The Culprit Fay.
“The Culprit Fay,” a musical setting of Joseph Rodman Drake’s well-known fairy poem, was written in 1879. It is divided into three parts,—the first containing five, the second five, and the third eight numbers; the solos being divided among soprano, alto, tenor, and barytone, the last named taking the part of the Fairy King. The exquisitely graceful fairy story told in the poem is too well known to need description. It is admirably adapted to music by its rhythmic fluency as well as by the delicacy of its poetical sentiment; and while it does not call for earnestness or strength in any of its movements, there is ample opportunity for melodious and attractive pictures in tone of the dainty descriptions of the poet. The composer has improved these opportunities with much skill, and, notwithstanding the intrinsic lightness of the score, has secured musical unity and poetical coherence by the artistic use of the leit-motif. Nine of these motives are employed, characterizing the summer night, the elfin mystery, the life of the fairies, the fay’s love for the mortal maid, the penalty for this violation of fairy law, night on the river, the spells of the water imps, the penalties imposed upon the culprit, and the Sylphide Queen’s passion for the Fay. The skilfulness with which these motives are adapted to characters and situations, and interwoven with the general movement in their proper recurrence, shows that the composer has not studied Wagner, the master of the leit-motif, in vain.
After a short introduction for the horns and strings, the cantata opens with a full chorus of graceful, flowing character (“’Tis the Middle Watch of a Summer’s Night”) describing the moonlight scene about “Old Cro’ Nest.” It is followed by the mystery motive announcing a weird alto solo, “’Tis the Hour of Fairy Ban and Spell.” It is the summons of the sentry elf, ringing the hour of twelve, indicated in the score by the triangle, and calling the fairies to confront the culprit. A stirring and blithe instrumental introduction, followed by a short chorus (“They come from Beds of Lichen green”), describes the gathering of the fays, retarded at the close, and growing sombre as it is announced that “an ouphe has broken his vestal vow.” A tenor solo (“He has loved an earthly Maid”) tells the sad story of the guilty one who “has lain upon her lip of dew” and “nestled on her snowy breast.” They gather about to hear his doom, and do not have to wait long; for the tenor song leads without break to a barytone solo, in recitative form, by the Fairy King (“Fairy, Fairy, list and mark”), pronouncing the penalties he must pay for his transgression,—the catching of a drop from the sturgeon’s silver bow to wash away the stain on his wings, and the relighting of his flamewood lamp by the last faint spark in the train of a shooting star.
A graceful chorus (“Soft and pale is the moony Beam”) opens the second part, picturing the scene upon the strand bordering the elfin land; and the leaps of the sturgeon, followed by a tenor solo and recitative describing the sorrow of the lonely sprite and his desperate effort to push his mussel-shell boat down to the verge of the haunted land. The alto, which does all the mystery work, goes on with the description of the vain attempt of the river imps to wreck his frail craft, and his discovery and pursuit of the sturgeon; then there is a pause. The full chorus, in a quick movement, pictures the pretty scene of the sturgeon’s leap, the arch of silver sheen, and the puny goblin waiting to catch the drop. The tenor recitative announces his success, and a full jubilant chorus of the sprites (“Joy to thee, Fay! thy Task is done”) bids him hasten back to the elfin shore.
The third part opens with a full chorus, very animated in its progression (“Up to the Cope, careering swift”), describing the ride of the Fay past the sphered moon and up to the bank of the Milky Way, where he checks his courser to wait for the shooting star. In the next number, a short recitative, the alto has a more grateful task; this time it is the graceful sylphs of heaven who appear, weaving their dance about the Fay, and leading him on to the palace of the Sylphide Queen. It is followed by two charming soprano solos,—the one descriptive of her beauty as she listens to the story of the Fay, and the other (“O Sweet Spirit of Earth”) of her sudden passion and the tempting inducements by which she seeks to make him forget the joys of fairy-land. Once more the tenor, who plays the part of narrator, enters, and in solo and recitative assures us how like a brave homunculus the Fay resisted her blandishments. A very vigorous and descriptive chorus, as fast as can be sung, pictures the Fay careering along on the wings of the blast up to the northern plain, where at length a star “bursts in flash and flame.” The tenor announces his second success, and the final chorus (“Ouphe and Goblin! Imp and Sprite”) sings his welcome back in an animated manner, beginning with a moderate movement which constantly accelerates and works up to a fine climax; after which—
“The hill-tops glow in morning’s spring,
The skylark shakes his dappled wing,
The day glimpse glimmers on the lawn,
The cock has crowed and the fays are gone.”