First performance 10 February 1862 Librettist Dion Boucicault Adapted from The Colleen Bawn | Composer Julius Benedict Language English | |
Similar Maritana, The Bohemian Girl, Lurline, The Amber Witch, The Mask of Orpheus | ||
Eily mavourneen from the lily of killarney by jules benedict j j sheridan piano
The Lily of Killarney is an opera in three acts by Julius Benedict. The libretto, by John Oxenford and Dion Boucicault, is based on Boucicault's own play The Colleen Bawn. The opera received its premiere at Covent Garden Theatre, London on Monday 10 February 1862.
Contents
Background
The Lily of Killarney became the most widely performed of Benedict's operas. It has been linked with Balfe's The Bohemian Girl and Wallace's Maritana as 'The Irish Ring'. Its convincing handling of Irish idiom is interesting considering Benedict's German-Jewish origins. Some of the opera's songs – notably The moon hath raised her lamp above and Eily Mavourneen – remain in the repertoire. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses and Djuna Barnes' Nightwood.
Synopsis
Killarney at the end of the 18th century. Cregan has married Eily (the 'colleen bawn' = Gaelic 'the fair maid') in secret. Corrigan threatens to dispossess Cregan and his mother, who have mortgaged their lands to him, unless Cregan marries the heiress Ann Shute. Cregan's friend Danny offers to resolve the situation by killing Eily. Cregan demurs, but the unwitting Mrs. Cregan is persuaded by Danny to give a signal for Eily's death. But before he can kill her, Danny himself is accidentally shot by Myles (who is out hunting), to whom he confesses. Cregan is about to marry Ann when Corrigan arrives to arrest him for plotting Eily's death. Myles makes public Danny's confession, Cregan acknowledges Eily and Ann (in the most unlikely turn of all) undertakes to settle the Cregans' debts to Corrigan.