ABSTRACT
The Maid of Honour is described by The Times' critic at the first performance as a comic opera, but no one else seems to have used the description. Michael William Balfe himself thought highly of his new opera, but it was not a general success and its only widely popular number was a ballad with the title 'In this old chair my father sat'. The Sicilian Bride, 'A Grand Opera in Four Acts', first performed at Drury Lane on 6 March 1852, came somewhere between the two – although perhaps somewhat more inclined towards the disaster zone. In July 1852 a rather unusual opera by Balfe was produced – a 'Comic Opera', according to the original libretto, and the only one of Balfe's works so described. The orchestration of Letty is Balfe's standard – there were certainly no concessions, in terms of orchestral resources, to the status of the work as a 'comic' and hence lightweight opera.
