Before this comes off,
however, Fra Diavolo's identity is discovered, and he is captured by
Lorenzo and his band. 'Fra Diavolo' shows Auber in his happiest vein.
The music is gay and tuneful, without dropping into commonplace; the
rhythms are brilliant and varied, and the orchestration neat and
appropriate.
'La Muette de Portici,' which is known in the Italian version as
'Masaniello,' was written for the Grand Opera. Here Auber vainly
endeavoured to suit his style to its more august surroundings. The
result is entirely unsatisfactory; the more serious parts of the work
are pretentious and dull, and the pretty little tunes, which the
composer could not keep out of his head, sound absurdly out of place in
a serious drama. Fenella, the dumb girl of Portici, has been seduced by
Alfonso, the son of the Spanish Viceroy of Naples. She escapes from the
confinement to which she had been subjected, and denounces him on the
day of his marriage to the Spanish princess Elvira. Masaniello, her
brother, maddened by her wrongs, stirs up a revolt among the people, and
overturns the Spanish rule. He contrives to save the lives of Elvira and
Alfonso, but this generous act costs him his life, and in despair
Fenella leaps into the stream of boiling lava from an eruption of
Vesuvius. The part of Fenella gives an opportunity of distinction to a
clever pantomimist, and has been associated with the names of many
famous dancers; but the music of the opera throughout is one of the
least favourable examples of Auber's skill.
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