Sheridan planned The Duenna as an opera, inviting his father-in-law, Thomas Linley, to compose the music. Linley was also presented with half a dozen folk tunes to use, though not the context for Sheridan's lyrics. Having protested at this manner of putting an opera together, he eventually agreed, relying heavily on the assistance of his son, Tom. The result is effectively a lengthy spoken comedy with numerous short songs attached. The opportunity to create a real opera, in which music might have made more than a token contribution, was wasted.
English Touring Opera's rare revival of the 1775 piece, unsurprisingly, employs opera singers in the main roles. The problem is that few of them handle the dialogue effectively. An exception is Richard Suart, who can rely on his long experience of Gilbert and Sullivan for his turn as the curmudgeonly Don Jerome, whose daughter is one of two young women to elope with their lovers in the course of the play. Nuala Willis is game in the title role of the elderly duenna who aids the lovers, then gets her reward in marrying the wealthy merchant Isaac Mendosa, played by Adrian Thompson.
Otherwise, Michael Barker-Caven's production feels heavy-handed, though some of Sheridan's lines are genuinely witty. Joseph McHardy conducts a presentable period band. But there's not enough music to go around, and despite the claims made for Tom Linley as a tragically extinguished genius – he died in an accident aged just 22 – what music there is is pretty ordinary.
