Opera Scotland

Leper's Flute The Leper's Flute

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Music

Ernest Bryson (born Glasgow 1867; died 1942)

Text

Ian Colvin.

 

Premieres

First Performance: Glasgow (Theatre Royal), 15 October 1926.

 

Background

Bryson's only opera opened during the BNOC season in Glasgow and received its first London performance at Golder's Green Hippodrome on 7 December 1927. The opera takes place in Cape Town during the early eighteenth century, when the colony at the Cape of Good Hope is controlled by the Dutch East India Company.

 

Characters

Cornelis van Breda, owner of Oranjizicht (tenor)

Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes, Governor of the Cape (bass)

The Rev. Pieter Slotsboo, Predikand (baritone)

Capt. Dominique Pasques de Chavonnes (baritone)

A Leper, called Angria (bass-baritone)

Madam van Breda, mother of Cornelis (mezzo-soprano)

Marie van der Meer (soprano)

Senora Juanita de Castro (soprano)

Abdu, a fruit merchant (tenor)