Precious Nonsense: The Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

College of William and Mary

May 2021

Ken Krantz, W&M J.D. 1977

kenkrantz@aol.com

Patience: Well, it seems to me to be nonsense.

Lady Angela: Nonsense? Yes, perhaps. But oh, what precious nonsense.

Patience, Act I

Lecture 2 May 13

•Patience 1881

• Iolanthe 1882

•Princess Ida 1884

•The Mikado 1885

The longest serving soprano and tenor

Durward Lely as Nanki-pooLeonora Braham as Patience

Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride

April 23, 1881

Opera Comique

October 10, 1881, Savoy Theatre

578 performances

Place: Act I : Exterior of Castle Bunthorne

Act II: A Glade

Source: Bab Ballad “The Rival Curates”

The Savoy Theatre:

A technological marvel

The first theater in the world lit entirely with electricity

Dramatis PersonaeColonel Calverley [Temple]Major MurgatroydLieutenant, the Duke of Dunstable [Lely]Reginald Bunthorne, a Fleshly Poet [Grossmith]Archibald Grosvenor, an Idyllic Poet [Barrington]Bunthorne’s SolicitorLady Angela [Bond]Lady SaphirLady EllaLady Jane [Contralto]Patience, a Dairy Maid [Braham]Chorus of Rapturous Maidens and Officers of Dragoon Guards

Reginald Bunthorne, a Fleshly Poet

Models for Bunthorne

Algernon Charles Swinburne James McNeil Whisler

The Model for Bunthorne in popular imagination

Oscar Wilde in 1882

Rapturous Maidens

Officers of the 35th Dragoon Guards

Bunthorne returns to the stage and reveals himself

Recitative:

“Am I alone, and unobserved? I am.

Then let me own, I’m an aesthetic sham . . . . . .

In short, my medievalism’s affectation,

Born of a morbid love of admiration.”

This is the only G&S introductory patter song performed by a character alone on the stage.

Bunthorne can only reveal his true nature to the audience in the theater.

Patience learns what love is (sort of)

Lady Angela: Love is, of all passions, the most essential . . . It is the one unselfish emotion in this whirlpool of grasping greed.

. . . . . . . .

Love that is tainted by selfishness is no love.

Archibald Grosvenor, an Idyllic Poet

Grosvenor explains to Patience

“. . . It is my hideous destiny to be madly loved at first sight by every woman I come across.”

“I am called “Archibald the All-Right” for I am infallible.”

Hold that thought

Patience realizes

Grosvenor loves her, is perfect, and would make her happy.

Therefore, loving him would be selfish.

In order to love unselfishly, she should marry Bunthorne, since he will not make her happy.

Act I Finale

The False Resolution:

Based on her understanding of what love is, Patience agrees to marry Bunthorne. The disappointed maidens agree to marry the officers.

The News Flash

Enter Grosvenor

Patience Act I Final EnsembleGeorgetown Gilbert & Sullivan Society, 1984

To recap, at the end of Act I:

Lady Jane is miserable because she is still in love with Bunthorne

The other ladies are miserable because Grosvenor does not love them

Grosvenor is miserable because he loves Patience

The officers are miserable because the ladies have once again abandoned them for a poet

Patience is miserable because she “loves” Bunthorne

Bunthorne is sort of happy because he is engaged to Patience,

but miserable because the ladies are now in love with Grosvenor

This is way too much misery for a romantic comedy!

Bunthorne/Jane duet

“So go to him and say to him in compliment ironical

. . . . . . .

Your style is much too sanctified, your cut is too canonical.”

That line is one of the few survivals from the earliest draft, when the rivals were clergymen instead of

poets.

Bunthorne/Jane duet and Officers’ trio

Under threat from Bunthorne,

Grosvenor agrees to

become ordinary

The Maidens accept Gilbertian logic:

Lady Angela: If the All-Right chooses to discard aestheticism, it proves that aestheticism ought to be discarded.

Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri

November 25, 1882

Savoy Theatre

398 performances

Act I: An Arcadian glade

Act II: Westminster, outside the houses of Parliament

Dramatis Personae: Men

The Lord Chancellor [Grossmith]

Earl Tolloller [Lely]

Earl of Mountararat [Barrington]

Strephon, an Arcadian Shepherd [Temple]

Private Willis

Chorus of Peers

Dramatis Personae: Women

Queen of the Fairies [Contralto]

Iolanthe, a Fairy, Strephon’s mother [Bond]

Phyllis, an Arcadian Shepherdess [Braham]

Celia

Leila

Fleta

Chorus of Fairies

Sources

Bab Ballad: The Fairy Curate

Happy Arcadia (Gilbert, 1872)

Iolanthe and the Fairy Queen

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (1924-2005)A Dedicated G&S Fan, wearing the robe inspired by Iolanthe

March of the Peers Sydney Opera House 1976

Act I Finale

The False Resolution:

Because she doesn’t believe that Iolanthe is Strephon’s mother, Phyllis rejects him and agrees to marry either Tolloller or Mountarrarat (she doesn’t care which).

The News Flash:

Enter the Fairies. The Queen decrees that Strephon will go into Parliament, and their magic will ensure that he will win all of the votes there.

Iolanthe Act I Finale, TNCC Virtual G&S

Act II: Private Willis’ aria

“When in that House, MPs divide, if they’ve a brain and cerebellum too

They’ve got to leave that brain outside, and vote just as their leaders tell ‘em to.

But then, the prospect of a lot of dull MPs, in close proximity

All thinking for themselves is what no man can face with equanimity.”

Nightmare song, Stratford Festival

Todd Rundgren, 1973“The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare”

Album version (Audio only):• https:://youtu.be/C4ULXOnYhYw

Recent live concert versions:

• https://youtu.be/KcavSNzXAt4

• https://youtu.be/rWqAwgjs6CU

• https://youtu.be/TzorstCZAxI

Historical digression

Trial by Jury (1875) to Iolanthe (1882):

Six operas, all set in 19th

Century England

Princess Ida (1884) to The Grand Duke (1896):

Seven operas, of which only one, Ruddigore, is set in 19th Century England

Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant

January 5, 1884

Savoy Theatre

246 performances

Setting: Vaguely medieval European

Act I: Castle Hildebrand

Acts II and III: Castle Adamant

Source: The Princess (Gilbert 1870) and Tennyson (1847)

Dramatis Personae--Men

King Hildebrand [Barrington]

Hilarion, his son

Cyril [Lely]

Florian

King Gama [Grossmith]

Arac [Temple]

Guron

Scynthius

Chorus of Courtiers (Act I) and Soldiers (Acts II and III)

Dramatis Personae -- Women

Princess Ida, Gama’s daughter [Braham]

Lady Blanche [Brandram]

Lady Psyche

Melissa, Lady Blanche’s daughter [Bond]

Sacharissa

Chloe

Ada

Chorus of Courtiers (Act I) and Students (Acts II and III)

Girton College, University of CambridgeFounded 1869

Gama’s song Topsy turvy

Bard Moment

MacBeth:

But wherefore could not I pronounce “Amen?”

I had most need of blessing and “Amen” stuck in my throat.

--MacBeth, Act II

Melissa:

My mother guessed your sex.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Why these are men” she would have added, but “are men” stuck in her throat.

--Princess Ida, Act II

Act II Finale

The False Resolution:

Their identities revealed, Hilarion and his friends have been captured and sentenced to death.

The News Flash:

King Hildebrand’s army arrives and storms the castle. He has her father and brothers as hostages.

Act III Helmet song:Sullivan does Handel

Pineapple Poll Ballet SuiteU.S. Marine Band

The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu

March 14, 1885

Savoy Theatre

672 performances

Act I: Courtyard of Ko-ko’s Official Residence

Act II: Ko-ko’s Garden

How popular was The Mikado in the 1880s?Popular enough to be used to advertise toothpaste.

And sewing thread . . .

And ladies’ undergarments . . .

And even Tomato Seeds

Dramatis PersonaeThe Mikado of Japan [Temple]

Nanki-poo, his son, disguised as a wandering minstrel [Lely]

Ko-ko, Lord High Executioner of Titipu [Grossmith]

Pooh-bah, Lord High Everything Else [Barrington]

Pish-tush, A Noble Lord

Yum-Yum [Braham]

Pitti-sing [Bond] Three sisters, wards of Ko-ko

Peep-bo

Katisha, An elderly noblewoman [Brandram]

Chorus of Noblemen and Schoolgirls

Stuck for an idea, Gilbert gains inspiration from an unexpected occurence

It has nothing to do with JapanIt’s about Great Britain

From Act II:

We couldn’t tell who the gentleman really was.

It wasn’t written on his forehead, you know.

It might have been written on his pocket handkerchief, but Japanese don’t use pocket handkerchiefs.

They talk about Japanese people in the third person.

Opening chorus 1987 British TV version

“In all of literature there are only two plots: (1) a person goes on a journey, and (2) a stranger comes to town.”

---Attributed to Leo Tolstoy

Topsy-turvy: A Wandering Minstrel

Pish-tush’s aria: The Backstory

Three Little Maids: Topsy-turvy

Three Little Maids: Chariots of Fire

Act I Finale

The False Resolution:

Nanki-poo will marry Yum-yum and after a month Ko-ko will behead him. Yum-yum will be condemned to a loveless marriage to Ko-ko for the rest of her life.

The News Flash:

Enter Katisha

Mikado excerpts in Japanese: 2006 International G&S Festival

Bard MomentRichard III:

Lady Anne is courted by the man who killed her husband. Although initially repulsed, she ends up marrying him.

The Mikado::

Katisha is courted by the man who she believes to have killed her fiancée. Although initially repulsed, she ends up marrying him.

Lamplighters 2016 “Una commedia musicale”“Coco and Catiscia”

Groucho Marx television adaptation of The Mikado, 1960, Bell Telephone HourAct II Ko-ko Katisha Duet

https://youtu.be/T83W3rgQuXQ

Full length, audio only

https://youtu.be/I9pUgl2Y1M4

Duet with Groucho and his 8 year old daughter c. 1954

https://youtu.be/53SlhNi02As

•Ko-ko: Groucho Marx

•Katisha: Helen Traubel

Mikado finale

My theory (FWIW)

By the end of Act I, Pish-tush has figured out who Nanki-poo is.

Nanki-poo: The most interesting G&S tenor

His character arc:

1. Lovesick doofus. Just like Ralph Rackstraw.

2. Suicidal lovesick doofus. Again, like Ralph Rackstraw.

3. Rational calculator: If you’re going to die, why not have a month of marriage first.

4. Manipulator of events: “Very well, then. Behead me.”

5. Complete master of the situation: Maneuvers Ko-ko into marrying Katisha, in order to save himself from Katisha’s vengeance.

The End