Parepa-Rosa English Opera: Puritan’s daughter

The musical prospects for the winter are very uncertain. French grand opera and Italian opera have been talked of, but even the rumors of them seem to have finally died away. Of English opera, however, we have a double prospect. The Parepa-Rosa-Seguin troupe is to open at the French Theatre on the 11th on September with Balfe’s ‘Puritan’s Daughter.’ On the 18th the ‘Sonnambula’ will be brought out, with Rose Hersee as Amina.”

Includes roster and repertory.

“THE SALE OF RESERVED SEATS will commence on Monday next, 6th inst., at 9 A. M, at Schirmer’s music store.”

“The public are respectfully informed that the season of 1869-70 of MME. PAREPA-ROSA’S GRAND ENGLISH OPERA will be inaugurated at the THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS, SAUTRDAY, SEPT. 11.

“In announcing this memorable musical season Mme. Parepa-Rosa will inaugurate a new epoch in the history of the American stage. Her great success in Italian Opera in Europe and in this country has given her that substantial fame in her artistic career (which has consisted of an uninterrupted series of ovations) until it has become unrivaled in popularity.

“In London her achievements in English Opera were equal to those which distinguished her on the Italian stage, and her numerous musical triumphs in California and the States during several seasons, and recently her wonderful display of power before 50,000 spectators in the great Coliseum of Nations, Peace Jubilee, in Boston, have united the entire American Press in pronouncing

MME. PAREPA-ROSA, the great lyric artiste of the stage.

“Her devotion to the highest order of composition, and her grateful regard for the American public, will stimulate her to every possible exertion to establish English Opera a permanent institution in this country.

[Lists full cast and administration of company.]”

First advertisement with full cast and role list.

A lengthy review of the music of Puritan’s Daughter: “...Never having seen the opera we can only judge of the music from a hasty glance at the piano score.” The review indicates throughout who of the Parepa-Rosa troupe will take what roles.

“The end of this week will see the musical season fairly inaugurated by the opening of the Parepa opera troupe at the French Theater. It is hardly necessary to urge New-Yorkers to give a hearty welcome to this new and excellent enterprise, for with Madame Rosa for prima donna the company may be sure of full houses. Balfe’s ‘Puritan’s Daughter’ has never been sung in this country. It is said to be pretty, picturesque, and melodious; fortunately we shall make our first acquaintance with it under very favorable circumstances, the cast showing elements of strength to which in English opera the long suffering American public is entirely unaccustomed. Madame Rosa takes the part of Mary Wolf, the Puritan’s daughter; Mr. S. C. Campbell is her austere and respected parent; Mr. G. F. Hall personates King Charles II; Mr. Castle is the frisky Earl of Rochester; Miss Fanny Stockton gets Jessie; and Mr. Edward Seguin is Ralph, a serving man,—[sic] probably comic. Mr. Albert Laurence, the new English baritone, makes his debut in the character of Clifford. He has sung a great deal in London, but comes to us from Milan, most of his professional life having been passed in Italy, where he has taken the leading parts at the principal opera-houses with marked success. Foreign musical journals speak of him in very high terms. Madame Rosa’s first season of English opera will be short, but she will come again at Christmas. The sale of seats begins to-day at Schirmer’s.”

“Rehearsals that have already taken place at the French Theatre promise most happily for the success of the operas to be produced there under Parepa’s management. The new basso Lawrence will assuredly make a hit. Rose Hersee, the new prima donna, will make her debut in ‘Somnambula [sic].’ The season will begin next Saturday night with Balfe’s ‘Puritan’s Daughter.’”

“English Opera.—The sale of seats for the approaching season of English Opera commenced yesterday morning at Schirmer’s music store. The demand was such as to indicate that the season will be a popular one and the houses full ones.”

Brief.

“Exactly four years ago to-day Mme. Parepa-Rosa made her first début in America—an auspicious anniversary in which to commence her season of opera.”

“The opening of the English opera season this evening will be a pleasant introduction to the musical entertainments of the Fall and Winter, for it combines all the attractions which can make such an occasion interesting. A new opera, a new combination of artists, at least one new singer of rank, and several familiar favorites of unquestionable merit—these are the chief inducements for the assembling of a full and brilliant house at the French Theater. [Recounts plot of the opera.] Our readers will perceive that for an English opera company this is a much stronger cast than we are at all used to in New-York. The only stranger is Mr. Alberto Lawrence, and respecting him we hear such extraordinary accounts that we shall watch his debut with the greatest interest.”

“If there exists in this community any taste whatever for English opera, the brief season announced to begin to-night at the French Theatre will prove it. With a vocalist for prima donna [sic] who has attained in this country a wider popularity than any singer since Jenny Lind; with a baritone whose reputation is most desirable, and who is new to American audiences, with other singers most favorably known to our community; and with an opera which has the charm of novelty and is the work of a most admired and experienced composer, it must be acknowledged that the new operatic campaign begins under an unusual combination of favoring circumstances. Those averse to opera in Italian or French can now enjoy that most charming of entertainments in the vernacular, so that if the Parepa campaign does not prove successful it will simply be because the New York musical public will not have English opera on any terms.”

“English Opera.—To-night the promise of English opera is to be fulfilled. The ‘Puritan’s Daughter’ is a new work on this side of the Atlantic. The company is as good a one as could be collected, considering the limited encouragement given in this country and in England to dramatic-vocal culture, and especially are we fortunate [sic] in having the best English prima donna upon the stage. These are all elements that combine to give assurance of a successful season.”

“The season of English opera, projected long ago by Mme. Parpea-Rosa, was commenced at the French Theatre last evening. Four years had gone by, last night, since Mme. Rosa’s first appearance before an American audience was effected, and the house was tenanted exactly as was the concert hall in the past, by an audience that filled it in every part and gave to the artiste, in addition to their steadfast attention, a well-earned meed [sic] of hearty applause.

“It is not easy to form a perfect estimate of the merits of an opera or of artistes listened to amid the pleasant, but rather bewildering, circumstances of a first representation. Excellencies [sic], occasionally attained to under stress of excitement, and delays and mishaps growing out of the same cause are strangely mingled, and make too uneven a rendering to warrant a final judgment being passed either upon the work of its interpreters. Such a judgment we shall accordingly defer.

“The musical worth of ‘The Puritan’s Daughter’ is extremely questionable. The libretto, which we do not purpose now to review, is not an uninteresting one, and the situations, if somewhat suggestive of others made more familiar than these will ever be by a composer’s true inspiration, ought at least to offer a sufficiently substantial canvas for a few fresh melodies and well written concerted pieces. ‘The Puritan’s Daughter’ is not rich in either. Endless recitatives, in which the monotonousness of prose as commonplace as that of the M. Jourdain whom Moliere describes is not relieved by any novel forms of accompaniment, bind together the solo airs, all in the ballad style, with which every one of Mr. Balfe’s works are known to be most liberally supplied. The choruses are often spirited, but quite devoid of character and prepared, if not with a lack of acquaintance with the resources of instrumentation, certainly with a great indifference as to effect. The general impression of the opera last night was not a favorable one. Its performance was not ended until midnight.

“The interpretation, it is agreeable to add, once these adverse comments set aside, left little to be desired. The slight nervousness that marked Mme. Parpea-Rosa’s bearing when she first appeared was soon dispelled by the cordial reception she became the object of, and in her singing throughout the representation were discernible, the rich and flexible voice, the absolute faultlessness of intonation, the power of sustaining a note, and all the qualities that have given to this artiste an unprecedented reputation and popularity. Mme. Rosa embodied Mary Wolf, and though greater expressiveness in some of the more emotional passages would have bettered the impression, it would be ungenerous to deal harshly with a weakness so few lyric artists are exempt from. The noble voice and grand delivery of Mr. S. C. Campbell, who represented wolf, gave that singer his usual and deserved prominence. Mr. Albert Lawrence, a new-comer, acted Clifford. Mr. Lawrence is a very cultured artiste, who seems at present to be suffering from fatigue, which did not, however, prevent him from pleasing, and winning applause. The singing of Mr. Castle was, as heretofore, sweet, without being freighted with any profound meaning. Mr. Castle was the Earl of Rochester. Mr. Hall sang Charles II. The other characters were well filled by Mr. de Solla, whose indistinct articulation disqualifies him from figuring with success in a semi-dramatic entertainment, and by Miss Fanny Stockton, whose apparent stage experiencedid [sic] her good service.

“Respecting the other features of the representation, it may be observed that the chorus was remarkably full practiced and spirited, and that an excellent orchestra was very skillfully led by Mr. Carl Rosa. Three picturesque sets of scenery, painted by Mr. H. W. Calyo, and several minor pictures, most of them fresh, illustrated the opera. The musical demerits of the work ought not to lessen the credit that can honestly be claimed by the performers and the management for the thorough execution of a rather ungrateful task.”

“Théâtre Français.—The Puritan’s Daughter.—The Parepa-Rosa English opera season had an auspicious commencement at that favorite establishment on Saturday night, so far as the attendance was concerned. A more fashionable and brilliant audience has rarely greeted an artist in opera. The boxes and dress circle were ablaze with beauty and bijou-terte, and we recognized many well known lyric and dramatic artists present, among them, conspicuously, Mlle. Patti. The initial opera was the ‘Puritan’s Daughter,’ one of Balfe’s latest works, in which Roundheads and cavaliers are brought together in an old feudal hall, to the imminent danger of the cavaliers, who consist only of the merry monarch and his dissolute confrère, Rochester, and a rare specimen of uprightness and honor named Clifford. The traditional barmaid and landlord; a foolish, love-stricken rustic; a rather ‘mixed’ buccaneer and a fearfully stern old Roundhead, bearing the appropriate title of Wolf, are the other characters in the opera. They all combine to illustrate a very interesting story of conspiracy, lovely, loyalty, peril, confusion, prayers, drunkenness and other ingredients which generally go to make up the libretto of an opera. The opening piece, ‘Here’s to Wine,’ was splendidly rendered by a well balanced and highly effective chorus. It is the most sparkling number in the work. The succeeding dialogue between the bold buccaneer and his mate might be profitably cut out; for the buccaneer does not speak plain and his mate deal too much in ‘asides.’ Ralph, the rustic (Mr. E. Seguin, a true, conscientious artist), and Jessie, the barmaid (Mrs. Smith, nèe Miss Stockton), next sing a rather unattractive duet, which is (in the score) followed by a delicious baritone song, ‘My own sweet child,’ sung with telling effect by the prince of baritones, S. C. Campbell. In the next scene (the Ruined Chapel) the Puritans sing a couple of stirring and inspiring choruses, which relieve the monotony of the recitative. The next scene is pleasingly opened by a quaint, pretty little song, ‘Pretty Flower,’ which was sung by Mme. Parepa-Rosa with inimitable effect. The first act ends with a good, well harmonized chorus, which was arranged by Mme. Rosa to relieve the barrenness of the finale in the original score. Campbell sang a beautiful song in the second act, which received a well deserved encore. King Charles and Rochester (Messrs. Hall and Castle) have a great deal of fun and jollity in this act. Mr. Castle will do well to cut out the scene between him and Mrs. Smith (nee [sic] Stockton) which occurs here. Mme. Rosa sang a brilliant taking waltz of the Arditi school with her well known dash and effect. In this act the new baritone, Mr. Albert Lawrence, made his American début. He has a fine, clear, well trained voice of considerable power, but lacking somewhat in sympathetic quality, at least in the same quality that has made Campbell the first of American baritones. Perhaps his voice has not got over the sea voyage, but on Saturday night it sounded a little hard and lacking in resonance. Castle made a decided hit in a drinking song, which in voice and action was simply inimitable. He was superb also in the melodic gem which commences the last act. The orchestra, under the able direction of Carl Rosa, was everything that could be desired. On the whole, this opera possesses a great deal of very fine music, some of Balfe’s best, a good deal of dreary recitative and much unnecessary dialogue. With judicious pruning it is bound to be a favorite. Taking into account the usual delays of a first night, the opera went off very smoothly, and Mme. Parepa-Rosa has reason to congratulate herself on the excellent company she has congregated around her for the season. The opera was very well placed on the stage, all the accessories being faultless. The three baritones, Lawrence, Campbell and Hall; the tenors, Castle and De Solla, and last, though by no means least, the peerless prima donna herself, form a combination of musical talent to which our lyric stage has been long a stranger. In addition to the cuts mentioned above we would also recommend the pruning of the first duet between Ralph and Jessie and the recitative in the chapel scene, the substitution of the oboe and bassoon for the clarionet [sic] obligato in the song ‘Pretty Flower,’ the erasure of the dialogue between King Charles and Rochester in the beginning of the second act and the entire of Seymour’s music in the last act. The opera is principally deficient in concerted pieces like those which give such charm to Wallace, Benedict and the other works of Balfe, and what has been introduced by Carl Rosa and Mme. Parepa-Rosa is very effective. It will be given for the second time to-night, and will probably be reduced to the proper limit—say two hours and a half.”

“The fourth anniversary of Madame Parepa-Rosa’s debut in America was pleasantly celebrated on Saturday night by the opening of her much talked of season of English Opera. The lady to whose accomplishments and popularity this commendable enterprise owes its principal importance, was in excellent voice and spirits, looked handsomer than ever, and was warmly greeted by a crowded audience of that excellent quality which hardly anybody but Madame Rosa seems now-a-days able to collect in New-York. In so far as attendance went this first night, early as the season is, was full of promise. Balfe’s Puritan’s Daughter was in some respects well chosen for the evening. It is new to this country; its plot is interesting enough, though the libretto is fearful; the situations are picturesque; there is an opportunity for bringing forward a number of favorite singers; and the music, though weak, is generally pretty. The first act is the best—ballad, chorus, duet, and trio skipping after one another in a lively manner, which even the funeral solemnity of the Bloody Buccaneer, Mr. Howard, cannot entirely subdue. A ballad for Colonel Wolf (Mr. S. C. Campbell), ‘My own sweet Child,’ sung with feeling, but marred in one passage by a somewhat affected sotto voce; an air for Mary (Madame Parepa-Rosa), ‘Pretty, modest flower,’ which begins in the usual ballad style, and ends as a good show-piece; two excellent choruses, and the trio finale, are the most successful numbers of the first act. In the second, the long recitatives, which are the bane of the opera, begin to get the upper hand of us, and thenceforth the company are doomed to struggle for the rest of the evening with preposterous prose wedded to commonplace music. A few pleasant airs relieve the dreary desert. In the second act, for instance, Madame Rosa and Mr. Campbell have excellent ballads; Mr. Castle as Rochester makes a bit with a drunken song; there is an effective trio between Mary [sic] Clifford (Mr. Lawrence) and King Charles (Mr. G. F. Hall); and the finale of this act (an interpolation), though short, is vigorous, well written, and refreshing. But to make the second and third acts acceptable the pruning knife must be applied unsparingly. The performance lasted on Saturday until a quarter before twelve. Let Mr. Rosa take out a good hour’s worth of the recitative, which is only padding of the very cheapest kind, and the opera will gain a sparkle and vivacity in which it is now unfortunately deficient.

“The company showed itself strong and well-balanced. Of the prima donna it is unnecessary to say anything to a public by whom she is so thoroughly appreciated, except that in this new vesture she satisfies the expectations of her friends. Mr. William Castle and Mr. S. C. Campbell have good parts, did full justice to them, and were cordially received. Miss Fanny Stockton acted the character of Jessie very prettily, and sang what little music belongs to it quite well enough for the occasion. Mr. Edward Seguin is very good in some buffo parts, but he has hardly genius enough to put real humor into the signally uninteresting role of Ralph, and his performance can only be commended as a gallant struggle against insuperable difficulties. The new member of the company, Mr. Alberto Lawrence, made a very pleasant impression. His voice is a tenor baritone, resonant, powerful, flexible, and true, and trained in the Italian method. He is quite at home on the stage, though not much of an actor, and will prove a valuable addition to the troupe. The chorus and orchestra are both good. Mr. Carl Rosa makes an excellent conductor, leading with precision, firmness, and delicacy. Some new and very handsome scenery has been painted, and the dresses and stage appointments are all satisfactory.”

“Balfe is a popular composer, in the received acceptation of the term, but if he had not written the ‘Bohemian Girl’ he would scarcely have deserved the title. His later works, though often meritorious, have not been as successful as that which first gave him a name and reputation. In opening her season of English opera last Saturday night Madame Parepa-Rosa produced one of is works previously unknown here. In the ‘Puritan’s Daughter’ Balfe, as usual with him, has had to struggle against the disadvantages of a libretto most illy adapted to musical purposes. Some of the scenes are too dull and insipid to admit of musical treatment, and, in the form of a dialogue, are a weariness to the flesh. At the repetitions of this opera much of this tedious talking will be cut out, and with it some of the dreary recitations, thus reducing the time of performance within reasonable limits.

“The plot of the opera turns upon the wanderings of the fugitive Charles II., and introduces among its characters a band of Puritans, courtiers, peasants, a comic servant and a barmaid. These characters are in their musical development all too much alike. The Puritan music has none of the distinctive coloring which Meyerbeer gives to that of the Huguenots. The buffo music is trained and ineffective. In the ballads alone does the composer maintain his reputation. The air ‘My Own Swee [sic] Child’ is in his most felicitous style and as sung by Mr. Campbell is certain to become widely popular. It is in the usual flowing style of Balfe, and ends with a coda which is almost dramatic. Madame Parepa has a charming romanza, ‘Pretty, Lowly Modest Flower,’ which closes with a most brilliant cadenza, revealing the most striking features of this lady’s voice and execution. A bright, salient allegro, which will take a stand by the side of the happiest of Balfe’s successes, is in the air, ‘Can it be—Do I Dream?’ in which the vigorous old Puritan Wolf indulges in patriotic fervor. This is sung by Mr. Campbell, who was received on Saturday with the warmest cordiality and next to Parepa was the most successful singer of the evening. Mr. Castle, the tenor, has, amid much indifferent music, a very charming and quaint bacchanalian song, which he sings in an admirable manner, though his action is far from elegant. Of course his friends have told him and Miss Stockton since Saturday night that an audience does not care to see a barmaid sitting on the lap of a cavalier. If this be stage tradition in this piece, it were better honored in the breach than in the observance.

“Among other numbers of the opera worthy of special notice is the opening chorus, ‘Here’s to Wine,’ in which the tenors and basses sing responsively, uniting at the close in some curious harmonic progressions; a unison chorus for male voices, sung by the Puritans when forming a secret conspiracy in the ruins of an old chapel; a duet for Mayr and Wolf (Parepa and Campbell) ending with a singular and very effective double cadenza; a duet for Mary and Clifford (Parepa and Lawrence) written after the Italian method; and the baritone air sung by Mr. Lawrence, ‘Oh, would that I had died ere now!’ the first line of which is identical with the beginning of a baritone air in Verdi’s ‘Ballo in Maschera.’

“Of the singers it may be said that Parepa makes the most of music beneath her capacities; that the new baritone, Mr. Lawrence, is prepossessing in appearance, and has a high, sympathetic voice, in which the baritone verges closely on the tenor register, and shows excellent Italian training; that Mr. Hall, as King Charles, admirably fills his part; that Campbell wins the most applause next to the prima donna, and that the minor characters are generally creditably sustained. ‘The Puritan’s Daughter’ is announced for repetition this evening.”

A long review with many illegible words and phrases. “English Opera.—The season of English opera commenced on Saturday evening, a rather exceptional night for setting on foot a fresh enterprise. It was, however, the fourth anniversary of Madame Parepa’s first appearance in this country, and perhaps ominous of good results.

“A very excellent company has been gathered together. It is strong in individual singers, and in mass is very effective. The orchestra is excellent, and the chorus is of first-rate material. Mr. Carl Rosa, the conductor, is not only a fine violinist, but also a most accomplished musician, thoroughly taught in all the [illeg.] of his art, as was made apparent by his firm control of his instrument and vocal forces under the trying ordeal of a first night with all its liability to mishaps.

“‘The Puritan’s Daughter’ was the work selected to introduce this company to the public. The selection does not seem to us to be at all a happy one. Balfe is eminently a sugar-and-water composer. One may take a sip of him now and then, but a four-hour dose of his sweetness is very cloying. The fact is that the [illeg…] or scope of him. His strength is in his weakness. His soul never rises above the prettiness of a ballad, and he serves [illeg…] little effeminate songs one after the other, and all bearing a striking [illeg.] likeness, till the hearer is thoroughly bored. A Charlotte de Russe is a very nice thing, but who wants to make a dinner on Charlotte de Russes? The plot of the opera is a very good one, and it gave the composer some admirable opportunities for fine writing. He might have turned the Puritan element in it to good account, as Meyerbeer did the Huguenot element in his great opera. If he had taken one of the grand, simple psalms that these religious enthusiasts delighted in, and used it as a groundwork and choral subject, and developed it through the opera, he could have given some strength and vitality and local color to his work; but he lacked the capacity for any serious effect of this sort, and the only suggestion of Puritanism that the opera contains is due to the costumer. As for the text itself, a more dull, insipid, and [illeg.] production we have never had the misfortune to read. The dialogue and recitative are beneath criticism. In fact, it requires the highest talent to write a libretto, and the author himself should be something of a musician. The English must be musical, and such as will accommodate [illeg.] to the rhythmed requirements of the composer. Many words that are well enough when spoken, sound hard and [illeg.] if set to music—a fact which the librettist of the ‘Puritan’s Daughter’ illustrates in every line of his book. Scribe, who wrote Meyerbeer’s librettos, was one of the few men who was complete master of this species of composition. As for Balfe, he has been badly victimized in this direction, and the hearer [illeg.] in the veil of some foreign language to cover up the poverty of the text.

“We have said that the company was strong in its individual singers. Of Madame Parepa of course no thing need be said. She always sings admirably. The music of this opera gives no scope to her powers. She is hampered by its frivolity, but made the most of it—more, in fact, than it deserved. Mr. Campbell, the bass, also sang predominantly well, and so did Mr. Castle, the tenor. This latter gentleman, however, should mend both his Latin, his English, and his stage manners. Sub dove is not pronounced in Latin quite as though the words are English, it being customary to make a dissyllable of the latter word. ‘Despicable’ has the accent on the first and not on the second syllable, and it is not only not essential to the stage action that Mr. Castle should hold Miss Stockton on his knee during the whole of a long song, but the effect [?] on the audience is altogether an unpleasant one. There are some occasions when it is best to sacrifice even the truth of history to the proprieties, and this, with all respect to Mr. Castle, is one of them. His singing was distinguished by much care, finish, smoothness, and correctness. The reverse may be said of Mr. Howard’s efforts in the part of Seymour. It requires, however, much ingenious talent to sing for any length of time a semi-tone below the orchestra. Mr. Howard accomplished this feet [sic] to a nicety, and for quite a period, in the third act, and is entitled to such credit as is fairly due to that highly artistic result.

“Mr. Gustavus F. Hall, though as yet rather crude in his acting, sings with accuracy and with good style and intonation, and is an element of strength in the company. Mr. Albert Lawrence, a baritone singer, whose voice has almost a second tenor quality, made on this occasion his first appearance in this country, and is also a valuable acquisition to the troupe.

“Madame Parepa, in fine, has now collected about her a very reliable band of artists, with whose aid the promises and doubtless will accomplish a good work [sic], but act with this composition of Balfe’s, ‘Oberon,’ the ‘Domino Noir,’ ‘Sonnambula,’ ‘Maritana,’ ‘Faust,’ and a number of other first-rate operas are underlined for production. Regretting that so much labor should have been bestowed in preparing a composition that so little requisites the outlay as the present one, we await a change of opera in hopes of better results.”

“The Parepa Rosa English Opera Troupe gave their initial performance on Saturday evening, the 11th inst., at the French Theatre, this city, when Balfe’s romantic opera, in three acts, of ‘The Puritan’s Daughter’ was performed. The attendance was quite large, and the leading artists met with a cordial reception.”

Part of review for a performance of The Bohemian Girl on 09/17/69. “The present English opera season besides commanding [?] the popularity of Madame Parepa-Rosa as a vocalist, has brought her husband forward in a new capacity, for Carl Rosa is proving that he knows how to wield the conductor’s baton as well as the violinist’s bow. In the ‘Puritan’s Daughter’ he filled the conductor’s chair with the ease and skill of a veteran. Mr. Rieff, a musician of long experience, conducted at last night’s performance [of The Bohemian Girl]. Indeed, in all its appointments the present English Opera company is a double one, and could be cut in two and yet thrive as readily as the snake which, when severed in the middle, only made two healthy and vigorous serpents instead of one.”