2.4) Maria Malibran & Balfe at La Scala, Milan

3. Balfe and Maria Malibran in Venice

Balfe sang again with Maria Malibran this time in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice. This was early in 1835.

It was during this time that Sig. Gallo the owner of another theatre the Teatro Emeronittio appealed to Maria Malibran for help since attendance at his Teatro had been greatly affected by the Diva's appearance at La Fenice. In typical Maria Malibran fashion she agree to a special performance of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (with Balfe as Figaro) at La Fenice in which Gallo would receive 50% of the evening's receipts. 

Additionally, she also agreed to sing a performance of Bellini's La Sonnambula (with Balfe at Count Rodolfo) at the Teatro Emeronittio as a benefit for Gallo. To show his appreciation, Gallo renamed his Theatre "Teatro M. F. G. Malibran" (Maria Felicia Garcia Malibran) in recognition of her generosity. This turned out to be a sensational performance, with Malibran receiving over 30 curtain calls.

The theatre still retains the Malibran name today, in remembrance  of that long ago eventful night in April 1835 when Malibran and Balfe sang together in Bellini's beautiful opera in Venice.    

                                                    Maria Malibran & Balfe in La Sonnambula in Venice

                                                                 La Sonnambula at The Teatro Malibran - April, 1835 

The notice of the special performance of La Sonnambula in April 1835, in Venice  
with Maria Malibran in the title role and "Guglielmo Balfe" as Count Rodolfo.   

                                              Note: This advance program shows the date as April 7; the actual performance was on April 8, 1835. 

During this period Malibran recognized Balfe's emerging musical talents as a composer. She called him the "English Rossini." given his musical skills. He in turn wanted to write an opera for her while in Venice, there was talk of Hamlet being the subject matter, however, nothing happened, instead he committed to writing an opera for her at a later date. A promise he fulfilled a year later in London.' 

3.0)  Return To London

Balfe returned to London in May 1835. where he performed at a concert with Lablache, Tamburini, Rubini and Grisi and others, at Vauxhall Gardens.   In this esteemed company Balfe elected to sing under his Italian name,  "M. Guglielmo Balfe!"

3.1)  It was shortly after this period that Balfe completed his first opera for London. His London debut as an operatic composer took place, in October 1835 with the premiere of his highly successful, "The Siege of Rochelle" at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.  

3.2) This was the start of Balfe's brilliant career as a composer of operatic works for London. He was 27 years old!

3.3) Maria Malibran  premieres Balfe's  "The Maid of Artois" London 1836

His initial success was quickly followed by another opera " 'The Maid of Artois " which he composed to fulfill a promise to his good friend, "Maria Malibran" who performed in the premiere on May 27, 1836 at Drury Lane theatre in London. The presence of Malibran created a great financial success'. 'Tragically, the renowned Malibran died the following September age 28, in Manchester as a result of an earlier horse-riding accident.   

                                                                       Maria Malibran who created the Maid of Artois, in London (1836)

Also it was probably during this period that Balfe composed the Cantata  Sempre pensoso e torbido for Maria Malibran (see below for OperaRara recording details)

3.4)  "The Prayer of the Nation" 

Balfe possibly wrote this special music for young Queen Victoria sometime after Her Coronation which took place in June 1838. In the visual, Queen Victoria is shown with Prince Albert and some of Her ministers including the Duke of Wellington (third from left) and probably Prime Minster Robert Peel front left.

3.5) "Falstaff "

'In 1838 Balfe composed his first Italian opera written for London', "Falstaff" based on the Shakespeare play, "The Merry Wives of Windsor." The Italian libretto was written by a London based translator of operas for leading composers, S. Manfredo Maggione.        

        Luigi Lablache, creator of the title role in Balfe's Falstaff    
                                                             (Photo courtesy:  Harmonie Autographs and Music, Inc. NY)                                                                                                                                     

3.6) First Return Visit to Ireland -1838

Balfe first returned to Ireland in 1838, where he sang in operas and in concerts. A public dinner was held at 'Morrison's Hotel in Dawson Street, Dublin in December of that year. This dinner was attended by 100 business and political leaders who paid one golden guinea to attend. Balfe as the guest of honor, made an elegant and a somewhat amusing speech about being a "Dublin Man" also mentioning his absence of sixteen years from his native city. 

During the course of the evening, Balfe mentioned the fact that on his return to London in mid 1835, he was considered a foreigner and called "an Irish/Italian" no less!  Of course he was fluent in the Italian language and had composed operas in Italy, having spent seven years there on his second visit. During the evening, he also sang various numbers for the group including excerpts from his Falstaff.

Page No. 4 - SECTION D 

TIME-LINE: 1841-1850

4.1) The London Theatre Manager

Balfe turned theatre manager in London in 1841, fot the purpose of creating a National English Opera in Britain. Queen Victoria supported the venture to create a permanent national operatic organization at the Lyceum Theatre on the Strand.

This venture was quite unsuccessful for a variety of reasons not the least of which was the lack of support Balfe received from his fellow composers who were supposed to write new operas for the venture, and didn't. However, additionally Balfe's managerial and financial skills did not measure-up either. He went bankrupt  after six months. 

Disgusted with the entire endeavor he announced from the stage of the Lyceum that he would never venture into Theatre Management again. He never did. It was all reported in the Times newspaper, which created an awkward situation for him.  Shortly afterwards he left for Paris, where he gave concerts with the help of Érard the piano manufacturer. He later received a commission to write a new opera, for the Opera Comique. It would be his first opera for Paris.

4.2) The New Operatic Composer in  Paris -1843

                                                                                                Balfe's first French opera, Le Puits D'Amour premiered early in 1843 in Paris

Balfe went on to compose several other operas for Paris.  His success in Paris gave him great international recognition at a level never previously experienced by any British composer.  In fact it would take more than a 100 years before another British operatic composer (Benjamin Britten) would reach the level of international acclaim Balfe achieved in 1843.

4.3) A New Opera for London The Bohemian Girl - A Most Successful Work

After about a year and a half in Paris Balfe returned to London where he introduced an English version of his successful French opera, under the title of "Geraldine - The Lover's Well" in August 1843.

A few months later, his most famous and most lasting opera,  "'The Bohemian Girl,"  was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on November 27, 1843.  Balfe composed most of this work at his home in central London; although it's quite possible that some of work on the score was initially done in Paris earlier in the year.

"After the highly successful run of over 100 nights at Drury Lane, performances of 'The Bohemian Girl" were soon mounted in:  New York 1844; Dublin 1844, Philadelphia 1844, Vienna (in German) 1846, Sydney 1846, Prague 1847, Stockholm 1849, Berlin 1850, Trieste, Brescia, Verona & Bologna in 1854, Zurich 1854, Amsterdam 1855, Rouen 1862, Gothenburg 1865, Paris 1868/9, Toronto 1874, New Orleans 1876, Mexico 1884 and in Cape Town in 1887, etc., etc.            

4.4) The Bohemian Girl - Performed the World Over.

For more than 150 years, Balfe's most popular opera, "'The Bohemian Girl,"   has been performed with remarkable success in the English speaking world of, America, Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and elsewhere.   A CD recording of the opera is available. See recordings section below.   

4.5) Vienna, Pest (Budapest), Leipzig, Linz and Stuttgart - Spring 1845

Balfe's opera Die Vier Haimonskinder (a translation of another successful Paris (1844) work, Les quatre fils Aymon.) was performed with great acclaim during this period in these cities. It later was performed in Berlin and other cities and towns in the German states and again in Vienna over a period of several years.

4.6) Paris 1845 - Balfe's opera L'etoil de Seville 

Towards the end of 1845 Balfe returned to Paris to prepare for the premiere of his new opera which was written specially for the Paris Opera. This was a historical moment as it was the first time a British musician had been invited to compose a new opera for this important venue. In the audience on the opening night were France's leading operatic composer, Giacomo Meyerbeer and the great pianist, Frederic Chopin and most of the leading composers of the period. Chopin recorded the event in his writings.

Balfe's cast included such distinguished singers as, tenor Italo Gardoni, mezzo-soprano, Rosine Stoltz, soprano Maria Nau, and the baritone Paul Barroilhet. The opera was given 15 performances with considerable success. It was later translated into German for  Vienna, however it does not appear to have been performed there.

Balfe was appointed the director of Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1846. It was a position he held for the next seven years until 1852. During that time he introduced several of Verdi's opera to London along with other local operatic premieres.

                                                     
                                                           The Italian Opera - London during the mid nineteenth-century

4.8) Verdi and Jenny Lind in London -1846-47

                                                                                      Author's collection

                                                                                                                 The famous soprano, Jenny Lind (1849)

When Giuseppe Verdi first arrived in London to conduct his new opera, I Masnadieri, with Jenny Lynn and Luigi Lablache, Balfe worked with him at rehearsals. Later when the Italian composer left London after conducting two performances, Balfe took up the baton to finish the run of the Italian composer's new opera.

4.9 "Irish Famine" Relief Concert

Early in the year 1847, Benjamin Lumley the London impresario and Balfe mounted a special concert at Her Majesty's Theatre for the benefit of Famine related distressed Irish people. The concert raised  £2,000. Various members of the aristocracy were also directly involved as part of the fund raising committee and funds distribution. The money was distributed in Ireland.

5.0) Balfe at the premiere of  his Die Zigeunerin in Vienna

In 1846 Balfe went to Vienna to direct and conduct his opera Die Zigeunerin (The Bohemian Girl). The opera once again had incredible success. It  went on to be performed there and also in other German speaking cities until the end of the century.

5.1) Jenny Lind Gives a Concert in Balfe's Honor - London, January 1849

Balfe conducted the performance. He included the overtures to The Bohemian Girl and to his other very successful first French opera, Le Puits d'Amour in the program.
                                                                                        _______________________________________________________________

                                                             (See below in Section # 5.7 for full details of various other Balfe Cantatas)

Balfe's "Multi-Lingual Opera" - The Bohemian Girl - (English, German, Italian and French)

Later La Zingara  was performed in:  London (1856), Dublin(1858), New York (1858) and in Boston and San Francisco.  A version in German  "Die Zigeunerin" premiered in Vienna, in 1846. It was later heard in Berlin, Frankfurt (Balfe's friend, Jenny Lind attended the Frankfurt performance), Hamburg, Darmstadt, Munich, Stuttgart, Budapest, Leipzig  and other cities. 

The success of The Bohemian Girl was unprecedented for opera in the 19th century. The only other work that was close to it  in terms of popularity around the world was Verdi's Ernani (1844).

5.3) The Composer in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna and Trieste

5.4) New York - The Academy of Music -1854