The Veiled Prophet (opera)

The libretto is based on Moore's poem "The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan", but the original story is not adhered to in every detail, particularly at the denouement: in the opera the heroine, Zelika, is restored to her lover Azim, instead of being killed by him in mistake for the false prophet.^[1] The subject of the opera was suggested to Stanford in or about 1875 by his Dublin friend Raoul Couturier de Versan,^[2] but it was not until 1877 that the composer asked William Barclay Squire to adapt the poem for a libretto.^[3] Stanford's biographer Jeremy Dibble writes of the poem:

Not only was Moore's literary creation an epic one, with widespread appeal, but it vividly suggested possibilities of dance, chorus, and grand statement that could intermingle with those elements of exoticism and colour as well as those other essential polemic emotional features of traditional dramaturgy, good and evil, love, death, passion, and revenge.^[3]

Stanford was a fluent and prolific composer, and work on the score proceeded quickly, although interrupted by his marriage and honeymoon in April 1878.^[3] There being little appetite among British impresarios for staging British operas, Stanford attempted to interest several German opera houses in the work, and after initial refusals it was accepted by the Hoftheater in Hanover. It was given as Der verschleierte Prophet in a German translation made by the conductor Ernst Frank, Kapellmeister of the Hanover opera.^{[4][n 1]} The local press, engaged in a feud with the management of the opera house, gave the piece poor reviews, but the wider German press was more favourable.^[6] A vocal score with piano accompaniment by an uncredited arranger and containing Squire's English and Frank's German words was published in 1881 by Boosey in London and Bote and Bock in Berlin.^[4] Stanford gave opus numbers to most of his nine operas, but The Veiled Prophet is one of the three without one.^{[n 2]}

For the single British performance, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 26 July 1893, Stanford revised the score, replacing the original, fairly conventional overture with a shorter introduction, and introducing a new song for Zelika in the second act.^[1] In accordance with the prevailing custom at Covent Garden the work was given in Italian as Il profeta velato, in a translation by Giannandrea Mazzucato.^[8] Dibble comments that having the opera sung in Italian was ridiculous (the practice was dropped before the next production of one of Stanford's operas at Covent Garden, Much Ado About Nothing, in 1901)^[9] but the work was well received by the audience and the critics.^[1][8][10] A vocal score of the revised edition was published by Boosey in 1893, with English and Italian texts.^[11]

The premiere of the opera with its original English text was at the Wexford Festival in a concert performance in 2019.^[12] Reviewing the performance in The Daily Telegraph, Rupert Christiansen wrote, "The Veiled Prophet may be a technically clumsy and naively bombastic affair in the vein of Meyerbeer, but it has heartfelt melodies and youthful ambition that merit an airing."^[13]

Sources: The Musical Times (Hanover);^[14] The Manchester Guardian (London);^[1] and Wexford Opera.^[12]