Dictionary of musical compositions and composers
My original object in compiling this dictionary was to furnish the British and American musical public with a quick and convenient means of reference to any musical composition that can claim some degree of musical value, fame, or permanent notoriety, or to any work that may be of interest to the music student or antiquary.
So far as I am aware this work is the first of its kind, the nearest approach being, I believe, Clement & Larousse's " Dictionnaire des Operas," which, as its name implies, deals with operas only, and therefore I feel confident that the following pages will fill a very real gap. I have endeavoured to include, all the more important operatic, orchestral, instrumental, choral, and lyric compositions known to musical history, together with all the notable excerpts therefrom. Works that are not named, and have an opus number only, obviously could not be given.
The ordinary types of operetta and musical comedy, too, are absent. Their names are legion, and I refuse to burden the reader with the titles of thousands of ephemeral productions — of little or no musical value — that can be of no real interest to any save the merely curious.
With regard to the languages in which the foreign compositions are given, I have endeavoured to give the title of each composition in the language in which it is best known to the British public. In the case of a work which is equally — or almost equally — well known by its other titles.
I have given it in each language. Thus the " Magic Flute " of Mozart also appears as " II Flauto Magico " and as " Die Zauberflcite." That there should be omissions and mistakes is, in the case of a work of this character, inevitable, and for any incompleteness, I can only offer my apologies, and trust that the reader will be good enough to point out to me any blunder that may catch his eye, so that a correction may be made in the next edition.
