The Rising of the Moon (opera)
Encyclopedia
The Rising of the Moon is an opera
tic comedy in three acts composed by Nicholas Maw
to a libretto by Beverley Cross
. It premiered on 19 July 1970 at the Glyndebourne Festival
conducted by Raymond Leppard
and directed by Colin Graham
. The title comes from the Irish patriotic song of the same name
.
The opera was composed over a period from 1967 to 1970 while Maw was the artist-in-residence at Trinity College, Cambridge
. It was Maw's second opera, and like his first, One Man Show, is a comedy. However, while One Man Show was a farce, The Rising of the Moon is in the genre of romantic comedy with a plot about British soldiers stationed in 19th-century Ireland at the time of the Irish famines. Its premiere at Glyndebourne in 1970 during The Troubles
, a period of intense ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland
, was "felt to be tactless" by some critics, according to Maw's obituary in The Daily Telegraph
. Nevertheless, the opera ran at 90% capacity at Glyndebourne and was revived the following year after Maw had made adjustments to the score. The opera was subsequently performed in Bremen
and Graz
in 1978 and at the Guildhall School of Music in 1986. It was also revived at the Wexford Opera Festival
in 1990.
of St Brendan the Less
The opera opens with an aria sung by Brother Timothy, the only remaining monk in a run-down monastery which has been appropriated for the officers' mess
of the British Army
's 31st Lancer
s. Cornet Beaumont, a dilettante, has joined the regiment
because he likes its uniform. An initiation ceremony
is organised: he must smoke three cigars, drink three bottles of champagne and seduce three women before the following day's reveille
. Beaumont agrees, but the plan is overheard by the local inhabitants who are no lovers of the English.
Beaumont is introduced to the inn, and Lady Jowler and Elisabeth von Zastrow become the first two of his conquests. The third is to be Atalanta, but Cathleen, the innkeeper's daughter, substitutes herself.
Beaumont provides evidence of his conquests to his superiors. This information leads to general embarrassment. Beaumont resigns his commission, the regiment moves out, and Cathleen is devastated. The rest of the locals rejoice, and Brother Timothy provides an appropriate epilogue.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic comedy in three acts composed by Nicholas Maw
Nicholas Maw
John Nicholas Maw was a British composer.-Biography:Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence Frederick Maw and Hilda Ellen Chambers. He attended the Wennington School, a boarding school, in Wetherby in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14...
to a libretto by Beverley Cross
Beverley Cross
Beverley Cross was an English playwright, librettist and screenwriter.Born in London into a theatrical family, Cross started off by writing children's plays in the 1950s. He achieved instant success with his first play One More River, which dealt with a mutiny in which a crew puts its first...
. It premiered on 19 July 1970 at the Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
conducted by Raymond Leppard
Raymond Leppard
Raymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School...
and directed by Colin Graham
Colin Graham
Colin Graham, OBE was a British-born stage director of opera, theater, and television.Graham was educated at Northaw School , Stowe School and RADA...
. The title comes from the Irish patriotic song of the same name
The Rising of the Moon
"The Rising of the Moon" is an Irish ballad recounting a battle between the United Irishmen and the British Army during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.-Description:...
.
The opera was composed over a period from 1967 to 1970 while Maw was the artist-in-residence at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. It was Maw's second opera, and like his first, One Man Show, is a comedy. However, while One Man Show was a farce, The Rising of the Moon is in the genre of romantic comedy with a plot about British soldiers stationed in 19th-century Ireland at the time of the Irish famines. Its premiere at Glyndebourne in 1970 during The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
, a period of intense ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, was "felt to be tactless" by some critics, according to Maw's obituary in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. Nevertheless, the opera ran at 90% capacity at Glyndebourne and was revived the following year after Maw had made adjustments to the score. The opera was subsequently performed in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
and Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
in 1978 and at the Guildhall School of Music in 1986. It was also revived at the Wexford Opera Festival
Wexford Festival Opera
The Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in South-Eastern Ireland during the months of October and November.-Festival origins under Tom Walsh, 1951 to 1966:...
in 1990.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, July 19, 1970 (Conductor: Raymond Leppard Raymond Leppard Raymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Brother Timothy | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Alexander Oliver |
| Cornet John Stephen Beaumont | tenor | John Wakefield |
| Cathleen Sweeney | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Anne Howells |
| Colonel Lord Jowler | bass | Richard Van Allan Richard Van Allan Richard Van Allan CBE was a versatile British operatic bass singer who had a lengthy career.He sang varied repertoire at Covent Garden and English National Opera, as well as at numerous important houses worldwide... |
| Lady Eugenie Jowler, his wife | soprano | Rae Woodland Rae Woodland Rae Woodland is a British soprano who studied with Roy Henderson. Her debut was as Queen of the Night at Sadlers Wells. She sang in many European festivals, and debuted at Covent Garden in La sonnambula with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti... |
| Major Max von Zastrow | baritone | Peter Gottlieb |
| Frau Elizabeth von Zastrow, his wife | mezzo-soprano | Kerstin Meyer Kerstin Meyer Kerstin Margareta Meyer is a mezzo-soprano from Stockholm, Sweden.Meyer studied singing in Stockholm with Adelaide von Skilondz, at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and in Siena, Rome, and Vienna. Her debut was at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1952 as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore... |
| Captain Lillywhite, the Adjutant | tenor | John Fryatt John Fryatt John James Fryatt was an English actor and opera singer best known for his performance in comic character roles.... |
| Miss Atalanta Lillywhite, his daughter | soprano | Annon Lee Silver |
| Corporal of Horse Hayward | bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende... |
Brian Donlan |
| Donal O'Dowd | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
John Gibbs |
| The Widow Sweeney | mezzo-soprano | Johanna Peters |
| Mr Lynch | bass | Dennis Wicks |
| Gaveston | tenor | |
| Willoughby | tenor | |
| Officers and Men of the 31st Royal Lancers | ||
Synopsis
- Place: the town of Ballinvourney on the plains of MayoCounty MayoCounty Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
, IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... - Time: An autumn day and night in 1875
Act 1
The monasteryMonastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of St Brendan the Less
The opera opens with an aria sung by Brother Timothy, the only remaining monk in a run-down monastery which has been appropriated for the officers' mess
Mess
A mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's 31st Lancer
Lancer
A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as and subsequently by Greek, Persian, Gallic, Han-Chinese, nomadic and Roman horsemen...
s. Cornet Beaumont, a dilettante, has joined the regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
because he likes its uniform. An initiation ceremony
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
is organised: he must smoke three cigars, drink three bottles of champagne and seduce three women before the following day's reveille
Reveille
"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
. Beaumont agrees, but the plan is overheard by the local inhabitants who are no lovers of the English.
Act 2
Inside Sweeney's InnBeaumont is introduced to the inn, and Lady Jowler and Elisabeth von Zastrow become the first two of his conquests. The third is to be Atalanta, but Cathleen, the innkeeper's daughter, substitutes herself.
Act 3
The monasteryBeaumont provides evidence of his conquests to his superiors. This information leads to general embarrassment. Beaumont resigns his commission, the regiment moves out, and Cathleen is devastated. The rest of the locals rejoice, and Brother Timothy provides an appropriate epilogue.
Sources
- Boosey & HawkesBoosey & HawkesBoosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
, Maw, Nicholas: The Rising of the Moon (1967-70) - Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, "Nicholas Maw", 19 May 2009 - Sutcliffe, Tom, "Nicholas Maw: It's the libretto, stupid", The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 29 November 2002 - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, "Nicholas Maw: Composer of the opera Sophie's Choice", 20 May 2009 - Walsh, Stephen, "Nicholas Maw's New Opera", Tempo, Vol. 3 , Issue 92, March 1970