Edward German's 'Tom Jones'

from The Musical Times Vol. 48, No. 771 (May 1, 1907), p. 318

In these days of invertebrate musical comedy, Mr. Edward German's comic opera 'Tom Jones,' produced at the Apollo Theatre on April 17, comes as a pure and invigorating breeze in a vitiated atmosphere. The librettists, Messrs. Alex. M. Thompson and Robert Courtneige, have preserved little more than the outline of Fielding's great novel; but the lyrics by Mr. Charles H. Taylor are neatly turned, and the construction is that of genuine comic opera. In this instance, however, the music, and not the play, is the thing, and Mr. German's numbers carry the work along with irresistible élan. The composer's skill in reproducing the idiom of the best time of old English music is well-known, and the songs and dances in 'Tom Jones' take the listener in imagination to the hedgerows and dancing greens of Merry England, or, to be more exact, to those of Somerset. In Squire Western's song 'On a January morning,' the spirit of our folk-song is happily echoed, and Tom's song I was yesterday a-faring,' is another ditty of genial folk-song-like character. The madrigal 'Here's a paradox for lovers' is a wholly charming example of its class, and the ensemble 'The barley mow' is genuinely humorous. A deeper note is sounded in the songs written for Sophia. 'To-day my spinet' is most graceful, and 'Love maketh the heart a garden fair' is a little gem of pathetic music. It is scarcely necessary to say that the melodies are scored in a manner that presents them in a most favourable light, and that the hand of a master musician is discernible in every page of 'Tom Jones.' The characters of Sophia and her maid Honor were vivaciously sustained by Miss Ruth Vincent and Miss Carrie Moore. Miss Dora Rignold appeared as Lady Bellaston, and the parts of Squire Western, Tom Jones and Benjamin Partridge were admirably impersonated respectively by Messrs. Ambrose Manning, C. Hayden Coffin and Dan Rolyat. The ensemble reflected great credit on the conducting of Mr. Hamish MacCunn.