ABSTRACT
The initial task facing a librettist was the selection of a plot. Most English libretti of the period were based on foreign works, particularly French operas and ballets. British works were not often used. Operas set in the British Isles were small in number, but they include some of the most significant works of the period, particularly The Mountain Sylph, set in Scotland, and Benedict’s The Lily of Killarney, the scene of which is laid in Ireland. With the exception of the latter point, the changes in taste were due not only to natural fluctuations in popularity but also to an increasing reliance on French works. Gauging from Fitzball’s own copy of Diadesté, which he submitted to the Examiner of Plays, his practice was to send libretto to the composer in sections, as the work progressed. The adaptation of a ballet required a different approach, for crowd scenes and the locations of main individual displays already existed.
