in order to follow her to court.  She turns out to be Leonora, the mistress of the King, for whose beaux yeux the latter is prepared to repudiate the Queen and to brave all the terrors of Rome.  Fernando finds Leonora ready to reciprocate his passion, and by her means he obtains a commission in the army.  He returns covered with glory, and is rewarded by the King, who has discovered his connection with Leonora, with the hand of his cast-off mistress.  After the marriage ceremony is over, Fernando hears for the first time of Leonora’s past.  He flies to the convent for consolation, followed by his unfortunate wife, who dies in his arms after she has obtained forgiveness.  ‘La Favorite’ is more carefully written than was Donizetti’s wont, and some of the concerted music is really dramatic.  There is a tradition that the last act, which was an after-thought, was written in an incredibly short space of time, but it is significant that the beautiful romanza ‘Spirto gentil,’ to which the act and indeed the whole opera owes most of its popularity, was transferred from an earlier and unperformed work, ‘Le Duc d’Albe.’  It would be waste of time to describe the plots of any other serious works by this composer.  Many of them, such as ‘Betly,’ ’Linda di Chamonix,’ and ‘Anna Bolena,’ were successful when produced; but Donizetti aimed merely at satisfying the prevailing taste of the day, and when a new generation sprang up with different sympathies from that which had preceded it, the operas which had seemed the most secure of popularity were soon consigned to oblivion.  It is a significant fact that Donizetti’s lighter works have stood the test of time more successfully than his more serious efforts.  Though the grandiose airs and sham tragedy of ‘Lucia’ have long since ceased to impress us, we can still take pleasure in the unaffected gaiety of ‘La Fille du Regiment’ and ‘Don Pasquale.’  These and many similar works were written currente calamo, and though their intrinsic musical interest is of course very slight, they are totally free from the ponderous affectations of the composer’s serious operas.  Here we see Donizetti at his best, because here he writes according to the natural dictates of his imagination, not in accordance with the foolish or depraved taste of fashionable connoisseurs.

The scene of ‘La Fille du Regiment’ is laid in the Tyrol, where Tonio, a peasant, has had the good fortune to save the life of Marie, the vivandiere of a French regiment.  Many years before the opening of the story, Marie had been found upon the battle-field by Sergeant Sulpice, and adopted by the regiment whose name she bears.  The regiment, as a body, has the right of disposing of her hand in marriage, and when Tonio presses his claim, which is not disallowed by the heroine, it is decided that he shall be allowed to marry her if he will consent to join the regiment.  Everything goes well, when a local grandee in the shape of the Marchioness Berkenfeld suddenly appears, identifies