The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-08 00:00:00

Royal English Opera.

The first original production of the Royal English Opera
Company (Limited)—" Helvellyn"—has been received by
the public with the greatest satisfaction; and we record the
fact with unmixed pleasure, because Mr G. A Macfarren is
one of our greatest masters of operatic composition. We
could however have wished that a more entertaining and
dramatic story had been made the medium for such
thorough English music, because through the opera a
number of the most elegant and tasteful compositions are
scattered, which certainly would have long lived in the
memory had the words been worth the trouble of re-
membering. The plot of " Helvellyn" is almost in.
explicable, and without a book of the words or
a brief acquaintance with the incident we fear many will
make but little of the opera, dramatically speaking ; there
fore, we give the following brief outline of " Helvellyn,"
that is as far as we were enabled to understand it :—The
action takes place in a term at the foot of Helvellyn, be-
longing to Mabel, a rich widow. The festivities of harvest
home are interrupted by the entrance of Ilannah, an
orphan, who, seeking charity, is at once admitted into the
service of Mabel. A second mendicant then arrrives in
the rerson of Luke. the vagabond brother of the widow's
late husband, who, on the score of his relationship, lays
claim to half her estate, Mabel admits him as a guest,
but instantly starts for London to obtain the proofs of her
sole rights;to the farm, leaving as her representative Martin,
a young steward, with whom she is secretely in love. Luke
amuses himself in Mabel's absence by taking undue famili-
arities with Hannah, but is repulsed by the girl, and re-
venges himself by instigating Steenie, an old servant, to
denounce her as a thief. Martin, who has conceived a pas-
sion for Hannah, takes her part; but the consequent strife
is suddenly quelled by the return of Mabel, who, now in
possession of legal right to her estates, names the young
stewart as her future husband, and thus gives him
authority to eject her vagrant brother. But Martin is
still enamoured of Hannah, who, however, forbears to
lis en to his protestations, assigning as a reason that her
father set fire to a foundry many years before, and that
the curses of the thousands who were thus made desti-
tute still rest upon her head. The denouncement may
be easily guessed. The real incendiary is of course no
other than Luke, who, on being recognised by Hannah,
endeavours to escape, and, clinging to a tree which is
suddenly struck by a convenient thunderbolt, is precipi.
tated into the abyss ever which it hangs. Thus the curse
falls upon the guilty head, and nothing remains but for
the good-hearted Mabee to bless the union of the lovers.
The part of Mabel is confided to Madame Perepa, Hannah
to Madame Sherrington, Martin to Mr Henry Haigh, Luke
to Mr Alberto Lawrence, and Steenie to Mr H. Corrie ; and
without entering into detail, we shall content ourselves
with noting down those portions of the opera which seemed
to tell most with the audience. In the first act, after a
very good descriptive song, " The sky with crimson is o'er-
spread," by Mr H. Cerrie, Mr Haigh sang " A blessing
on the harvest falls," which undoubtedly is one of the finest
harvest songs ever composed. It just suited the compass
of his voice, and called forth an immense encore. The
harvest song is followed by a fine quartet for Mabel, Martin,
Hannah, and Steenie—" What spell, what magic holds
me fast," In the second act Mr Alberto Lawrence
has a very fine, rollicking, reckless sort of song, "Here's a
fig for troubles past," which he sung with great effect, but
the song of the tenor, "Take this flower," was unfortunately
very much marred, in the second verse, by the attempt of
Mr. Haigh to introduce a cadenza, the highest note being
much beyond the natural compass of his voice. It is
the besetting sin with most tenors that they will insist in
attempting things far beyond their range ; in but very
rare cases the attempt invariably results in a noise which
certainly cannot be called music. There is a pretty kind of
ballad for Mr. Haigh, "Oh, Hannah, Hannah," but the
composer seems to have been thinking of Hatton's " Good
bye Sweetheart," when he composed this particular song.
The gem of the opera is a ballad by Madame Sherrington,
"I've noted how he oft would try," and she sang it with
the utmost taste, expression, and effect. The scenery,
dresses, and decorations are beautiful, and the " company "
deserve the highest praise for the manner in which the opera
has been put upon the stage.