Arthur Benjamin’s Forgotten Operas: Prima Donna

Arthur Benjamin's Forgotten Operas: Prima Donna


The career of Australian composer Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960) was a diverse
and varied one. An alumnus of Brisbane Grammar School and former staff
member of Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Benjamin spent the majority of
his adult life in London save a Canadian sojourn for the duration of World
War II. A pianist, conductor, composer, teacher and adjudicator, his music
is a synthesis of styles and influences. Benjamin's work as an examiner for
the Associated Boards took him across the globe - the myriad different
music and cultures he encountered had a profound impact on his
compositions.

While Benjamin's music is characterised by a diversity of influences, it
remains rooted in and bound by traditional conventions. Benjamin was at his
most prolific during the first half of the 20th century, a time which bore
witness to some of the most innovative and avant-garde developments in
music history. His music, however, showcases elements of earlier eras.
While Benjamin experimented with a variety of compositional styles, media
and techniques, he did so within the limitations of pre-existing formal
structures, using an established harmonic vocabulary and traditional
techniques. Benjamin's friend and colleague Herbert Howells explains that
'as a composer he lived and worked not in open defiance of the changed
world of Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and Stravinsky but without active
acknowledgement of their commanding influence'.[1] Howells described
Benjamin as an 'unashamed Romantic.'

Well-documented inspirations are those found in West Indian culture and,
indeed, the Jamaican Rumba (1938) is probably the work for which Benjamin
is best known. Aside from cementing his reputation, this composition
yielded additional benefits for Benjamin - the Jamaican government,
grateful for the publicity, rewarded him with a barrel of rum annually!
Other Caribbean-inspired works include From San Domingo (1945), Caribbean
Dance (1946) and Jamaicalypso (1957). Rhapsody on Negro Folk Tunes (1919),
Chinoiserie (1936) and North American Square Dance Suite (1951) are
demonstrative of the variety of ethnic influences on which Benjamin was
able to draw.

The early works of Stravinsky also served as a source of inspiration for
the young Benjamin, while jazz was another significant influence. Having
given the UK premiere of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Benjamin admitted
this work was the inspiration behind his Piano Concertino (1926). The
influence of Ravel is also apparent throughout Benjamin's career, nowhere
more obvious than in the Valse-Caprices for clarinet and piano, Le Tombeau
de Ravel (1958). The much earlier Suite for piano (1926) also points to
Ravel in the use of harmonic vocabulary as much as stylistic elements. A
set of five miniature movements - 'Prelude', 'Air', 'Tambourin', 'Toccata',
'Epilogue' - harks back to the baroque. Correspondingly, Ravel's Le Tombeau
de Couperin (1914-17) is similarly conceived and structured.
A further examination confirms homage to the traditions of the past.
Benjamin's Concerto for oboe and strings (1942) was inspired by the
keyboard sonatas of Cimarosa while Suite for flute and strings (1946) was
derived from themes found in the keyboard sonatas of Scarlatti.
Divertimento on themes by Gluck (1952) again underlines the obvious respect
Benjamin accords past masters. Benjamin's Piano Concerto (1949),
commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, also interestingly
bore the same designation as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata: 'quasi una
fantasia.'

Benjamin's oeuvre encompasses works for the stage, film, instrumental,
vocal and orchestral works. His solo piano works maintain a place in the
repertoire and, particularly in the latter part of his career, the piano
was Benjamin's chosen compositional medium. His stage works comprise one
ballet and five operas, the second of which is Prima Donna, composed in
1933.

'Addicted to stage'

By all accounts Benjamin relished the theatre admitting he was 'addicted to
the stage'.[2] Herbert Howells relates the importance of Benjamin's
dramatic output, explaining, 'early was the obsession with opera. It became
the constant, irresistible motive governing his career.'[3] From a
compositional perspective, it seems Benjamin embraced the demands of the
operatic form, claiming, 'for me, writing an opera is much easier than
writing a symphony, for I am seized by the dramatic implications of the
text'.[4]

Benjamin's first opera, The Devil Take Her (1931) is a light-hearted comic
work in one act. The work, conducted and championed by Sir Thomas Beecham,
was by all accounts a great success. Two years later followed Prima Donna,
Benjamin's second opera and another humorous offering. Premiered in 1949
some sixteen years after its composition, Prima Donna was first performed
at London's Fortune Theatre on 23 February 1949 under the baton of the
composer. It was revived by the Royal College of Music for a production in
1968 where the roles proved most suitable for student singers.[5]

The librettist Cedric Cliffe had established a working relationship with
Benjamin during the composition of The Devil Take Her. In this instance,
Cliffe provided additional lyrics for the 'Blind Beggar's Song' and the
'Drinking Song' - his talent for wit and humour obviously appealing to
Benjamin with whom a lifelong collaboration developed. This professional
relationship no doubt strengthened existing personal ties - Cliffe was
Benjamin's cousin.

After Prima Donna, Cliffe was the librettist for Benjamin's three remaining
operas. His first full-scale opera, A Tale of Two Cities, composed during
1949-50, received the Festival of Britain Opera Prize and was the subject
of a BBC broadcast in 1953. In the meantime, the BBC had commissioned
another work, Mañana, the first opera to be commissioned for television.
Benjamin's final opera, Tartuffe, had been completed in piano score at the
time of the composer's death in 1960. Alan Boustead completed the
orchestration, and Tartuffe was premiered by Boustead in London in 1964.

'As much of a genius as Puccini'?

None of Benjamin's operas maintain a place in the repertoire today,
unfortunate perhaps given the obvious popularity of a 2008 Sydney
Conservatorium production of Prima Donna. Popular at the time of
composition, Benjamin's works were successful with audiences but left
critics divided. Regarding A Tale of Two Cities, Eric Blom enthused it was
'musically always interesting, … above all a masterpiece of dramatic
composition…Benjamin is in that line just as much of a genius as
Puccini.'[6] Conversely, it was also said of the same work 'it fails to
achieve greatness because of its lack of individual invention…. its idiom
lacks personal distinction.'[7]

While Blom's assessment would probably raise eyebrows today, there is
little doubt Benjamin's music held a degree of popular appeal. Enjoyable to
perform and easy to listen to, one writer offers the following assessment
of Benjamin's conservative musical language: 'Benjamin has evolved no
personal idiom but is content to use common chromatic parlance for the
expression of ideas which are his own. If these ideas are not very profound
nor strongly individualised, neither are they on the other hand
derivative...[8] Alternatively this may indeed be not only deliberate, but
a defining aspect of Benjamin's work. The same writer recognises that
Benjamin's 'conspicuous skill… so as to appeal to his hearers makes him one
of the more approachable of English [sic] composers of his generation.'[9]
Benjamin's popularity was also known in Australia, as pianist Ian Munro's
liner notes for his Jamaican Rumba CD indicate: 'Benjamin was the doyen of
Australian composers whose life's work lay overseas where he identified
completely with the English and European musical scene.'[10] Recognised
performers too, championed Benjamin's work with his Romantic Fantasy for
violin, viola and orchestra (1938) recorded by Jascha Heifetz and William
Primrose.

For his own part, Benjamin himself seemed unperturbed by criticisms of his
compositional idiom and, when questioned if he was offended by the
accusation that his works lacked personal style, he answered, 'it might if
I thought it were true', and explained he had always attempted to express
himself sincerely.

Uncomplicated diatonic harmonies, tuneful melodies and simple metres are
the foundation of Benjamin's compositional vocabulary. As such, Benjamin's
comic operas are not dissimilar to the musical theatre of the 19th century
and bear obvious stylistic similarities to Gilbert and Sullivan. Unlike
these enduring favourites, Benjamin's comic operas have failed to sustain
popular interest. His more serious operatic efforts, A Tale of Two Cities,
Mañana and Tartuffe have suffered the same fate.

Indeed, considered in the context of theatrical works of the early 20th
century, Benjamin's musical style could be described as distinctly
antediluvian. The late and post-Romantic harmonic vocabulary of Richard
Strauss in the works of Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909), composed a
quarter of a century earlier, is an interesting comparison. Berg's Wozzeck
was premiered in Berlin in 1925; this masterpiece was the first atonal
opera and the work that sees the first operatic use of sprechstimme.
Against such benchmarks, Benjamin's antiquated style lacks comparable
innovation - a possible explanation for the failure of his operas to retain
a place in the repertoire.

The dramatic merit of Benjamin's operas may also offer reasons as to why
they are no longer performed. Bold and confronting works characterised
theatrical offerings of the first half of the 20th century, from
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, to Janácek's Jenufa, Bartók's Bluebeard's
Castle and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District. When measured
alongside the power and intensity of such masterpieces, the musical and
dramatic integrity of which has been affirmed over time, it is hardly
surprising Benjamin's dramatic works fell into a state of decline.

An opera based on the machinations of an opera company

Seemingly incongruous in the broader context of twentieth-century stage
works, Benjamin's operas, and in particular Prima Donna, owe a great deal
to the history of opera and operatic tradition in much the same way the
instrumental works draw their inspiration from the past. The title of the
work, Prima Donna or 'first lady' in Italian, is the first hint Benjamin
gives as to the humorous vein of the work. Traditionally the descriptor
'prima donna' is reserved for the leading lady in an opera and 'by
extension, a vain, capricious person'.[11] The history of opera is rife
with divas, their demands and infamous disputes between leading ladies and
this is a central theme in Benjamin's work.

The plot of Prima Donna is a fairly family-friendly one, appealing to
audiences without being at all confronting:

'The opera is set in 18th-century Venice, where the impecunious
Florindo is expecting a visit from his wealthy uncle the Count, who in
turn is hoping to be entertained by the prima donna 'La Filomela'. No
longer in a position to invite her, Florindo arranges a substitute, a
situation complicated by his friend Alcino doing the same; both
Olimpia and Fiammetta try to outdo each other, to the Count's
consternation. He is consoled instead by Bellina the maid in operatic
costume, while the others pair up in the moonlight.'[12]
The prima donna at the centre of Benjamin's work is La Filomela, the
renowned singer by whom the Count wishes to be entertained. La Filomela was
in fact Filamela Ziani, a singer residing in Venice during the sixteenth
century. Famed for her beautiful voice, she was given the nickname La
Filomela, the nightingale. Prima Donna is centred on the competition and
hilarious duel between two sopranos in an effort to outdo each other -
prima donnas indeed! Of course, neither has a voice that resembles a
nightingale or any other kind of songbird, adding another dimension to the
humour. Finally, it is the maid Bellina posing as La Filomela who seduces
and submits to the Count. Benjamin's prima donna therefore is not one, but
a ridiculous four leading ladies - the famed yet elusive La Filomela,
Olimpia, Fiammetta, and Bellina disguised as La Filomela.

An opera based on the machinations of an opera company, or an opera within
an opera has been a popular topic throughout operatic history. The
unfortunate pickle in which Florindo and Alcino find themselves, along with
their efforts to placate the prima donnas and assuage the Count, is a
familiar one. Salieri's Prima la musica poi le parole (1786), based on a
comedy by Casti, deals with the hilarious difficulties of writing and
rehearsing an opera. The premiere of this work was part of a double bill
with Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor (1786) in which an impresario trying
to establish an opera company engages two prima donnas who try to out-sing
each other in order to claim a higher fee.

Cimarosa's L'impresario in augustie (1786) pokes fun at opera itself by
focusing on a director trying to cope with recalcitrant singers.
Donizetti's Le convenienze ed inconvenienze (1827) satirises opera
rehearsals and the subsequent production by a provincial Italian touring
company. Casti's play, Prima la musica poi le parole was reworked by
Strauss for Capriccio (1941), and his earlier Ariadne of Naxos (1912) is
another comic work centred on a composer's struggle to achieve a successful
performance of his opera against all odds.

In Benjamin's Prima Donna, the Count longs to hear La Filomela sing the
role for which she is best known, that of Ariadne Desolate. The action of
the opera within the opera of Strauss's Ariadne of Naxos begins on the
deserted island of Naxos after Ariadne has been abandoned by Theseus -
Ariadne Desolate quite literally! Interestingly the title role in Strauss's
work is designated Primadonna/Ariadne meaning the one singer performs these
two roles. The leading lady in the opera proper is therefore also the title
role in the Greek drama that is set. Could Strauss' Ariadne of Naxos be the
source from which Benjamin drew inspiration for not only the title of his
opera but the role of the prima donna as Ariadne?

According to Greek mythology, the abandoned and desolate Ariadne embarks on
an affair with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and all things pleasurable.
Dionysus is also known as Bacchus in Roman terminology and, indeed,
Benjamin uses this nomenclature: 'We fly when cares attach us and rack us
to Bacchus.'[13] Bacchus' earthly representative in Benjamin's work is the
philandering Count who, in line with Greek mythology, eventually ends up
with Ariadne, or at least someone dressed as her. This immoral character
bears a striking resemblance to another famous philandering Count - the
Count in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (1786) whose unwanted advances are
spurned by Figaro's betrothed, Susanna. Mozart's opera also famously
exposes the Count's indiscretions through an elaborate and embarrassing
case of mistaken identity.

In the same vein, the names of the two prima donnas, Fiammetta and Olimpia,
also give rise to a wry smile. The name Fiammetta is derived from the
Italian word for fire, Fiammetta being a 14th-century feminist documented
in Boccaccio's literary work, The Elegy of Lady Fiammetta. Inspired by this
work, Rossetti's famous painting A Vision of Fiammetta of 1878 is also well
known. Similarly Manet's realist work of 1863 Olympia, depicting a high-
class hooker waiting for a client, caused a scandal when first exhibited.
Prima Donna is in all these respects, a very clever work. The libretto is
full of wit, double entendres, satire and parody. Correspondingly,
Benjamin's score underlines Cliffe's text with similar humour.

Somewhat disappointingly then perhaps, Benjamin's Prima Donna has not
managed to maintain a place in modern mainstream opera repertory. Possible
musical and dramatic limitations have been hypothesised and examined,
however it is equally plausible the work, like so many others, was somehow
lost, forgotten, disregarded or merely fell out of fashion. Plato
poetically suggests 'Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm
depend on simplicity' and, in these respects, Benjamin's Prima Donna is a
most successful composition.

2008 Sydney Conservatorium production: a conductor's perspective

As conductor of this most recent Australian production (12-13 October
2008), I faced a number of musical challenges associated with performing
Prima Donna. The score and parts presented numerous discrepancies with
variations between the original version, the reduced orchestration of the
parts and the piano score[14]. Most problematically, no score exists for
the reduced version, which meant I had no score that corresponded with the
parts from which we were working. It was therefore necessary to create a
performance score based on the piano score, taking into account the parts
as well as the original full orchestral version. This arduous process
consumed the majority of the orchestral rehearsal time but resulted in a
product that was far more representative of Benjamin's original musical
intentions than is evidenced by the reduced orchestration.

The reduced orchestration itself posed a great number of problems given the
diversity of the instrumentation and the relatively small size of the
orchestra. Achieving a blend of wind sonorities is always a challenge when
working with single instruments. For example, passages in the original
version, idiomatically written for paired winds, were not effectively
transferred to the reduced version and had to be added. In such instances,
only the top line featured in the flute part with the other flute part
simply left out. Rather than, say, adding the oboe to the existing flute
part, it was decided to rescore the passage for two violins. In doing so,
the composer's original intention of pairing like instruments was
considered, this being a more effective timbral synthesis than introducing
a second sonority.

In all such instances, careful consideration was given to the relationship
between the character of the particular music and the instrumentation
available. Where possible during the editing process, attention was also
given to the original orchestration. Considering all elements, a decision
was then made on how, using the instrumentation and players available, the
most effective musical result would be achieved.

Steps were taken to achieve as successful a musical blend as possible,
given the orchestration available. The string section was expanded in an
effort to achieve a fuller, warmer and more sonorous sound. With a larger
number of string players, the wind and brass have a more familiar platform
with which to blend. Similarly, in he reduced orchestration, there were no
changes to the percussion parts which, given the much smaller orchestra,
resulted in an imbalanced sound. It was thus necessary to rework the
percussion parts in a way that resulted in as homogenous an orchestral
sound as possible.

Harmonies that were missing and/or incomplete in the reduced version were
filled out and added, based on those in the piano score. By doing this, I
hoped to provide as familiar a harmonic basis as possible for the singers
who had been rehearsing with piano. The piano score was used as the
authoritative source as this was the score from which the singers had been
working. I wanted to be as faithful as possible to the composer's original
intentions given the limitations of the reduced orchestration and the
anomalies in those parts.

Pragmatism also played a large part in a number of decisions. In Benjamin's
original version, there is a part for onstage guitar. In the reduced
orchestration, this part has been rewritten for harp. The harp exhibits far
greater sound projection than the guitar, the overriding reason this
instrument was preferred. Similarly, practicality was behind the decision
to incorporate the onstage band into the pit orchestra. The logistics of
putting inexperienced musicians on stage would have added an extra degree
of complication that offered no identifiable musical or dramatic advantage.
On the contrary, these sections would have been far more difficult to get
together and it is highly likely ensemble would have suffered as a result.

The ability and experience of individual orchestral players was a key
factor in the rehearsal process and significantly influenced the manner in
which I approached rehearsals. Prima Donna was the first orchestral
experience for a large proportion of the musicians involved, the majority
having never worked with a conductor before. The process of learning how to
watch and follow a conductor and interpret gestures had to be clearly
articulated, explained and demonstrated. Given the demands of the operatic
arena, this rather steep learning curve was somewhat accelerated.

The rehearsal process of the singers also presented a number of challenges.
Two separate casts, one for each of the two performances, meant everything
had to be rehearsed twice over, automatically halving the available
rehearsal time. Like the players of the orchestra, the majority of the
singers had not experienced a conductor before and had little or no
understanding of the meaning of my gestures. Patience, understanding and
tact proved far more valuable than the most crystal clear of downbeats in
this respect!

© Australian Music Centre (2011) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC
if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
END EDIT

Bibliography



Arundell, D. (1950). 'Arthur Benjamin's Operas' Tempo, New Ser. No. 15, 15-
18.

Chaungeur, J.-P. (1955). 'Arthur Benjamin and the French Public', Tempo,
New Ser. No. 35, 2-3.

Cliffe, C. (1964). 'Benjamin's 'Tartufffe'', The Musical Times, 105:1461,
819- 820.

Cowan, J. (1952). 'Arthur Benjamin's Piano Concerto', Tempo, New Ser. No.
24, 19-21.

Goodwin, N. 'Prima Donna.' In The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by
Stanley Sadie. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O004143
, accessed April 15, 2011

Harris, E.T. 'Prima donna.' In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/22349,
accessed April 15, 2011.

Holden, A. Ed. (2001). The New Penguin Opera Guide. London, Penguin.

Keller, H. (1950). 'Arthur Benjamin and the Problem of Popularity', Tempo,
New Ser. No. 15, 4-15.

Klein, J. W. (1957). 'Some Reflections on 'A Tale of two Cities'.' Tempo,
New Ser. No. 45, 14-15, 20-24.

Salter, L. (1985). 'Footnotes to Satire: Salieri's 'Prima la musica, poi le
parole'', The Musical Times, 126:1703, 21, 23-24.

Wright, K. A. (1957). 'Television and Opera', Tempo, New Ser. No. 45, 14-
15, 20-24.

http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2779&tt
ype=BIOGRAPHY&ttitle=Biography, accessed 13/4/10


Discography


Benjamin, A. (1999). Jamaican Rumba. Music by Arthur Benjamin Volume 1, Ian
Munro Piano, Tall Poppies.

Benjamin, A. (2000). Jamaican Rumba. Chamber Music by Arthur Benjamin Vol.
2, Ian Munro Piano, Tall Poppies.
-----------------------
[1] Ian Munro, Liner notes to his Jamaican Rumba, Music by Arthur Benjamin
Volume 2 (Tall Poppies, TP134, 2000).

[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] Goodwin, N. 'Prima Donna.' In The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited
by Stanley Sadie. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O004143,
accessed April 15, 2011.
[6] Ian Munro, Liner notes to his Jamaican Rumba, Music by Arthur Benjamin
Volume 2 (Tall Poppies, TP134, 2000).
[7] ibid
[8] ibid
[9] ibid
[10] ibid
[11] Harris, E.T. 'Prima donna. In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/22349,
accessed April 15, 2011.
[12] Goodwin, N. 'Prima Donna.' In The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,
edited by Stanley Sadie. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O004143,
accessed April 15, 2011
[13] Benjamin, A. (1933). Prima Donna. London, Boosey and Hawkes, 70.

[14] Prima Donna was originally scored for a full symphony orchestra: 2
flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2
trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (snare, triangle,
glockenspiel, cymbals, bass drum), piano/celesta, strings. Additionally,
there are specifications for an onstage band comprising: flute, violin,
viola, cello, guitar. In addition to this original full orchestration,
there is an authorised version for reduced orchestration for flute, oboe,
clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, percussion,
piano/celesta, harp, strings. Onstage band as for full orchestration,
excluding guitar.