Il Trovatore

Il Trovatore ("The Troubadour") is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)[1].

The original text

The Italian libretto was largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador (1836), , a flamboyant and incident filled melodrama by Antonio García Gutiérrez (1813-1884)[2]. The opera had its premiere at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19 January 1853.

Translations and adaptations

Burlesque versions of Italian, French - and, later, German - operas became popular with London audiences during the second half of the 19th century. For example Verdi's Il Trovatore had its British premiere in 1855 as Ill-treated Il Trovatore (or Ill Treated Il Trovatore, or The Mother, The Maiden and The Musician ) by H.J. Byron (1835-1884)[3]. The text was published by T.H. Lacy in the 1850s.

A burlesque version of the opera (possibly Byron's version?) was apparently done by the Christy Minstrels (billed as Il Trovatore) in the 1860s, also performed during their South African visit in 1862.

Another burlesque version, called Il Trovatore Up To Date ("a burlesque in one scene"), was written and published by Alexander H. Laidlaw, Jr. in 1897.

South African performances of the Verdi opera

1869: Performed in the Mutual Hall, Cape Town by the Miranda-Harper Company.

1875: Performed as part of the repertoire of the Harvey-Turner Opera Company when it visited the goldfields in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The other works listed include Faust, Maritana, The Bohemian Girl, Lobgesang and Stabat Mater.

1899: Performed and taken on a tour the South African cities and towns by the visiting Arthur Rousbey Grand English Opera Company, under the management of Frank de Jong and Herbert Flemming, appearing in Cape Town's Opera House in the second half of the year.

Performances of dramatic adaptations and burlesque versions in South Africa

1862: A burlesque called Il Trovatore was performed by the Christy Minstrels, as part of their repertoire while touring the Cape Province between September and November.

Sources

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

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

Steven Huebner (Ed). 2017. National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera, Volume I: Italy, France, England and the Americas (Volume 1), Routledge.[4]

https://www.loc.gov/item/varsep.s17651/

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 139-141.

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