The best-known aria from the piece is "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" in which the main character, Arline, describes her vague memories of her childhood. It has been recorded by many artists, most famously by Dame Joan Sutherland, and also by the Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø and Irish singer Enya.
Performance history
The opera was first produced in London at the Drury Lane Theatre on 27 November 1843. The production ran for more than 100 nights and enjoyed many revivals worldwide including: New York City (25 November 1844), Dublin (1844) and Philadelphia (1844).[1]
Several versions in different languages were also staged during Balfe's lifetime. The German version, Die Zigeunerin, premiered in Vienna in 1846, the Italian adaptation and translation, titled La zingara, was originally staged in Trieste in 1854, and finally a four-act French version, La Bohémienne, was mounted in Rouen in 1862, conducted by composer Jules Massenet, then aged only 20, and with the celebrated mezzo-sopranoCélestine Galli-Marié in the role of the Gypsy Queen. If Die Zigeunerin enjoyed fairly widespread circulation in the countries of German language or culture, La zingara was often revived also in English-speaking cities, such as London, Dublin, New York, Boston and San Francisco.[2] The very successful 1858 run of La zingara at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, for which Balfe was rewarded with an extra cheque for fifty pounds, starred Marietta Piccolomini, Marietta Alboni and Antonio Giuglini.[3]
A Polish noble, Thaddeus, in exile in Austria, joins a band of gypsies. He saves Arline, the infant daughter of Count Arnheim, from being killed by a deer. The count, in gratitude, invites him to a banquet, where Thaddeus refuses to toast a statue of the Austrian Emperor, instead splashing it with wine, and escapes from his enraged host with the help of his gypsy friend Devilshoof, who kidnaps Arline.
Act 2
Twelve years have elapsed. Arline can only vaguely remember her noble upbringing. She and Thaddeus are sweethearts, but the Gypsy Queen is also in love with him. Arnheim's nephew Florestein falls in love with Arline (not recognising her), but the Queen plants a medallion stolen from Florestein on Arline. Florestein recognises the medallion and has her arrested. She is tried before the Count who recognises the scar left on her arm from the deer attack.
Act 3
Arline is at a ball in her father's castle, where she feels nostalgic for her Romany upbringing and for her true love. Thaddeus breaks into the castle through a window and pleads for her hand. He eventually wins the trust of the count whom he insulted twelve years ago, and the Count gives them his blessing. The Gypsy Queen stalks Thaddeus to the castle and tries to break in through the same window to kill Arline with a musket and kidnap Thaddeus. Before she can execute her plan, however, Devilshoof tries to wrest the weapon from her hands and she is accidentally killed in the scuffle.
Musical numbers
Overture (one in A major for the 1843 production, and a completely different one in C major for the 1867 Paris production conducted by Jules Pasdeloup)
Act 1
1. "Up with the Banner, and Down with the Slave"
2. "'Tis Sad to Leave Our Fatherland"
3. "In the Gypsy's Life"
4. "Is No Succour Near at Hand?"
5. "Down with the Daring Slave"
6. "What Sound Breaks on the Ear?"
7. "Follow, Follow"
Act 2
8. "Silence, Silence"
9. "Wine, Wine!"
10. "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls"
11. "The Secret of Her Birth"
12. "Happy and Light of Heart Are Those"
13. "'Tis Gone, the Past Was All a Dream"
14. "Come with the Gipsy Bride"
15. "Life Itself Is, at the Best"
16. "To the Hall!"
17. "The Heart Bow'd Down"
18. "Hold! Hold! We Cannot Give the Life We Take"
Act 3
19. "When Other Lips" (otherwise known as "Then You'll Remember Me")
The best-known version is undoubtedly the 1936 full-length Laurel and Hardy film, described in the opening credits as "A Comedy Version of The Bohemian Girl". The characters played by Laurel and Hardy do not appear in the stage opera, nor does Thaddeus appear in the film.
La gitanilla itself has been filmed three times, but never in English.
Other references
The Bohemian Girl is mentioned in the short stories "Clay" and "Eveline" by James Joyce, which are both parts of Dubliners. In "Clay", the character Maria sings some lines from "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls". The aria is quoted again in Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake.
In the P. G. Wodehouse short story "Without the Option", Oliver Randolph Sipperley, mainly referred to by Bertram Wooster as "Sippy", greets Wooster with the quote "the heart bowed down by weight of woe to weakest hope will cling".
George Orwell recalls "a little poem" he wrote in his essay "Why I Write". The poem's final verse runs: "I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, / And woke to find it true..."
Booth Tarkington mentions the opera, though not by name, in The Two Vanrevels, and quotes a line of the aria "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls".
The opera is mentioned, and the aria is referred to several times, in the novel Dragonwyck, by Anya Seton, set in 1844. The song also appears in the movie version of the book.
Willa Cather has referenced the work. One of her short stories, entitled "The Bohemian Girl", incorporates quotes from some of the arias (again including "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls"). The plot of the story also has some substantial parallels to the original.
The aria "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" is sung in the film The Age of Innocence. The aria was played and sung by the character Clementina Cavendish in the 1998 film The Governess.
The opera is mentioned in Gone with the Wind when Melanie heads the Saturday Night Music Circle in Atlanta.
Recordings
Several recordings exist of "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls"; one is included on Sutherland's compilation disc La Stupenda. Sutherland's husband, conductor Richard Bonynge, recorded a complete version of The Bohemian Girl with his protégée, Nova Thomas, singing the title role. It is one of the only complete recordings of the entire opera and still in print via ArkivMusicArchived 2012-10-04 at the Wayback Machine .
Principal singers: Nova Thomas (Arline), Patrick Power (Thaddeus), Jonathan Summers (Count Arnheim), Bernadette Cullen (Queen of the Gipsies), John del Carlo (Devilshoof), Timothy German (Florestein)
Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra recorded the opera's overture for RCA Victor in 1958 for an album titled Boston Tea Party. It was released on LP in stereo, and later reissued on CD.
Related Research Articles
Maria Anna MarziaAlboni was an Italian contralto opera singer. She is considered "one of the greatest contraltos in operatic history".
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse.
Michael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas, especially The Bohemian Girl.
"Clay" is a short story by James Joyce published in his 1914 collection Dubliners. It deals with the reflections of a middle-aged, unmarried woman during the course of her day.
The Bohemian Girl is a 1936 comedic feature film version of the opera The Bohemian Girl by Michael William Balfe. Directed by James W. Horne and Charles Rogers, and it was produced at the Hal Roach Studios, and stars Laurel and Hardy, and Thelma Todd in her final film role. Mae Busch and Oliver Hardy appeared 13 times, this was their last picture together. This was also the only appearance of Darla Hood in a full-length feature produced by Hal Roach.
La zingara is an opera semiseria in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola after La petite bohémienne by Louis-Charles Caigniez, which was itself derived from a work of August von Kotzebue.
Zingara may refer to:
The Maid of Artois is an opera by Michael William Balfe, written in 1836 to a libretto by Alfred Bunn, manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London, who based his work on Eugène Scribe's stage version of Abbé Prévost's novel Manon Lescaut.
Mirette is an opéra comique in three acts composed by André Messager, first produced at the Savoy Theatre, London, on 3 July 1894.
Giulia Warwick was an English opera and concert singer and professor of music in the last quarter of the 19th century. She is best known for roles with Richard D'Oyly Carte's Comedy Opera Company and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
"I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls", or "The Gipsy Girl's Dream", is a popular aria from The Bohemian Girl, an 1843 opera by Michael William Balfe, with lyrics by Alfred Bunn. It is sung in the opera by the character Arline, who is in love with Thaddeus, a Polish nobleman and political exile.
Josef Staudigl was an Austrian bass singer.
The Merry Zingara; Or, The Tipsy Gipsy & The Pipsy Wipsy was the third of W. S. Gilbert's five burlesques of opera. Described by the author as "A Whimsical Parody on The Bohemian Girl", by Michael Balfe, it was produced at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 21 March 1868.
The Bohemian Girl is a 1922 British romance film directed by Harley Knoles and starring Gladys Cooper, Ivor Novello, and C. Aubrey Smith. It was inspired by the opera The Bohemian Girl by Michael William Balfe and Alfred Bunn, which was in turn based on a novel La Gitanilla by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally released at 70 minutes, the surviving print is missing the first two reels and small portion of the last, timing at 46 minutes.
"I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem" is a 1941 jazz and pop song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. The song was released as a 78 single on RCA Bluebird by Glenn Miller.
La gitanilla is the first novella contained in Miguel de Cervantes' collection of short stories, the Novelas ejemplares.
William Felix Knight, was an American tenor, actor, and vocal teacher, best known for his role as Tom-Tom in the 1934 Laurel and Hardy holiday musical film Babes in Toyland.
The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole is a musical burlesque in two acts, with a score by Meyer Lutz to a libretto by Henry James Byron, which played under the management of John Hollingshead at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1877. It was a parody of the popular opera The Bohemian Girl composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn.
Alice, Where Art Thou? is a popular British parlour song of the Victorian era. It was composed by Joseph Ascher. The text was by Wellington Guernsey, although it is sometimes attributed to Alfred Bunn, who is best known for "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls". It become a popular song, selling many copies of sheet music and featuring regularly as a standard in the music halls.
References
Notes
↑ Loewenberg, columns 832-833. Loewenberg's listing of a production in Madrid on 9 April 1845 in an Italian translation by R. Paderni is evidently incorrect. No such performance can be traced, and D'Erme (see Sources) demonstrates that Roberto Paderni's Italian version was created for the Trieste production on 12 February 1854.
Burton, Nigel, The Bohemian Girl, in Sadie, Stanley (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (Vol. 1, pp.521–522), London: Macmillan Press, 1992. ISBN0-333-48552-1
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
