Page 94 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
P. 94
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
see below, while there are very promising recent developments all is not as
well as it might seem in Irish operatic life.
This essay will focus on two periods, namely the early twentieth centu-
ry (and the time leading up to it) and the 2017/18 season, comparing the pro-
vision of opera in both periods. A special focus will be on operas engaging
with Irish subjects, Irish history and Irish mythology, and also on the Irish
track record with regard to commissioning (and performing) new operas
from Irish and Irish-based composers.
Opera in Ireland before 1922
The earliest confirmed staging of an opera in Ireland occurred in 1705 in
Dublin; the piece was The Island Princess with music by Jeremiah Clarke,
Richard Leveridge, William Pate and Daniel Purcell.1 However, according
to Axel Klein it was only in the wake of the success of John Gay’s The Beg-
gar’s Opera after 1728 that Irish audiences developed a taste for opera. Dur-
ing the nineteenth century interest in opera continuously increased, with
Irish composers writing a number of operas that were quite successful at
home and abroad. Among these were William Vincent Wallace (11 operas)
and Michael Balfe (32 operas). Charles Villiers Stanford, arguably the most
important Irish composer of the late Romantic period, wrote six operas, in-
cluding one (Shamus O’Brien) on an Irish topic.
Operas by Irish Composers
Musicology as a discipline developed relatively recently in Ireland, in a
systematic and significant way perhaps only since the late 1980s. With a
few notable exceptions (particularly the work of Axel Klein), there has
also been little engagement with Irish musical history outside of the is-
land. Therefore some “traditional” views/biases are still upheld while
new primary sources are regularly discovered. One such bias is that
while opera was regularly performed in Ireland there was little indig-
enous operatic work by Irish composers (be it performed in Ireland or
elsewhere). Axel Klein’s research has unearthed numerous operas by
Irish composers that remain widely unknown (composers such as the
aforementioned Balfe or Stanford represent exceptions that confirm this
rule) as they are neither recorded nor performed, and in most cases not
1 Axel Klein, “Opera and music theatre,” in Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, vol. 2,
eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), 785–790: 785–786.
92
see below, while there are very promising recent developments all is not as
well as it might seem in Irish operatic life.
This essay will focus on two periods, namely the early twentieth centu-
ry (and the time leading up to it) and the 2017/18 season, comparing the pro-
vision of opera in both periods. A special focus will be on operas engaging
with Irish subjects, Irish history and Irish mythology, and also on the Irish
track record with regard to commissioning (and performing) new operas
from Irish and Irish-based composers.
Opera in Ireland before 1922
The earliest confirmed staging of an opera in Ireland occurred in 1705 in
Dublin; the piece was The Island Princess with music by Jeremiah Clarke,
Richard Leveridge, William Pate and Daniel Purcell.1 However, according
to Axel Klein it was only in the wake of the success of John Gay’s The Beg-
gar’s Opera after 1728 that Irish audiences developed a taste for opera. Dur-
ing the nineteenth century interest in opera continuously increased, with
Irish composers writing a number of operas that were quite successful at
home and abroad. Among these were William Vincent Wallace (11 operas)
and Michael Balfe (32 operas). Charles Villiers Stanford, arguably the most
important Irish composer of the late Romantic period, wrote six operas, in-
cluding one (Shamus O’Brien) on an Irish topic.
Operas by Irish Composers
Musicology as a discipline developed relatively recently in Ireland, in a
systematic and significant way perhaps only since the late 1980s. With a
few notable exceptions (particularly the work of Axel Klein), there has
also been little engagement with Irish musical history outside of the is-
land. Therefore some “traditional” views/biases are still upheld while
new primary sources are regularly discovered. One such bias is that
while opera was regularly performed in Ireland there was little indig-
enous operatic work by Irish composers (be it performed in Ireland or
elsewhere). Axel Klein’s research has unearthed numerous operas by
Irish composers that remain widely unknown (composers such as the
aforementioned Balfe or Stanford represent exceptions that confirm this
rule) as they are neither recorded nor performed, and in most cases not
1 Axel Klein, “Opera and music theatre,” in Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, vol. 2,
eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), 785–790: 785–786.
92
