HRH is amused

Synopsis

“We are not amused,” is the dour statement attributed to the matronly Queen Victoria in her later years, although some historians dispute she ever really said it.

But as a young woman, in her diary Queen Victoria did write, “I was very much amused indeed!” after seeing Italian opera singer Giulia Grisi on stage. The young Queen was a fan, and made a drawing of the singer in a role she created: that of Elvira in Vincenzo Bellini’s opera I Puritani, or The Puritans, which debuted in Paris on today’s date in 1835.

When Bellini’s opera came to London later that same year, with Grisi in the cast, the young Queen attended several performances, and the opera she called Dear Puritani became a life-long favorite, perhaps because it was the first she attended with her husband-to-be, the young Prince Albert.

The opera is set in 17th century England during the Civil War between Royalist supporters of the deposed King Charles I and Puritan rebels led by Oliver Cromwell. Its plot involves a Romeo and Juliet-like love story between a delicate Puritan soprano and a dashing Royalist tenor. Unlike Shakespeare’s tragedy, however, Bellini’s opera provides a happy ending for its politics-crossed lovers.

Music Played in Today's Program

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835): A Te, o Cara, Amor Talora, from I Puritani; Alfredo Kraus; Philharmonia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, conductor; EMI 09149

On This Day

Births

• 1712 - Frederick II the Great, King of Prussia, monarch, flutist and composer, in Berlin

• 1776 - German composer, author, conductor and music critic E. T. A. Hoffmann, in Königsberg

• 1913 - American composer Norman Dello Joio, in New York City

• 1918 - Austrian composer Gottfried von Einem, in Bern, Switzerland

• 1919 - American composer Leon Kirchner, in Brooklyn, New York

Deaths

• 1851 - Italian opera composer Gaspare Spontini, 76, in Ancona, Italy

• 1883 - German opera composer Friedrich von Flotow, 70, in Darmstadt

Premieres

• 1835 - Bellini: opera I Puritani, in Paris at the Théatre-Italien

• 1875 - Saint-Saëns: Dance Macabre for orchestra, in Paris

• 1885 - Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suite No. 3, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Jan.12)

• 1895 - Ippolitov-Ivanov: Caucasian Sketches (Gregorian date: Feb. 5)

• 1906 - Rachmaninoff: two one-act operas The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater (Julian date: Jan. 11)

• 1922 - Walton: entertainment, Façade, with Edith Sitwell reciting her poetry

• 1922 - Nielsen: Symphony No. 5, in Copenhagen, with composer conducting

• 1946 - Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements, by New York Philharmonic, with the composer conducting; This work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic-Society

• 1957 - Piston: Wind Quintet, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., by the Boston Woodwind Quintet

• 1959 - Shostakovich: operetta Moscow, Cheryomushki, at the Moscow Operetta Theater

• 1981 - John Harbison: Violin Concerto, at Emmanuel Church in Boston, with soloist Rose Mary Harbison and the Emmanuel Chamber Orchestra, Craig Smith conducting

• 1991 - George Perle: Piano Concerto No. 1, with San Francisco Symphony conducted by David Zinman, with Richard Goode the soloist

Others

• 1705 - Birthdate if the famous Italian castrato singer Carlo Farinelli (born Carlo Broschi), in Andria. His life is depicted in the 1994 film Farinelli.

• 1813 - The Royal Philharmonic Society in formed in London.