The oratorio genre was regarded amongst the most edifying and instructive artforms of the Victorian era, and it was to these lofty ideals that George Tolhurst (1827–1877) aspired when composing his 1864 oratorioRuth. The first work of its kind written in the British colony of Victoria, Australia,Ruthreceived an initially favourable local reception; Tolhurst was urged by the Melbourne press to aim higher and present his work to a wider and more discerning audience. Consequently, he took his work to London where it was roundly criticized, widely mocked and eventually dubbed ‘the worst oratorio ever’. It might be assumed that a work so poorly received in the cultural metropolis of London would be, like so much other Victorian music, immediately forgotten. However, through its notoriously bad reception,Ruth– in what Percy Scholes describes as a ‘succès de ridicule’ – found a cult following that has spanned from the nineteenth century to the present day. This article examines the critical reception ofRuththrough the lens of colonial social relations, arguing that the treatment ofRuthin both London and Melbourne is emblematic of broader trends in the nineteenth-century relationship between parent state and settler colony. It also explores the surprising phenomenon of twentieth- and twenty-first-century consumption ofRuthin Britain, questioning whether the legacies of certain Victorian social and cultural prejudices relating to the artistic products of the colonies have been mitigated. Aesthetic and representational decisions made in recent revivals of Ruth suggest that cultural hierarchies forged during the Victorian era continue to be reinforced in the present day.

中文翻译：

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“有史以来最糟糕的清唱剧！”：对乔治·托赫斯特的《露丝》（1864 年）的批判性接待中的殖民主义屈尊俯就

清唱剧流派被认为是维多利亚时代最具启发性和启发性的艺术形式之一，乔治·托赫斯特（George Tolhurst，1827-1877）在创作 1864 年的清唱剧时所追求的正是这些崇高的理想。露丝. 在澳大利亚维多利亚的英国殖民地写成的第一部此类作品，露丝最初获得当地好评；墨尔本媒体敦促托赫斯特瞄准更高的目标，将他的作品展示给更广泛和更有眼光的观众。因此，他把他的作品带到了伦敦，在那里受到了严厉的批评、广泛的嘲笑，并最终被称为“有史以来最糟糕的清唱剧”。人们可能会认为，在伦敦这个文化大都市中如此不受欢迎的作品会像其他维多利亚时代的音乐一样，立即被遗忘。然而，由于其臭名昭著的不良接收，露丝——在珀西·斯科尔斯所说的“成功的嘲笑”中——发现了从 19 世纪到现在的狂热追随者。这篇文章探讨了批判性的接受露丝通过殖民社会关系的镜头，认为对露丝在伦敦和墨尔本都象征着 19 世纪母国和定居者殖民地之间关系的更广泛趋势。它还探讨了 20 世纪和 21 世纪消费的惊人现象露丝在英国，质疑与殖民地艺术产品有关的某些维多利亚时代社会和文化偏见的遗留问题是否得到了缓解。在最近的露丝复兴中做出的美学和代表性决定表明，在维多利亚时代形成的文化等级制度在今天继续得到加强。