Martha oder Der Markt zu Richmond (Martha or The Richmond Market) is an opera in four acts by Friedrich von Flotow to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese, based on the ballet Lady Henriette by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. The first performance took place at the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna, 25 November 1847. There are several recordings of the opera, and it is occasionally performed.
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Composition history and genre
According to Gustav Kobbé Martha, although being written by a native of Teutendorf, and being first performed in Vienna, is quite unlike any German music but is typically French in character and elegance, and should be classified as a French opera. He attributes this to the fact that Flotow was French in his musical training, and that both plot and score were French in origin, effectively in the tradition of Auber. (He studied composition in Paris under Reicha, 1827-1830, and having left on account of the July revolution returned there from 1835-1848, and again from 1863-1868.) During the second stay in Paris he composed, for the Grand Opéra, the first act of a ballet, Harriette, ou la servante de Greenwiche, for a ballet text by Jules H. Vernoy and Marquis St. George, for Adèle Dumilâtre. Since time available for the ballet composition was short, the second and third acts were assigned, respectively, to Robert Bergmüller and Édouard Deldevez. The ballet was therefore written for a French dançeuse and a French audience. The opera Martha is an adaptation of this ballet composition, to which Flotow had already contributed one act of the score.[1]
Musical content
[original research?]
The overture itself is among von Flotow's finest works. It begins with a slow A minor introduction, but changes suddenly to an A major theme (that of Lyonel's prayer in Act 3, "Mag der Himmel Euch vergeben"). It reverts to A minor with a busy, agitated motif, representing Lady Harriet and Nancy bustling about, leading into the C major peasant girls' chorus theme from Act 1. Then the agitated theme returns, but now in the major key of A. It leads without further modulation back to the Lyonel's prayer motif, and so the overture ends. The fluctuations of light and shade are reminiscent of Schubertian scoring, or of Weber (e.g. Der Freischütz overture): but without modulation into remote tonalities, they never really portend a tragic conclusion. Though the powerful overture hints at a darker outcome, the opera ends happily. The heroines' levity and Lyonel's sincerity are its themes. The dramatic music, as between Lyonel and Harriet in Act 4, is sufficiently weighty, while the scoring of the merry scenes is also (but differently) effective. In his own idiom, like Mozart in Don Giovanni or Verdi in Un Ballo in Maschera, von Flotow could build convivial music into a tragic dramatic context. Regrettably he did not contribute more to the tragic genre. The Thomas Moore traditional Irish melody The Last Rose of Summer, introduced for Martha in Act 2, was a very successful inclusion. Popular airs were then often introduced informally to operas as show-pieces by sopranos, for example 'Home, Sweet Home' in the lesson scene of Barber of Seville. Singers such as Jenny Lind or Adelina Patti made much of them. In Martha the custom is formally perpetuated, and the melody then appears as a leitmotif to represent Lyonel's longing. The opera teems with original melodies, including fine duet and quartet concerted numbers and several solo arias. The most famous, 'M'appari' ('Ach, so fromm'), Lyonel's Act 3 romanza, was however not originally written for this opera but for Flotow's L'Ame en Peine (produced at the Grand Opéra Paris in 1846), and was first interpolated into Martha in 1865 at the first Paris production.[2]
Production history
Martha has been an opera of world-wide popularity.
- First production: Imperial Opera House, Vienna, November 25 1847,[3] with Anna Kerr.
- Drury Lane, London, 4 July 1849.[4]
- Théatre Lyrique, Paris, 16 December 1865 (first inclusion of 'M'appari', drawn from Flotow's L'Ame en Peine.)[5]
- Niblo's Garden, New York, 1 November 1852 (with Anna Bishop).[6]
- New Orleans, 27 January 1860, in French.[7]
Roles
- Lady Harriet Durham, maid of honor to Queen Anne ('Martha') - soprano
- Nancy, her servant ('Julia') - mezzo-soprano
- Plunkett, a young farmer - bass
- Lyonel, his foster brother - tenor
- Sir Tristan Mickleford, Lady Harriet's cousin (Farmer Bob) - bass
- Sheriff - bass
- Three servants - tenor and 2 basses
- Three maids - sopranos or mezzo-sopranos
- Queen Anne - mute
- Courtiers, pages, ladies, hunters, farmers - chorus
Plot
- Time: 1710.
- Place: Richmond, England.
Act I
- Scene 1
Lady Harriet is bored with the life of high society, and especially bored with her suitor Sir Tristan. She and her maid disguise themselves as the country girls 'Martha' and 'Julia' and follow a group of girls to the fair. They convince Sir Tristan to come also, as Farmer Bob....
- Scene 2
Traditionally, there is an auction of country girls at the fair. Farmers bid for the fairest girls. The winners take the girls back to their farms, where the girls are hired as workers for the following year. Plunkett and Lyonel have come to look for a girl. Their mother has recently died, and they need someone to help with the farm work. The sheriff oversees the auction. The brothers win 'Martha' and 'Julia', while Farmer Bob ineptly tries to win them back.
Act II
'Martha' and 'Julia' know nothing of farm work. They refuse to hang up clothes and cannot use a spinning wheel. 'Martha' rejects Lyonel's marriage proposal. After night falls, Tristan arrives to rescue the women.
Act III
A group of hunters, including Plunkett, accompany the queen. Lady Harriet misses Lyonel, but when he arrives, she ignores him. When Lyonel demands that his contract be honored, Tristan has him arrested. Lyonel tries to explain what has happened to the courtiers. He gives the ring he inherited from his father to the queen as she is leaving.
Act IV
Lady Harriet's behavior has enfuriated Lyonel, but she seeks forgiveness. The queen orders that Lyonel be installed as the Earl of Derby, his father's former title. Nancy accepts Plunkett's marriage proposal. The courtiers re-create the country fair, and when Lyonel sees his Martha again, he forgives her.
Noted arias
- "Ach so fromm" (Lyonel)
- Porterlied/Drinking Song (Plunkett)
