Richings English Opera: The Desert Flower

The English opera ensemble will perform Wallace's The Desert Flower this winter.

Follows review of Richings’ performance of Bohemian Girl.

“William Vincent Wallace’s opera of ‘The Desert Flower’ was to have been brought out to-morrow evening, but its production has been necessarily postponed until Monday evening next. Much interest is felt in musical circles in regard to this work, which met withunquestionable success in London, in 1863, but for some reason has never been brought out here.”

“Among the myriad pieces of music published this season it is a cheering thing to come across occasionally a gem and to find real pearls of melody and harmony amid the dross that too often encumbers the shelves of our principal publishers. Why a publisher should accept the crude effusions of a musical aspirant without the slightest regard to their merits and frequently reject works that are deserving of publication and notice we are at a loss to understand. The modus operandi is sometimes as follows. A young man goes to the publisher and mildly insinuates that he has work which he would like to have published, and adds the necessary qualification that his friends will buy up a sufficient part of the edition to insure the publisher against loss of money in the enterprise. The aspirant for composer’s honors produces his ‘original’ work, which proves to be a couple of pages from some opera or some similar case of petit larceny. The publisher mentions the act to him, but he gets over the difficulty by referring to the patronage of his friends and to the sure sale of the piece when his name is attached to it. Now this may be very convenient for both parties, but no respectable publisher, who has the reputation of his establishment at heart, will consent in such a manifest fraud on the public and an insult to their intelligence as to allow any person to steal in the most unblushing manner the fruits of other people’s brains. Again, the most intolerable trash is thrust in our faces as the original lugubriations of composers of this kind, while works of true, sterling merit are shelved away out of sight. This will never do, Messrs. Publishers. The public may buy this trash for a short time because it is forced obtrusively on their notice; but it will, sooner or later, inflict irreparable injury on your business.

Among the works we have selected this week for review the most important is Wallace’s opera, ‘The Desert Flower,’ which is comparatively new to America, and which will be produced at the Academy this week for the first time. It is published by Hall & Son, and is one of the handsomest opera scores that we have seen. We shall not dwell on the plot and incidents of the libretto of ‘The Desert Flower’…The Music has all the freshness, vigor, grace and melody of Wallace’s works, and possesses to the highest degree his remarkable purity of style. The overture is as usual a résumé of the leading airs of the opera, and although worked up with charming grace and skill, it seems to lack in the finale a broader development of idea and more effect in the concluding ensemble. In the first act we find four choruses, a trio, a large number of songs, a long finale and several other pieces, all of which, when the dialogue part is taken into account, would require some curtailment in the representation of the opera. The Woodbird’s song is a charming melody, simple yet novel, and with sufficient variety in it toe xercise the full powers of a prima donna’s voice. The other leading airs for the soprano are ‘Swift as Dart from Hunter’s Bow’ and ‘Of the Desert I’m Queen.’ The tenor has a beautiful ballad in the second act,’ Though Born in Woods.’ The savage who sings the villan’s rôle, and Major Von Pumpernickle, the comic character, have each of them some characteristic songs. In every part of the opera there is an easy flow of melody and harmony which goes right to the heart, and which one will unconsciously treasure up in his memory long after hearing it.”

“The musical novelty of the week will be production of an English opera at the Academy of Music to-night, by the Richings Company. It is one of the productions of the late William Vincent Wallace, and is entitled ‘The Desert Flower.’ Although unknown in this country, it sustains a good reputation in England, where it was produced in 1863, receiving much favorable criticism from the London papers. [Provides some information about the genesis of the libretto and plot.]

The music of the opera, so far as we can judge from merely reading the score, is a good specimen of Mr. Wallace’s fresh, flowing and pleasing style. The opera abounds in ballads, whose effectiveness must be decided on the hearing of them in their proper places. Some of them seem to possess elements of immediate popularity. One of them singularly suggests a part of the page’s song in ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ The overture conforms to the more modern ideas in containing airs and suggestions of airs from the main body of the work. There are some rather abrupt changes in it, whose effect, when performed by the orchestra, we shall watch with interest. The choruses and concerted pieces seem to be well constructed and rich in harmonic effects.”

“Academy of Music—The Desert Flower.—The latest opera of the lamented William Vincent Wallace, the ‘Desert Flower,’ was brought out at the Academy last night before a fair sized audience. It is the least interesting of Wallace’s works, for although there are a few charming numbers in it, yet the general impression of the hearer is one of dissatisfaction. The libretto is full of absurdities, the heroine being a sort of fierce virago and tender desert flower at the same time—an extra savage Selica and an innocuous Pocahontas transferred to the earthquake region of Surinam. The hero, Captain Maurice, and the funny man, Major Von Pumpernickle, are the principal white men in the opera, and the villain is a ‘big Injun.’ The hero and the desert flower, after going through the necessary rough ordeal that travelers in the highways and byways of love have to encounter, are of course united in the last act, and the usual tableau of ‘villany defeated and virtue triumphant’ greets the eyes of the audience. We have already sketched some part of the music and will only speak of some of the numbers that appeared most attractive in the representation. To a musician these were a trio in the first act, the music of the second act, and a beautiful trio and chorus in the last act. The last was full of poetry, delicacy, freshness, and expression, and was given by Miss Richings, Castle and Campbell in excellent style. Of the songs scattered through every part of the opera the most noteworthy were, in the first act, ‘Through the pathless forest drear’ (Mr. Castle), and ‘The Woodbird’s Song’ (Miss Richings); in the second act, ‘When wandering through the forest drear’ (Mr. Campbell), ‘Though born in woods’ (Mr. Castle), and ‘Why throbs this heart?’ (Miss Richings). The orchestration of the finale of the first act is quaint and exceedingly effective. Castle and Campbell were in fine voice, and their acting was much better than we have seen them display before, and Miss Richings, in some of her ballads, was entirely satisfactory. The ‘Woodbird’s Song,’ however, was very badly sung, and other parts of the rôle were manifestly unsuited for her. As a whole, we do not think that the ‘Desert Flower,’ unless placed on the stage in a more effective manner, will prove a permanent success. The disadvantages of giving English opera in such a large house as the Academy was painfully apparent last night, and some of the more delicate thoughts of the composer were consequently lost.”

“The first performance of William Vincent Wallace’s ‘Desert Flower,’ which was given at the Academy of Music last night, did not attract so large an audience as we expected to have seen on such an occasion. It is an opera which has stood a fair test in England, were it is considered to have conferred additional reputation on the composer of ‘Maritana’ and ‘Lurline.’ Perhaps it will be admitted to similar favor here, although at the present time New York is rather more difficult to please than London. At all events those who attended the first representation given here by the Richings company enjoyed a pleasure which compensated them for the time spent in listening to the performance, to say the least.

We gave yesterday the substance of the plot of the libretto. It is a scanty one, but no more so than that of half the operas that have secured a world-wide reputation. Founded on incidents supposed to have occurred in the beginning of the last century, in the Dutch colony of Guiana, the interest of the story depends on the love affair of a gallant young officer with the queen of an Indian tribe, which is in a state of intermittent hostility with the whites. There is the usual amount of jealousy, treachery and danger from concealed enemies, all terminating in the happiness of two loving and romantic hearts. The mingling of the two races, the tropical scenery and the picturesque costumes afford fine opportunities for stage effect, which were to some extent improved, although there were some absurd features observable.

The opera abounds in melodies which are smooth, symmetrical and flowing, some of them embued [sic] with genuine sentiment, but none of them remarkable, or likely to win their way to popular favor. The airs assigned to Oanita, the Indian Queen, did not seem altogether suited to Miss Richings, who, nevertheless, won several tributes of applause. ‘The Woodbird’s Song’—a delicate and difficult little trifle, for instance—should be sung by one to whom its difficulties present no apparent obstacle. Sung in the light and graceful style in which Miss Kellogg would give it, it would be an exceedingly pleasant and taking melody. ‘Why throbs this heart,’ another of Oanita’s songs in the second act, was given far better, and is an air of genuine merit, containing a distinct sentiment, simply worked out. This aria and ‘No joy can e’er this bliss exceed’ are among the best in the piece. The latter was especially effective, in conjunction with the chorus at the finale.

Mr. Campbell, as Casgan, the treacherous Indian and lover of Oanita, had a fine opportunity for the display of the best qualities of his voice, and the airs assigned him, although none of them had striking merit, were pleasing and attractive. His acting was bad. Mr. Castle was rather weak and tame as Captain Maurice, the adventurous and romantic hero of the opera, and seemed at times to lack the usual energy of vocalization needed to make his voice equal to the emergencies of his part. He won, however, a very decided recognition by his singing of ‘Through the pathless forest drear,’ and ‘Though born in woods,’ in the first and second acts. The other parts were moderately well sustained. Mr. Seguin, perhaps, did the best he could with the tediously absurd character of Major Hector, and the parts of Eva and Sergeant Peterman were not positively bad. The male and female choruses were not well up to their work. The orchestration was the most satisfactory part of the performance.

The opera will be repeated to-night and tomorrow night, and will doubtless run more smoothly. As performed last night it had hardly a fair chance. The disadvantage of giving English opera in so large a house was painfully apparent. The audience would have tolerably filled an ordinary theatre, in which much of the coldness observable last night would have given way to pleased satisfaction.”

“There was a pretty large audience last night at the Academy of Music, to witness the first performance of ‘The Desert Flower,’ by Wallace. Although a [illeg.] disagreement between some of the singers and the orchestra occurred, the merit of the music asserted itself on various occasions to such an extent that, on the whole the opera may be considered a success. Several airs were received with great favor by the audience for instance, the first sung by the tenor in the first act; also a pretty trio, and a well-worked finale. The second act, however, seems to be the best. The opening air of the basso, well sung by Mr. Campbell, will soon be popular, and the same fate may be anticipated of the tenor air, ‘Though born in woods,’exceedingly well recndered by Mr. Castle. The third act also contains some fine bits of melody, worthy of the author of ‘Maritana.’ But what interested the most was the exquisite handling of the orchestra by the composer, who in this opera again shows his thorough mastery over all its resources. The Indian element in the music is less happily conceived with perhaps the exception of the march in the second act; but much of the less favorable impression produced by this part of the opera must be attributed to the manner in which the principal soprano acquitted herself in her task. The music affords many difficulties, while likely will be better overcome to-morrow night when the opera will be repeated for the benefit of Mrs. Wallace, the widow of the composer, who has so long resided among us, and whose [illeg.] and talents should not be forgotten on this occasion.”