2. Maritana is a grand opera in three acts composed by William Vincent
Wallace, with a libretto by Edward Fitzball (1792–1873).
The opera is based on the play Don César de Bazan by Adolphe d'Ennery
and Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir (1806–1865), which was also the
source material for Jules Massenet's opéra comique Don César de Bazan.
This character of Don César de Bazan first appeared in Victor Hugo's Ruy
Blas.
Maritana was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on
November 15,1845, conducted by Julius Benedict. It was then produced
the following year in Dublin and Philadelphia, then in New York and Vienna
in 1848. In 1873, Maritana became the first opera produced by the Carl
Rosa Opera Company.
It was revived in Dublin in 1877, and in London at Her Majesty's in 1880, in
an Italian version by Mattei. A 1902 production was seen at Covent
Garden. It was produced again at the London Lyceum in 1925 and at
Saddler's Wells in 1931, remaining popular until the middle of the 20th
century.
3. Synopsis
Maritana is a street singer in Madrid. The King of Spain is taken with her
beauty, and his minister, Don José, agrees to help him with his affections.
Don José intends to reveal the king's infidelity to further his own favor with
the queen.
Don Cesar de Bazan is a down-on-his-luck nobleman who is arrested and
sentenced to death for duelling during Holy Week. Earlier, Don Cesar had
aided a poor boy named Lazarillo.
On the day of Don Cesar's execution, a pardon arrives from the king. It is
maliciously intercepted by Don José, however, who offers Don Cesar a
soldier's death if he agrees to marry a veiled girl before his execution; Don
Cesar agrees.
4. Don José brings the veiled Maritana to marry Don Cesar before the
execution with the intention of making her a nobleman's widow.
During the wedding feast, Lazarillo removes the bullets from all the
weapons. The execution is carried out, and Don Cesar de Bazan feigns
death.
Don José brings Maritana to see the Marquis and Marchioness de
Montefiori. Maritana believes that she has married the king.
Don José brings her to meet the king at their appointed time. Maritana is
disappointed to find that he is not the dashing Don Cesar that she had
expected. Don Cesar arrives at the villa and demands his bride.
Pretty gitana tell us
5. Don José brings the old Marchioness to see him. Since Don Cesar has
never seen his bride, he believes that this is she, and is so disappointed
that he agrees to sign away his rights to her. Just as he is about to do this,
he hears Maritana's voice and announces that she was the woman he
married. He is promptly arrested.
Don Cesar comes before the king, announces that he is Don Cesar de
Bazan and learns of his original pardon. While the king steps away for a
few moments, Maritana and Don Cesar discover their mutual love.
Don Cesar, realizing Don José's treachery, kills him. To show his gratitude,
the king makes Don Cesar the governor of Valencia.
7. William Wallace was born in Waterford, on March 11, 1812. Wallace's
father was from Ballina, Co. Mayo and was, at the time, band-sergeant of
the 29th Worcestershire Regiment that was then stationed in the city of
Waterford.
His mother, Elizabeth, was a local girl. He had a younger brother named
Wellington who was born in Ballina in 1813 and a younger sister named
Eliza born in 1814.
William displayed remarkable musical talents from an early age and these
were developed under the tuition of Otto Hamilton and John Ringwood,
renowned teachers of the time in Waterford.
When only 7 years old he was able to play the clarinet as a member of his
father's band and his father allowed him to conduct the band at the age of
12.
Waltz – Act II Scene 2
8. In 1830 he was appointed organist (at the age of 18) in the Thurles
Catholic Cathedral and Professor of Music at the Ursuline Convent in the
town.
At the convent he met and fell in love with Isabella Kelly, a boarder from
Frascati, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Isabella was a harpist of promise and is
believed to have inspired the well-known tune '''Tis the Harp in the Air'' in
the opera Maritana.
Despite the opposition of her sister who was a nun at the convent, William
married Isabella the following year, while still under the age of 20.
He became a Catholic and took the name of Vincent as a tribute to his
sister-in-law Sister Vincent. In later life he preferred to be known by the
name of Vincent.
9. In 1831 after his marriage Wallace resigned from the posts in Thurles and
returned to Dublin where he took up residence at No.10 South William
Street.
He obtained the post of sub-leader in the Theatre Royal Orchestra, but in
September of the same year he was so impressed by the playing of
Paganini at the Dublin Music Festival that he resolved to become a violin
virtuoso.
With a view to widening his horizons, but partly for health reasons,
Wallace left Europe at the age of 23 and did not return for ten years.
During this time he travelled extensively and had a remarkable series of
adventures. He arrived first in Australia, (in Hobart, Tasmania) at the end
of October 1835, and moved to Sydney in the following January, where
he apparently deserted his wife.
Sing pretty maiden
10. His expressed intention was to become a sheep-farmer, and he did, in fact,
help to stock a farm with the proceeds of one of his first concerts, which
included a flock of sheep from a wealthy Australian.
This venture, however, was a failure, and he soon abandoned this idea for
the more profitable musical life of Sydney. His sister Eliza, who had
accompanied them to Australia and was an accomplished soprano,
married a popular Australian singer named John Bushelle.
Wallace joined her in a series of concerts. He also tried his hand at
running a music shop and a music school, but without success.
After incurring heavy debts in Australia Wallace went to New Zealand
where he indulged in whale fishing, and also visited the Dutch East Indies
and Madras.
11. Among his many adventures recorded is that of being captured by a
savage Maori tribe and being saved from their stew-pot only by the
intervention of the chief's daughter.
He is also reported to have spent a whole year in a camp of cannibals, the
only white man there. In India he received high honors from native princes.
Finding his way to South America he travelled in Chile, Peru, the West
Indies, Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico.
He was Director of Music at the Italian Theatre in Mexico in 1841-42.
Proceeding to the United States he performed as a violinist in New York,
where he became one of the founders of the New York Philharmonic
Society, and in Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans.
So my courage now regaining
12. Maritana
Wallace returned to Europe in 1844 and having made a tour of Germany
and Holland he settled in London for three years, being then in his mid-
thirties.
His London concert debut was at Hanover Square Concert Rooms on May
8, 1845, and there he met Hayward St. Leger, an old friend from the Dublin
Theatre Royal.
St. Leger introduced Walllace to Edward Fitzball, the dramatist, who
provided him with the libretto of “Maritana”.
After its successful production Wallace gave a concert in the Rotunda,
Dublin, on 9th February, 1846 and ‘Maritana’ was produced in Dublin later
that year.
He composed ten operas, six of which were published: Maritana (1845);
Matilda of Hungary (1847); Lurline (1860); The Amber Witch (1861); Love's
Triumph (1862); Desert Flower (1863)
13. America Again
Visiting Paris, Wallace met Berlioz.
He was commissioned to write an opera for the Paris Opera but he had to
abandon this plan because of threatened blindness.
On specialist advice he left again in 1848 and spent another three years
touring in America. He lost most of his money, however, through unwise
investments in piano manufacturing and in tobacco.
During this tour he formed a friendship with Helene Stoepel, a
distinguished American pianist that culminated in their marriage in October,
1850.
Health to the Lady, the lovely Bride
14. Last Years
Subsequent to this marriage Wallace returned to Europe. His eyesight was
again failing, but it improved after he had spent some years in Germany
and he took up the composition of opera again.
His second most successful opera, Lurline, was produced in 1860 and was
followed rapidly by other operatic works.
From 1854 onwards, however, he suffered a series of heart attacks, and
his health generally was failing rapidly in the early 1860's. In 1864 he was
ordered to take a holiday in the South of France.
On the way, he fell ill with dropsy and was laid up for some time in Passy,
Paris. Here he had, as visitors, Rossini, Thalberg and Osborne, later
Director of the Royal Academy of Music, London.
He died subsequently in a lonely chateau in the Pyrenees on October
12,1865, at the age of 53. His body was brought to London and buried at
Kensal Green cemetery.
