Colin M Campbell's opera, premiered in 1921 in Manchester, received a single performance in Scotland. The Glasgow Herald of Tuesday, 20 March, in previewing the Carl Rosa company's fifth week in Glasgow, describes it as a 'little operetta', with only two characters, to be played by Eva Turner and John Perry. The use of the term 'little operetta' combined with its performance in a Saturday matinee in Glasgow, given as the first part of a double bill with Donizetti's delightfully frothy Daughter of the Regiment, may have lulled punters into thinking it also would be a light-hearted work. The presence of the company's leading dramatic soprano and tenor will have quickly revealed their error.
Thais (as in Massenet's opera) is a courtesan who wants to reform. She therefore consults a priest, only to find that he actually loves her. To save his immortal soul, she promptly stabs him, and then herself. It sounds like fun, though perhaps lacks the lush melodic generosity of Massenet's treatment of the story.
Campbell is now forgotten as a composer, and this is the only operatic work produced in his lifetime. However a second piece, the full-length Maid Marian, was performed posthumously.
For full details of the Royal Carl Rosa's 1923 Scottish tour, see under the entries for Aïda, Maritana, Lohengrin, Carmen, Tales of Hoffmann or Bohemian Girl.
© Copyright Opera Scotland 2024
Site by SiteBuddha