Grand Combination Italian and English Opera: Lurline

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Manager / Director:
Max Maretzek

Price: $1.50; $1; $8 private box

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
25 September 2019

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

20 May 1869, Evening

Program Details

Beginning with the opera’s American premiere on 05/13/69, to be sung in Italian and English on alternate nights. This performance in English.

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
Lurline
aka Lorelei
Composer(s): Wallace
Text Author: Fitzball
Participants:  Grand Combination Italian and English Opera Company;  Maria Bonfanti;  Annie Kemp (role: Ghiva);  Gustavus F. Hall (role: The Gnome);  Brookhouse Bowler (role: Count Rudolph);  G. [dancer] Novissimo;  Domenico Orlandini (role: Rhineberg);  Isabella McCulloch (role: Lurline)

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 17 May 1869, 7.
2)
Advertisement: Courrier des États-Unis, 18 May 1869.

“…with new staging, costumes, scenery, having cost more than $30,000…”

3)
Review: New York Post, 21 May 1869.

“There was a large audience at the Academy of Music last night to witness a performanc of ‘Lurline’ in English. This audience was compoased of persons who are not regular frequenters of the establishment, and their presence proves that this venture of English opera has hit the taste of a class of people who do not usually patronize Italian opera. The performance last night was in every way enjoyable, Miss McCulloch and Mr. Bowler again receiving encores for their leading ballads.”

4)
Review: New-York Times, 21 May 1869, 5.

“The seventh representation of ‘Lurline’ was witnessed at the Academy of Music last evening by an audience strong in numbers and in enthusiasm. The English version was sung on this occasion by the artistes who first interpreted it, and who were then referred to in these columns. A general allusion to their performance, comprised in the statement that it displays a very marked improvement, will suffice.”