ABSTRACT
John Barnett was articled to Arnold, the manager of the English Opera House, as a boy alto. His other teachers included William Horsley, an organist and composer of vocal music, the singer and operatic composer C.E. Horn, and the German musician Ferdinand Ries, who had been associated with Beethoven. Buckstone’s remarks point to the lack of opportunities available to English composers and, in the wake of Weber’s success, the acclaim given to German musicians. The Lord Chamberlain’s copy of the libretto contains the texts of a song and an extended aria for the heroine, the Sylph Aeolia, which do not appear in the vocal score or printed libretto. The influence of Weber’s Der Freischütz is clear from various characteristics of the opera, not least the use of recurrent motifs associated with elements of the drama. The major solo in Donald’s part is ‘Art thou a form of mortal birth.’.
