Michael William Balfe (15 May 1808 – 20 October 1870) was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas, especially The Bohemian Girl.
After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to compose. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed at least 29 operas, almost 250 songs, several
cantatas and other works. He was also a noted conductor, directing Italian Opera at
Her Majesty's Theatre for seven years, among other conducting posts.
Biography
Early life and career
Balfe was born in
Dublin, where his musical gifts became apparent at an early age. He received instruction from his father, a dancing master and violinist, and the composer
William Rooke.[1] His family moved to
Wexford when he was a child. Between 1814 and 1815, Balfe played the violin for his father's dancing-classes, and at the age of seven composed a
polacca.
In 1817, he appeared as a violinist in public, and in this year composed a
ballad, first called "Young Fanny" and afterwards, when sung in Paul Pry by
Madame Vestris, "The Lovers' Mistake". In 1823, upon the death of his father, the teenaged Balfe moved to London and was engaged as a violinist in the orchestra of the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He eventually became the leader of that orchestra.[2] While there, he studied violin with
Charles Edward Horn and composition with
Charles Frederick Horn, the organist, from 1824, at
St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
While still playing the violin, Balfe pursued a career as an opera singer. He debuted unsuccessfully at
Norwich in
Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz. In 1825, his wealthy patron[3] Count Mazzara took him to Rome for vocal and musical studies and introduced him to
Luigi Cherubini. Balfe also pursued composing: in Italy, he wrote his first dramatic work, a ballet, La Perouse. He became a protégé of
Rossini's, and at the close of 1827, he appeared as Figaro in The Barber of Seville at the Italian opera in Paris.
Balfe soon returned to Italy, where he was based for the next eight years, singing and composing several operas. He met
Maria Malibran while singing at the
Paris Opera during this period. In 1829 in
Bologna, Balfe composed his first
cantata for the
sopranoGiulia Grisi, then 18 years old. She performed it with the
tenor Francesco Pedrazzi with much success. Balfe produced his first complete opera, I rivali di se stessi, at
Palermo in the carnival season of 1829–1830.
In Lugano, Switzerland,[4] around 1831 he married Lina Roser (1806–1888), a Hungarian-born singer of Austrian parentage whom he had met at
Bergamo.[5] The couple had two sons and two daughters. Their younger son, Edward, died in infancy. Their elder son, Michael William Jr., died in 1915. Their daughters were Louisa (1832–1869) and
Victoire. Balfe wrote another opera Un avvertimento ai gelosi at
Pavia, and Enrico Quarto at
Milan, where he had been engaged to sing in Rossini's Otello with Malibran at
La Scala in 1834. An unpopular attempt at "improving"
Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera, Il crociato in Egitto, by interpolated music of his own, compelled Balfe to throw up his engagement at the theatre
La Fenice in Venice.
Composing success
Balfe returned to London with his wife and young daughter in May 1835. His initial success took place some months later, with the premiere of The Siege of Rochelle on 29 October 1835 at Drury Lane. Encouraged by his success, he produced The Maid of Artois in 1836; which was followed by more operas in English.
In 1841, Balfe founded the National Opera at the
Lyceum Theatre, but the venture was a failure. The same year, he premiered his opera, Keolanthe. He then moved to Paris, presenting Le Puits d'amour (1843) in early 1843, followed by his opera based on Les quatre fils Aymon (1844) for the
Opéra-Comique (also popular in German-speaking countries for many years as Die vier Haimonskinder) and L'étoile de Seville (1845) for the
Opéra. Their librettos were written by
Eugène Scribe and others.[6] Meanwhile, in 1843, Balfe returned to London where he produced his most successful work, The Bohemian Girl, on 27 November 1843 at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The piece ran for over 100 nights, and productions were soon mounted in New York, Dublin, Philadelphia, Vienna (in German), Sydney, and throughout Europe and elsewhere. In 1854, an Italian adaptation called La Zingara was mounted in
Trieste with great success, and it too was performed internationally in both Italian and German. In 1862, a four-act French version, entitled La Bohemienne was produced in France and was again a success.[5]
Later years
From 1846 to 1852, Balfe was appointed musical director and principal conductor for the Italian Opera at
Her Majesty's Theatre,[7] with
Max Maretzek as his assistant.[8] There he first produced several of
Verdi's operas for London audiences. He conducted for
Jenny Lind at her opera debut and on many occasions thereafter.[5]
In 1851, in anticipation of
the Great International Exhibition in London, Balfe composed an innovative cantata, Inno Delle Nazioni, sung by nine female singers, each representing a country. Balfe continued to compose new operas in English, including The Armourer of Nantes (1863), and wrote hundreds of songs, such as "When other hearts", "
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" (from The Bohemian Girl), "
Come into the Garden, Maud", "Killarney" and "Excelsior" (a setting of the
poem by Longfellow).[9] His last opera, nearly completed when he died, was The Knight of the Leopard and achieved considerable success in Italian as Il Talismano.[5][10]
In all, Balfe composed at least 29 operas.[12] He also wrote several cantatas (including Mazeppa in 1862) and a symphony (1829). Balfe's only large-scale piece that is still performed is The Bohemian Girl.[citation needed]
I rivali di se stessi (A. Alcozer), Palermo: Teatro Carolino, 29 June 1829
Un avvertimento ai gelosi (G. Foppa), Pavia: Teatro Condomini, 11 May 1831
Enrico IV al passo della Marna (unknown librettist), Milan: Teatro Carcano, 19 February 1833
The Siege of Rochelle (Edward Fitzball), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 29 October 1835
Austrian version: Die Belagerung von Rochelle (
Joseph Kupelwieser), Vienna: Theater an der Wien, 24 October 1846
The Maid of Artois (Alfred Bunn), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 27 May 1836
Catherine Grey (George Linley), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 27 May 1837
Joan of Arc (Edward Fitzball), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 30 November 1837
Diadeste, or The Veiled Lady (Edward Fitzball), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 17 May 1838
Falstaff (Manfredo Maggioni), London: Her Majesty's Theatre (Italian Opera), 19 July 1838
Keolanthe (Edward Fitzball), London Theatre Royal (English Opera House), 9 March 1841
Austrian version: Keolanthe, oder Das Traumbild (Karl Gollmick), Vienna: Theater am Kärntnertor, 3 December 1853
Le Puits d'amour (Eugène Scribe and A. de Leuven), Paris: Opéra Comique, 20 April 1843
English version: Geraldine, or The Lover's Well, London: Princess Theatre, 14 August 1843
Austrian version: Der Liebesbrunnen (Joseph Kupelwieser), Vienna: Theater an der Wien, 4 November 1845
The Bohemian Girl (Alfred Bunn), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 27 November 1843
Austrian version: Die Zigeunerin (Joseph Kupelwieser), Vienna: Theater an der Wien, 24 July 1846
French version: La Bohemienne (J.H. Vernoy de Saint Georges), Rouen: Théâtre des Arts, 23 April 1862; revised version: Paris: Théâtre Lyrique, 30 December 1869
Les Quatre fils Aymon (A. de Leuven and L.L. Brunswick), Paris: Opéra Comique, 15 July 1844
English version: The Castle of Aymon (G.A. Beckett), London: Princess Theatre, 20 November 1844
Austrian version: Die vier Haimonskinder (Joseph Kupelwieser), Vienna: Josefstadt-Theater, 14 December 1844
Italian version (for London): I quattro fratelli (S.F. Maggione), London: His Majesty's Theatre (Italian Opera), 11 August 1851
The Daughter of St. Mark (Alfred Bunn), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 27 November 1844
The Enchantress (J.H. Vernoy de Saint Georges), London: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 14 May 1845
Opera Rara CDs: ORR 239 includes Balfe's cantata Sempre pensoso e torbido, and ORR 277 includes his song The Blighted flower.
Opera Ireland (2008) live concert of Balfe's Falstaff,
RTÉ Concert Orchestra and National Chamber Choir of Ireland, conducted by Marco Zambelli, broadcast by
RTÉ Lyric FM and later released on CD as RTÉ LyricFM CD119, available from Naxos.[2]
Biddlecombe, George: English Opera from 1834 to 1864 with Particular Reference to the Works of Michael Balfe (New York: Garland Publishing, 1994),
ISBN0-8153-1436-1.