Don John of Austria: Australia's first opera.

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Very few Australians would know who Don John of Austria was and why he might be regarded as important enough to have an opera written about him and yet in the nineteenth century he was a well known figure in history. This was because he was a soldier and a leader of an army. In fact he was regarded as the man who defeated the Turks who had invaded Europe and had reached near the borders of Austria.

His defeat of the Turkish army at the battle of Lepanto stopped the Turkish advance and thus saved Europe from being conquered by the Turks. Don John was a Spaniard the illegitimate son of Charles V the King of Spain and Austria. The legitimate son of Charles V, Phillip, had become King and Charles V retired to a monastery. King Phillip was the man who eventually married the English Tudor Queen Mary usually referred to as 'Bloody Mary' because she tried to re-establish the Catholic Church in England and executed many of the Protestant religious leaders. This attempt was reversed when her sister Elizabeth became Queen after the death of Mary, and Phillip returned to Spain. That is the historical background to Don John of Austria the subject of this article.

Don John of Austria is the title of an opera written and performed in 1847 in Sydney. It was written by Isaac Nathan a musician and composer who had left England under a mysterious circumstances and migrated to Sydney in 1840. In Sydney he established a Music Academy to teach singing and as well he performed in concert on many important occasions in the city.

During October this year (2007) a performance of the opera Don John of Austria was given in Sydney by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and a star studded cast of opera singers. I made a special trip down to Sydney from the north coast to be at the performance. It was held in the Sydney Concert Hall in Angel Place, Sydney, not in the Sydney Opera House. It was a concert performance.

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In Sydney I met the editor of Margin who had also come to Sydney for the Opera, the first performance after one hundred and sixty years. I met Victor during the interval and talked about the work and about Isaac Nathan and I agreed to write something about this unusual event. The ABC Classic FM radio later gave a broadcast of this performance on a Saturday night in November which allowed me to listen again and confirm my first impressions. Let me say that I found the opera a delight and full of wonderful music. I became very enthusiastic although not quite as enthusiastic as Victor who could not stop carrying on about it.

The opera is referred to as a ballad opera mainly because there is spoken dialogue and it follows after the pattern of the The Beggar's Opera, the English 18th Century ballad opera. Although referred to as a ballad opera the songs, as the programme called them, were certainly not ballads or even songs. They had all the elements of operatic arias and included duets of some musical complexity. I suppose the somewhat derogatory comment in referring to the arias as songs was because they were not coloratura arias for the soprano written to allow her a great display of vocal gymnastics. The soprano had to sing her arias and she did this beautifully. The use of spoken dialogue in English allowed the audience to follow the action of the opera without any supplementary aids. There were no sur-titles, but there was a detailed explanation of the text or dialogue of the action of the play in the programme. It was a pleasant theatrical experience to simply watch and listen to the music as the plot unfolded.

The plot was not unusual for an opera. It was basically about the conflict between two brothers who loved the same woman; one was a king (in disguise) and the other his illegitimate brother who was unaware of his origin. The girl (a Jew in Catholic Spain during the Inquisition) was certainly not an ideal companion for the Catholic King Phillip. She could not be his wife because his arranged marriage to a Princess was about to be consecrated The girl, as might be guessed, was in love with the illegitimate Don John of Austria,

I discussed with Victor the fact that the spoken dialogue was not that of Jacob Montefiorie who had written the original text. It had been rewritten by G.K. Williams who wrote 'Would an audience in 2007 cope with the historical background which may have been second knowledge to an audience of 1847?' Williams said the audience may not be able to understand long literary sentences and so he rewrote them and added material from another play. He surely would not rewrite Wagner's Ring Cycle which is sung in German and has a long and extremely complicated plot not to mention the often very long sentences. Both Victor and I would have preferred to hear the Opera with its original dialogue. Williams should not have underestimated the intelligence of the audience. I think that some of the reasons why the audience laughed at some of the important dramatic revelations in the 'play' was because of this rewriting in an attempt to make it 'more modern'.

Apart from this interference with the text I thoroughly enjoyed the whole performance. This was made more enjoyable because the opera was acted by the singers. They did not stand along the front of the stage and spoke and sang their parts holding their book. They actually acted their roles. There was movement, entrances and exits. Miriam actually knelt to the king when he revealed who he was, and for example Don John was very aggressive when he challenged the disguised king to a duel. One could almost see him 'punch' the king on the nose and his reaction when the king's identity was revealed was wonderfully acted.

The producer Raft Wilson (or was it the director Rodney Fisher) is to be congratulated for the way in which they used the Sydney Concert Hall, Angel Place, for the performance. The gallery above the back of the stage was used during the action and the beautiful men's chorus during the second act of the opera was sung by the black suited men lined up along this gallery. It was one of the beautiful moments of the night. In fact the production as a whole was first class.

I must mention the young singers. These were real operatic stars of the present and the future. This was especially so for the tenor Steve Davislim. He played the part of the young lover, a slightly wild lad, and his singing was rich and melodic. His change of character to that of a budding soldier was most effective. The other outstanding male character, the disguised King of Spain, was sung by the baritone Grant Doyle. His interpretation of the King tom between being a king and a rejected lover came over well. Particular impressive was the 'Revenge aria' when he was tom between his passion and hatred for his rival, his brother. Both of these men have sung in overseas and in Australian opera performances. The soprano Cheryl Barker has also sung in operas in Europe and London as well as in Australia. Her interpretation of the young Jewish heroine in this work was particularly appealing and the sad gentle farewell aria was very touching.

The whole caste held their books during the performance but only very occasionally was one aware that they had these in their hands, usually when they had to turn over a page. As a matter of fact I am not sure if the singers did hold their books all the time. I must mention the chorus which did not have enough work to do. Their singing was again vigourous and well modulated, an excellent addition to the performance.

Then there was the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and there is no need to say anything but praise. They were there, up to their usual excellent standard of performance. A special bouquet should go to the conductor of the orchestra, Andrew Briger. His conducting was spectacular. He directed the players in a vigourous but sometimes delicate manner. After all he was conducting the music of one of his ancestors. Like Sir Charles Mackerras Andrew Briger is a descendent of Isaac Nathan. His career as a conductor is well underway. Perhaps one day we may see him as the conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, if one of Australia's other orchestras does not nab him first.

What of Isaac Nathan? He is one of our long forgotten musicians. He came to Sydney in 1840. He was already a published writer of music and as we are told, in the Catalogue, he had published enough musical compositions to fill twelve pages of the British Library Catalogue, often thirty of more entries per page. He composed popular songs for comic operas and dramas, pantomimes and masques. Nathan was a singer on the stage and was also a teacher of singing in London, a career he continued in Sydney. Nathan's most famous work was his Hebrew Melodies with the lyrics by Lord Byron. It is time the ABC produced a CD of a performance of these as well as other works by Nathan. Perhaps they should also revive the suite of selections of Nathan's works arranged and conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra some years ago. Not only that but Nathan wrote other operas. I wonder if Nathan's opera King Charles II, Merry Freaks in Troublous Times written in Australia in 1842 has survived in manuscript. It sounds fun.

All in all the ABC and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra are to be praised for this revival of Don John of Austria but do not let us stop there. There is plenty of scope for further work and performance of Nathan's twelve pages of musical compositions there for us to enjoy in the future and that does not include all the works he produced in the twenty four years he spent in Australia. He died in Sydney when he was run over by a tram. I wonder if the Sydney City Council has put a plaque to his memory on the road or footpath on the spot where he died.

John Lang Project Legends of India

This issue of Margin can report that the John Lang Project's latest book is well under way. The book is Legends of India or Sketches of Life in Hindostan. It is a collection of John Lang's stories and articles written about his life and experiences while living in an India controlled by the British East India Company. India at this time was not a British colony controlled by the British Government. John Lang was highly critical of the East India Company which like all dominating rulers did not appreciate criticism. Lang was regarded with great suspicion partly because he was the writer and editor of a very successful and popular newspaper. Governments, even our own, do not always appreciate newspaper revelations and criticisms.

These stories in Legends of India supplement the many stories and accounts which were published in England under the title of Wanderings in India. These were mostly written for an English audience, catering for the love of the exotic aspects of India and the wealth and splendid palaces and jewels of the Rajas, Sultans and Kings. The stories in Legends of India are more about the English who lived and worked in India as well as on lives and the plight of the native Indians.

Some of Lang's stories are about travelling in India by boat and ship along the great rivers and about the many different races of people that make up the Indian population. This includes some of mixed race like the men Lang had working in his newspaper printery. Called Keranees, they were a mix of Indian and Portuguese. These people refused to be called 'natives' and were proud to be Christians. They were descended from Portuguese who were among the first Europeans to set up a trading base in India. Lang claimed they were the most efficient typesetters in the world.

Included in Legends is Lang's account of his visit to the Ranee of Jhansi who was probably the most important woman in India in the nineteenth century. Lang's story about his visit is one of the very few contemporary accounts of this remarkable woman who defied the East India Company and the British and died in battle leading her troops.

Perhaps the most important single 'story' or published document in Legends is a letter signed by John Lang while in England condemning the East India Company for taking the wealth of India, giving nothing in return and leaving the poor Indian peasants to live in poverty and filth. It is a damning testimony by our own John Lang.