The first act of “Rob Roy” opens in Perth, where Lochiel and his Highlanders have stolen a considerable sum of money in the keeping of the Provost, with which they propose to aid Prince Charles Stuart in his designs upon the English throne. Flora MacDonald, a zealous partisan of the young Pretender, appears upon the scene, and induces the Provost to consent to a gathering of the clans in Perth. Hearing of a Scotch victory, he compels his daughter Janet to marry Sandy MacSherry, the town-crier, who claims relationship with the Stuarts. In the mean time English grenadiers enter Perth, and their captain, Ralph Sheridan, falls in love with Janet. The Provost, who is always on the side that is uppermost, forces his daughter to declare herself the Captain’s wife and then accuses Sandy of stealing the missing money. Janet obeys him, but immediately afterwards Rob Roy captures the town, and the Provost, to get rid of his new English son-in-law, causes his arrest. It now appears that the crafty Janet when she went through the Scotch form of marriage with Sandy and the Captain was already secretly married to Rob Roy. To escape her two nominal husbands she proposes to go with Rob Roy’s Highlanders as his orderly. The act closes with the gathering of the clans and the elevation of the standard.
The second act opens with the defeat of the Scotch at Culloden. A reward is offered for the Prince, who is in hiding among the MacGregors in their mountain stronghold. The Provost and his henchmen appear as strolling balladmongers, still in Highland dress, and not having heard of the Scotch defeat. When Sandy MacSherry arrives with the news of the English victory, the Provost gets into English uniform at once, and determines to secure the reward offered for the Prince. At last the Prince is found by the English, but when they are about to take him away, Flora MacDonald appears in the Prince’s costume, declares him her servant, and is led away by the soldiers in spite of the efforts of Rob Roy and the Prince to rescue her.
The third act opens near Stirling Castle, where Flora is confined under sentence of death on the morrow. Lochiel aids her to escape, and she goes to the MacGregors’ cave, where the Prince is to join her. Meanwhile, her cell being empty, Lochiel, who has taken the turnkey’s place, puts Sandy in it. The Provost, who is now an English corporal, supposing that Flora is still in the castle, brings her a disguise costume in which Sandy manages to effect his escape. Flora is found in the cave and brought back to the camp, but is saved from being shot by the timely arrival of the Prince, who gives himself up. As he is about to be executed, the Lowlanders around him throw off their coats and stand revealed as armed Highlanders. They keep the English soldiers at bay while the Prince and Flora are seen sailing away for France.
In the first act, after a long choral scene and ensemble, Flora makes her entrance with the spirited song, “Away in the Morning Early,” which is followed by a sentimental duet with the Prince, “Thou, Dear Heart.” The town-crier next has a characteristic song with a ding-dong accompaniment. After a grenadier song and chorus by Captain Sheridan and his soldiers, there is a vigorous Highland chorus and song by Rob Roy, “The White and the Red, huzzah.” The remaining prominent numbers in this act are a pretty duet for Rob Roy and Janet, “There he is and nae one wi’ him”; a charming Scotch ballad, “My Hame is where the Heather blooms,” and a humorous song by the Provost, “My Hairt is in the Highlands.”
The principal numbers in the second act are Janet’s joyous song, “There was a Merry Miller of the Lowland”; the spirited martial lay of the Cavalier, “With their trappings all a-jingle”; the jolly song of the balladmongers, “From Place to Place I fare, Lads”; Rob Roy’s song, “Come, Lairds of the Highlands”; and the effective romanza, “Dearest Heart of my Heart,” sung by Flora.
The third act opens with a vigorous rataplan chorus followed by a charming chansonette and duet, “Who can tell me where she dwells,” sung by the Prince and Flora. The remaining numbers are a short but exceedingly effective bass song, “In the Donjon Deep”; the Provost’s serenade, “The Land of Romances,” followed by a dance, and a pretty little rustic song, “There’s a Lass, some think her Bonny,” for Rob Roy, Janet, and chorus, leading up to a vigorous choral finale.
The Fencing-Master.
[Comic opera, in three acts; text by Harry B. Smith. First produced at the New York Casino, November 14, 1892.]
PERSONAGES.
Francesca, Torquato’s daughter, brought up as a boy. Torquato, fencing-master of the Milanese court. Pasquino, private astrologer to the Duke. Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. Count Guido Malespine. Filippa, the Duke’s ward. Marchesa di Goldoni. Theresa, daughter of a Milanese money-lender. Pietro, an innkeeper. Michaele Steno, Doge of Venice. Rinaldo, Captain of the Doge’s Guards. Fortunio, rightful heir to the ducal throne.
[Students in Torquato’s Academy.]
The scene is laid in Milan and Venice; time, the first quarter of the fifteenth century.
The heroine of this opera is Francesca, daughter of a fencing-master, who has brought her up as a boy and taught her fencing among other accomplishments. She is in love with Fortunio, rightful heir to the throne of Milan, who believes her to be a boy. Fortunio in turn is in love with the Countess Filippa, and the Marchesa di Goldoni, a young widow, is in love with Francesca. The bankrupt and usurping Duke of Milan and his private astrologer, of whom he has purchased so many horoscopes as to deplete his exchequer, furnish the comedy element of the opera. The Duke has mortgaged one room after another in his palace to money-lenders, and has also employed a regularly organized stock company of Venetian bravos to remove Fortunio. The first act closes with the departure of Fortunio and Francesca to Venice on political business.
The second act opens in Venice. Filippa has been sent there to be married, but Fortunio plans an elopement with her and entrusts the secret to Francesca. The jealous Francesca betrays the plan to Guido, his rival, who abducts Filippa. When Fortunio discovers what Francesca has done, he challenges the supposed young man, whose identity is revealed after he has wounded her. Fortunio is arrested by the Duke and is about to be taken to prison, when Francesca declares herself as the real traitor and is imprisoned in his stead.