The Canadian Musical Heritage: Opera and Operetta Excerpts I

Desmond Maley is a librarian at the J.W. Tate Library, Laurentian
University.

According to editor Cooper, whose Ph.D. is in Canadian historical
musicology, there are some 50 extant musico-theatrical works by Canadian
composers spanning the period from 1789 to 1919. Selections from 14 of
them have been brought together in this tenth volume of the CMHS series.
Together they represent the work of 10 composers including Joseph
Quesnel, Calixa Lavallée, Charles A.E. Harriss, Joseph Vézina, and
Edward Manning.

Quesnel’s two light operas Colas et Colinette (circa 1789) and Lucas
et Cécile (circa 1808) were the first composed in Canada. After that,
however, there was a considerable hiatus until the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. Lavallée composed TIQ (The Indian Question):
Settled at Last (circa 1856–66) and The Widow (1880) while residing in
the United States. Harriss’s opera oratorio Torquil premiered at
Toronto’s Massey Hall in 1900. Vézina’s three comic operas Le
Lauréat (1906), Le Rajah (1920), and Le Fétiche (1912) all had their
premieres in Quebec City. And Manning’s folk opera Rip Van Winkle was
performed in New York City in 1919.

With the exception of the pretentious Torquil, which is written in a
pseudo-Wagnerian mode, all of the music accentuates the light or comic
end of the opera spectrum. While tuneful, much of the material has a
dated feel. Comic opera, like comedy itself, is strongly reflective of
the time and place it was written. Generally it doesn’t stand the test
of time. For example, several of these works have Indian characters, the
handling of which, from the vantage point of the late twentieth century,
is stereotyped.

Nevertheless, the works of Lavallée and Vézina, in particular, do
show considerable technical skill. (Cooper especially praises Le
Fétiche, which she says has been unjustly ignored.) Cooper herself
deserves praise for the informative introduction, thoughtful
commentaries, and careful attention paid to the critical notes and
bibliography. With this fine publication, another missing chapter in the
story of early Canadian music has been completed.