This is an exciting and innovative CD. Three things need to be said. Firstly, this new SOMM disc adds yet another nail into the still-held adage that Victorian Great Britain was a ‘land without music.’ From the first note to the last, these ten overtures display interest, character and downright tunefulness. Granted that these ‘discoveries’ do not showcase music of the stature of a Berlioz, a Weber or a Mendelssohn there is nothing here that is unworthy of anything being composed in the mid to late nineteenth century. Note the word ‘opera’ in the CD title: these overtures are from ‘grand’ operas and are not operettas, burlesques or ballad operas. They need to be approached in that light.
Secondly, I do not intend to give a detailed history of the life and
work of the the seven composers represented here save to say that all of them
are in the category ‘forgotten.’ Furthermore, it would be a brave person who
would automatically declare that they were all ‘lost geniuses’ on the strength
of these recordings. What can be said is the every one of them deserves
re-evaluation. On the face of it, most
opera lovers will be ‘au fait’ with the name Michael William Balfe who is best remembered
for one stage work or possibly just two songs: the opera The Bohemian Girl, ‘Killarney’ and
‘Come into the Garden Maud’ respectively.
Enthusiasts of British Music may have recently heard Julius Benedict’s two
piano concertos on Hyperion, many of William Vincent Wallace’s piano pieces on
Naxos or George Alexander Macfarren’s fine opera Robin Hood and the 4th
and 7th Symphonies. Nonetheless, I imagine that for all but the most
committed aficionados of Victorian music the names of John Barnett, Edward
Loder and Arthur Goring Thomas will be simply that – names.
And
thirdly, I do not propose to discuss the ‘plots’ of the 10 operas represented
on this CD The liner notes give sufficient information on this score.
However, a thumbnail sketch of the period and
the genre may be of some help. Most readers will be knowledgeable about the
German and Italian operas of Wagner, Donizetti, Verdi and Rossini, however, the
home-grown talent may be a little more obscure. In many ways the attitude of
opera lovers today is similar to that of 150 years ago. For most, serious opera
means/meant Italian opera – (with German, French, Russian and Peter Grimes
having gained a secure foothold in the intervening years). In the early to mid
nineteenth century, Covent Garden staged virtually nothing but Italian opera:
German and French productions were sometimes even translated into Italian for
‘convenience.’ Opera producers were not
always faithful to the score either, with interpolation of ‘original’ music by
the conductor being largely accepted, if not expected. Ernest Walker notes that at that the time of
Henry Bishop (1786-1855) ‘opera had been a sort of third-rate theatrical
medley, totally devoid alike of art and of sense’. Things could only get
better, although I imagine that one day Bishop himself will be re-evaluated. The lighter operas
of Balfe, Wallace and Benedict had considerable successes; however it was with John
Barnett’s The Mountain Sylph (overture performed here) that Britain
could claim anything approaching ‘grand opera.’ It was at this time that
composers began to produce works that that had some claim to musical and
dramatic continuity of interest and respectability of stage effect.
The overtures presented on this disc cover a
span of some 60 years so fall into the era of early and late Victorian. The
earliest is Barnett’s The Mountain Sylph with ‘book’ by Thackeray and
the latest is Arthur Goring Thomas’ The Golden Web dating from 1893.
Only this last named work was written after the massive achievement of Gilbert
and Sullivan.
I
enjoyed virtually every work on this CD. I would suggest that the Edwardian
music historian Ernest Walker’s dismissal of most of this music as being ‘…artistically
…not worth a moment's consideration, the tunes are empty beyond expression, and
there is not a particle of any workmanship to carry them off…’ is fundamentally
disproved by this collection of overtures. His further consideration that ‘…it
is all artistically dead beyond the very faintest hope of resurrection; and we
need not feel any cause for lament,’ seems untenable.
What
does this music sound like? It is an unwise
question to ask, and an even more difficult one to answer. Each of these
composers had their own voice. However, we know so little of their work that
generalisations are inevitable. The prevailing mood in all this music suggests
Rossini, Weber, Auber and to a certain extent anticipated Sullivan at his more
‘serious.’ I guess that ‘enjoyable’ is a
better adjective to describe the effect of this music than ‘challenging’. There
is nothing here to cause unease but plenty to give pleasure and delight. This
is all good music: it is by no means ‘great’ music, although there are moments
when composer seems to approach genius. John Barnett’s The Mountain Sylph
being a good example. None of this is a
problem. Not every bar of every opera by Verdi or Wagner is ‘great’ music.
This
CD is a fine production. The sound recording is always clear and well-balanced. The Victorian Opera Orchestra is made up of players
from around the North West of England. Their president and guest conductor is
Richard Bonynge who is an acknowledged expert in Victorian opera: he has made a
large number of ballet and operatic recordings over the years. Orchestra and maestro take each of these
overtures seriously: their playing is never overstated or condescending. Victorian Opera Northwest, the group which
has overseen the project, is dedicated to the promotion of ‘the excellent forgotten music of 19th century operas by
British and Irish composers’. They also produce scores and performing editions
of operas and overtures which are available for hire and include a number of
the works recorded on this CD.
The liner notes form a good
essay on Victorian opera and ought to be read before exploring the music. The
first section is a brief overview of ‘The English Opera movement’ in the
nineteenth century and this is followed by a detailed discussion of each opera
and its overture. However, was Love’s Triumph first performed in 1864
as stated here on the track listings, or in 1862?* The booklet features a
number of stunning music covers of ‘overtures and popular Dance Selections from
the operas’ by courtesy of the Richard Bonynge Archives. The impressive cover photograph is of Covent
Garden circa 1850.
This outstanding CD is an
important link in the rediscovery and re-evaluation of a generation of operatic
tradition that has been largely ignored, if not quite lost. It is a rediscovery
that I would never have guessed would have occurred when I first began to read
about British Music in the early nineteen-seventies. However, there is much to be done. Not
everything can be performed. Michael Balfe wrote more than two dozen operas: not
all of them can be revived and no doubt not all of them deserve the complex ‘archaeological
digging’ required to present them in a costume or concert version for our age.
However an important start has been made: witness the recent recording of
Macfarren’s Robin Hood on Naxos 8.660306-07 and Wallace’s Lurline and Balfe’s The Maid
of Artois by Victorian Opera Northwest. Most of Arthur Sullivan’s operas
(as opposed to the G&S collaborations) are now
available on CD. Recently a new book has been published by Dr. Andrew Lamb
about William Vincent Wallace (Fullers Wood Press, 2012).
There is much to be done, however it is
good that a solid start has been made. There are plenty of operas and composers
to explore. Let us hope that this work continues with alacrity.
*The London Standard for Saturday 15
November 1862 announces the first performance of Wallace’s new opera Love’s Triumph on that evening at Covent
Garden. The booklet, however, gives the correct date.
Track Listing:
Track Listing:
Julius BENEDICT (1804-1885) The Lily of Killarney (1862)
John BARNETT (1802-1890)
The Mountain Sylph (1834)
Michael William BALFE (1808-1870)
The Siege of Rochelle (1835) Le Puits D’Amour (1843)
Edward LODER (1813-1865)
The Night Dancers (1846)
William Vincent WALLACE (1812-1865)
Lurline (1860) The Amber Witch (1861) Love’s Triumph, prelude (1864?)
George Alexander MACFARREN (1813-1887)
She Stoops to Conquer (1864)
Arthur Goring THOMAS (1850-1892)
The Golden Web (1893)
Victorian Opera Orchestra/Richard Bonynge
SOMM SOMMCD0123
With thanks to MusicWeb International
where this review was first published.
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