The preparation and recording of

The Maid of Artois

An article by Ray Walker

An original 1836 vocal score (305 pages, complete with overture and ballet) was found in Manchester’s Henry Watson library. It had to be scanned, cleaned up and printed to provide bound working scores for both soloists and chorus. When the band parts from the Balfe Archive arrived I realized they were a mixture of two different sets where some numbers fitted the vocal score while others didn’t. A second set of parts held by the Carl Rosa Trust was also studied. They seemed to follow a similar mixture as those of the Balfe Archive and one realized that both sets were originally from the same source: charcoal grey sugar paper covers with Alfred Mapleson labels in green or white.

I had seen a vocal score in Liverpool library very similar to the Henry Watson one yet marked 'New Edition'. In it, some numbers had been dropped; some were provided in a different key, while others were freshly written, one aria being to the same lyrics. A change in plate numbers quickly identified the new material. It was suggested that there might have been a revival and that a new libretto might have appeared at that time. Reviews were looked for and one found in the Illustrated London News that gave the clue to unraveling the puzzle. A revival had appeared in 1846 with Anna Bishop taking the leading heroine (originally played by Maria Malibran). The critic mentions that Balfe had rewritten some of the music and introduced a superior aria for Isoline (the heroine). The Liverpool library's vocal score must therefore date from 1846. The band parts seem to fit the revival format like a glove, but only one violin part had shown there was originally a ballet (not referred to in the libretto). Fortunately, Balfe’s autographs of all his operas are held at the British Library and so a complete score could be restored, which included the ballet.

Fresh band parts had to be produced from a newly typeset full score compiled in Sibelius (computer program), by a dedicated team led by Valerie Langfield. In one place, only 21 bars of music in the band parts had matched 25 bars of vocal score and so one had to check with the autograph what Balfe had done. The autograph score is basically the 1836 score with additions or crossings out. Balfe had used an orange crayon in places that matched similar edits in some of the band parts. It is thus likely that Balfe had altered the band parts himself, though the hand is that of a copyist, probably his wife Lina who did a lot to assist him.

A pilot orchestral session prior to the main sessions revealed a few errors where minor adjustments to chords had to be made before the recording of The Maid of Artois went ahead in Cheshire in February 2005. The appropriate and spacious Victorian hall of Cheadle Hulme Independent School was used for the 8 track, 11 microphone recording set-up. Four sessions were needed to complete the score. Over 80 musicians and singers gathered for the first session. Session 1 covered most of the chorus work to allow any technical problems to be worked out for repeats the following day. A quieter evening session followed and involved only soloists for trio, quartet and minor ensemble work, leaving Sunday for a short appearance of the chorus and most of the soloist arias. The overture and incidental music was included in session 2 while necessary repeats were dealt with in a short Session 4.