"Maritana"

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 19, 18 November 1932, Page 6

"Maritana"

7} XCERPTS from "Maritana" will be | broadeast by 3YA on Thursday, November 24. The music of "Maritana" is simple, tuneful and straightforward as the most unsophisticated hearer could desire, and therein, in conjunction with its sincerity and spontaneity, lies the secret of its appeal. The opera was given for the first time at Drury Lane on November 15, 1845, with the composer conducting, and was a success from the first. The biggest "hit" of that memorable evening was the singing by a Miss Romer of "Scenes that are Brightest," while the tenor song, "Let Me Like a Soldier Fall," was also warmly acclaimed. Others of its more famous numbers besides these include Maritana’s Romanza, "*Tis the Harp in the: Air," Lazarillo’s air, "‘Alas! Those Chimes," the trio "Turn On, Old Time," the lovely "Angelus," "In Happy Moments Day by Day," "There is a Flower that Bloometh," and "Sainted Mother,"y.all of which will be eagerly listened to by thousands of old admirers of the work. The composer of "Maritana," William Vincent ‘Wallace, had a career which reads more like a tale of adyenture for boys than a piece of musie’s staid and.sober history. His father was a military bandmaster, and the young Wallace was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1812. He very quickly became,a good player not only of the violin and pianoforte, but also of the clarinet. He was only seventeen when he was given a church organist’s post. He gave it up within a year,; however, to devote himself tothe violin. In 1834 he played a violin concerto of his own in Dublin, with’ such success that he might have looked forward to a prosperous career in. that line. But his health gave way, and he went to Australia in the hope of warding off a threatening lung trouble. Sheep farming was nominally his job there, but he continued to play his violin, not only as a recreation, but in concerts, He took. the opportunity of coming on to New Zealand at that time, and the full story of his thrilling adventures With the Maoris as told by him to Berlioz is reprinted in the French composer’s lively personal chronicles, "Byenings With the Orchestra." After the New Zealand escapade he wandered over almost the: then known world, going to. India and to:botn North and South America, and ariving Home in 1845, where he turned up at the opera in London, "in the picturesque but unusual costume of a. West Indian planter, consisting of a complete suit of yellow nankeen, surmounted, by.an immense white hat." Here he met an old Dublin friend, Hayward St. Leger, who asked him if he could write an opera.: "Yes; twenty, if you like," was his cheery reply. An introduction to Fitzball followed, and "Maritana" was the result, Later Wallace resumed his nomadi¢e habits, going to Germany, where he prospered for a number of years. Later he took tothe road again, and this restless romantic died in the Pyrenees on October 12, 1865, but his body was brought back to England and he was buried at Kensal Green. f 4 ’