Balfe had to the full his share of that vein of maudlin sentiment which
is typical of one side of the Irish character. He appears to have had
little ambition, and was content throughout his career to fit his
saccharine melodies to whatever words the librettists of the day chose
to supply. No one can deny him the possession of fluent and commonplace
melody, but there his claim to musicianship ends.
Wallace (1814-1865) was more of a musician than Balfe, but his
best-known work, 'Maritana,' is but little superior to 'The Bohemian
Girl.' Maritana, a street singer, has attracted the attention of the
King of Spain. Don Jose, one of the courtiers, determines to help the
King in his amour, in order that he may afterwards use his infidelity as
a means of advancing himself in the favour of the Queen. There is a law
against duelling in the streets of Madrid, and a certain spendthrift
nobleman, Don Caesar de Bazan, has rendered himself liable to death for
protecting a poor boy named Lazarillo from arrest. Don Jose promises the
condemned man that he shall be shot instead of hanged, if he will
consent to marry a veiled lady an hour before the execution, intending
thus to give Maritana a position at court as the widow of a nobleman.
Don Caesar consents to the arrangement, but Lazarillo takes the bullets
out of the soldiers' rifles, so that the execution does not end fatally,
and Maritana is not a widow after all.
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