Delius Opera A Village Romeo and Juliet

Classical Music / Opera

A Village Romeo and Juliet is an opera by Frederick Delius. The composer himself, with his wife Jelka, wrote the English-language libretto based on the short story Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller. The first performance, as Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe, was at the Komische Oper Berlin, on 21 February 1907.  The British premiere was performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, February 22, 1910, with Thomas Beecham conducting.

The Walk to Paradise Garden

This meltingly beautiful music is taken from "The Paradise Garden," a work of artist/painter John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836- 1893).  Delius' heart-warming music "The Walk to the Paradise Garden" is the orchestral interlude between scenes 5 and 6 of Delius' A Village Romeo and Juliet.  While this  opera has been rarely staged, "The Walk to the Paradise Garden" is heard separately in concerts and has been recorded many times.

Below is a video of "The Walk to the Paradise Garden," performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, with Sir John Barbirolli conducting.



"The Paradise Garden" is a dilapidated pub where the lover's Sali and Vreli can "dance all night". This rural lover have known each other since childhood and are willing to die together rather than give in to the pressures that will separate them.

Brief Synopsis
(The opera A Village Romeo and Juliet has six scenes)

Beginning. Sali, son of the farmer Manz, and Vrenchen (Vreli), daughter of the farmer Marti, are children. They are playing together one September morning on a plot of land. The Dark Fiddler is the rightful owner of this disputed land, but because he is illegitimate and thus without legal rights, he cannot exert control over the land. He appears to the children and warns them that the land must not be tilled. Manz and Marti dispute ownership of the land, and put a stop to the relationship between their respective children.

Six years later.  At Marti's now run-down house, Sali and Vrenchen plan a meeting. Since their childhood, a lawsuit about the land has ruined both Manz and Marti. Sali persuades Vrenchen to meet him on the plot. The Dark Fiddler re-appears once more and invites them to join him. He also tells them that, regardless, they will meet again. Marti sees the two lovers and takes Vreli away. In trying to stop Marti, Sali injures him severely. As a result, Marti loses his reason and must be confined in an asylum. Sali returns and sees Vreli at her house, which is to be sold. The two declare their love and decide to leave together.

Sali and Vreli buy rings at a local fair. Sali mentions an inn, the Paradise Garden, where they can dance all night, and they go there. There, the Dark Fiddler and some vagrants are drinking. He greets the lovers, and suggests they join him to share a vagabond life in the mountains. Instead, Sali and Vreli decide that they cannot live such an existence, and they resolve to die together, uncompromising in their love for each other. They leave the inn and find a hay barge, which they release from the dock to begin to float down the river. As the Dark Fiddler observes them, Sali removes the plug from the bottom of the boat, and Sali and Vreli sink with the boat.

On reflection.  Delius' music interlude seems to synthesize many elements found in the opera, where in "Paradise Garden", a seedy country dance hall, the two lovers make a pact to do themselves in, a plot of land where they played together during their childhood, with the Dark Fiddler and his symbolic social conflicts, the hay barge that will sink in the river and carry the lovers to their death, and most of all, the heartbreak of love...  Painful, it weaves in long unbearable phrases, in this familiar operatic play akin to Shakespeare's tragic Romeo and Juliet.

Video Credit:

Frederick Delius, The Walk to the Paradise Garden, John Atkimson Grimshaw. YouTube, uploaded by Thomas Turner.  Accessed February 22, 2016.  

Resources:

A Village Romeo and Juliet. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed February 21, 2016.

The Walk to the Paradise Garden. LAPhil.com Accessed February 21, 2016.