During the early 1830s Balfe and his wife, also kept up a busy schedule performing in operas by  Bellini, Pacini, Ricci, Donizetti, Rossini and others in places such as, Venice,  Milan, Trieste, Bergamo, Mantua, Parma, Piacenza, Turin, Varese, Pavia, Novara, and no doubt, other places in Italy. 

2.4) Maria Malibran & Balfe at La Scala, Milan

In May 1834 Balfe made his debut at La Scala, Milan, singing opposite his friend, (from Paris) the renowned mezzo-soprano,  'Maria Malibran (1808-1836), in Rossini's "Otello." "The performances were so successful that they gave repeat performances in October of the same year at  La Scala with the same cast.

                                                     
                                              La Scala, Milan around the time Balfe and Malibran sang there together in 1834

Page No. 3 - SECTION C

TIME-LINE: 1835-1840

3. Balfe and Maria Malibran in Venice

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

It was during this time she also agreed to sing a "benefit" performance of Bellini's La Sonnambula (with Balfe at Count Rodolfo and the tenor Lorenzo Bonfigli as Elvino) at the Teatro Emeronittio for the manager, 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.   

                                   
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 committed to write an opera for her at some time in the future.

3.0)  Return To London

Balfe returned to London in May 1835, with his wife Lina and their firstborn child, Louisa "Gigia" as they called her, where he performed at a concert with Lablache, Tamburini, Rubini and Grisi and others, at Vauxhall Gardens.  

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 his 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)

3.4) "Falstaff "

"The great Luigi Lablache was in the title role with Grisi,  Rubini and Tamburini creating the other principal parts The opera was very successful. This same group of singers had created Bellini's beautiful opera,  I Puritani, in Paris three years earlier, in 1835, also with great success. 

(NOTE: Balfe's Falstaff - the first revival of the opera in 170 years took place in Dublin by Opera Ireland on 25th of September 2008. See recording information below). 
                                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                 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.  

4.3) A New Opera for London The Bohemian Girl - His 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 (with a German libretto) 1846, Sydney 1846, Prague 1847, Stockholm 1849, Berlin 1850, Trieste, Brescia, Verona & Bologna (with an Italian libretto) in 1854, in Zurich 1854, Amsterdam 1855, Rouen 1862 (French libretto), 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.

Balfe's opera Die Vier Haimonskinder (translated from his 1844 French work, Les quatre fils Aymon) was performed with great acclaim during this period in these cities. It later was staged in Leipzig and other cities and towns and again in Vienna over a period of many years.

                   Balfe's opera, Die Vier Haimonskinder (Les quatre fils Aymon) was performed in Vienna, Berlin, 
                         Leipzig, Frankfurt, Prague and other German speaking cities throughout the 19th century

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 circa 1850

4.8  Balfe with Giuseppe Verdi and Jenny Lind in London 1846-47

Balfe was also the principal conductor for the Italian Opera at Her Majesty's theatre, London. He conducted Jenny Lind's (1820-1887) London debut in opera and most of her subsequent performances in that city and in Dublin. Balfe also conducted the London premiere of  the young Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901), first successful opera, Nabucco.  

                                                                                The famous soprano, Jenny Lind (c.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.

An elegant looking Michael Balfe, age 38, in Vienna (1846) at the time of the premiere of Die Zigeunerin
the German version of his famous opera, The Bohemian Girl

Page No. 5 - SECTION E

TIME-LINE: 1851-1870

5.2) Cantata - Inno Delle Nazioni  - (London 1851)

In London in 1851 in honor of the upcoming Great International Exhibition in London, Balfe composed an extraordinary cantata titled, Inno Delle Nazioni - Onore alla Gran Bretagna in which the nine (9) vocal parts were sung by nine leading females singers each representing a country. The accompaniment was piano, harp and horn.

                                            
                                                Balfe's cantata for nine female voices, performed in London in May 1851

The Bohemian Girl - Performed in English, German, Italian and French. And other languages.

An Italian adaptation and translation of " 'The Bohemian Girl" titled, "La Zingara" was mounted in Trieste in 1854. It was a great success. Performances quickly followed in other Italian cities, Bologna, Bergamo, Brescia, and Verona. 

Later La Zingara  was performed in:  London (1856), Dublin (1858), New York (1858) and in Boston and San Francisco.  A German language version,  "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

'The years 1852-53 saw Balfe travel to Danzig to visit his eldest daughter Louisa "Gigia" (Balfe) Behrens and her family after which he traveled by coach to St. Petersburg in Russia for concerts.  He later went on to Moscow for more concerts, after which he returned to Danzig for a rest before going on to Vienna to direct a German version of his opera Keolanthe. In 1854 he went to Trieste to premiere La Zingara. He also returned to Russia in the 1860's.  

5.4) New York - The Academy of Music -1854

Strangely, 'Balfe never visited America, although there were strong rumors circulating in New York in 1854-5 that the composer was to become the Director of the Academy of Music on 14th Street. However, nothing came of it. 

5.5) The Successful Composer of 250 Songs, Several Cantatas and at least One Symphony     
Balfe was remarkably productive during these years, between composing operas he wrote songs with text by some of the most famous poets of the time.  These included, Tennyson, Longfellow, Falconer, Morris, Rankin, Kingsley, Desmond Ryan, Guernsey, Carpenter, and Thomas Moore were some of the poets and writers who penned the words for Balfe songs.

6.2) Balfe's Wife - Lina (Magdalena) Roser Balfe (1810-1888) - also an important singer

Balfe's wife Lina was born in Budapest (Pest), Hungary of an Austrian father in 1810, and perhaps an Austrian mother. It appears that her mother possibly died during childbirth, as she was raised by Austrian foster parents, the Vogels.  Her father, Franz de Paula Roser (1779-1830) who was working as a musician, theatre manager and composer in Pest when she was born. The father had been a pupil of W. A. Mozart during the year 1789, when he was a child. He was also a composer of significance in Vienna where more than 60 of his operettas were performed during his lifetime.

Lina a soprano, was an excellent singer, performing in Milan from around 1829 and afterwards in Venice, Bergamo, Parma, Mantua, Turin, Varese and elsewhere in Italy in the 1830s.  She studied with one of Mozart's sons, Karl T. Mozart in Milan during 1828/29.

Shortly after the death of her husband, Michael W. Balfe in 1870, Lina Balfe donated her large collection of his original scores and music to the British Museum/Library. The Balfe collection which is very extensive is held by the British Library today. The listing of the collection can be viewed online. Copies of  musical scores can also be ordered online.

6.3) Daughter - Louisa Balfe-Behrend (1832-1869)

6.4) Son - Michael W. Balfe Jr. (1836(?) -1915)

Balfe's son who was born in London circa late 1836 (?), was not successful in his efforts to follow in his father's footsteps as a composer. He was married in London in 1863.  He later spent several years in New York where he went with his wife, Norah and their young daughter, Maud. His wife later died and he remarried. Their family grew, they had another daughter, Victoria and two sons, Michael William and William each born in New York (Brooklyn). While in New York he worked not too successfully as a, "Fitter" and later an Insurance sales person.  He died in London at an Infirmary in 1915 aged 79.

6.5) Daughter - Victoire Balfe-de Frias (Paris 1837?-1871)