Lurline (opera)
Encyclopedia
Lurline is a grand romantic opera
in three acts composed by William Vincent Wallace
to an English libretto
by Edward Fitzball
, It was first performed on 23 February 1860 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
by the Pyne and Harrison English Opera Company with Louisa Pyne
in the title role. The libretto is based on the legend of the Lorelei
.
under the title Lorelei, ou La fille du Rhine and then be performed in Covent Garden later that same year. The project was shelved, however, with just one performance in Germany in 1853. Wallace did not return to the opera until 1859 when he further elaborated the score. Lurline premiered in its full version on 23 February 1860 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
, conducted by Alfred Mellon
. It met with considerable success. The Illustrated London News
of 3 March 1860 wrote "this piece is not only the chef d’oeuvre of the composer but may challenge a comparison with the best German, Italian or French dramatic music of the present day", although it also noted that "the simplicity and wild horror of the tale are entirely lost amid the melodramatic absurdities of the cockney school." The Pyne and Harrison English Opera Company who had staged the work for its premiere revived it again at the end of the season and in the following season as well. The opera then premiered in Dublin on 30 April 1861 and in Sydney
in 1862.
Lurline was presented in a concert performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts
on 1 June 1863, and received its first fully staged American performance in New York
on 13 May 1869 at the Academy of Music
, followed by a production in Chicago on 14 October 1870. The opera was revived in New York in 1898 when it had a brief run at the American Theatre. Lurline was toured in Britain in the 1880s and early 1890s by the Carl Rosa Opera Company
and the Moody-Manners company. There was also a revival at London's Drury Lane
on 12 April 1890. However, by the 20th century, the opera has fallen into obscurity.
Neither Wallace, who died in 1865, nor his widow ever profited from the initial success of Lurline. In 1858, two years before its premiere, Wallace sold the English performing rights for the opera to the Pyne and Harrison company for 10 shillings which he then handed over to the widow of a carpenter in the Covent Garden Theatre. It was estimated that Pyne and Harrison's company made at least £50,000 from its various productions.
Following its premiere, twelve of the main arias and duets from Lurline were published as parlour songs in The Vocal Gems of William Vincent Wallace's Grand Romantic Opera Lurline. Several composers produced fantasia
s on the score, including René Favarger and Wilhelm Kuhe
. Lurlines music also found its way into two popular dance arrangements by Charles d'Albert – Quadrille
: Sail! Sail! on the midnight gale, and The Lurline Polka
.
In his underwater grotto, King Rhineberg laments the absence of his daughter, Lurline, and berates the gnomes for allowing the beautiful nymph
to wander in the upper world. Lurline returns playing her harp and sings of having fallen in love with Count Rudolph whom she had seen sailing on the river. Meanwhile, Count Rudolph, an extravagant young man, is hoping to improve his fortunes by marrying Ghiva, the daughter of Baron Truenfels. Unbeknownst to the young Count, Ghiva and her father are not at all wealthy and are hoping to improve their fortunes by her marriage to the Count. When Ghiva discovers their mutual poverty, she calls off the engagement. The count returns to his life of revelry to drown his sorrows. During one of these revelries in his half-ruined castle, Lurline appears and places a ring on his finger. Rudolph immediately falls in love with her. When she leaves, he follows her to the river and sets out in his boat to find her. A large storm arises, King Rhineberg and the water spirits cause the boat to disappear into a whirlpool.
Act II
The magic ring Lurline had given Rudolph allows him to survive underwater, and he is now living in Lurline's palace beneath the Rhine. Lurline and Rudolph sing of their love and happiness and the joys of wine. Meanwhile, back in the Baron's castle Ghiva regrets having broken off the engagement and sings a lament for her lost Rudolph. Back in Lurline's palace, Rudolph expresses nostalgia for his old friends and his castle. Lurline allows him to return for three days and take with him some of the Rhine treasure. Nevertheless, she is overcome with grief and a sense of foreboding at his departure.
Act III
On Rudolph's return, Ghiva is attracted by Rudolph's new wealth and determines to marry him. She steals the magic ring and throws it into the Rhine. Without the ring, Rudolph goes back to his life of revelery, forgetting Lurline and his promise to return to her. While Lurline laments Rudolph's broken promise, his friends, envious of his new wealth, plot to murder him and plunder his castle. When Lurline's attendants find the ring and bring it to her, she goes to a feast that Rudolph is holding on the river bank. There, she berates him for his desertion, and he is once again enchanted by her. Ghiva, desperate to win back Rudolph, tells him of his friends' plot and urges him to flee with her and the Baron instead, but he refuses. Lurline then calls on the spirits of the Rhine to save her lover. The river suddenly rises and drowns the conspirators. Rudolph, wearing the magic ring again, is spared and when the waters subside, he is carried back down to Lurline's palace where they are to live happily ever after.
, The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
, conductor). A complete recording of the opera conducted by Bonynge at the University of Manchester on 27 and 28 June 2009 was released on Naxos Records
in 2010.
Beale, Robert, Charles Hallé: a musical life, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007, p. 126. ISBN 0754661377
Bonynge, Richard, "What happened to Lurline?", Liner Notes to Lurline, Naxos Records
, 2010
Brisbane Courier
, "Summary of the News", 6 June 1890, p. 4.
Casaglia, Gherardo, "Lurline", Almanacco Amadeus, 2005. Accessed 17 November 2010 (in Italian).
Chicago Tribune
, "The Opera", 15 October 1870, p. 4
Davidson, Gladys, Two Hundred Opera Plots, originally published in 1911 and republished in facsimile by Bibliobazaar, 2008, pp. 430-432. ISBN 0554532557
Flood, W. H. Grattan, William Vincent Wallace: A Memoir, Published at the offices of The Waterford News, 1912. pp. 24-27
Graves, Perceval, "William Vincent Wallace", Gramophone Magazine, July 1928, p. 4.
New York Times, "Academy of Music, 14 May 1869, p. 5
New York Times, Wallace's "Lurline", 27 December 1898, p. 7
Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J. (eds.), "Wallace, William Vincent" in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1972, p. 539
Victorian Opera Northwest, Wallace's Lurline, 2009
Wisgast, Wilfrid (ed.), "The Habitue: Royal English Opera", The Players, Vol. I, No. 10, 3 March 1860, pp. 76-77.
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
in three acts composed by William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace was an Irish composer and musician.-Early life:Wallace was born at Colbeck Street, Waterford, Ireland. Both parents were Irish, his father, of County Mayo, was a regimental bandmaster....
to an English libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Edward Fitzball
Edward Fitzball
Edward Fitzball was a popular English playwright, who specialised in melodrama. His real surname was Ball, and he was born at Burwell, Cambridgeshire.Fitzball was educated in Newmarket, was apprenticed to a Norwich printer in 1809...
, It was first performed on 23 February 1860 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
by the Pyne and Harrison English Opera Company with Louisa Pyne
Louisa Pyne
Louisa Bodda-Pyne was an English soprano and opera company manager.She was born Louisa Fanny Pyne in 1832, the youngest daughter of the alto George Pyne...
in the title role. The libretto is based on the legend of the Lorelei
Lorelei
The Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat...
.
Background and performance history
Wallace conceived the idea for Lurline during a trip on the Rhine river and began writing the opera while he was in the United States. It was to have premiered in 1848 at the Paris OperaParis Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
under the title Lorelei, ou La fille du Rhine and then be performed in Covent Garden later that same year. The project was shelved, however, with just one performance in Germany in 1853. Wallace did not return to the opera until 1859 when he further elaborated the score. Lurline premiered in its full version on 23 February 1860 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, conducted by Alfred Mellon
Alfred Mellon
Alfred Mellon was an English violinist, conductor and composer.Mellon was born in Birmingham. He played the violin in the opera and other orchestras, and afterwards became leader of the ballet at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden...
. It met with considerable success. The Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...
of 3 March 1860 wrote "this piece is not only the chef d’oeuvre of the composer but may challenge a comparison with the best German, Italian or French dramatic music of the present day", although it also noted that "the simplicity and wild horror of the tale are entirely lost amid the melodramatic absurdities of the cockney school." The Pyne and Harrison English Opera Company who had staged the work for its premiere revived it again at the end of the season and in the following season as well. The opera then premiered in Dublin on 30 April 1861 and in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1862.
Lurline was presented in a concert performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
on 1 June 1863, and received its first fully staged American performance in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 13 May 1869 at the Academy of Music
Academy of Music (Manhattan)
The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located at East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The New York Times review declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect .....
, followed by a production in Chicago on 14 October 1870. The opera was revived in New York in 1898 when it had a brief run at the American Theatre. Lurline was toured in Britain in the 1880s and early 1890s by the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
and the Moody-Manners company. There was also a revival at London's Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
on 12 April 1890. However, by the 20th century, the opera has fallen into obscurity.
Neither Wallace, who died in 1865, nor his widow ever profited from the initial success of Lurline. In 1858, two years before its premiere, Wallace sold the English performing rights for the opera to the Pyne and Harrison company for 10 shillings which he then handed over to the widow of a carpenter in the Covent Garden Theatre. It was estimated that Pyne and Harrison's company made at least £50,000 from its various productions.
Following its premiere, twelve of the main arias and duets from Lurline were published as parlour songs in The Vocal Gems of William Vincent Wallace's Grand Romantic Opera Lurline. Several composers produced fantasia
Fantasia (music)
The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form ....
s on the score, including René Favarger and Wilhelm Kuhe
Wilhelm Kuhe
Wilhelm Kuhe was a German pianist, pianoforte player and teacher, composer and administrator born in the city of Prague , in the first half of the nineteenth-century.-Life:...
. Lurlines music also found its way into two popular dance arrangements by Charles d'Albert – Quadrille
Quadrille
Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...
: Sail! Sail! on the midnight gale, and The Lurline Polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast 23 February 1860, (Conductor: Andrew Mellon) |
|---|---|---|
| Lurline, a Rhine nymph Nymph A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;... |
soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Louisa Pyne Louisa Pyne Louisa Bodda-Pyne was an English soprano and opera company manager.She was born Louisa Fanny Pyne in 1832, the youngest daughter of the alto George Pyne... |
| Count Rudolph, a young nobleman | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
William Harrison |
| Wilhelm, Count Rudolph's friend | Charles Lyall | |
| Rhineberg, the River King | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Charles Santley Charles Santley Sir Charles Santley was an English-born opera and oratorio star with a bravuraFrom the Italian verb bravare, to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era... |
| Baron Truenfels | George Honey | |
| Ghiva, the Baron's Daughter | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Pilling |
| Zelieck, a gnome Gnome A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature... |
bass | Henry Corri |
| Liba, a spirit of the Rhine | Fanny Cruise | |
| Conrad | Friend | |
| Adolphe | Mengis | |
Synopsis
Act IIn his underwater grotto, King Rhineberg laments the absence of his daughter, Lurline, and berates the gnomes for allowing the beautiful nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
to wander in the upper world. Lurline returns playing her harp and sings of having fallen in love with Count Rudolph whom she had seen sailing on the river. Meanwhile, Count Rudolph, an extravagant young man, is hoping to improve his fortunes by marrying Ghiva, the daughter of Baron Truenfels. Unbeknownst to the young Count, Ghiva and her father are not at all wealthy and are hoping to improve their fortunes by her marriage to the Count. When Ghiva discovers their mutual poverty, she calls off the engagement. The count returns to his life of revelry to drown his sorrows. During one of these revelries in his half-ruined castle, Lurline appears and places a ring on his finger. Rudolph immediately falls in love with her. When she leaves, he follows her to the river and sets out in his boat to find her. A large storm arises, King Rhineberg and the water spirits cause the boat to disappear into a whirlpool.
Act II
The magic ring Lurline had given Rudolph allows him to survive underwater, and he is now living in Lurline's palace beneath the Rhine. Lurline and Rudolph sing of their love and happiness and the joys of wine. Meanwhile, back in the Baron's castle Ghiva regrets having broken off the engagement and sings a lament for her lost Rudolph. Back in Lurline's palace, Rudolph expresses nostalgia for his old friends and his castle. Lurline allows him to return for three days and take with him some of the Rhine treasure. Nevertheless, she is overcome with grief and a sense of foreboding at his departure.
Act III
On Rudolph's return, Ghiva is attracted by Rudolph's new wealth and determines to marry him. She steals the magic ring and throws it into the Rhine. Without the ring, Rudolph goes back to his life of revelery, forgetting Lurline and his promise to return to her. While Lurline laments Rudolph's broken promise, his friends, envious of his new wealth, plot to murder him and plunder his castle. When Lurline's attendants find the ring and bring it to her, she goes to a feast that Rudolph is holding on the river bank. There, she berates him for his desertion, and he is once again enchanted by her. Ghiva, desperate to win back Rudolph, tells him of his friends' plot and urges him to flee with her and the Baron instead, but he refuses. Lurline then calls on the spirits of the Rhine to save her lover. The river suddenly rises and drowns the conspirators. Rudolph, wearing the magic ring again, is spared and when the waters subside, he is carried back down to Lurline's palace where they are to live happily ever after.
Recordings
Two soprano arias from Lurline, "The Night Winds" and "The Naiad's Spell", can be heard on the 1999 recording Power of Love: British Opera Arias (Deborah RiedelDeborah Riedel
Deborah Riedel was an Australian operatic soprano. Hers is generally regarded as one of the greatest voices ever produced in Australia. She died of cancer at the height of her career, at the age of 50....
, The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
, conductor). A complete recording of the opera conducted by Bonynge at the University of Manchester on 27 and 28 June 2009 was released on Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
in 2010.
Sources
- Arundale, David, Recording Review:
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
, 2010
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
, "Summary of the News", 6 June 1890, p. 4.
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, "The Opera", 15 October 1870, p. 4