Michael W. Balfe - "The Bohemian Girl" (1843) - Overture

Michael W. Balfe's opera "The Bohemian Girl" premiered on November 27, 1843 in London's Drury Lane Theatre and soon became one of the most successful English operas of the 19th century, whose triumph lasted until WW II, after which it slowly disappeared from the stages of the world, today being an absolute rarity. Gorgeous Victorian melodies, intelligent orchestral writing and a fine sense for drama make this opera a true insider's tip. At least one of the Ballads of this piece, the protagonist Aline's "I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls", is popular today, thanks to singers like Dame Joan Sutherland, who sang it frequently in her concerts, or Enya, who recorded it beautifully on her album "Shepered Moons", although Balfe's name unfortunately isn't credited in the liner notes.

The piece I chose to upload is the Overture, a beautiful and effective piece which features some of the opera's melodies, especially the Gipsy's Chorus "In the gipsy's life you read" from Act I, which occurs prominently, amongst other passages, on 3:25 and then again on 6:49.

The recording here is from the only existent complete recording of this opera, made in 1990 for Argo in Dublin (and which is, sadly, deleted today from the Decca catalogue) with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland under the baton of Richard Bonynge, who is the world's leading advocate for Balfe and his contemporaries and conducts a vivid and vigorous rendition of this neglected piece which could be played far more frequently in my opinion - at least on concert platforms.

For further reading on Balfe I would like to recommend Basil Walsh's excellent biography, published by IAP: "Michael W. Balfe - A Unique Victorian Composer", as well as his website www.britishandirishworld.com.

Hope you'll enjoy.

I am not the owner of this recording, so please contact me if you are. I will remove the video immediately.