Geniuses American Musical Theatre Composers
|
Victor Herbert burst into the American operetta world in 1894 with his firstborn production, Prince Ananias, and sprung to the full or entire extent formed as a composer of operetta. Molded in the Strauss tradition, he brought his European sensibilities into the American arena and was an prompt success. His major competitor, Reginald De Koven, never in truth had a chance. The operetta was commissioned and devised by the premiere American comic opera establishment of the 1880s-1890s, The Bostonians. They had lately developed De Koven’s Robin Hood in 1890 and had been looking for another introductory piece. During the spring of 1894, Herbert became friends with William H. MacDonald, actor and one of the three important leaders of The Bostonians, along with Tom Karl and Henry Clay Barnabee (actor/manager of the group). MacDonald conveyed interest in Herbert’s composing work and encountered the musician had already begun a good part of a new initial comic opera with librettist, Francis Neilson entitled Prince Ananias. Moving quickly, The Bostonians contracted Herbert and Neilson for the rights to develop Prince Ananias on or before June 1, 1895. As an early indication of precisely how quickly Herbert composed, the finished production opened in New York City in the Broadway Theatre on November 20, 1894, a full two weeks before the contract required script delivery. The Bostonians’ production starred William H. MacDonald as Louis Biron, also known as the title reputation Prince Ananias, Eugene Cowles as the outlaw George Le Grabbe, and Henry Clay Barnabee (actor-manager of The Bostonians) as La Fontaine, a manager of a band of a strolling players, proving actor-managers made sure they got the best parts. The female leads were Jessie Bartlett Davis as Idalia, leading lady of the actors and D. Eloise Morgan as Ninette, a village belle. Josephine Bartlett, another famous Bostonian was also in the cast in a minor role. The role of Mirabel, the lady the outlaw lusts after ended up being a comparatively minor character. The operetta is set in 16th century France and revolves around an outlaw George who is in love with Mirabel, a nobleman’s daughter; a poetical rather unromantically named Louis in need of funds and masquerading as Prince Ananias who is loved by the acting troupe’s leading lady, Idalia; and of course, a village belle named Ninette bound and determined to seek adventure and land the unsuspecting Louis. They all end up in the court of King Boniface of Navarre, also known as Boniface, the Sad. In very typical operetta fashion, the crew needs to make the King laugh in order to retain their freedom and not be tortured. Interestingly enough, the eagerly prevised try to crack the royal scowl with a farce takes place off stage, and of course, fails. The actual moment of salvation comes for the duration of a comic 11:00 song entitled “No. 21 Song & Chorus” (quite the primary title) making for a bit of confusedness at the end of the operetta. One might very well miss the fact that King Boniface did in fact smile. The give away was the fact that Prince Ananias and his merry band of actors lived! There is the usual measurement for an operetta: the royalty, the cloaked characters (both the poetical as the prince and the village belle as a boy), the exotic setting, the mix of classes, and a score considered by the critics of the day to be “ambitious though uneven” and a cut above the popular light opera fare, demanding good singing by all. Some writers acknowledged it to be filled with the composer’s “gift for melody” and “skill in the concord and orchestration.” It was likewise brought up by the critics that the “librettist had a fine theme to commence with, then failed to give rise to it in a worthy of acceptance or satisfactory manner.” It was both a beginning and a trend that would repeat itself more often than not for 45 more productions. Another rather interesting quirk to this libretto is the neverending stream of inside theatre and acting jokes. One critic conveyed reservation as to whether the public would “be pleased with a text so full of references to professional stage work.” A perfective example is: Chamberlain The man who wrote the last comedy for His Majesty was thrown into a dungeon, where he is tortured with boiling ink and red hot pens each evening at eight and on matinees at two. I’m sorry your play is a comedy. Highlights in the score include “It Needs No Poet,” “I Am No Queen,” and “Ah, He’s a Prince.” By far the most famous song remains “Ah, Cupid, Meddlesome Boy.” Herbert biographer Edward N. Waters feels that close attention will have to be paid to “Amaryllis” sung at the top of Act II by Idalia. It’s a wistful sort of love song with a minuet interpolated into it. According to Waters, Herbert “never attempted anything rather like it later on . . . he may have felt it was too fragile a thing for the operetta stage.” Prince Ananias would be the start out of a long line of Victor Herbert operettas and the launching of America’s initial musical super star. Victor Herbert! Only John Philip Sousa and George M. Cohan would challenge his general fame. There were no larger names in this country 100 years ago, and no other American composer has ever come close to the 46 operettas which Herbert placed upon Broadway stages. His natural abilities and qualities straddled Europe and America and were the foundation of everything that was to come and form the American Musical Theatre. Even more importantly, Herbert, ever the businessman, without delay recognized the value of freeing sheet music for person songs the public was enjoying nightly in the theatre. If you know any songs at all by Victor Herbert, you know they enter your mind and you unquestionably walk out of the theatre humming – perhaps for weeks! Before the days of radio, TV, Walkmans, and iPods – before records, tapes, CDs, and MP3s, Americans wanted Herbert songs on their pianos throughout the country, and he obliged them from the start, once again laying the ground work for what was to grow into a tremendously remunerative business – show music! |
High-school writing level
Mini Bios for Artists Who Deserve More