Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

In Act 2 Cregan is paying suit to Anne Chute, though haunted by remorse for his desertion of Eily,
whom he still loves; but Danny Mann, whose devotion to his master knows no bounds, determines
to remove Eily by violent means, to leave the coast clear for Hardress's more profitable lovemaking.
He therefore secures one of the young man's gloves from Mrs Cregan, which he uses as a
token to deceive Eily, who believes him when he tells her that Hardress has sent it as a sign he
needs her; and by this means he entices the girl into his boat, and taking her to a lonely part of the
lake where the water enters a hidden cave, he makes her land on a rock, and commands her to give
up her marriage certificate to him. This Eily still refuses to do; and the old boatman, maddened by
her refusal, thrusts her into the water. Myles na Coppaleen, however, is within the cave, which he
uses for his own secret purposes; and mistaking Danny Mann for an otter, in the dim light, he
shoots at him. Then seeing Eily floating in the water, he dives in and rescues her, carrying her to
the cottage of Father Tom, where she is revived and kept hidden. Meanwhile, Hardress is arrested
as an accomplice of Danny Mann, who, having managed to crawl to the shore after being shot by
Myles, makes a dying confession that he has murdered the Colleen Bawn, and, Cregan's glove
being discovered, the young man is also involved. Corrigan, smarting from the snubs dealt out to
him lavishly by Cregan and his mother, has brought the arrest about at the moment Hardress has
arrived at the house of Anne Chute for his wedding with her; but in the midst of the confusion that
ensues Myles na Coppaleen appears on the scene with Eily, alive and well, and introduces her as
Hardress's lawful wife. The soldiers withdraw, and the husband and wife embrace joyfully; and
the abandoned heiress very willingly accepts another suitor, and generously bestows a large sum
of money upon Hardress and his bride, by means of which the interfering Corrigan is satisfied and
sent about his business.
18. BENVENUTO CELLINI
Opera in Three Acts By Hector Berlioz
Libretto By Barbier and De Wailly
First Produced Paris, 1838
Chief Characters Teresa, Benvenuto Cellini, Fieramosca, Balducci
THE scene is laid in Rome, in the early part of the sixteenth century, during the time of Pope
Clement VII., the action taking place at the time of the Shrove-tide Carnival. Benvenuto Cellini,
the great sculptor, is in Rome, at work upon his great statue of Perseus, which he has promised to
finish by the end of the Carnival, by command of the Pope. He neglects the work, however, having
fallen in love with Teresa, the fair daughter of Balducci, an old treasurer of the Papal Court; and
most of his time is taken up with love-making, though he is not favoured by the maiden's father,
who desires to wed her to the official sculptor, Fieramosca, for whom Teresa has an
unconquerable aversion. Despising these obstacles to their happiness, Cellini arranges with Teresa
that they shall elope, selecting the night of the Carnival to carry out their design; and they arrange
to meet at a certain spot, Cellini to be disguised as a white monk, while his young student,
Ascanio, is to accompany him in the garb of a Capuchin. Their plans are, however, overheard by
Fieramosca, who determines to frustrate them; but he himself presently gets into trouble, being
unable to escape from the house before the return of Balducci, and on Teresa declaring that a thief
is lurking about, the disappointed suitor is dragged forth and soundly belaboured before he can