The Wreckers (opera)
Encyclopedia
The Wreckers is an opera
in three acts, composed by Dame Ethel Smyth
to a libretto in French by Henry Brewster. The first performance took place at the Neues Theater, Leipzig
in a German translation by John Bernhoff as Strandrecht on 11 November 1906.
villages where, on stormy nights, the inhabitants lured passing sailing ships onto to the rugged Atlantic coast were commonplace in the nineteenth century. The cargoes plundered
were regarded as legitimate reward for the hardships endured in this isolated and barren part of the country. Therefore, when looking for a suitable theme for her third opera, it is little wonder that Smyth’s thoughts should turn to this dramatic, yet romantic subject.
The composition of the opera took several years, with Smyth herself visiting places where shipwrecks were said to have been engineered and interviewing anyone with evidence or memories of the wreckers. Eventually she passed her notes on to Henry Brewster, a close personal friend and writer, to prepare the libretto. Although an American by birth, he had been brought up in France and it was agreed that libretto should be in French, partly because Brewster was happier working in French, but also it was felt that there was a more realistic chance of the work being produced in France or Belgium than in England.
Smyth encountered considerable difficulty in getting this work published; her persistence in doing so was very commendable. "For five years Ethel Smyth, wearing mannish tweeds and an assertively cocked felt hat, had been striding about Europe, cigar in mouth, trying to sell her opera The Wreckers to timorous or stubborn impresarios."
Unfortunately all attempts to have the opera premiered in the French-speaking world came to nothing, and Smyth was forced to fall back on personal contacts in Leipzig, where she had studied, to get the work performed in an inferior German translation. Severe cuts were insisted on by the conductor, particularly in the third act, which Smyth felt was turned into an “incomprehensible jumble”. Despite a successful first night (the opera received 16 curtain calls) and general critical approval, Smyth immediately withdrew the opera and took it to Prague where she hoped for a more sympathetic production. Regrettably the opera fared even worse than at its first performance, and a disappointed Smyth returned to England.
It was not until the eminent conductor Thomas Beecham
championed the work that a complete, staged performance was achieved in England. This was at Her Majesty's Theatre
on 22 June 1909. Smyth was actually upset at the way Beecham conducted the rehearsals themselves, which were crammed into 10 days and nights. Beecham also included The Wreckers in his first Covent Garden
season in 1910. In 1907 Gustav Mahler
was considering the opera for a production at the Vienna Opera House, which would have been a very prestigious première for Smyth. Smyth said of Mahler, "He was far and away the finest conductor I ever knew, with the most all-embracing musical instinct, and it is one of the small tragedies of my life that just when he was considering The Wreckers at Vienna they drove him from office."
Thereafter performances have been occasional, at best. Rare stage performances have taken place in England since 1939, but The Wreckers was performed by Duchy Opera at the Hall for Cornwall in 2006 to mark the opera's centenary and its first performance in Cornwall. This production was conducted by Paul Drayton and directed by David Sulkin. The libretto for this production was adapted by Amanda Holden. A concert performance was included in the Proms
in 1994. It was most recently performed in concert performance by the American Symphony Orchestra
in September 2007, marking its United States premiere.
On their way to chapel, villagers are drinking outside the tavern. Pascoe, the lay preacher, arrives and chastises them for taking alcohol on the Sabbath. He declares that this is why the Lord has stopped sending them ships to plunder. Lawrence, the lighthouse keeper, has another explanation: he has seen beacons burning on the cliffs and is certain someone is warning ships of the danger. The villagers vow to find the traitor in their midst and destroy him.
Mark, one of the younger fishermen, has been courting Avis, who is the daughter of the lighthouse keeper. His affections however, have now turned towards Thirza, the young wife of Pascoe. Unaware that Avis is spying on him, he serenades his new love while the other villagers are in the chapel, and to Avis’s jealous fury it is clear that his amorous feelings for Thirza are fully returned.
The villagers leave the chapel inspired by Pascoe’s fiery sermon to commit further bloody acts of plunder. The preacher upbraids his wife for not attending the service, but Thirza retorts that she can no longer endure life in the village and the merciless ways of the wreckers.
Pascoe is left alone with his thoughts. A storm is brewing and a ship is being drawn onto the rocks. Excitedly, the men of the village anticipate the rich pickings soon coming their way.
To everyone’s amazement Avis returns and denounces Pascoe as the traitor who has been warning the ships of danger. The men agree to keep a close watch on the preacher as they begin their preparations for the grim work ahead.
Mark is collecting flotsam and driftwood. He is in fact the one responsible for the warning beacons. Just as he is about to set light to his bonfire using the flame of his torch he hears Thirza calling. She hurries to his side and warns him that other villagers are close by and that if he lights the fire they will see the flames and come to trap him.
The lovers embrace. At first Mark is intent on lighting his beacon, but when Thirza declares her love for him he stops, realizing he is putting her in danger as well as himself. Mark begs her to leave Pascoe and run away with him. She is reluctant at first, but gradually yields to his pleading. Triumphantly together they seize the torch and ignite the bonfire.
Pascoe arrives just in time to see the lovers making their escape. For a moment he sees his wife’s face in the moonlight and in a state of anguish collapses on the beach. He is still unconscious when Avis and the men from the village arrive. Finding Pascoe near the beacon they are certain that he is the traitor.
An impromptu court has been convened and Lawrence has appointed himself as prosecutor since he was one of the men who discovered Pascoe, apparently red-handed. Pascoe refuses to acknowledge the court and ignores their questions. Avis declares that he is the victim of witchcraft, as he is clearly still under the spell of his young wife, Thirza.
The evidence seems clear. The crowd howl for Pascoe’s death, but at that moment Mark bursts into their midst and confesses that he was the one who betrayed them. Thirza also steps forward to acknowledge her share of the guilt. Avis tries to save Mark by claiming he spent the night with her, but the lovers are determined to meet their fate together.
The verdict is inevitable. The lovers are to be left chained as the incoming tide gradually fills the cave. Once more Pascoe begs Thirza to repent, but she again rejects him, preferring to die with Mark. The villagers leave as the waters begin to rise and ecstatically the lovers face death in each other's arms.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts, composed by Dame Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
to a libretto in French by Henry Brewster. The first performance took place at the Neues Theater, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
in a German translation by John Bernhoff as Strandrecht on 11 November 1906.
Composition and performance history
Old tales of CornishCornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
villages where, on stormy nights, the inhabitants lured passing sailing ships onto to the rugged Atlantic coast were commonplace in the nineteenth century. The cargoes plundered
Wrecking (shipwreck)
Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered near or close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities, wrecking has been subjected to increasing regulation and evolved into what is now known as marine salvage...
were regarded as legitimate reward for the hardships endured in this isolated and barren part of the country. Therefore, when looking for a suitable theme for her third opera, it is little wonder that Smyth’s thoughts should turn to this dramatic, yet romantic subject.
The composition of the opera took several years, with Smyth herself visiting places where shipwrecks were said to have been engineered and interviewing anyone with evidence or memories of the wreckers. Eventually she passed her notes on to Henry Brewster, a close personal friend and writer, to prepare the libretto. Although an American by birth, he had been brought up in France and it was agreed that libretto should be in French, partly because Brewster was happier working in French, but also it was felt that there was a more realistic chance of the work being produced in France or Belgium than in England.
Smyth encountered considerable difficulty in getting this work published; her persistence in doing so was very commendable. "For five years Ethel Smyth, wearing mannish tweeds and an assertively cocked felt hat, had been striding about Europe, cigar in mouth, trying to sell her opera The Wreckers to timorous or stubborn impresarios."
Unfortunately all attempts to have the opera premiered in the French-speaking world came to nothing, and Smyth was forced to fall back on personal contacts in Leipzig, where she had studied, to get the work performed in an inferior German translation. Severe cuts were insisted on by the conductor, particularly in the third act, which Smyth felt was turned into an “incomprehensible jumble”. Despite a successful first night (the opera received 16 curtain calls) and general critical approval, Smyth immediately withdrew the opera and took it to Prague where she hoped for a more sympathetic production. Regrettably the opera fared even worse than at its first performance, and a disappointed Smyth returned to England.
It was not until the eminent conductor Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
championed the work that a complete, staged performance was achieved in England. This was at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
on 22 June 1909. Smyth was actually upset at the way Beecham conducted the rehearsals themselves, which were crammed into 10 days and nights. Beecham also included The Wreckers in his first Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
season in 1910. In 1907 Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
was considering the opera for a production at the Vienna Opera House, which would have been a very prestigious première for Smyth. Smyth said of Mahler, "He was far and away the finest conductor I ever knew, with the most all-embracing musical instinct, and it is one of the small tragedies of my life that just when he was considering The Wreckers at Vienna they drove him from office."
Thereafter performances have been occasional, at best. Rare stage performances have taken place in England since 1939, but The Wreckers was performed by Duchy Opera at the Hall for Cornwall in 2006 to mark the opera's centenary and its first performance in Cornwall. This production was conducted by Paul Drayton and directed by David Sulkin. The libretto for this production was adapted by Amanda Holden. A concert performance was included in the Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
in 1994. It was most recently performed in concert performance by the American Symphony Orchestra
American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski, then aged 80. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra from 1973-1978. Music Directors during the early...
in September 2007, marking its United States premiere.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 11 November 1906 (Conductor: - Hagel) |
|---|---|---|
| Pascoe, the local preacher | 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... |
|
| Thirza, his wife | Mezzo soprano | |
| Lawrence, the Lighthouse keeper | Baritone | |
| Mark, a young fisherman | 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... |
|
| Avis, Lawrence's daughter | 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... |
|
| Chorus: villagers and fishermen | ||
Act I
A Cornish fishing village. Sunday eveningOn their way to chapel, villagers are drinking outside the tavern. Pascoe, the lay preacher, arrives and chastises them for taking alcohol on the Sabbath. He declares that this is why the Lord has stopped sending them ships to plunder. Lawrence, the lighthouse keeper, has another explanation: he has seen beacons burning on the cliffs and is certain someone is warning ships of the danger. The villagers vow to find the traitor in their midst and destroy him.
Mark, one of the younger fishermen, has been courting Avis, who is the daughter of the lighthouse keeper. His affections however, have now turned towards Thirza, the young wife of Pascoe. Unaware that Avis is spying on him, he serenades his new love while the other villagers are in the chapel, and to Avis’s jealous fury it is clear that his amorous feelings for Thirza are fully returned.
The villagers leave the chapel inspired by Pascoe’s fiery sermon to commit further bloody acts of plunder. The preacher upbraids his wife for not attending the service, but Thirza retorts that she can no longer endure life in the village and the merciless ways of the wreckers.
Pascoe is left alone with his thoughts. A storm is brewing and a ship is being drawn onto the rocks. Excitedly, the men of the village anticipate the rich pickings soon coming their way.
To everyone’s amazement Avis returns and denounces Pascoe as the traitor who has been warning the ships of danger. The men agree to keep a close watch on the preacher as they begin their preparations for the grim work ahead.
Act II
A desolate seashore at the base of the cliffsMark is collecting flotsam and driftwood. He is in fact the one responsible for the warning beacons. Just as he is about to set light to his bonfire using the flame of his torch he hears Thirza calling. She hurries to his side and warns him that other villagers are close by and that if he lights the fire they will see the flames and come to trap him.
The lovers embrace. At first Mark is intent on lighting his beacon, but when Thirza declares her love for him he stops, realizing he is putting her in danger as well as himself. Mark begs her to leave Pascoe and run away with him. She is reluctant at first, but gradually yields to his pleading. Triumphantly together they seize the torch and ignite the bonfire.
Pascoe arrives just in time to see the lovers making their escape. For a moment he sees his wife’s face in the moonlight and in a state of anguish collapses on the beach. He is still unconscious when Avis and the men from the village arrive. Finding Pascoe near the beacon they are certain that he is the traitor.
Act III
The interior of a large caveAn impromptu court has been convened and Lawrence has appointed himself as prosecutor since he was one of the men who discovered Pascoe, apparently red-handed. Pascoe refuses to acknowledge the court and ignores their questions. Avis declares that he is the victim of witchcraft, as he is clearly still under the spell of his young wife, Thirza.
The evidence seems clear. The crowd howl for Pascoe’s death, but at that moment Mark bursts into their midst and confesses that he was the one who betrayed them. Thirza also steps forward to acknowledge her share of the guilt. Avis tries to save Mark by claiming he spent the night with her, but the lovers are determined to meet their fate together.
The verdict is inevitable. The lovers are to be left chained as the incoming tide gradually fills the cave. Once more Pascoe begs Thirza to repent, but she again rejects him, preferring to die with Mark. The villagers leave as the waters begin to rise and ecstatically the lovers face death in each other's arms.
Selected recordings
- The Wreckers, Anne-Marie Owens, Peter Sidhom, Justin Lavender, conducted by Odaline de la MartinezOdaline de la MartinezOdaline de la Martinez is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of , a London-based contemporary music ensemble which she co-founded in 1976 with New Zealander flautist , and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Promenade Concerts ...
(CD – Conifer Classics, Recorded live at the Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
,31 July 1994).