Add MS 52933 J

‘The devil’s in it’, opera in two acts , with libretto by Alfred Bunn. Licence sent 15 July 1852 for performance at the Surrey 21 July 1852. Letter from the stage manager requesting licence is bound with MS. Text written in two different hands; one using red ink to underline stage directions and speaking cues. Songs included in MS. Revisions not the work of the Examiner of Plays appear throughout text. LCO Day Book Add. 53703 records the stipulation that one phrase to be omitted. The textual and performing history of this work is not entirely clear. The present text appears to be the libretto for the music by Michael Balfe, the work performed in New York and elsewhere in 1852 as ‘The basket maker’s wife’, and revised in 1871 as ‘Letty the basket-maker’. It is not a version of Scribe’s libretto for ‘La part du diable’ which was set by Daniel Auber and was itself a version of the old text ‘The devil to pay’. For further details see Alfred Loewenberg (compiler) Annals of opera 1597 – 1940 (1978). Another different play with the same title by T. E. Wilks with the additional title ‘Rollo, the minstrel’ was performed in 1843. Keywords: the supernatural, fairies and other supernatural creatures, forest setting, sport, dance, stagecraft, festivals and celebrations, the supernatural, aristocracy, impersonation.

ff. 24.

Alfred Bunn, theatrical manager and writer: Michael William Balfe, Irish composer and singer: London; Secular Institutions. Theatres. Surrey Theatre: 'The devil's in it', libretto in two acts by A. Bunn for the music by Michael William Balfe, script licensed for the Surrey: 1852.

Alfred Bunn, theatrical manager and writer: Plays by, submitted for licence: 1852.