A VILLAGE ROMEO AND JULIET

Frederick Delius

Opera in six scenes, text by the composer, based on a story by Gottfried Keller. Premiere, Berlin, 21 February 1907. First performed Covent Garden, 1910, with Ruth Vincent, Walter Hyde, Dearth, Maitland, conductor Beecham. Revived 1920 with Miriam Licette, Hyde, Heming, Michael, conductor Beecham; Royal College of Music, 1934, conductor Beecham; Bradford, 1962, by Sadler's Wells with Morison, Wakefield, conductor Meredith Davies. American première, Washington, 1972, with Patricia Wells, John Stewart, John Reardon.

Place: Seldwyla, Switzerland

Time: Mid - Nineteenth Century

Running Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Professor Arthur Hutchings, author of an authoritative book on Delius, admonishes the listener: 'Opera - goers who require the stage properties and dramatic interruptions of Italian opera, the pageantry and ballet of Russian opera, the discrimination of character and emotional versatility of Mozartian opera, cannot fail to be disappointed in A Village Romeo and Juliet. No opera is more musical, because in no opera has the composer been more certain that by music he would tell the tale; Cecil Gray has called it "a symphonic poem with the implicit programme made explicit upon the stage." ... In this work the opera goer must expect only music, and music chiefly of the same kind - sustained, dreamy beauty, slightly offset by the sinister strains of the Dark Fiddler or the litigious quarrels of the farmers.'

Scene I. September.

A piece of land luxuriously overgrown on a hill. The broad fields of Manz and Marti lie on either side, only a small piece of field being visible. Manz and Marti are rivals for the strip of wild land which lies between their fields. They are both ploughing when the action begins, and each, when the other is not looking, takes an extra furrow out of the waste land.

Sali and Vreli brings their parents' midday meals and then go off to play together in the woods. Manz and Marti reappear to eat together. The children come out of the wood as the Dark Fiddler can be heard in the distance. Marti recognises him, and knows that the land should be his, but that, being a bastard, he has no legal right to it. The Fiddler disappears watched by the children. Their parents start to discuss the prospective sale of the land, each criticising the way the other has stolen a furrow here and there. They quarrel furiously, and forbid their respective children ever again to play with each other.

Scene II. Six years later.

Outside Marti’s house, which has a neglected air about it. The children are now grown up, and ever more closely drawn towards one another. Sali comes towards the house from which Vreli presently looks out longingly. They patch up a quarrel, caused one imagines by the lawsuit in which their parents have been frittering away their heritages. They are pessimistic about the situation, but Sali hopes all may yet come right if they stick together. They make an appointment for the evening in the fields.

Scene III.

The wild land, overgrown with poppies, Sali waits for Vreli, who comes in and calls him, then hides until he finds her. Their delight in each other’s company is obvious. The sound of the Dark Fiddler’s playing is heard, and he reminds them that they played on his land. Now that they are all beggars, he feels they are equal. Why do they not come and share his vagabond's existence? He does not seem to expect an answer, but is confident they will meet again. Vreli remembers that the last time they saw him was on the dread day when their fathers quarrelled. Sali reassures her, and they talk happily of their childhood days. They embrace. Marti can be seen looking for Vreli. He spies them and is dragging Vreli away when Sali fells him with a blow.

Scene IV.

A slow introduction leads to a new scene, the interior of Marti's house, now quite bare, apart from a bed and a bench. Vreli is sitting in front fire reminding herself sadly that this is her last night in her old home. Sali comes in, and after an ecstatic greeting, they sing of their love, and pledge never to leave each other again. Vreli tells Sali that she has just taken her father away, as he has lost his mind as a result of Sali's blow. She will have to leave as the house has been sold. They sit down together in front of the fire, and fall asleep in each other's arms. The stage grows dark as they dream they are being married in the old church of Seldwyla. Church bells ring, the organ plays, a hymn is sung, and finally the bells ring out again merrily.

Dawn breaks, and the lovers awake to understand that it was all a dream. Can they not have a whole day together, asks Vreli, in which to wander through the woods and dance? - To Berghald,! exclaims Sali. The sound of yodelling can be heard in the distance as they leave.

Scene V. The fair.

The various sellers cry their wares and the showman leads some of the crowd into a tent. Sali and Vreli arrive, looking happy, and join in the gaiety until they are recognised by a woman from Seldwyla, with her companions. They buy everything that attracts them, but suddenly notice that they are being watched curiously by the crowd. Self - consciously they leave the fair, and make for the Paradise Garden, another dancing place.

The interlude during the change of scene is the famous ‘Walk to the Paradise Garden’ (composed five years later than the rest of the opera to themes from it). During it, Sali and Vreli rest on their journey.

Scene VI.

The vagabonds are heard in the distance before the curtain rises to reveal a dilapidated country house, now used as an inn. The river flows nearby, and a barge full of hay is moored on it. The Dark Fiddler and his vagabond companions sit round a table. It is evening. The Dark Fiddler is evidently telling his friends the story of the strife between Manz and Marti and its origin.

Sali and Vreli come into the garden. The Dark Fiddler strongly advises them to take to the road and join him and his friends. He plays while they dance. All join him in trying to persuade the two young lovers to join them, but they fear they are too respectable for a vagabond's life. Bargemen are heard singing in the distance, and gradually it dawns on Sali and Vrell that the only way out for them is to 'drift down the river' like the bargemen, but with a difference; they can never return. Watched by the Dark Fiddler and the vagabonds, they get into the barge. Vreli throws her nosegay into the river, and Sali draws the plug from the bottom of the boat and throws it in too. As the boat moves out into the middle of the stream, Sali and Vreli fall into each other's arms on the bed of hay. Boatmen can be heard in the distance singing 'Ho, travellers we a -passing by'.

Of the end, Professor Hutchings has written: 'The orchestra alone then concludes the work with a perfection unattainable by words; the music can suggest the deep and enfolding waters. However much the pathetic emotions have been stirred, we are satisfied and comforted almost as by the "happy ending" of comedy.'

- from Kobbe's Opera Book prepared by Lord Harewood.

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Frederick Delius
in 1903
by Ida Gerhardi