The Maid of Artois is an opera by
Michael William Balfe, written in 1836 to a libretto by Alfred Bunn, manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, who based his work on Eugène Scribe's stage version of Abbé Prévost's novel Manon Lescaut.
The opera opened on 27 May 1836, starring
Maria Malibran as the title character, Isoline. The story concerns a girl in love, who is poached by a rich Marquis. The lovers seem destined to end their days in the wastes of the desert, until an unexpected rescue comes. The opera received good notices, and the overture was much admired.
Balfe's music shows the influence of his earlier training in Italy, especially of
Bellini and Donizetti, as well as the French works that Balfe had sung (as a baritone) at the Paris Opéra, where he and Malibran had appeared together. Balfe wrote The Maid of Artois partly as a vehicle for her. Malibran was a mezzo-soprano with a three octave range. She had died in September 1836 before the score was printed, and so Balfe decided to set brighter, higher versions of the coloratura and other music in her role that are more typical of operatic treatments of a youthful character such as Isoline.
