Conductor, WILLIAM HALLIWELL
KLINTON SHEPHERD (baritone)
This opera of Mozart's has never had a success like his Figaro or Don Giovanni and it is usual to blame the libretto, although it is by the same author as those two. The music is so good that attempts have been made to fit it with other libretti, not only in its native country, but in other lands and tongues. None of these, however, has availed to catch the public favour.
Composed at the command of the Emperor, it was produced in Vienna in 1790. The story tells of a foolish wager made by two young soldiers that their fiancees would remain faithful while they were on service, and though the wager is lost through a rather unfair stratagem, the opera ends with forgiveness and reconciliation.
Of all the musical comedies that arose out of George Edwardes 's ventures at Daly's Theatre and the Gaiety-The Gaiety Girl, The Geisha, San Toy, My Lady Molly, and a host of others— none has really surpassed, at any rate musically, those set to the engaging tunes composed by Sidney Jones. Amateurs up and down the country perform them constantly, and The Geisha, to name no others, is still given in continental theatres.
(North Regional Programme)