Opera Scotland

Maître Seiler

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Music

Alick Maclean (1872-1936).

Text

Sheridan Ross.

 

Premieres

First Performance: London (1909).

First Performance in Scotland: Glasgow (King's Theatre), 18 February 1910.

 

Background

Alick Maclean had composed a full-length opera, Quentin Durward, derived from one of the most readable of Sir Walter Scott's novels, as early as 1892. It was published in 1894, but not performed until 1920. Two of his later operas were premiered in Germany. As a conductor he worked widely in Britain, but is particularly associated with a twenty-three year period from 1912 when he worked with the band at Scarborough. In those days seaside resorts often employed orchestras for the summer season - the Bournemouth Symphony nowadays being the only significant survivor.

The Moody-Manners decision to employ this essentially lightweight piece as a curtain-raiser for their first tour of Tosca seems an odd one. It was played in Glasgow and Aberdeen, but seems to have been abandoned in Dundee before the company reached Edinburgh.

 

Characters

Maître Seiler, an elderly judge (baritone)

Yeri, a forester (bass)

Lotte, Yeri's daughter (soprano)

Wilhelm (tenor)

 

Plot Summary

Maître Seiler, an old man, falls in love with Lotte, the forester's pretty daughter, and dreams of marrying her. However he discovers that she loves Wilhelm, and the judge, becoming reconciled to reality, acts as both their benefactor and their friend, allowing them to marry.