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Howard Glover's Opera Ruy Blas: Harbinger of English Romantic

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Howard Glover's Opera Ruy Blas: Harbinger of English Romantic Howard Glover’s Opera Ruy Blas: harbinger of English Romantic Opera’s demise? Russell Burdekin, Adapted from a paper given at the Music in Nineteenth Century Britain Conference, Canterbury Christ Church University, July 5, 2019. (September 27, 2019 - minor update and corrections) ( Two further supporting articles were written, one on the composer, Howard Glover, see http://englishromanticopera.org/composers/glover/Howard_Glover_Life_and_Career.pdf and the other on the various 19th century English adaptations of Victor Hugo’s play, Ruy Blas, see http://englishromanticopera.org/operas/Ruy_Blas/Victor_Hugo_Ruy_Blas_ and_its_19th_century_English_adaptations.pdf ) English language opera from the 19th century is not often heard today but that is not for lack of compositions. The century can be roughly divided into three. The first third was a fragmented effort mainly of adaptations and imitations with Carl Maria von Weber’s Oberon the only original work still occasionally performed. The next phase, which is the focus of this talk, is sometimes labelled English Romantic Opera. It began in 1834 with the reopening of the English Opera House and proceeded in fits and starts during the next 30 or so years producing over 70 largely original operas, of which Michael William Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl is probably the best known. The closure of the Pyne-Harrison company in 1864 essentially marked its end, although there were a few further operas over the following two years under a short lived successor organisation. There was then a gap of nearly 10 years until Frederick Cowen’s Pauline for the Carl Rosa Company in 1875. Cowen (241-242) put its failure partly down to its use of the dialogue and song model that was the typical format for English Romantic Opera. Although probably not justified, it underlined that that phase of English opera was over.1 For the remainder of the century major English language operas were anchored in through composed European models of various flavours. I’m going to talk about Howard Glover, his opera, Ruy Blas, and its London history, some of the broader issues contributing to the decline of English romantic opera in the 1860s as it tried unsuccessfully to respond to changing times and the particular problem highlighted by his opera. This posed a dilemma that English romantic opera was unable to surmount and which led to its demise. 1 Charles K. Salaman, “English Opera (Concluded)”, Musical Times (1 June, 1877): 271), “musical recitation...is nevertheless now required in [English Opera’s] composition” 1 William Howard Glover2 William Howard Glover was born in 1819 in London the second son of Julia Glover one of the best known actresses of the first half of the 19th century. His father was probably John Howard Payne, American actor, playwright and author, including the words of Home Sweet Home. Glover had a good musical education on the continent and in 1842 was reported as having an opera Attila staged in Frankfurt but by the next year he was back in Britain. A rather patchy career followed including teacher, singer, violinist, pianist, conductor, critic, impresario, librettist and composer but he never made a solid success of any of them despite his obvious abilities. Partly this was due to his poor financial skills, ending up bankrupt at least three times, but also to a certain volatility of temperament. It was said of him that he stood in his own light. Even so, things took a decided turn for the worse in 1865 when accusations were made that he used his position as critic for the Morning Post to claim falsely that certain singers would take part in the concerts that he organised and on occasion to get them to perform for no fee. Because of his position, singers were said to be reluctant to complain. He left the Morning Post, some said sacked, removing his only stable source of income. In 1868 to try to revive his fortunes, his friends paid for him and his family to go to the United States where he took up a position as conductor at Niblo’s Garden in New York. However, as Joseph Bennett (20) wrote “the habits of years could not be shaken off, and the only change was a change of place”. In 1874 a benefit concert was promoted in New York to relieve the family’s hardship. A year later he died leaving his wife and 12 children destitute. So not the happiest of lives. Ruy Blas was his only published serious opera although he also composed at least four cantatas, two operettas and a comic opera as well as numerous songs.3 The progress of Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas in London4 Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas was first staged in Paris on 8 November 1838 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. In brief, a Spanish grandee, Don Sallust, exiled by the Queen, plots revenge by getting his servant, Ruy Blas, to impersonate an aristocrat, Don Cesar, in order to gain the Queen’s love and trust. After this has been achieved, Sallust engineers a compromising situation between Blas and the Queen to force her abdication. Blas kills Sallust but takes poison when the Queen will not forgive his deception until too late. For all that it has a convoluted and unlikely plot, Hugo included some highly charged scenes and speeches. It seems to have been mooted for performance in London in 1840 but nothing came of it and a licence to perform it in 1845 was refused. The reason for these refusals was not any inherent problem with the play but a sensitivity that allusions might be made to Prince Albert. In 1852 2 See Burdekin (Howard Glover) for a detailed description of Glover’s life, including supporting references. 3 He appeared to have composed only one other opera, Attila (1842) but only a few excerpts were ever sung in London. His best known cantata was Tam O’Shanter (1855), Others included Hero and Leander (1850), which was originally planned as an opera, one for the marriage of the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia(1858) and Comala (1859). His comic opera, Aminta, the Coquette, was given in London in 1852. His operettas included Once too often (1862) and Palomita (1875). 4 See Burdekin (Victor Hugo’s) for a detailed description of the play’s British history. 2 it was again submitted for performance in French at the St James and this time allowed. However, Queen Victoria saw it and was not amused. She complained about the Queen falling in love with a footman in livery. The play was hastily withdrawn after 3 performances and a proposed English version was aborted. Eventually an English version was given at the Marylebone Theatre in 1858, which included a happy ending with the prospect of Ruy Blas’ marriage to the Queen. Three further versions followed, the best known being that of Edmund Falconer at the Princess’s Theatre in October 1860. The manuscript5 sent to the censor included the adjoining drawing to reassure him that Ruy Blas’s uniform would be that of a retainer and not of a footman. Glover’s opera Ruy Blas Glover’s opera was scheduled to open Pyne and Harrison’s 1861 season at Covent Garden on 21 October. All too typical of Glover it actually appeared 3 days late, the singer Charles Santley (193) complaining that he only received his part two days before the premiere. Glover wrote his own libretto but drew on Falconer’s version that essentially followed Hugo but omitted an act and two scenes that were peripheral to the main action. Glover rearranged some episodes and added a young page to be able to inject more musical variety. Instead of poison, Ruy Blas dies of stab wounds inflicted by Don Sallust but in Glover’s version this happens when the Queen is trying to restrain Blas. Blas dispatches Sallust over the balcony and after some prevarication of her part receives the Queen’s pardon before he dies. Glover added a passing patrol alerted by the body in the street trying to force their way in in order to include a choral element to the finale. At one performance, William Harrison, the Ruy Blas, accidentally stabbed Charles Santley, the Don Sallust, during the struggle. Luckily it wasn’t serious. The opera ran for about a month although cuts were being made after only a few performances. Then, in early 1863, it suffered the indignity of being revived in a shortened form as a curtain raiser to the pantomime. Pyne and Harrison took it on tour in May and June 1863 and excerpts were given at the Norwich Festival in September. No further performances have been found. James Davison of The Times (29 Oct 1861: 9) and the Musical World and a friend of Glover was fulsome in his praise, “helped confirm the good opinion derived from a first hearing”, except for commenting on a “superabundance of dialogue”, a frequent complaint about English opera. The Era (27 Oct 1861: 10) wrote of “the first Act [being] brought successfully, and even brilliantly, to an end” and thought that “every one who has heard [the opera] once would be eager to hear again”. However, Baily’s Monthly Magazine (1 Nov 1861: 373) while noting its apparent first night success, doubted if it was “likely long to hold a place in public favour”. Charles Santley (193) spoke of it having “one or two effective numbers but was not a success”, which is borne out by its performance history. We will return to the opera after taking a brief look at the decline of English romantic opera as reflected in the fortunes of the Pyne-Harrison company.
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