Parepa-Rosa English Opera: Oberon

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Manager / Director:
Carl Rosa
Clarence D. Hess

Conductor(s):
Carl Rosa

Price: $1; $.50 reserved

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
11 December 2021

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

29 Mar 1870, Evening

Program Details

New York premiere and second performance of the complete opera in America.

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
Composer(s): Weber
Text Author: Planché
Participants:  Parepa-Rosa English Opera Company;  William Castle (role: Sir Huon);  Zelda Harrison (role: Fatima);  Euphrosyne Parepa (role: Reiza);  Gustavus F. Hall (role: Hassan);  Albert [baritone] Laurence (role: Sherasmin);  Maurice de [tenor] Solla (role: Oberon);  Geraldine [contralto] Warden (role: Puck)

Citations

1)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 28 March 1870, 5.

Circumstances under which Weber wrote Oberon for Covent Garden. The opera closes after this week, and the company will proceed to Pittsburgh, en route to Chicago. Edward Seguin will succeed Harry Jackson as stage manager.

2)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 29 March 1870, 7.
3)
Review: New York Post, 30 March 1870, 2.

“The opera produced by the Parepa troupe at the Academy last night is one that pleases all classes of music-lovers, for it has melody, harmony, light music and heavy music, and elaborate instrumentation. Although the ultra-classicists of his day declared that Weber was fantastic and sensational, the ultra-classicists of the present period have received him as their own, and placed him but little below Mendelssohn or Beethoven. His ‘Freischütz’ is one of the accepted operas of the century, and his ‘Oberon,’ though known here chiefly by reputation, is equally deserving of such acceptation.

“It was produced in this city nearly forty years ago, at the old Park Theatre. In England the greatest singers of the day took part in it. Braham was the tenor. The opera was originally adapted to the English words and for the London stage, and at once it won admiration. Weber was paid £500 for the work, which has been translated into French, German and Italian, and has been performed in all the leading cities of Europe.

“Those who have heard the opera in its earlier day, and were at the performance last night, assert that the part of Reiza has never been more finely sung than it was by Parepa-Rosa. She reveled in all the difficulties of the music. In the great scene ‘Ocean, thou Mighty Monster,’ her magnificent voice found unusual scope for the display of its powers, especially in the long, sustained notes with which this scene abounds. In striking contrast to this was her simple and unpretending vocalization of the Mermaid song, a delicate and melodious strain sung behind the scenes. In action and costume Madame Rosa’s Reiza was all that could be desired. Her entire personation was one which delighted all who heard it.

“Mrs. Seguin in her part had several pleasing airs, and, as well as Miss Warden, sang most satisfactorily. Mr. Castle rendered the difficult music of Huon with decided ability, though at times it was an evident effort. Mr. Castle’s performances this season have done much to enhance his reputation. Mr. Laurence, Mr. Hall and Mr. Solla all rendered efficient aid. The choruses were smoothly sung; and this is saying considerable, for the chorus music in ‘Oberon’ is peculiarly difficult and perplexing.

“The story of ‘Oberon’ is intricately trivial. It seems a pity that Weber should have wasted such graceful and often grand music on such a play. Much of the action takes place in the fairy regions of the clouds, and everybody knows what a fearful district of daubiness is cloudland at the Academy of Music. In other respects there was some quite respectable scenery.”

4)
Review: New York Sun, 30 March 1870, 1.

“Von Weber’s lovely fairy opera was brought out last evening at the Academy of Music. This is the first time that the opera has been properly heard in this city since the old days of the Park Theatre, a period to which the memory of but few of our present playgoers runs back. True, the Church Music Association performed the first part of it some two months since, but it was in the concert, and of course lacked all the incident of costume and action. It has also very often been sung by various amateur societies, but the public generally have known only its famous overture and some isolated airs. It was Von Weber’s last composition, and he gave to its execution unwearied labor and all his talent. He doubtless intended to rest his fame upon it, and to eclipse his previous operas, ‘Euryanthe’ and ‘Der Freischütz.’ It was written for the English stage. Mr. Planche, the well-known dramatic author, prepared the libretto. He borrowed it, as he did most of his works from the French, taking for his groundwork the old legend of Sir Huon of Bordeaux.

“Von Weber came to England with the opera in the spring of 1826, and on the 12th of April of that year the opera was produced at Covent Garden Theatre, then under the management of Charles Kemble. Of that first night’s performance Von Weber wrote so natural and lovely letter to his wife, that we cannot forbear quoting it: ‘My best beloved Caroline’ he says, ‘through God’s grace and assistance I have this evening met with the most complete success, God alone be thanked for it. When I entered the orchestra the whole of the house rose up and I was saluted by huzzas and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, which I thought would never have done. They insisted on encoring the overture. Every air was interrupted twice or thrice by bursts of applause….So much for this night, dear wife, from your heartily tired husband, who, however, could not sleep in peace till he had communicated to you this new blessing of heaven.’

“The poor composer lived but a short time to enjoy his triumph. The fatigues that he went through in bringing out the opera and the trying climate of England were too much for his feeble constitution, and in a few weeks after the production of ‘Oberon’ he died at the residence of his friend Sir George Smart.

“The opera abounds in musical beauties. The drawback to it is that it lacks [human?] interest. The drama is of the romantic school, and abounds with fairies and the supernatural. Neither the hero nor the heroine, nor any of the characters excite any interest or emotion. They are but puppets in the hands of Puck and Oberon and the Mermaids. For the same reason that the ‘Tempest’ has never proved a successful acting play, this has never proved a successful acting opera.

“We have much to thank Madame Parepa-Rosa for, however, in that she has unsealed the locked-up musical treasures that it contains. The opera was admirably produced. Every part was well given. It is seldom that the secondary and subordinate parts find such competent and faithful interpreters as in this instance. The orchestra was firm and reliable, the chorus excellent, and Madame Parepa-Rosa, Mrs. Seguin, Mr. Castle, Mr. Laurence, and Mr. Hall, to whom the principal parts were intrusted, were all excellent. It is noticeable of this company that none of them, as a habit, sing false. This is a great deal more than can be said of most of our Italian companies.”

5)
Review: New-York Times, 30 March 1870, 5.

“Carl Maria von Weber’s last opera, written and sung in London but a few weeks previous to the composer’s death, was given at the Academy of Music last evening. It was the first hearing of the work in this City, and was enjoyed by a very numerous and unusually brilliant audience. With the most melodic portions of the production there was no lack of acquaintance, be it said, previous to this occasion. Whether the enterprise and industry of the present company displayed in interpreting the work will be rewarded by a notable extension of that acquaintance is at least doubtful. ‘Oberon’ is inferior in character to ‘Der Freyschutz,’ and less well-endowed with those elements of popularity which the most elaborate instrumentation will not replace. Its story is one [illegible] difficult to relate as it is to understand from its stage rehearsal. Oberon and Titania having quarreled on the theme on the relative constancy of man and woman have parted in anger and vowed never to meet until some mortal couple be proven to have kept their plighted faith through all trials. In his desire for a reconciliation, Oberon thenceforward protects Sir Huon of Bordeaux, who has been ordered by Charlemagne to win the Caliph of Baghdad’s daughter to make her his bride. Puck becomes the fairy monarch’s agent, and Huon and Reiza, after passing through perils of all sorts are finally united. It is not easy to fathom the power of such a plot upon the creative mind, but the tale of ‘The Magic Flute’ is at hand to set speculation at naught as to its evil influence upon genius. If Weber’s music was not executed yesterday in its entirety, so little of it was omitted as to show to the full the many beauties it possesses. The magnificent overture, in which every imaginative effort of the composition is summarized, and each is linked to the other until perfect symmetry of form is secured for the whole, has been played by an orchestra richer in strings, but not more praiseworthy for energy and sentiment; and its rendering last night prefaced with an encouraging and fitting result a meritorious representation. The character of Reiza is without doubt one of Mme. Parepa-Rosa’s best. It exacts little histrionic ability of its personator, and demands the strength and evenness of voice, and the breadth of style which so few singers have, and which this lady, whose triumphs in oratorio are still fresh in our memory, is conspicuous for the gift of. The principal interest of the entertainment was centered in her share of it from the outset of the first act,--the vision scene, reminding one of the picture in ‘Faust.’ The aria, ‘Ocean, though mighty monster,’ the most weighty part of her task, and one sufficient to exhaust the resources of voice and declamation of most artists in the first bars, was recited by Mme. Rosa with especial dignity and effect, and made a deep impression. The Fatima of Mrs. Seguin was, in its way, a contribution almost as descrying of unqualified commendation. The ariettas ‘A Lonely Arab Maid,’ and ‘Oh! Araby, Dear Araby’ the latter noticeable for the descriptive accompaniment, were sung with an ease and correctness justifying the applause that followed, while her aid, as contralto, in the concerted passages with Mme. Rosa, was as carefully and efficiently accorded as ever. A more virile Sir Huon might have been gotten, we opine, than Mr. Castle, whose execution of ‘Oh! ‘tis a glorious sight,’ was not marked by the vigor needed. Sherasmin was embodied by Mr. A. Laurence, and Hassan by Mr. Hall. Mr. De Solla was Oberon. Puck was satisfactorily represented by Miss Geraldine Warden, a new comer. The chorus was strong and well disciplined, and its members executed with a due regard for the composer’s intentions the delicate fairy songs, colored, as the admirer of ‘Oberon’ need hardly be told in relation to this most prominent feature of the score, by orchestration of the most delicate and suggestive kind. The work was listened to, yesterday, with a sustained attention bestowed upon no other production given this season. It will, of course, bear several representations, of the earliest of which it will be more profitable to write, than it is of the first of so [illegible] and elaborate a composition.”

6)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 30 March 1870, 5.

“The production of Weber’s romantic opera of ‘Oberon’ last night at the Academy of Music was the crowning feat of Madame Parepa-Rosa’s somewhat remarkable season. Forty years ago it used to be played at the Park Theater as a sort of musical drama. Except in that imperfect and mutilated form it had never, before last night, been heard in New-York, and it had only once been heard in the United States; that was a few weeks ago at the Philadelphia Academy, where it was given by the same company as a sort of dress rehearsal for the performance in this city. Naturally therefore it drew last night a very large audience, in which the musical culture of New-York was represented to an unusual extent. The libretto of ‘Oberon,’ written by Planché, follows with only distant and halting steps the poem of Wieland’s from which the plot is borrowed. There is this to be said for it, that it is not absolutely inane, and that the music was written for the words, not the words for the music. It presents, however, but a weak and ineffective story, and confines itself so closely to the fairy machinery that there is little of that human interest remaining which seems essential to an impressive dramatic composition. Wieland’s poem is the story of a Paladin who, banished unjustly by Charlemagne, is forbidden to return until he shall have performed unheard of feats in the very palace of the Caliph of Baghdad, and by the assistance of the fairy king Oberon, and the instrumentality of the magic horn, he is enabled to perform them. His adventures are complicated with deeds of knightly prowess, with the love of the Caliph’s daughter, with shipwreck, captivity, and numerous other blessings and misfortunes, and are crowned with a triumphant return to the court of his sovereign. In the opera we have only the little affair at Baghdad, a trifling episode of pirates, slavery, and a desert island, and a great deal of the enchanted born, with consequent irruptions of cloud-borne fairies. Sir Huon (Mr. Castle) is the gallant knight, and the task he has to do is explained in the first scene by a dialogue between Oberon (Mr. De Solla) and Puck (Miss Warden), who are to help him in the enterprise. That task is to enter the Caliph’s court at high festival, kiss his daughter, and cut off the head of the infidel Emir who shall be found at his left hand. Wieland, to be sure, exacts of Sir Huon two other achievements, namely, he must persuade the Caliph to send Charlemagne as a mark of friendship four of his teeth and a lock of his beard. These conditions, however, Mr. Planché does not impose upon his hero. The mere killing of an Emir of course was a trifle, and when we remember that Sir Huon sings tenor, the kissing of the daughter Reiza (Madame Rosa) might seem a trifle too. The real difficulty is getting safely home again after this somewhat audacious, not to say rude, behavior. Here Oberon, Puck, and the enchanted horn come to the rescue. The lovers go away somewhere in a boat. Reiza’s maid Fatima Mrs. Seguin does likewise in company with Sir Huon’s squire Sherazmin (Mr. Laurence). They are shipwrecked and found on an island by a crew of pirates, who remark, ‘By Mahomet! here is a splendid prize bag,’ and carry Reiza off to their chief. Sir Huon offers to fight them, but suddenly feels tired and goes to lie down a little while. He does not wake up for about a week. During that interval Oberon has conveyed him to Tunis, where Fatima and Sherazmin are already pining in slavery, and Reiza is just landing, consigned to the Emir Almanzor’s harem. As a matter of course the quartett meet in the most casual and delightful manner, and when Almanzor hints an objection to their all going home to be married, and bids his minions bind the rascal and cut him into small pieces, Puck trips in, sounds the enchanted horn, and sets the whole of Tunis a-dancing. Saltatory spasms of the most awful kind seize even the fierce Emir himself, and clouds at last shut in the scene, while the turbaned guards, courtiers, and female slaves are in the turmoil of a sort of Arabic Shoo Fly. The mists break away, and rosy visions of bliss crown the end of Sir Huon’s troubles.

“Here is a theme, as any one may see, which invited the composer to the wildest and most romantic strains, and no composer could have been more in sympathy with it than Von Weber. The music of elf-land breathes through every measure, from the lovely overture to the spirited finale. The popular ear, accustomed to strictly rhythmical forms, finds at first some difficulty in catching the meaning of it all, but as one listens the beauties grow more distinct, and the opera seems like a lovely musical revery [sic]. There are melodies, however, upon which the least cultivated ear can rest with delight. The opening chorus is one of the most ethereally delicate pieces in the modern operatic repertory; the duet for Reiza and Fatima, ‘Ah, happy maid!’ the finales of all the four acts; Fatima’s two arias, ‘A lonely Arab maid’ and ‘Oh Araby, dear Araby;’ the familiar Mermaid’s song; a duet between Sherazmin and Fatima, and a prayer of Sir Huon’s, are certain to be popular wherever they are heard; while the famous scene of Reiza’s ‘Ocean, though mighty monster,’ is one of the most magnificent pieces of musical declamation that we know of. If, as a composition, this last number is so grand, its delivery by Madame Rosa is not less superb. She has been heard in it before in this city, and has always roused by it more or less enthusiasm, but with the additional effects of action and scenery we think she makes it one of her greatest triumphs. In all that she did she was admirable, and she added last night to her own part the Mermaid song, which is sung behind the scenes. Mrs. Seguin is fortunate in this opera, as she was in ‘The Marriage of Figaro,’ in having the most attractive arias, and several of them, and in having also a part which gives opportunity for her piquant style of acting. She was recalled after her best pieces, and made all through a very decided hit. Mr. Castle sang his music excellently, but in many scenes there is need of a passionate declamation from Sir Huon, without which the music sounds flat, and here Mr. Castle sometimes failed. Mr. Laurence was in unusually good voice. At the beginning of the fourth act he introduced a song arranged from a piano sonata of Weber’s, and gave it with excellent style and expression. Mr. Hall, in a small part, was really funny. Miss Warden had little to sing. Mr. de Solla was the only one whom we cannot praise, but he had not much to sing either. A few words of special praise are due to Mr. Carl Rosa for the admirable playing of the orchestra, which, in ‘Oberon,’ has indeed splendid work to do, and something, too, must be said of the new scenery, of which there were several very effective sets, including a cavern by the sea-shore, a distant view of Bagdad, an Oriental river view looking very much like the Suez Canal, and various place in fairy land which are not laid down on the maps, There were, also, new and brilliant dresses, and a most presentable array of chorus singers, utility people, minions, slaves, dancing girls, and all that sort of thing.”

7)
Review: New York Clipper, 09 April 1870, 6.

“Weber’s ‘Oberon’ was produced in New York, for the first time as an opera for forty years past, on Monday, March 29th, 1870, the event being a noteworthy one in the annals of lyric performances in the metropolis. It was performed by the Parepa-Rosa English Opera Troupe at the Academy of Music, and the occasion attracted a crowded house and a very critical audience. Weber’s opera of ‘Oberon’ is one of the most difficult to do full justice to in the whole repertoire of English opera; its [illegible] requirements are such [illegible] to need the greatest power and compass of voice, combined with skilled execution in the principal rôle, and cultured organs in the minor parts. ‘Oberon’ is rich in tender strains, the sweetest melody and the richest harmony. We decidedly prefer it to Weber’s other great work, ‘Der Freischütz;” in fact some of the concerted pieces in this opera are model specimens of the art. The instrumentation, too, is as nearly perfect in its theoretical beauties as can be, while the lyric and dramatic elements are most happily combined. Indeed, we might almost say that what Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is, in dramatic and poetical excellence, so is ‘Oberon’ as a masterpiece of lyric composition. Not that the libretto is worthy of praise, but that the music is so masterly in its composition. The only performance of this work given in this country, except in detail of the concerts of the Philharmonic or other musical societies, previous to its presentation by the Parepa Troupe, was at the Park Theatre, in 1831, and then it was presented more as a musical drama than as an opera. Carl Rosa and his company first performed it in Philadelphia when they appeared in the city recently, but its presentation there might be called a mere [dress?], [illegible] in composition [illegible] style and [flash?] which marked its performance at the New York Academy. The cast on this last occasion embraced Madame Rosa in the rôle of Reiza, in which Miss Paton—afterwards Mrs. Wood—made such a hit in London, Braham, at that time, singing the rôle of Sir Huon, which Castle appeared in on Monday; Mrs. Seguin was the Fatima, and Lawrence appeared as Sherasmin, Miss Warden performing the character of Puck, Gustavus Hall that of Hasan, and De Sola assuming the rôle of Oberon. The opera was placed upon the stage in the most creditable manner as regards scenery and costumes, the outlay in the latter respect being of a very liberal character. Dramatically speaking, ‘Oberon’ has no popular attractions. The plot is misty, and the characters uninteresting, but little being done by anyone in the play to elicit the interest or sympathy of the audience; and yet so grandly does the music take up the incidents of the piece, and so thoroughly follow the action of the drama, that what shortcomings there are in the plot, incidents and characters of the drama, are more than compensated for by the charming character of the music. Take, for instance, the scene in the third act, where Reiza—Madame Parepa—is left alone on a rocky shore, and vocally soliloquizes on the majesty of the ocean, the beauty of sunrise, and closes with a burst of joy at the hope of rescue. Nothing in the whole lyric repertoire equals in grandness of musical declamation Parepa’s magnificent rendering of the descriptive aria commencing with ‘Ocean, thou mighty monster.’ The power and volume of tone she sends forth, the clearly sustained notes, the perfect articulation, and the sweet purity of her voice, combine to render the whole of her performance in this act a model of lyric power and excellence. It completely electrified the house, and the most enthusiastic applause greeted her at its close. As regards Castle’s Sir Huon, while his rendering of the character was marked by vocal excellence of no ordinary degree, still we do not feel impressed with the performance. His best effort was the ‘prayer’ in the second scene of the third act. Mrs. Seguin appeared to advantage as Fatima, and in her rendering of ‘O Araby, Dear Araby,’ she was deservedly encored. Mr. Lawrence, also, was encored in the aria introduced in the fourth act. Mr. De Sola sang better that we have heard him before, well-merited applause greeting his singing of the aria in the third act. Miss Warden was a rather tall but not ungraceful ‘Puck,’ and Mr. Hall fulfilled the requirements of the rôle assigned him, especially in his amusing action in the closing scene. The choruses were finely rendered, the concerted pieces were given with telling effect, and the instrumentation was of philharmonic excellence, the style in which the beautiful overture was performed being the instrumental feature. Take it altogether, the whole performance was a grand musical treat to all present.”