Comments on: “Dorothy” By Alfred Cellier: World Premiere Recording

By: Raymond Walker

Raymond Walker — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 19:52:34 +0000

I’m afraid that George Hall is incorrect and the parts were not destroyed in the Chappell fire, as neither were The Emerald Isle”. Certainly, Victorian Opera and Richard Bonynge worked from a new full score which Michael Harris generated from the extant London band parts.We are pleased that the recording has been so well received by the Press.

By: John Groves

John Groves — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 18:32:33 +0000

“…Although the orchestral parts…were destroyed in a fire at the music publishers Chappell and Co in 1964, the location of a set of parts made for a reduced Australian touring production has allowed Richard Bonynge to create his own performing edition…..” (George Hall – BBC Music Magazine April 2019)

By: Raymond Walker

Raymond Walker — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:43:41 +0000

There is no mystery about the parts’ procurement. Research first took us to Australia, though we were warned about wrong cataloguing in their library. It is nonsense to assume that RW would not tell RB about the source as some sponsors knew early in 2018 at the time of the recording, and even before. RB knew the research details from the outset and so did AL above (6) otherwise he couldn’t have mentioned the fact..
One other number previously used is likely to be “Under the Pump”

By: John Groves

John Groves — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 09:12:43 +0000

There is certainly mystery regarding the orchestral parts. I am reliably informed that Ray Walker, the executive producer of Dorothy, wouldn’t even tell Richard Bonynge where he had acquired them in case he told someone else without Ray’s permission!

By: Andrew Lamb

Andrew Lamb — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 13:38:35 +0000

Some corrections to John Groves’s review of ‘Dorothy’ may perhaps be helpful.

1 ‘The Mikado’ did not achieve the longest nineteenth-century London run of any production other than ‘Dorothy’. ‘Les Cloches de Corneville’ ran for over 700 performances.

2 The orchestral score and parts of ‘Dorothy’ were not destroyed in the Chappell fire. The Naxos booklet carries a credit to “Warner/Chappell Music Ltd for exclusive access to the only band parts in existence”.

3 Dorothy does have what is essentially a solo number, namely ‘Be wise in time, O Phyllis mine’.

4 ‘Old Dreams’ was not from a previous show. It was an individual ballad with words by Sarah Doudney.

5 Ben Davies and Marie Tempest were not original stars of ‘Dorothy’. They took over from Redfern Hollins and Marion Hood in February 1887 – some five months into the show’s run.

6 A set of parts was not found in Australia. All that was found there was an orchestral selection. As above, the full orchestral parts for the recording came from Warner/Chappell.

Incidentally, much has been made of Cellier re-using music from ‘Nell Gwynne’ in ‘Dorothy’. However, it is very unclear how much or how little was in fact re-used. Of three published numbers from ‘Nell Gwynne’ in the British Library, only one was re-used for ‘Dorothy’, namely a soprano solo that, with new words and change of key, became Wilder’s ballad ‘With such a dainty dame’