Very few composers seem to have been attracted by _The Merchant of
Venice_, though in the last act occurs one of the most beautiful
eulogies of music in the world--the lines are too familiar to quote. I
can only trace two operas on the subject. The first is _Il Mercante di
Venezia_, by +Ciro Pinsuti+, produced at Bologna, November 8, 1873. It
is in four acts, and the libretto is by G. T. Cimino, who very freely
adapted Shakespeare's story. The work opens with a short
overture-prelude of no very great importance, and the curtain rises on
a street in Venice with chorus singing and gondolas floating by.
Presently Portia appears in a gondola with the Prince of Morocco,
playing the lute. She sings a greeting to Venice and its inhabitants,
and exits with the Prince, who has not a singing or speaking part in
the opera. But Bassanio and Antonio have observed her, and the former
has fallen in love with her and tells Antonio about it. They exit, and
the chorus, cunningly knowing that Shylock is about to enter, sings a
derisive anti-Semitic song. Shylock tells them that he is following a
really inoffensive industry, but no one seems to believe him. It would
be wearisome to follow the plot too closely here. Shylock has a
terrific aria about his daughter's elopement, after which the pound of
flesh contract is made; and this scene is really impressive. Then
there is a long trio between the three--Shylock, Antonio, and
Bassanio--which makes a brilliant finale to the first act.
Act ii. opens at Belmont. Portia is wondering about her father's will,
and she sings quite a long and florid song {75} about it. Bassanio
enters and declares his love, and a long and impassioned duet follows,
at the end of which is a lengthy fanfare, succeeded by the strangest
caricature of Mendelssohn's Wedding March I have ever heard. The
rhythm is exactly the same, and the melody and harmony are almost
identical. This brings on poor Morocco again. The casket business,
very much shortened, takes place, and Bassanio, as usual, wins. Then
comes the March again, this time quite frankly called "Marcia Nuziale,"
and the act finishes with the bad news of Antonio and Bassanio's
hurried exit to try to save him.
The third act discovers Shylock in a bad temper, still singing about
his daughter's elopement. (Really Shakepeare's construction was not
quite so bad as his adapters seem to think.) Afterwards a chorus of
Jews comes on and sings hymns at Shylock. This seems to make him even
more angry. The Trial scene is very much curtailed, and Portia "comes
to the 'osses" very much more quickly than Shakespeare lets her.
The fourth and last act opens with a long and elaborate choral ballet,
at the end of which (Jessica and Lorenzo being cut out) Portia and
company soon finish off the plot; but, for some probably operatic
reason, the full chorus is at Belmont, and, what is stranger, the
chorus of Jews break in on it with Yiddish hymns. At the back of the
stage a ship is seen on which is Shylock. The Jews and Christians
continue singing, but gradually the Christians win, the Jews dying away
as the Christians become more vociferous. So the curtain slowly falls.
It is a strange and interesting work, and not without some dramatic
touches. The themes are mostly cheap and _banal_, and there is little
or no dignity about the part of Shylock; but the work is noteworthy if
only for the fact that it is the only opera but one ever written or in
any way produced on _The Merchant of Venice_. Also Shylock has one
thing in his favour--he is not a tenor.
+Louis Deffes+, a French composer, born at Toulouse, {76} July 25,
1819, also composed an opera on this subject, in four acts, calling it
_Jessica_. The libretto is by Jules Ardevies. The work was first
performed on March 25, 1898, at the composer's birthplace. M. Deffes
was a pupil of the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Halevy
and subsequently won the Prix de Rome. The librettist has taken the
elements of his dramatic poem from Shakespeare's play, but has, owing
to musical exigencies, very much cut down the work. On the other hand,
he introduces a tragic denouement that had no place in Shakespeare's
drama. To this book the composer has written most moving and dramatic
music, which produced a deep effect on the audience when first
performed.
This opera was to have been called _Shylock_ and brought out at the
Opera Comique, where the work had been accepted; but circumstances
decided otherwise. Among the prominent numbers that stand out in the
first act are the song of Antonio, "C'etait le soir," and the fine
finale. In the second act Jessica has a charming cavatina, and a very
interesting duet with Shylock, who also has a fine song in this act.
In the third act, at the culminating point of the work, is a delicious
chorus of swallows (at the first performance beautifully sung by a
chorus of young lady pupils from the Toulouse Conservatoire); a poetic
dream reverie by Portia; and a charming ballet; the act ending with a
brilliantly written quintet. In the fourth act are serious songs for
Jessica and Shylock, the whole ending with a dramatic version of the
Trial scene. The first performance was a veritable triumph for the
composer, who, at the age of seventy-nine, an old pupil of the Toulouse
Conservatoire, an old Prix de Rome man, and the composer of a dozen
works produced in Paris, had returned to his native town to produce the
opera and to take over the direction of the school of music at which he
had begun his studies.
As regards incidental music, every production of this play must have
some. There must be masque music for {77} Lorenzo and Jessica to elope
to; there must be a setting of "Tell me where is fancy bred"; and
Portia has her own private orchestra at Belmont. But most of the
specially composed music for the _Merchant_ remains in manuscript.
+Sullivan+ wrote a very elaborate masque for the Calvert production at
Manchester, much of which is published. There is a long and very
Viennese valse, full of melody and grace, and a grotesque Dance for
Pierrots and Harlequins, with a highly comic cadenza for the bassoon.
The Bounce is the most familiar number, as it is frequently played as
an _entr'acte_ in the theatre. It is very attractive, but not at all a
bourree on the old accepted lines. There is also a melodious serenata
in the rarely used key of E flat minor. These few numbers are all that
have been printed.
+Engelbert Humperdinck+ wrote music for Reinhardt's production of this
play in Berlin at the Deutsches Theater. This version of the play
begins with a barcarolle sung by a tenor behind the act-drop as the
curtain goes up. This, oddly enough, is sung in Italian, and the words
are not by Shakespeare. Portia is discovered playing the lute in the
second scene, cleverly imitated by Humperdinck on the harp. Before the
second act is a very stately saraband. For the Prince of Morocco's
entrance there is no attempt at Eastern local colour. Obviously the
Prince in this version did not bring his own band, and trusted to
Portia's private orchestra for his effects, and they did not know his
national anthem; so he only gets an ordinary flourish, two trumpets and
kettledrums. The same thing happens to Aragon, only the fanfare is
different though in the same key. The march is very wild, working up
to a great climax, and then dying away to nothing. "Tell me where is
fancy bred" is set as a duet for soprano and contralto with female
chorus, and makes a beautiful number. After this there is nothing till
the last act. The curtain goes up to exquisite music, which lasts till
the end of the play. {78} It is very lightly scored, strings, harps,
solo violin, and horns, and every word can be heard through it: so it
makes a perfect ending for the whole play. I have never read of this
music being performed in England, but I can very strongly recommend it
to any future producer of _The Merchant of Venice_.
For Mr Arthur Bourchier's production at the Garrick +Frederick Rosse+
composed a great deal of music, some of which is published. It is very
good stage music, and admirably suited to the production it was written
for. There is a prelude to the first act, ending with a sort of
barcarolle; then a melodious intermezzo, entitled "Portia"; an Oriental
march for Morocco (evidently the Prince brought his own band for this
production); a second prelude, rather sickly sentimental; a good
stirring march for the Doge; and a pretty setting of "Tell me where is
fancy bred" for contralto, baritone, and harp--very serviceable and
useful music all of it. But somehow the play itself does not seem to
get the best out of musicians.
+Gabriel Faure+, the distinguished French musician, who composed the
fine incidental music for Mrs Patrick Campbell's production of _Pelleas
el Melisande_, also wrote incidental music to Edmond Haraucourt's
version of _The Merchant of Venice_, called by him _Shylock_. There
are not many numbers, but all of them are interesting. The first is a
prelude and serenade for light baritone to words of M. Haraucourt's;
very graceful and melodious, but unconnected with Shakespeare's plot.
The words begin, "Oh les filles, venez les filles aux voix douces."
The first _entr'acte_, in march time, opens with trumpets. There is a
flowing trio founded on the same subject, and then back to the
beginning for the close--a very pleasant little interlude. Now comes a
so-called madrigal, not in the English sense of a contrapuntal number
in several vocal parts, but a very pretty sentimental song, the words,
again by M. Haraucourt, "Celle que j'aime a de beaute," being {79}
charmingly set for baritone once more. The "Epithalme" or "Bridal
Song" is for orchestra only; it is a solemn adagio movement, almost too
sombre for such a comedy as M. Haraucourt makes of _The Merchant_. The
love music is in nocturne form, and is chiefly a duet for solo violin
and 'cello. The last number, headed "Finale," is a brilliant
quasi-scherzo movement in triple time--rather in the manner of a
valse-scherzo. This is the longest and most elaborate section of the
suite, finishing with a well-developed coda. Altogether Faure's
_Shylock_ is an interesting, though rather slight, addition to our very
scanty amount of music for this play.
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