The Rose of Castille

The Rose of Castille is an opera in three acts, with music by Michael William Balfe (1808-1870)[1] and a libretto by Augustus Glossop Harris (1825-1873)[2] and Edmund Falconer (1814-1879)[3].

(Also found as The Rose of Castile and The Rose of Castile, or The Queen and the Muleteer)

The original text

Harris and Falconer based their text on Adolphe d'Ennery and Clairville's French libretto for the French opéra comique[4] Le Muletier de Tolède (Adolphe Adam, 1854).

The English piece premiered on 29 October 1857, at the Lyceum Theatre, London.

Translations and adaptations

Conrad Theodore Marriott Edwardes (fl. 1870-1877)[] wrote a burlesque version of Balfe's opera, calling it The Rows of Castille (also found as The Rows of Castile).

The playful title of the burlesque probably derives from the fact that the opera itself was at the time of its first performance often referred to as "Rows of Cast Steel" and would become the subject of a punning riddle about Balfe's successful opera. The riddle first started circulating about six years after the opera's first performance (i.e. "Question: What opera is like a railway line (or tramway line)? Answer: Rows of Cast steel"), but was later made famous by James Joyce's use of it in a scene in Ullyses[5], and in some ways has become more enduring than Edwardes's the play.

The Rows of Castille was originally performed in Brighton, England, on 4 March, 1872. It does not appear to have been performed much afterwards (except by Disney Roebuck's company apparently) and the text was not published as far as can be ascertained.

In his advertising for his first performance of the work in South Africa, Disney Roebuck credits C. Edwardes as the author, but claims that it was a "burlesque written expressly for.. [his].. company". This may be so, or it may also have been another adaptation, this time of Edwardes's play for the use of Roebuck's company.

Performance history of all versions in South Africa

1859: Performed as The Rose of Castile, or The Queen and the Muleteer (credited to Harris and Falconer) by Sefton Parry and his company in the Cape Town Theatre on 13 December, with Perfection (Bayly) and a "Garland Polka" and "Spanish Bolero" by Miss Powell

1875: Performed in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, by Disney Roebuck and company on 25 March, and billed as a "burlesque written expressly for this Co.". It was played as an afterpiece to David Garrick (Robertson).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 1 April, with East Lynne (Wood).

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_of_Castille

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_William_Balfe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Glossop_Harris

https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_muletier_de_Tol%C3%A8de_(Adam%2C_Adolphe)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Falconer

Allardyce Nicoll. 1975. A History of English Drama 1660-1900: Late 19th Century Drama 1850-1900 Cambridge University Press: p.354[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_of_Castille

William Adams. 1891. A Book of Burlesque: Sketches of English Stage Travestie and Parody (Issue 5 of The Whitefriars Library of Wit and Humour, Vol. V). Henry and Company[7]

http://www.jjon.org/joyce-s-allusions/rose-of-castile

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.

Go to ESAT Bibliography