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Fallen Fairies

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Comic opera , sometimes known as light opera , is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue.

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86-423: Fallen Fairies ; or, The Wicked World , is a two-act comic opera , with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Edward German . The story is an operatic adaptation of Gilbert's 1873 blank-verse fairy comedy, The Wicked World . In Fairyland, the fairies are curious about wicked mortals, especially their strange capacity for love. They summon three mortal men from the world below to observe them and to teach

172-533: A "Gilbertian invasion plot". Princess Ida and Fallen Fairies , both based on earlier blank-verse plays by Gilbert, unlike Gilbert's other operas, both retain blank verse in the dialogue. An operatic version of The Wicked World had been on Gilbert's mind for some time. As early as 1897, he had suggested the idea to Helen Carte , the wife and partner of Richard D'Oyly Carte . Arthur Sullivan , André Messager , Jules Massenet , Liza Lehmann and Alexander Mackenzie , to whom he offered it in turn, all objected to

258-585: A Monastery (1940–1941, staged 1946), and Dmitri Shostakovich 's The Nose (1927–1928, staged 1930). Simultaneously, the genres of light music , operetta , musical comedy , and later, rock opera , were developed by such composers as Isaak Dunayevsky , Dmitri Kabalevsky , Dmitri Shostakovich (Opus 105: Moscow, Cheryomushki , operetta in 3 acts, (1958)), Tikhon Khrennikov , and later by Gennady Gladkov , Alexey Rybnikov and Alexander Zhurbin . The 21st century in Russian comic opera began with

344-482: A benefit concert there, noted: "Miss McIntosh ... will sail for London on June 25th and will make her debut there as a concert singer under Randegger at the London academy. It is safe to prophecy that her name will be added to the list of American girls who have carried London by storm." McIntosh travelled to England with her father in 1890 (shortly after the flood disaster), where she apparently suffered an illness and

430-636: A cheat and a matchmaker , text by Alexander Ablesimov (1779), on a subject resembling Rousseau 's Devin , is attributed to Mikhail Sokolovsky . Ivan Kerzelli , Vasily Pashkevich and Yevstigney Fomin also wrote a series of successful comic operas in the 18th century. In the 19th century, Russian comic opera was further developed by Alexey Verstovsky who composed more 30 opera-vaudevilles and 6 grand operas (most of them with spoken dialogue). Later, Modest Mussorgsky worked on two comic operas, The Fair at Sorochyntsi and Zhenitba ("The Marriage"), which he left unfinished (they were completed only in

516-586: A concert singing career in America in 1887, moving to London in 1890 and continuing her concert career in Britain. She became one of the last of W. S. Gilbert 's actress protégées and continued her acting and singing career in Britain and America for several years. After McIntosh retired from the stage, she lived with Gilbert and his wife until Lady Gilbert's death in 1936 and eventually inherited Gilbert's estate, helping to preserve his legacy by selling his papers to

602-563: A countermeasure to the continental operettas, commissioned Clay's collaborator, W. S. Gilbert , and the promising young composer, Arthur Sullivan , to write a short one-act opera that would serve as an afterpiece to Offenbach's La Périchole . The result was Trial by Jury ; its success launched the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. "Mr. R. D'Oyly Carte's Opera Bouffe Company" took Trial on tour, playing it alongside French works by Offenbach and Alexandre Charles Lecocq . Eager to liberate

688-577: A decade away from the operatic stage, McIntosh returned, at Gilbert's request, to appear as Selene, the Fairy Queen, in Gilbert and Edward German 's flop, Fallen Fairies , at the Savoy Theatre in 1909. The theatre's management attributed much of the blame for the failure of Fallen Fairies to McIntosh. Critics said that she was "too much a tragedy queen"; the sensuality required by the role

774-515: A dozen hits, were Babes in Toyland (1903) and Naughty Marietta (1910). Others who wrote in a similar vein included Reginald de Koven , John Philip Sousa , Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml . The modern American musical incorporated elements of the British and American light operas, with works like Show Boat and West Side Story , that explored more serious subjects and featured

860-659: A longing for the robust report of the male choristers; the humour of the play also seemed to me to have evaporated, to a great extent, with its conversion" to a comic opera. Fallen Fairies has never been revived professionally, and has hardly ever been revived at all, although it was given a semi-staged concert revival in 2014 at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Harrogate , England. Early in 1909, Workman had planned to produce revivals of several Gilbert and Sullivan operas (and two Gilbert operas) at

946-505: A mixture of sentiment and humour, Offenbach's works were intended solely to amuse. Though generally well crafted and full of humorous satire and grand opera parodies, plots and characters in his works were often interchangeable. Given the frenetic pace at which he worked, Offenbach sometimes used the same material in more than one opera. Another Frenchman who took up this form was Charles Lecocq . The singspiel developed in 18th-century Vienna and spread throughout Austria and Germany. As in

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1032-406: A number of successful blank-verse fairy comedies. He was clearly fascinated by this plot, which had been the subject of his 1871 short story of the same name before writing The Wicked World in 1873. He also wrote (under a pseudonym) an 1873 play that parodies The Wicked World called The Happy Land , and contained much political satire aimed at politicians of the day; this made a sensation at

1118-577: A place of evil repute to the righteous British householder.... A first effort to bridge the gap was made by the German Reed Entertainers. Nevertheless, an 1867 production of Offenbach's The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (seven months after its French première) ignited the English appetite for light operas with more carefully crafted librettos and scores, and continental European operettas continued to be extremely popular in Britain in

1204-405: A revival of Gilbert's Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1894) and late that year created the role of Christina in Gilbert and Osmond Carr 's His Excellency (1894–95) to generally good reviews. Discussions over McIntosh playing the role of Yum-Yum in a proposed revival of The Mikado led to an argument between Gilbert and Sullivan that delayed the revival, and Gilbert's insistence upon her playing

1290-868: A revue, Miss Philadelphia , in that city. After spending part of 1896 in England with the Gilberts, she returned to New York to star at Daly's Theatre in the title role of The Geisha (1896–97). She also played Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (singing a solo in the suite of incidental music ), Julia Mannering in Guy Mannering , Miranda in The Tempest and La Favorita in The Circus Girl (all in 1897 at Daly's and on tour). After another break in mid-1897, McIntosh returned to

1376-402: A ring as a pledge of her love. They go back into the bower together. Darine has overheard them. She too is wildly in love with Sir Ethais, and is feverishly jealous of Selene. Sir Phyllon enters and tries to court Darine, but she does not return his affection. After Sir Phyllon leaves, Selene re-enters. Sir Ethais has suffered a setback, and she fears he will die. Darine suggests that the only hope

1462-1082: A tight integration among book, movement and lyrics. In Canada, Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann and George Frederick Cameron composed in the Gilbert and Sullivan style of light opera. Leo, the Royal Cadet was performed for the first time on 11 July 1889 at Martin's Opera House in Kingston, Ontario . The line between light opera and other recent forms is difficult to draw. Several works are variously called operettas or musicals, such as Candide and Sweeney Todd , depending on whether they are performed in opera houses or in theaters. In addition, some recent American and British musicals make use of an operatic structure, for example, containing recurring motifs, and may even be sung through without dialogue. Those with orchestral scores are usually styled "musicals", while those played on electronic instruments are often styled rock operas . Nancy McIntosh Nancy Isobel McIntosh (25 October 1866 – February 20, 1954)

1548-464: Is a strange compound of trifling and tragedy, of gossamer and gnashings of teeth ... the effect is a little like that of an act of Othello pieced into The Merry Wives of Windsor ." Rutland Barrington , in his 1911 memoir, wrote: "I am inclined to attribute much of the failure of the opera to catch on to the fact that, owing to the entire absence of men's voices to balance the mass of soprani and alti, one's ears suffered from an unavoidable weariness, and

1634-462: Is alone with Sir Ethais. Darine calls Selene a hypocrite. The other fairies now enter, and tell Selene that she is the source of all the ill that has blighted Fairyland. They urge her to relinquish the throne in favour of Darine. Admitting that she has been an unfit Queen, she takes off her crown and places it on Darine's head. Selene says that her kingdom is now in the heart of Sir Ethais, but Darine insists that he belongs to her, showing that she now has

1720-437: Is as good as another, gives Selene's ring to Darine. He takes the potion, and is cured. Sir Phyllon enters, and Sir Ethais accosts him. Their argument escalates, and Sir Ethais turns to Darine to confirm that Sir Phyllon had accused him of cowardice. Darine admits that this was only an artifice. Sir Ethais asks Sir Phyllon's forgiveness and renounces Darine. She implores him to reconsider. Selene enters. She wonders why her sister

1806-555: Is by Elena Polenova, based on a folk-drama, Tsar Maksimilyan , and the work premiered on June 20, 2001, at the Mariinski Theatre , St Petersburg. Prize "Gold Mask, 2002" and "Gold Soffit, 2002". The Children of Rosenthal ( Дети Розенталя ), an opera in two acts by Leonid Desyatnikov , with a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin . This work was commissioned by the Bolshoi theatre and premiered on March 23, 2005. The staging of

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1892-548: Is delirious from the effects of his wound. The fairies are outraged at Selene's indecorous behaviour, and wonder if she is still fit to serve as Queen. Selene enters and tells them she has saved Sir Ethais's life, but the jealous fairies are not interested in listening to her. Selene is perplexed at her sisters' changed attitude. Sir Ethais emerges from the bower, still weak from his wound. The pair acknowledge that they are in love. Selene offers to give up everything – her home, her honour, her life – to be with Sir Ethais. She gives him

1978-459: Is married down below, but is a bachelor in Fairyland, which offends Zayda. Darine enters, desperately seeking Lutin's aid to cure Sir Ethais. She is the fairy counterpart to Lutin's mortal wife. Lutin does not understand this and assumes his wife has followed him there to chastise his infidelity. After a lengthy misunderstanding, Darine finally gets through to Lutin, and he gives her a phial with

2064-496: Is much relieved, for while he finds Zayda enchanting, he cannot enjoy himself while Darine, who bears so close a resemblance to his wife, is looking on. Sir Phyllon and Lutin descend to earth. Selene frantically tries to detain Sir Ethais, saying that she wants to accompany him to earth, to be his "humble, silent, and submissive slave." But Sir Ethais has now tired of her. He casts her aside and returns to Earth, alone. As soon as

2150-470: Is never out of tune. Miss McIntosh was keenly alive to the advantage of seeing you and she said she would gladly attend any appointment you might make." Sullivan declined to audition her privately, and she was heard with several other singers on the next audition day at the Savoy Theatre , on 30 June 1893. Sullivan recorded in his diary that he was "Disappointed in her voice ... but I don't think she

2236-580: Is skilled at healing. The fairy Lutin enters, and Sir Ethais mistakes him for his mortal counterpart. Lutin is appalled to find mortals in Fairyland, warning the fairies that Love is the source of all earthly sin. The fairies, now smitten with the men, do not believe him. Selene sends Lutin down below, so that his mortal counterpart can replace him. As he descends, the Fairies kneel at the feet of Sir Ethais and Sir Phyllon. The fairies stand vigil outside of Selene's bower, where she has been tending Sir Ethais, who

2322-521: Is to summon the fairy Lutin's mortal counterpart, who will be able to cure Sir Ethais. Selene is grateful for the suggestion, unaware that Darine intends to woo Sir Ethais for herself, once he is recovered. The mortal Lutin arrives. He is just as enchanted with the fairies as Sir Ethais and Sir Phyllon were in Act I, and they are similarly impressed with him. Lutin is so taken with Fairyland that he calls it Paradise and assumes he must be dead. The fairies explain

2408-497: Is too shocking to tell. Lutin tells them that their King has a gift for the fairies, and he has commanded Ethais and Phyllon to journey to mid-earth to receive it. They depart. The fairies wonder why, if the mortal world is so miserable, its inhabitants do not take their own lives. Selene explains that mortals have one great gift that makes life worth living – the gift of Love. The fairies are in wonder at Selene's description, as they have never experienced Love. Selene explains that Love

2494-406: Is unnecessary. Moreover, it is impossible for them to experience it, as only a mortal can inspire love, and mortals cannot set foot in Fairyland. Zayda points out that there is a "half-forgotten law" that, when a fairy leaves his home to visit earth, those whom he leaves behind may summon his mortal counterpart from below, who may fill the absent fairy's place until he returns. Selene is shocked that

2580-725: The British Museum and leaving the remainder of the Gilbert estate to the Royal General Theatrical Fund. Nancy McIntosh was born in Cleveland , Ohio, and raised in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, the daughter of William A. McIntosh (died 1921) and his wife Minerva née Bottenberg (died 1883). Her father was the president of a public company, the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company, and a member of

2666-574: The Court Theatre after the Lord Chamberlain banned parts of it. Like a number of Gilbert's blank-verse plays, Fallen Fairies treats the ensuing consequences when an all-female world is disrupted by men and the romantic complications they bring. His plays The Princess (1870) and Broken Hearts (1875), and his earlier operas Iolanthe (1882) and Princess Ida (1884), are all treatments of this basic idea. Stedman calls this

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2752-840: The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club . The club's activities were blamed (but its members were not held legally responsible) for the failure of the South Fork Dam , which caused the Johnstown Flood in 1889 that resulted in the loss of over 2,200 lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania . Nancy's brothers were John Stone McIntosh (1860–1889), a businessman, and Burr McIntosh , a writer, publisher, photographer, war correspondent, radio personality, and stage and film actor; both were college athletes. Nancy attended Pittsburgh Female College from 1878 to 1882 and studied music. She

2838-566: The singspiel and the French model. Franz von Suppé is remembered mainly for his overtures. Johann Strauss II , the "waltz king", contributed Die Fledermaus (1874) and The Gypsy Baron (1885). Carl Millöcker a long-time conductor at the Theater an der Wien , also composed some of the most popular Viennese operettas of the late 19th century, including Der Bettelstudent (1882), Gasparone (1884) and Der arme Jonathan (1890). After

2924-416: The "first true Italian comic opera" – that is to say, it had everything: it was in standard Italian and not in dialect; it was no longer simply an intermezzo, but rather an independent piece; it had a real story that people liked; it had dramatic variety; and, musically, it had strong melodies and even strong supporting orchestral parts, including a strong "stand-alone" overture (i.e., you could even enjoy

3010-498: The 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa , emerged as an alternative to opera seria . It quickly made its way to France, where it became opéra comique , and eventually, in the following century, French operetta , with Jacques Offenbach as its most accomplished practitioner. The influence of the Italian and French forms spread to other parts of Europe. Many countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating

3096-568: The 1860s and 1870s, including Les Cloches de Corneville , Madame Favart and others into the 1880s, often adapted by H. B. Farnie and Robert Reece . F. C. Burnand collaborated with several composers, including Arthur Sullivan in Cox and Box , to write several comic operas on English themes in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1875, Richard D'Oyly Carte , one of the impresarios aiming to establish an English school of family-friendly light opera by composers such as Frederic Clay and Edward Solomon as

3182-426: The 20th century). Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote a comic opera, Cherevichki (1885). Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed May Night 1878–1879 and The Golden Cockerel 1906–1907. In the 20th century, the best examples of comic opera by Russian composers were Igor Stravinsky 's Mavra (1922) and The Rake's Progress (1951), Sergey Prokofiev 's The Love for Three Oranges (1919) and Betrothal in

3268-694: The British provinces. Throughout 1892 she sang in Monday Popular Concerts in Hull , Sheffield , Manchester and Liverpool . In December 1892 she sang in Handel 's Messiah . Early in 1893 McIntosh sang in a series of concerts under Sir Charles Hallé in Manchester, Wales and Bowness-on-Windermere , among other places. She earned many warm reviews. In February 1893, Henschel held a dinner party where W. S. Gilbert asked McIntosh if she

3354-563: The English stage from risqué French influences, and emboldened by the success of Trial by Jury , Carte formed a syndicate in 1877 to perform "light opera of a legitimate kind". Gilbert and Sullivan were commissioned to write a new comic opera, The Sorcerer , starting the series that came to be known as the Savoy operas (named for the Savoy Theatre , which Carte later built for these works) that included H.M.S. Pinafore , The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado , which became popular around

3440-399: The Fairy Queen, Selene. McIntosh's vocal powers were not what they had been a decade earlier, and critics found her performance weak, saying that she was "too much a tragedy queen" for the romantic role. On 3 January 1910, Workman's syndicate replaced McIntosh with Amy Evans and demanded the restoration of a song that Gilbert had cut during rehearsals. Gilbert was outraged and sued Workman and

3526-406: The Fairy Queen. McIntosh received negative reviews, and Workman soon replaced her with Amy Evans and made changes in the play that angered Gilbert, who sued Workman. Despite better reviews for Evans, the work did not please the critics, or ultimately the audiences. It failed, closing after just 50 performances. Neither Gilbert nor German would write another opera. Early in his career, Gilbert wrote

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3612-411: The French opéra comique , the singspiel was an opera with spoken dialogue, and usually a comic subject, such as Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) and The Magic Flute (1791). Later singspiels , such as Beethoven's Fidelio (1805) and Weber's Der Freischütz (1821), retained the form, but explored more serious subjects. 19th century Viennese operetta was built on both

3698-564: The Gilbert & Sullivan Society in London. Gilbert's entire estate, including the Garrick Theatre , passed from Lady Gilbert to McIntosh. She took part in a drive to raise funds for a proposed National Theatre, endowing a seat in Gilbert's name in 1938. McIntosh died in London in 1954, and the remainder of the Gilbert estate went to the Royal General Theatrical Fund . This included stocks and revenues from

3784-454: The Gilberts for the rest of their lives, at their home, Grim's Dyke , where she assisted Lady Gilbert as companion, secretary and hostess, and published some articles in the press about Gilbert's many and exotic pets. McIntosh's father lived in the north lodge on the property for the last years of his life. After Lady Gilbert died in 1936, McIntosh sold the house and moved to Knightsbridge , London. She succeeded Lady Gilbert as Vice-President of

3870-496: The Italian and French models along with their own musical traditions. Examples include German singspiel , Viennese operetta , Spanish zarzuela , Russian comic opera, English ballad and Savoy opera , North American operetta and musical comedy . In late 17th-century Italy, light-hearted musical plays began to be offered as an alternative to weightier opera seria (17th-century Italian opera based on classical mythology ). Il Trespolo tutore (1679) by Alessandro Stradella

3956-563: The Savoy after Fallen Fairies , but after his dispute with Gilbert, this idea was out of the question. The scene is laid in Fairyland, outside the Fairy Queen's bower, which for the purposes of the opera, is supposed to be located on the upper side of a cloud which floats over the Earth. The fairies sing of the "wicked world" below, which they believe is populated by mortals who sin throughout their lives. Selene, their Queen, tells them that Lutin,

4042-624: The Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, but with little success and light attendance. In spite of this, in 1873 a new theater, the Teatro Apolo , was opened for zarzuela grande , which shared the failures of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, until it was forced to change its program to género chico . The first opera presented in Russia , in 1731, was a comic opera (or "commedia per musica"), Calandro , by an Italian composer, Giovanni Alberto Ristori . It

4128-578: The U.S. for another season of The Circus Girl and The Geisha , which continued into 1898. She then retired from the stage, living with the Gilberts and making occasional concert and charity appearances. At a recital at the Bechstein Hall in 1903 she sang 18 songs by Richard Strauss , and at the same hall in 1909 she sang the soprano part in Walford Davies 's Pastorale ; "a most welcome reappearance", wrote The Times . After more than

4214-530: The absence of a male chorus. Edward Elgar also turned it down, but did not say why. Gilbert finally found a willing collaborator in Edward German . Charles Herbert Workman , who had made a name playing the comic baritone parts in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, assembled a production syndicate in 1909 to produce comic operas (starring himself) at the Savoy Theatre, beginning with The Mountaineers , followed by Fallen Fairies , in which he appeared in

4300-522: The comic role of Lutin. The piece opened on 15 December 1909, and the cast also starred Leo Sheffield as Phyllon, Percy Anderson designed the costumes. John D'Auban choreographed. Had Fallen Fairies been a success, it was intended that Gilbert would revive (with revisions) earlier operas of his that were not in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company repertoire, and that it would be followed by at least one more new work by Gilbert and German. With German's agreement, Gilbert cast his protégée Nancy McIntosh as

4386-426: The fairies would consider invoking this law, but the other fairies point out a possible benefit. They suggest that once the mortals have observed the fairies' immaculate lives, they would return to Earth and reform mankind's sinful ways. Selene agrees, and they summon Sir Ethais and Sir Phyllon, the mortal counterparts to the two recently departed fairies. On arriving, both Sir Ethais and Sir Phyllon immediately suspect

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4472-421: The fairies. Selene wonders if there is a way that mortals show loyalty to a Queen. They explain that it is done with "a very long and tender kiss ... preferably, just below the nose." The fairies have never heard of this procedure, but they are pleased to be kissed on the lips, as they know it carries great weight with the knights. Sir Ethais is weak from loss of blood, and asks to summon his henchman, Lutin, who

4558-609: The first of several Chickering Musical Bureau concerts in Boston , Massachusetts, singing pieces by, among others, Tosti , Chopin , Bach and Wagner . She also made a specialty of singing Scottish songs. During 1888 and most of 1889, she lived in Tennessee, where she nursed her brother John through his final illness. In 1890 a writer in The Daily Gazette and Free Press of Elmira , New York, after hearing McIntosh at

4644-703: The genre was like in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the Italian operatic style influenced zarzuela . But beginning with the reign of Bourbon King Charles III , anti-Italian sentiment increased. Zarzuela returned to its roots in popular Spanish tradition in works such as the sainetes (or Entr'actes) of Don Ramón de la Cruz. This author's first work in this genre was Las segadoras de Vallecas ("The Reapers of Vallecas", 1768), with music by Rodríguez de Hita . Single act zarzuelas were classified as género chico (the "little genre" or "little form") and zarzuelas of three or more acts were género grande (the "big genre" or "big form"). Zarzuela grande battled on at

4730-622: The inexperienced McIntosh was not a good actress, and during the run of Utopia , which lasted into June 1894, her lack of confidence and ill health combined to affect her performance. Utopia, Limited was to be McIntosh's only part with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company , as Sullivan refused to write another piece in which she was to take part. McIntosh became one of the last actress protégées of W. S. Gilbert's. She eventually lived with Gilbert and Lady Gilbert, and they considered her an "adopted" daughter, as they had no children of their own. During Utopia , she appeared in two performances as Dorothy in

4816-486: The latter incorporating dances, with chorus numbers and humorous scenes that are usually duets. These works are relatively short, and ticket prices were often low, to appeal to the general public. There are two main forms of zarzuela : Baroque zarzuela ( c.  1630 –1750), the earliest style, and Romantic zarzuela ( c.  1850 –1950), which can be further divided into the two subgenres of género grande and género chico . Pedro Calderón de la Barca

4902-485: The magical cure for Sir Ethais's wound. Darine contrives a ruse to win Sir Ethais's love. She tells him that Sir Phyllon had accused him of exaggerating the severity of his wound, so that he could avoid fighting again. Sir Ethais is outraged at being called a coward, and wants to challenge Sir Phyllon if he ever recovers. Darine tells him that she has the cure, but she will give it to him only if he promises to love her. Sir Ethais agrees, and observing that one beautiful woman

4988-518: The men are gone, the fairies change their attitudes, as if awaking from a dream. With the mortals now gone from their midst, the chastened fairies admit that they have all sinned. The fairy Ethais arrives with the news that fairies, like mortals, can love. But Selene warns that love is a deadly snare. The chorus praise Selene's purity, and Darine returns the crown to her head. The fairies kneel in adoration at her feet. Comic opera Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By

5074-417: The men how to live virtuously. The fairies fall in love with the mortals, become jealous of each other and behave badly. The men return to Earth, and the fairies realize that love is overrated. The piece premiered at London's Savoy Theatre on 15 December 1909. Gilbert directed the opera. Charles Herbert Workman produced and starred as Lutin. The cast also starred Gilbert protégée Nancy McIntosh as Selene,

5160-509: The mid-19th century, despite Giuseppe Verdi 's Falstaff staged in 1893. French composers eagerly seized upon the Italian model and made it their own, calling it opéra comique . Early proponents included the Italian Egidio Duni , François-André Philidor , Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny , André Grétry , François-Adrien Boïeldieu , Daniel François Auber and Adolphe Adam . Although originally reserved for less serious works,

5246-579: The most popular form of staged entertainment in Italy from about 1750 to 1800. In 1749, thirteen years after Pergolesi's death, his La serva padrona swept Italy and France, evoking the praise of such French Enlightenment figures as Rousseau . In 1760, Niccolò Piccinni wrote the music to La Cecchina to a text by the great Venetian playwright, Carlo Goldoni . That text was based on Samuel Richardson 's popular English novel, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740). Many years later, Verdi called La Cecchina

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5332-456: The noisy premieres of two works whose genre could be described as "opera-farce": Tsar Demyan ( Царь Демьян ) – A frightful opera performance . A collective project of five authors wrote the work: Leonid Desyatnikov and Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky from St. Petersburg , Iraida Yusupova and Vladimir Nikolayev from Moscow , and the creative collective "Kompozitor", which is a pseudonym for the well-known music critic Pyotr Pospelov. The libretto

5418-449: The only fairy who has ever set foot on solid ground, will soon be returning home after a long absence. Ethais and Phyllon reveal that every fairy has an exact counterpart in the mortal world, the only difference being that the fairies are absolutely free from sin, while the identical-looking mortal is "stained with every kind of infamy." Lutin arrives, and the eager fairies question him about what he has observed down below, but Lutin says it

5504-431: The opera was accompanied by juicy scandal; however it was an enormous success. England traces its light opera tradition to the ballad opera , typically a comic play that incorporated songs set to popular tunes. John Gay's The Beggar's Opera was the earliest and most popular of these. Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Duenna (1775), with a score by Thomas Linley , was expressly described as "a comic opera". By

5590-491: The operas of Scarlatti, Pergolesi ( La serva padrona , 1733), Galuppi ( Il filosofo di campagna , 1754), Piccinni ( La Cecchina , 1760), Paisiello ( Nina , 1789), Cimarosa ( Il matrimonio segreto , 1792), and then the great comic operas of Mozart and, later, Rossini and Donizetti . At first, comic operas were generally presented as intermezzi between acts of more serious works. Neapolitan and then Italian comic opera grew into an independent form and became

5676-544: The other of some kind of wizardry, and they start fighting. The fairies, who have never seen combat, believe it is a game. Sir Ethais is wounded in the arm. When the fairies step forward, the two knights are immediately taken with their beauty, and agree to stop fighting. The fairies, too, are immediately smitten with the men. Selene explains that the fairies wish to teach them how to live good and pure lives, while commenting in an aside how attractive they are. The men vow immediately to reform their sinful ways, taking tutelage from

5762-479: The overture as an independent orchestral piece). Verdi was also enthusiastic because the music was by a southern Italian and the text by a northerner, which appealed to Verdi's pan-Italian vision. The genre was developed further in the first half of the 19th century by Gioachino Rossini in his works such as The Barber of Seville (1816) and La Cenerentola (1817) and by Gaetano Donizetti in L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843), but declined in

5848-421: The ring that Selene had pledged to him. Selene is shocked, but Sir Ethais admits that he had parted with it in exchange for the cure to his wound. Selene pronounces him, of all men, "the most accursed." He begs her forgiveness, and in a rambling address she denounces him, but says that she will join him on earth. Locrine bursts in with the news that the men's fairy counterparts are about to return. The mortal Lutin

5934-415: The risqué state of musical theatre and introduced short comic operas designed to be more family-friendly and to elevate the intellectual level of musical entertainments. Jessie Bond wrote, The stage was at a low ebb, Elizabethan glories and Georgian artificialities had alike faded into the past, stilted tragedy and vulgar farce were all the would-be playgoer had to choose from, and the theatre had become

6020-430: The second half of the 19th century, the London musical stage was dominated by pantomime and musical burlesque , as well as bawdy, badly translated continental operettas, often including "ballets" featuring much prurient interest, and visiting the theatre became distasteful to the respectable public, especially women and children. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas German Reed , beginning in 1855, and a number of other Britons, deplored

6106-400: The situation, and they all vie for his attention, saying that they prefer his rugged appearance to men that are handsome. Zayda persuades all the other fairies to find food for Lutin. When they have left, she tells him that all of the other fairies have faults, and that she is the only fairy worthy of his esteem. When the other fairies return, they ask Lutin if he has a wife. He replies that he

6192-829: The sole representatives of the genre surviving today. Only recently, some of these other English light operas have begun to be explored by scholars and to receive performances and recordings. In the United States, Victor Herbert was one of the first to pick up the family-friendly style of light opera that Gilbert and Sullivan had made popular, although his music was also influenced by the European operetta composers. His earliest pieces, starting with Prince Ananias in 1894, were styled "comic operas", but his later works were described as "musical extravaganza", "musical comedy", "musical play", "musical farce", and even "opera comique". His two most successful pieces, out of more than half

6278-688: The soprano lead in His Excellency caused Sullivan to refuse to set the piece. Nevertheless, Sullivan encouraged McIntosh to return to concert singing, and in May 1885, McIntosh sang the role of Margarita in Sullivan's cantata The Martyr of Antioch in Dover , receiving a warm review. McIntosh appeared in the American tour of His Excellency in 1895–1896. She stayed in the U.S. and soon appeared in

6364-516: The syndicate, but German declined to join him, dismayed by the dispute. Gilbert angrily banned Workman from ever performing in his operas in the United Kingdom. The Musical Times wrote: The replacement of the leading lady was not enough to save Fallen Fairies from an early closing, although Evans earned praise in the role. Indeed, faults in Gilbert's libretto were likely as much to blame as any failings of McIntosh. The Observer wrote, "It

6450-439: The term opéra comique came to refer to any opera that included spoken dialogue, including works such as Cherubini's Médée and Bizet's Carmen that are not "comic" in any sense of the word. Florimond Hervé is credited as the inventor of French opéra bouffe , or opérette . Working on the same model, Jacques Offenbach quickly surpassed him, writing over ninety operettas . Whereas earlier French comic operas had

6536-520: The turn of the 20th century, Franz Lehár wrote The Merry Widow (1905); Oscar Straus supplied Ein Walzertraum ("A Waltz Dream", 1907) and The Chocolate Soldier (1908); and Emmerich Kálmán composed Die Csárdásfürstin (1915). Zarzuela , introduced in Spain in the 17th century, is rooted in popular Spanish traditional musical theatre. It alternates between spoken and sung scenes,

6622-535: The world. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company continued to perform Gilbert and Sullivan almost continuously until it closed in 1982. The Gilbert and Sullivan style was widely imitated by their contemporaries (for example, in Dorothy ), and the creators themselves wrote works in this style with other collaborators in the 1890s. None of these, however, had lasting popularity, leaving the Savoy Operas as practically

6708-402: Was "not her sphere". The work's tedious libretto, however, was as much to blame. C. H. Workman , the opera's producer and lead comic, replaced McIntosh after the first week of the opera's run, incurring the wrath of Gilbert, who banned him from playing in any of his pieces in Britain. McIntosh never appeared in an opera again, although she may have had concert engagements. McIntosh lived with

6794-463: Was an American-born singer and actress who performed mostly on the London stage. Her father was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club , which had been blamed in connection with the 1889 Johnstown Flood that resulted in the loss of over 2,200 lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania . McIntosh is perhaps best known for creating the role of Princess Zara in Gilbert and Sullivan 's Utopia, Limited in 1893. She obtained this role after beginning

6880-518: Was an early precursor of opera buffa . The opera has a farcical plot, and the characters of the ridiculous guardian Trespolo and the maid Despina are prototypes of characters widely used later in the opera buffa genre. The form began to flourish in Naples with Alessandro Scarlatti 's Il trionfo dell'onore (1718). At first written in Neapolitan dialect, these works became "Italianized" with

6966-583: Was at her best – however, she will do as she is nice, sympathetic and intelligent." She was soon engaged by Carte and debuted on the theatrical stage in October 1893 at the Savoy Theatre, creating the role of Princess Zara in Utopia , a role much expanded for her from its initial conception. According to scholar John Wolfson, Gilbert's expansion of the role damaged and unbalanced the script by detracting from its satire of government. Reviewers generally agreed that

7052-576: Was athletic, like her brothers, "an expert horsewoman, had won prizes in sculling matches, could shoot and fence, played baseball and cricket and enjoyed swimming and diving", as well as tennis. About 1885, McIntish moved to New York to study singing with Signor Achille Errani . She commenced a singing career, making her concert debut on 3 March 1887 at YMCA Hall in Harrisburg , Pennsylvania, produced by William H. Sherwood, and winning effusive reviews. On 1 November 1887, she appeared with Sherwood in

7138-406: Was followed by the comic operas of other Italians, like Galuppi , Paisiello and Cimarosa , and also Belgian / French composer Grétry . The first Russian comic opera was Anyuta (1772). The text was written by Mikhail Popov , with music by an unknown composer, consisting of a selection of popular songs specified in the libretto. Another successful comic opera, The miller who was a wizard,

7224-486: Was interested in singing on stage. Later that year Gilbert asked Arthur Sullivan to hear her audition as the lead soprano in their forthcoming opera, Utopia, Limited . In letters to Sullivan, Gilbert said of her: "She is rather tall, extremely fair – very nice looking, without being beautiful – good expressive face – no appreciable American twang. Something like a good and ladylike version of Roosevelt . ... She sings up to C (whatever that means) and I am told that she

7310-685: Was the first playwright to adopt the term zarzuela for his work entitled El golfo de las sirenas ("The Gulf of the Sirens", 1657). Lope de Vega soon wrote a work titled La selva sin amor, drama con orquesta ("The Loveless Jungle, A Drama with Orchestra"). The instruments orchestra was hidden from the audience, the actors sang in harmony, and the musical composition itself was intended to evoke an emotional response. Some of these early pieces were lost, but Los celos hacen estrellas ("Jealousies Turn Into Stars") by Juan Hidalgo and Juan Vélez, which premiered in 1672, survives and gives us some sense of what

7396-728: Was unable to sing for about a year. She then studied voice under George Henschel for at least a year and resumed concert appearances, including in Henschel's Serbischer Liederspiel at Kensington Town Hall in December 1891 and at The Crystal Palace , where she sang in Beethoven 's Choral Symphony and selections from Wagner 's Die Meistersinger . She also performed in the London Symphony Concerts, which Henschel conducted, among other concerts, and in oratorio in

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