Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

Gendered agendas and the representation of gender …
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In addition to the performances in Sweden, In Florence was also given in
Paris in private performances: The composer had her opéra comique translated
into French by the famous poet and chronicler Armand Silvestre, and
the work was produced twice in the beautiful studio of Munktell’s sister,
Baroness Emma Sparre, on rue d’Amsterdam (Stockholms Dagblad, 28 April
1892). Several Nordic vocal students made up the small choir. The orchestral
score was reduced for piano, played by the composer, and accompanied
by violin and harp. According to Karl Valentin 4 (Nya Dagligt Allehanda April
28 1898), artists such as Scarenberg and Mlle de la Tour successfully performed
In Florence in French under the direction of Benjamin Godard.
After the two private performances mentioned above, the little opera received
positive reviews in several newspapers, as well as acclaim from musicians
and the fifty invited guests who filled the elegantly decorated studio:
Among others, Parisian celebrity musicians such as Godard, Vincent d’Indy,
Gabriel Marie, Henry Emien and Armand Silvestre were present. Even the
Swedish-Norwegian Minister Fredrik Due, himself an amateur composer,
attended the performance with his wife. Hope was that the performance as
well as Silvestre’s reputation and personal connections would pave the way
for a production of the opera at the Paris Opéra comique or the new Théâtre
lyrique.
Following the Stockholm production, critics considered Fallström as the
Swedish author having the best qualifications as a good opera librettist. The
critic for the Post- och Inrikes Tidningar (31 May 1889) was of the opinion
that Fallström’s text seemed to rise above the trivialities penned by his
librettist colleagues and that it must have been rewarding to set his text to
music. The plot of In Florence was described as written by a wordsmith, the
dialogue in verse light and fluent and in some places resembling French.
Although the content of the plot was not too difficult to understand, Fallström
knew how to avoid sloppy and cheap traits in his text. On stage he
attempted to illustrate an insignificant incident in a fifteenth-century Florence
studio. Hence, critics such as Karl Valentin thought that more exact
markers of time and place would have been desirable in the libretto (Nya
Dagligt Allehanda, 31 May 1889). In short, more action or practically-orientated
spoken dialogue, characteristic of the opéra comique genre, made
up a significant part of the opera, in Valentin’s view, perhaps too big a part,
because it put great demands on performers. Interspersed among the different
parts of the spoken dialogue are mostly arias and duets.
4 The Swedish composer Karl Valentin (1853–1918) wrote extensively about music in
books and newspapers.