Echo and Narcissus (Waterhouse painting) mythology. In Ovid's version of the myth, Narcissus was the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. His parents were told that he would live to an old age if he did not look at himself. He rejected all the nymphs and women who fell in love with him. One of these was the nymph Echo, who was so upset by her rejection that she withdrew from life and wasted away until all that was left was a whisper. Her prayers were heard by the goddess Nemesis who caused Narcissus to fall in love with his own
The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden been Don Perlimplín, whose love letters Marcolfa delivered. In dying, Perlimplín is embraced by his wife for the first and last time. She realizes she has unwittingly fallen in love with her own elderly husband; in sacrificing his life, he carries her love to the grave, and bequeaths her the soul she conspicuously lacked when they were married. Lorca, himself a composer, conceived this play with musical interludes (Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas) as well as songs on stage. The stylized construction of the piece has proved attractive as an operatic subject to numerous composers, among them Rieti (1949), Elston (1958), Maderna