director of the Conservatory in 1871.  Since that time he has written only the opera “Francoise de Rimini,” performed April 14, 1882.  In 1880 he was made a member of the Legion of Honor.  In common with Gounod he now shares the honor of being one of the few French writers who hold a high rank among modern composers.

MIGNON

“Mignon,” an opera comique in three acts, words by Barbier and Carre, the subject taken from Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister,” was first produced at the Opera Comique, Paris, Nov. 17, 1866, with the following cast:—­

MIGNON             Mme. GALLI-MARIE. 
WILHELM MEISTER    M. ACHARD. 
LAERTES            M. CONDERS. 
LOTARIO            M. BATAILLE. 
FILINA             Mme. CABEL.

The scene of the first two acts is laid in Germany, and of the third in Italy.  Mignon, the heroine, in her childhood was stolen by gypsies.  She is of noble birth.  The mother died shortly after her bereavement, and the father, disguised as the harper Lotario, has wandered for years in quest of his daughter.  The opera opens in the yard of a German inn, where a troupe of actors, among them Filina and Laertes, are resting, on their way to the castle of a neighboring prince, where they are to give a performance.

A strolling gypsy band arrives about the same time, and stops to give an entertainment to the guests.  Mignon, who is with the band, is ordered to perform the egg dance, but, worn out with fatigue and abusive treatment, refuses.  Giarno, the leader, rushes at her, but the old harper interposes in her behalf.  Giarno then turns upon Lotario, when the wandering student, Wilhelm Meister, suddenly appears and rescues both Mignon and the harper.  To save her from any further persecution he engages her as his page, and follows on in the suite of Filina, for whom he conceives a violent and sudden passion.  Touched by his kind attentions to her, Mignon falls in love with Wilhelm, who, ignorant of his page’s affection, becomes