←Menu of Letters 1898

Aet. 45, to a woman of letters. George Moore and Lena Milman were correcting and editing proofs of Chapter 1 of Evelyn Innes.

“Batti, batti, o bel Masetto” is the “delicious” aria in Act II of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Don Juan).

Lillian Nordica was the preminent American opera singer and interpreter of Wagner in 1898. Nellie Melba was the leading Australian singer though not of Wagner’s operas.

George was correct in discounting prima donnas born and raised in England, but in his novel the musician and singer Evelyn Innes grew up in Dulwich, at that time a suburb of London.