Wallace Maritana

 Day 166

William Vincent Wallace

Maritana

RTE Philharmonic Choir and Concert Orchestra

Poinnasias Ó Duinn

In this exploration of British Romantic Opera I come to the first of three operas which are together know, somewhat tongue in cheek, as the English Ring. Considering that the operas are all by different composers and have nothing in common despite the time that they were written it is a bit of a stretch to associate them with the Ring, so say nothing of the fact that two of the three composers were Irish.

William Wallace was certainly an interesting character - his life story is well worth reading, containing as it does time on a Whaling ship in the south seas and conducting opera in Mexico City, though there are some doubts about whether any or all of what he said was actually true,

Mariana (1845) was his greatest success and held the stage in one form or another for 100 years. The plot is absurd (it shares some similarities with The Yeomen of the Guard), the characters are wooden and the libretto is stiff and in places unintentionally comic. Yet despite all of this is made quite a strong impression. Wallace has a real melodic gift and some of the numbers in the opera - especially the martial aria Yes Let me like a solider fall became popular items at ballad concerts and amateur music soirees. There is an energy about the score and although some of it certainly relies on the standard  musical devices of early 19th century opera Wallace knows how to keep the interest going. 

I can't image that the opera could be performed nowadays - I think it would be in danger of being laughed off the stage - but that is is a pity as there are some fine moment in it. Particularly I think the big ensemble at the end of Act II where Wallace produces music that Donizetti would have been happy to have called his own.