WILLIAM VINCENT WALLACE
A Perfect Delight
William Vincent Wallace was one of a few historic personages to be called The Rock Star of the Nineteenth Century. Wallace achieved this distinction the old fashioned way. He earned it. WVW is often characterized as an opera composer, though he was a virtuoso player and he had a solid background of composing music for popular songs.
The material in “Opera Fantasies and Paraphrases” (CD, Naxos 8.572774, 2011) is of a highly inviting character. Even a person with a very great aversion to opera could listen to these pieces in positive comfort. One of the most attractive features comes in quiet passages that at times range from intricate to extremely intricate. There and elsewhere in these performances, the pianists, Rosemary Tuck and Richard Bonynge, dazzle. Tuck, who is featured most often, plays spectacularly. Her fingers fly through the notes with the greatest of ease.
Wallace, himself, excelled at piano, though it is worth having in mind that it was a second instrument. He was renowned, too, as a violinist.
Setting Wallace aside for a moment, among the most striking things in the present collection is the total number of American composers represented. None.* The greatest American operatic work of the day may have been the spoof, “Italian Opera : Italian Uproar!” by Judson Hutchinson of the Hutchinson Family concert troupe. Wallace, though, was a United States citizen.
Wallace, as a creator of music, may have had as much in common with his brother-in-law, theater orchestra director and gifted composer Robert Stoepel, as he had with the European opera masters whose works are represented here. These recordings give a sense that Wallace was creating music that was new and different.
Wallace was at the heart of a New York City musical and stage family with remarkably talented members. For instance, the one-woman theatrical revolution, Matilda Heron, called WVW her brother-in-law.
“Lurline” is of great personal interest. James Fisk, Jr., made the New York premieres - one in Italian, the other in English - financially feasible by lending expensive costumes and scenery. He is buried four blocks from here, in Brattleboro, Vermont. Agatha States, who had the starring role in the Italian version, went on to be a notable promoter of interest in opera, especially in Hawaii and other islands of the Pacific. Her family was as tragic as any portrayed on an opera stage. Annie Kemp Bowler, who played Ghiva in the English version, got her original break as a professional vocalist with an 1850s tour as a member of the popular music group, the Alleghanians; and, strange to say, in the 1860s she starred as a fairy queen in that shot heard ‘round the theatrical world, “The Black Crook.”
It seems to me that audiences today easily could take an interest in the William Vincent Wallace opera, “The Amber Witch.” Wallace considered it to have the most advanced music of any of his operas and many critics, in his day and since, have agreed. Its story is based on the very popular 1843 Gothic novel, “Maria Schweidler, the Amber Witch.” This book just doesn’t go away. The edition I have was published very recently, in 2020. As far as I am aware, it has never gone out of print. The supposed front matter may be the best fraud I have ever read.
Meanwhile, William Vincent Wallace, “Opera Fantasies and Paraphrases,” and Rosemary Tuck are a perfect delight. This is a terrific production all around. Five Stars
Footnote: Robert Stoepel's full name was Auguste Robert Stoepel, though it is commonly given differently. It is very important for a music graduate student or someone to run a US Copyright Office search for Robert Stoepel compositions. A Copyright Office deposit copy search for Judson Hutchinson's "Italian Opera : Italian Uproar" (not sure whether this is the official title), too, would be a great idea.
* This collection does include Wallace's own "The Night Winds" from Lurline.
This posting is adapted from my Amazon.com album review.
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WILLIAM VINCENT WALLACE
"THE AMBER WITCH OVERTURE"
William Vincent Wallace - The Amber Witch Overture
MrJohannStraussViena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fn01FPlfSE
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Alan Lewis
