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Princess Toto

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113-658: Princess Toto is a three-act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and his long-time collaborator Frederic Clay . Its pre-London tour opened on 24 June 1876 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, starring Kate Santley , W. S. Penley and J. H. Ryley . It transferred to the Royal Strand Theatre in London on 2 October 1876 for a run of only 48 performances. Brief New York and Boston runs followed in 1879–80 starring Leonora Braham and Ryley, and there were later tours in

226-479: A port several miles away (respectively, Leith and Piraeus ). Intellectually, the Scottish Enlightenment , with its humanist and rationalist outlook, was influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy . In 1822, artist Hugh William Williams organized an exhibition that showed his paintings of Athens alongside views of Edinburgh, and the idea of a direct parallel between both cities quickly caught

339-465: A royal charter , c.  1124–1127 , by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline . The shire of Edinburgh seems to have also been created in the reign of David I, possibly covering all of Lothian at first, but by 1305 the eastern and western parts of Lothian had become Haddingtonshire and Linlithgowshire , leaving Edinburgh as the county town of

452-450: A boat is approaching and is afraid that he will be ridiculed, but Jamilek suggests that he hide in some prickly cactus. Caramel and Doro arrive in the boat, having become friends – each thinks the other is going to help him recover his lost bride. Caramel meets Toto and identifies himself as both Prince Caramel and Barberini. Toto asks, "Didn't I marry you or something?" She apologises and sings that she will always love him. She then sings

565-444: A curtain-raiser for the annual pantomime , had a libretto by T. W. Robertson . Like Court and Cottage , it was favourably reviewed in the press, but did not remain in the theatrical repertoire. In the mid-1860s, Clay and his close friend and fellow musician Arthur Sullivan were frequent guests at the home of John Scott Russell . By about 1865 Clay became engaged to Scott Russell's youngest daughter, Alice May, and Sullivan wooed

678-525: A lasting and inestimable benefit". Frederic Clay Frederic Emes Clay (3 August 1838 – 24 November 1889) was an English composer known principally for songs and his music written for the stage. Although from a musical family, for 16 years Clay made his living as a civil servant in HM Treasury , composing in his spare time, until a legacy in 1873 enabled him to become a full-time composer. He had his first big stage success with Ages Ago (1869),

791-577: A long period of Conservative government after the party's election victory in February 1874, Clay resigned from the Treasury. A legacy from his father, who died in September 1873, left him financially independent and able to devote his energies to full-time composition. Green Old Age , a "musical improbability", with a libretto by Robert Reece (1874) to which Clay contributed some of the music,

904-533: A month. A New York production fared still worse. When it was revived in London in 1881 The Times commented that the piece had not appealed to audiences in 1876, "accustomed to a more broadly humorous style of extravaganza" and hoped that by 1881 public taste had become more cultivated under the influence of Gilbert's other comic operas. Nonetheless, the revival ran for only 65 performances. Clay's cantata Lalla Rookh (containing his best-known song, "I'll sing thee songs of Araby" and also "Still this golden lull"),

1017-523: A population in 2014 of 1,339,380. Like most of Scotland, Edinburgh has a cool temperate maritime climate ( Cfb ) which, despite its northerly latitude, is milder than places which lie at similar latitudes such as Moscow and Labrador . The city's proximity to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing while summer temperatures are moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F). The highest temperature recorded in

1130-496: A post in HM Treasury , and was for a time private secretary to Benjamin Disraeli , who presented him at a court levee in 1859. Under a later administration Clay undertook confidential missions on behalf of W.   E.   Gladstone . At the age of 20 Clay experienced what he called the "opening up" of his musical senses: hearing Verdi 's Il trovatore at Covent Garden and Auber 's Les diamants de la couronne at

1243-433: A real brigand after all but a respectable man. Toto says that if she were to find that he had deceived her in this way she would shoot him. Caramel therefore decides to continue to deceive her. Doro asks "Barberini" for a place in the brigand band and is refused. Toto insists that this promising fellow should be hired. Doro recognises Toto, but she merely finds his face familiar. When they are left alone he reveals that he

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1356-482: A savage shore." He hopes that Toto still loves him. King Portico says that Doro cannot marry Toto, since, if he isn't dead, he has placed the king "in a very awkward and ridiculous position." He tells Doro that he hasn't lost much, since Toto is not only absent-minded but excessively romantic: "her head is filled with foolish ideas about Gypsies, robbers, actors, pirates, paving commissioners, Red Indians, and outlandish people of that sort," and her fancy has now fallen on

1469-634: A series of small summits to the south of the city centre that command expansive views looking northwards over the urban area to the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is drained by the river named the Water of Leith , which rises at the Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills and runs for 18 miles (29 km) through the south and west of the city, emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith. The nearest

1582-585: A shire covering the central part of Lothian, which was called Edinburghshire or Midlothian (the latter name being an informal, but commonly used, alternative until the county's name was legally changed in 1947). Edinburgh was largely under English control from 1291 to 1314 and from 1333 to 1341, during the Wars of Scottish Independence . When the English invaded Scotland in 1298 , Edward I of England chose not to enter Edinburgh but passed by it with his army. In

1695-545: A short comic opera with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert , for the small Gallery of Illustration ; it ran well and was repeatedly revived. Clay, a great friend of his fellow composer Arthur Sullivan , introduced the latter to Gilbert, leading to the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. In addition to Gilbert, Clay's librettists during his 24-year career included B. C. Stephenson , Tom Taylor , T. W. Robertson , Robert Reece and G. R. Sims . The last of his four pieces with Gilbert

1808-701: A third cantata, Sardanapalus , commissioned for the Leeds Festival. After conducting the second performance of The Golden Ring in December 1883 he suffered a stroke that paralysed him and cut short his productive life. In 1889 at the age of 51, he was found drowned in his bath at the home of his sisters in Great Marlow . The coroner 's verdict was suicide while of unsound mind. Clay was buried in Brompton cemetery on 29 November 1889. Sullivan wrote

1921-655: A war band from across the Brittonic world who gathered in Eidyn before a fateful raid; this may describe a historical event around AD 600. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria , and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles . Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950, when, during the reign of Indulf , son of Constantine II ,

2034-424: Is Prince Doro, she asks him whether it hurt to be eaten by cannibals. Doro points out that he is alive, and Toto wishes to proceed with the wedding. The king, worried that Caramel may arrive and cause him embarrassment, leaves his prime minister, Zapeter, to explain the situation to Caramel, and the wedding party departs. Caramel then arrives. Although he is a mild-mannered young man, when he learns that his fiancée

2147-439: Is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie , Scots for Old Smoky , for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. A note in a collection of the works of the poet, Allan Ramsay , explains, "Auld Reeky...A name the country people give Edinburgh, from the cloud of smoke or reek that is always impending over it." In Walter Scott 's 1820 novel The Abbot , a character observes that "yonder stands Auld Reekie—you may see

2260-570: Is almost entirely within the City of Edinburgh Council boundary, merging with Musselburgh in East Lothian. Towns within easy reach of the city boundary include Inverkeithing , Haddington , Tranent , Prestonpans , Dalkeith , Bonnyrigg , Loanhead , Penicuik , Broxburn , Livingston and Dunfermline . Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region with

2373-445: Is eager to join the "brigands", and so they depart. In the mountains, Prince Caramel's court pretends to be a band of brigands. They have taken an old beggar captive and are serving him their best food and wine. Word has got around, and people have come from miles around hoping to be taken prisoner. Jelly, Princess Toto's maid, scolds the band, advising that they should be "cutting them up and sending them home in little bits", and Toto

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2486-426: Is encircled by a green belt , designated in 1957, which stretches from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east. With an average width of 3.2 km (2 mi) the principal objectives of the green belt were to contain the outward expansion of the city and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas. Expansion affecting the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh Airport and

2599-482: Is governed by the City of Edinburgh Council , a unitary authority. The City of Edinburgh council area had an estimated population of 514,990 in mid-2021, and includes outlying towns and villages which are not part of Edinburgh proper. The city is in the Lothian region and was historically part of the shire of Midlothian (also called Edinburghshire). "Edin", the root of the city's name, derives from Eidyn ,

2712-593: Is her husband. She notes the marriage to Barberini, but she recognises him as the husband of her dreams and informs him that he will disappear when she wakes up. He finally convinces her that he is real, and that she ran off with "Barberini" within minutes of their marriage. She begs his pardon and promises to stop marrying other men, although she still cannot remember his name. They sneak away. King Portico arrives with Zapeter and Jamilek, dressed as American Indians, hoping that their colourful disguises will lure Toto into going home with them. Zapeter has "diligently studied

2825-437: Is marrying another man, he threatens to interrupt the ceremony. Zapeter suggests that he pretend to be the brigand Barberini, and that the princess would forget her marriage to Doro. Toto is thrilled to meet the dashing "Barberini". She is surprised that he doesn't look like the "ferocious monster" who had been describe to her, but Caramel explains: "that's my nasty cunning; it disarms people and puts them off their guard." Toto

2938-495: Is similarly disappointed in the brigands' behaviour. Toto has had a pleasant dream about marrying "a beautiful young Prince named Doro," and wishes she could have the same dream again. But she agrees to marry "Barberini," and they leave to wed. Doro arrives, upset at the loss of his bride so soon after their wedding. He has decided to become a brigand and die an outlaw. Caramel, returning from his wedding with Toto, hints to her that it would be amusing if it turned out that he wasn't

3051-766: Is the seat of the Scottish Government , the Scottish Parliament , the highest courts in Scotland , and the Palace of Holyroodhouse , the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland . The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law , literature, philosophy,

3164-440: Is typical of the old quarters of many Northern European cities. The New Town was an 18th-century solution to the problem of an increasingly crowded city which had been confined to the ridge sloping down from the castle. In 1766 a competition to design a "New Town" was won by James Craig , a 27-year-old architect. The plan was a rigid, ordered grid, which fitted in well with Enlightenment ideas of rationality. The principal street

3277-641: The Athens of the North since the early 19th century. References to Athens, such as Athens of Britain and Modern Athens , had been made as early as the 1760s. The similarities were seen to be topographical but also intellectual. Edinburgh's Castle Rock reminded returning grand tourists of the Athenian Acropolis , as did aspects of the neoclassical architecture and layout of New Town . Both cities had flatter, fertile agricultural land sloping down to

3390-551: The Canongate , and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. Edinburgh

3503-661: The George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial. Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre , has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge , a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its place as

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3616-731: The Opéra-Comique in Paris, he was enthused by "the strength of vocal declamation in the one work and the delight of musical comedy in the other". In his free time he studied music with Moritz Hauptmann in Leipzig , and composed what his biographer Christopher Knowles calls "songs and light operas for the drawing rooms of high society". With his fellow Treasury clerk B. C. Stephenson as librettist he wrote three one-act operettas for amateurs: The Pirate's Isle (1859), Out of Sight (1860) and The Bold Recruit (1868). The Era commented on

3729-803: The Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they found a Brittonic Celtic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini . The Votadini transitioned into the Gododdin kingdom in the Early Middle Ages , with Eidyn serving as one of the kingdom's districts. During this period, the Castle Rock site, thought to have been the stronghold of Din Eidyn, emerged as the kingdom's major centre. The medieval poem Y Gododdin describes

3842-668: The Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston lie within the zone. Similarly, suburbs such as Juniper Green and Balerno are situated on green belt land. One feature of the Edinburgh green belt is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated green belt, even though they do not connect with the peripheral ring. Examples of these independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill. Edinburgh includes former towns and villages that retain much of their original character as settlements in existence before they were absorbed into

3955-599: The Royalty Theatre , starring Santley, and The Golden Ring starring Marion Hood (1883). The latter was written for the reopening of the Alhambra Theatre , which had been burned to the ground the year before. These shows were both successful and, in Gänzl's view, showed an artistic advance on Clay's earlier work. Clay had been in precarious health during the year, and had been obliged to abandon work on

4068-700: The Scotland Act , which came into force the following year, established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since September 2007 ). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, foreign affairs and some elements of income tax remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. In 2022, Edinburgh

4181-739: The South Bridge in the 1780s. The Southside is particularly popular with families (many state and private schools are here), young professionals and students (the central University of Edinburgh campus is based around George Square just north of Marchmont and the Meadows ), and Napier University (with major campuses around Merchiston and Morningside). The area is also well provided with hotel and "bed and breakfast" accommodation for visiting festival-goers. These districts often feature in works of fiction. For example, Church Hill in Morningside,

4294-493: The West End it attracted mixed notices, both for the libretto and the score. The Times ' s later comment that the piece was "probably surpassed by no modern English work of the kind for gaiety and melodious charm" was not generally shared: a recurring theme in reviews was that Clay's music was musicianly and pleasing but not strikingly original or memorable. At its first London production Princess Toto ran for less than

4407-480: The topsy-turvey ideas the librettist was to develop in his later collaborations with Sullivan and others. The premiere was enthusiastically received – in a favourable review The Morning Post noted that almost every number was encored – but the piece ran for only 26 performances. The next three, In Possession (1871, for German Reed), Happy Arcadia (1872, with Gilbert), and Oriana (1873, with James Albery ) all had short London runs. Clay contributed some of

4520-503: The "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as oppidum Eden , was abandoned to the Scots. It thenceforth remained, for the most part, under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the date of its charter is unknown. The first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is

4633-499: The 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today. More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes , but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments which transformed

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4746-465: The 18th-century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius". Edinburgh was also a major centre for the Scottish book trade. The highly successful London bookseller Andrew Millar was apprenticed there to James McEuen. From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of

4859-520: The 19th century and joined by new industries such as rubber works , engineering works and others. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in

4972-474: The Castle Rock, giving rise to allusions to the seven hills of Rome . Occupying a narrow gap between the Firth of Forth to the north and the Pentland Hills and their outrunners to the south, the city sprawls over a landscape which is the product of early volcanic activity and later periods of intensive glaciation. Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago, coupled with faulting , led to

5085-723: The English in 1544, Edinburgh continued to develop and grow, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant . In 1582, Edinburgh's town council was given a royal charter by King James VI permitting the establishment of a university; founded as Tounis College (Town's College), the institution developed into the University of Edinburgh , which contributed to Edinburgh's central intellectual role in subsequent centuries. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to

5198-620: The English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns , though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart 's restoration to

5311-673: The Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden , there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans . In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, reaffirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for

5424-466: The Mountainside", "The Sands of Dee", and "'Tis Better Not to Know". Edinburgh Edinburgh ( / ˈ ɛ d ɪ n b ər ə / ED -in-bər-ə , Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə] ; Scottish Gaelic : Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ] ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas . The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to

5537-547: The New York production and American tours during 1879–80 and later. The theatrical newspaper The Era gave a positive review of the New York production. The most recent professional production that has been traced was staged by the Birmingham Repertory Company in 1935. A number of amateur companies have staged the piece since the early 1990s. The publisher of the music, Cramer & Co., stated that

5650-424: The North". Robert Louis Stevenson, also a son of the city, wrote that Edinburgh "is what Paris ought to be". The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond , where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat , Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills . When

5763-548: The Provost for the time as Sheriff, and by the Bailies for the time as Sheriffsdepute conjunctly and severally; with full power to hold Courts, to punish transgressors not only by banishment but by death, to appoint officers of Court, and to do everything else appertaining to the office of Sheriff; as also to apply to their own proper use the fines and escheats arising out of the exercise of the said office." Despite being burnt by

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5876-723: The US. Princess Toto was revived in 1881 at the Opera Comique in London for a run of 65 performances (starring Richard Temple ). There was also an 1886 revival in Australia. Princess Toto was the last work in a long and successful partnership with Clay that had produced four of Gilbert's major musical works up to that date. The year before, Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan , Clay's friend, had premiered their hit Trial by Jury , and after Princess Toto , Gilbert would not collaborate on any further operas with anyone other than Sullivan for

5989-505: The United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. The development of Edinburgh Park , a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration. In 1998,

6102-544: The adjectival forms Edinburgensis and Edinensis are used in educational and scientific contexts. Edina is a late 18th-century poetical form used by the Scots poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns . "Embra" or "Embro" are colloquialisms from the same time, as in Robert Garioch 's Embro to the Ploy . Ben Jonson described it as "Britaine's other eye", and Sir Walter Scott referred to it as "yon Empress of

6215-628: The architectural style of the New Town into the early 19th century. Bute House , the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland , is on the north side of Charlotte Square. The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch , which was created for the town's defence but came to be used by the inhabitants for dumping their sewage . It was drained by the 1820s as part of

6328-543: The area. With the redevelopment, Edinburgh has gained the business of cruise liner companies which now provide cruises to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The coastal suburb of Portobello is characterised by Georgian villas, Victorian tenements, a beach and promenade and cafés, bars, restaurants and independent shops. There are rowing and sailing clubs, a restored Victorian swimming pool, and Victorian Turkish baths . The urban area of Edinburgh

6441-418: The article about his friend in the early editions of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians . He said of Clay's music: In the article in the 2001 edition of Grove , Christopher Knowles sums up Clay's music: His melodies are always fresh and graceful; his harmonic treatment, though sometimes strikingly original, owes much to Rossini and Auber . Successful though he was, he never really broke away from

6554-472: The band parts and original printing plates for both Vocal Score and Libretto were destroyed in the World War II London blitz. However, a copy of the parts survives in Australia. Chorus: Courtiers and court ladies, pages, brigands, and Red Indians King Portico, a highly dignified and scrupulously correct monarch, is generally worried that the newspapers might print something embarrassing about

6667-543: The beginning of three centuries of Germanic influence in south east Scotland that laid the foundations for the development of Scots , before the town was ultimately subsumed in 954 by the kingdom known to the English as Scotland. As the language shifted from Cumbric to Northumbrian Old English and then Scots , the Brittonic din in Din Eidyn was replaced by burh , producing Edinburgh . In Scottish Gaelic din becomes dùn , producing modern Dùn Èideann . The city

6780-565: The city between October and April. Located slightly north of the city centre, the weather station at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) has been an official weather station for the Met Office since 1956. The Met Office operates its own weather station at Gogarbank on the city's western outskirts, near Edinburgh Airport . This slightly inland station has a slightly wider temperature span between seasons,

6893-423: The city was 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) on 25 July 2019 at Gogarbank, beating the previous record of 31 °C (88 °F) on 4 August 1975 at Edinburgh Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as "the windy city", with the prevailing wind direction coming from

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7006-539: The city's northward expansion. Craig's original plan included an ornamental canal on the site of the loch, but this idea was abandoned. Soil excavated while laying the foundations of buildings in the New Town was dumped on the site of the loch to create the slope connecting the Old and New Towns known as The Mound . In the middle of the 19th century the National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy Building were built on The Mound, and tunnels for

7119-415: The creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs , which predominate over much of the area. One such example is the Castle Rock which forced the advancing ice sheet to divide, sheltering the softer rock and forming a 1 mi-long (1.6 km) tail of material to the east, thus creating a distinctive crag and tail formation. Glacial erosion on the north side of the crag gouged a deep valley later filled by

7232-567: The crest of a ridge from it terminating at Holyrood Palace. Minor streets (called closes or wynds ) lie on either side of the main spine forming a herringbone pattern. Due to space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of this landform, the Old Town became home to some of the earliest "high rise" residential buildings. Multi-storey dwellings known as lands were the norm from the 16th century onwards with ten and eleven storeys being typical and one even reaching fourteen or fifteen storeys. Numerous vaults below street level were inhabited to accommodate

7345-469: The drawing-room ballad and, lacking Sullivan’s sense of fun and powers of invention, remained largely in his shadow. Although even his most successful stage works were soon eclipsed by those of Gilbert and Sullivan , and his music was widely regarded as musicianly and pleasing but not particularly original or memorable, in Gänzl's view he was "the first significant composer of the modern era of British musical theatre". Numerous, including "She Wandered Down

7458-434: The expanding city of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many areas, such as Dalry , contain residences that are multi-occupancy buildings known as tenements , although the more southern and western parts of the city have traditionally been less built-up with a greater number of detached and semi-detached villas. The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided in two by the broad green swathe of Princes Street Gardens . To

7571-477: The fact that the social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 , Edinburgh was briefly occupied by

7684-430: The home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland , the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery . The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe , the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle , the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles , Greyfriars and

7797-428: The influx of incomers, particularly Irish immigrants , during the Industrial Revolution . The street has several fine public buildings such as St Giles' Cathedral, the City Chambers and the Law Courts . Other places of historical interest nearby are Greyfriars Kirkyard and Mary King's Close . The Grassmarket , running deep below the castle is connected by the steep double terraced Victoria Street. The street layout

7910-401: The middle daughter, Rachel. The Scott Russells welcomed the engagement of Alice and Clay, but it was broken off, for unknown reasons. Alice married another suitor in 1869; Clay remained single all his life. In 1866 Clay's first cantata, The Knights of the Cross was performed in London, conducted by Sullivan. It was politely received, but the composer's "talent and good taste" did not, in

8023-430: The middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart described it as the capital of Scotland (c. 1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom". In 1482 James III "granted and perpetually confirmed to the said Provost, Bailies, Clerk, Council, and Community, and their successors, the office of Sheriff within the Burgh for ever, to be exercised by

8136-484: The modern era of British musical theatre", but even his most successful stage works were soon eclipsed by those of Gilbert and Sullivan. During his lifetime he was best known for his parlour songs , which were familiar throughout Britain. Clay's music was widely regarded as not particularly original or memorable, but musicianly and pleasing. Clay was born in Paris, the fourth of six children of James Clay (1804–1873) and his wife, Eliza Camilla, née Woolrych. James Clay

8249-623: The modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old structures were replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old Town. In 1611 an act of parliament created the High Constables of Edinburgh to keep order in the city, thought to be the oldest statutory police force in the world. Following the Treaty of Union in 1706, the Parliaments of England and Scotland passed Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707 respectively, uniting

8362-482: The more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the city's social character. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented." Despite an enduring myth to the contrary, Edinburgh became an industrial centre with its traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in

8475-559: The music for other London shows in these years, including the extravaganzas Ali Baba à la Mode (1872) and Don Giovanni in Venice (1873), the "grand opéra-bouffe féerie" The Black Crook (1872) and the "fantastic music drama" Babil and Bijou, or The Lost Regalia (1872). The last of these, given at Covent Garden was a spectacular production that ran for some eight months and attracted highly favourable notices for Clay and his fellow composer, Jules Rivière. Foreseeing, and not relishing,

8588-537: The name for the region in Cumbric , the Brittonic Celtic language formerly spoken there. The name's meaning is unknown. The district of Eidyn was centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, the dun or hillfort of Eidyn. This stronghold is believed to have been located at Castle Rock , now the site of Edinburgh Castle . A siege of Din Eidyn by Oswald , king of the Angles of Northumbria in 638 marked

8701-419: The next 15 years. Despite Clay's tuneful score and Gilbert's amusing libretto, the piece was not a major success, although it did enjoy the various tours and revivals over the years. After the initial production at Nottingham and the subsequent provincial tour, Gilbert sold the performing rights to Clay for a period of ten years. Therefore, it was Clay who oversaw the London productions of 1876 and 1881, and also

8814-520: The north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills . Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom . The wider metropolitan area had a population of 912,490 in the same year. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh

8927-426: The notorious brigand Barberini. Princess Toto arrives, trying to remember why she is all dressed up. The others remind her that she is to be married, but that Prince Caramel hasn't arrived. She wants to go ahead perform the ceremony without delay. After all, "Who cares about the bridegroom at a wedding?" When the king insists on the need for a bridegroom, Toto suggests the stranger. When she learns that this stranger

9040-475: The now drained Nor Loch . These features, along with another hollow on the rock's south side, formed an ideal natural strongpoint upon which Edinburgh Castle was built. Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano dating from the Carboniferous period , which was eroded by a glacier moving west to east during the ice age. Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags to

9153-532: The opinion of one reviewer, result in "much originality of character". In 1869 came Clay's first substantial theatrical success, the "operatic entertainment" Ages Ago , written for the German Reeds at the Royal Gallery of Illustration , with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert . The piece, described by the historian Kurt Gänzl as "an enormous success", ran for 350 performances during its first run, and

9266-462: The piece opened in New York in 1880 The Era 's correspondent wrote that although inevitable comparisons between the music of Princess Toto and that of H.M.S. Pinafore were not to the advantage of the former, there were some "pleasing numbers and characteristic music". Gilbert's libretto was highly praised, and the reviewer thought him capable of "confer[ring] upon the British and American Drama

9379-569: The piece opened in the West End , The Globe judged it an "unequivocal success", praised the libretto ("sparkles with wit") and found Clay's music "unambitious" but "flowing and pleasant" and at its best in the vocal solos. The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News thought the libretto exceptional: "Not only are the incidents laughter-provoking, but the dialogue is full of unexpected sallies of wit and humour which provoke irrepressible laughter". The paper observed that although Clay's music "cannot claim high rank, it ripples pleasantly along." When

9492-567: The popular imagination. When plans were drawn up in the early 19th century to architecturally develop Calton Hill , the design of the National Monument directly copied Athens' Parthenon . Tom Stoppard 's character Archie of Jumpers said, perhaps playing on Reykjavík meaning "smoky bay", that the "Reykjavík of the South" would be more appropriate. The city has also been known by several Latin names , such as Edinburgum , while

9605-522: The railway line between Haymarket and Waverley stations were driven through it. The Southside is a residential part of the city, which includes the districts of St Leonards , Marchmont , Morningside , Newington , Sciennes , the Grange and Blackford . The Southside is broadly analogous to the area covered formerly by the Burgh Muir , and was developed as a residential area after the opening of

9718-413: The river gets to the city centre is at Dean Village on the north-western edge of the New Town, where a deep gorge is spanned by Thomas Telford 's Dean Bridge , built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry . The Water of Leith Walkway is a mixed-use trail that follows the course of the river for 19.6 km (12.2 mi) from Balerno to Leith. Excepting the shoreline of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh

9831-418: The royal family, especially the king's eccentric daughter, Princess Toto. Prince Doro, to whom Toto was betrothed in infancy, is reported to have been eaten by cannibals, so Portico has chosen the "highly respectable" Prince Caramel to receive Toto's hand. Caramel is already three days late for the wedding, and King Portico fears that he will not arrive at all. Prince Doro arrives after ten years shipwrecked "on

9944-452: The sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh , founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. The financial centre of Scotland, Edinburgh is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and the thirteenth largest internationally. The city is a cultural centre, and is

10057-483: The scores were never renumbered to reflect it. It does not, for instance, indicate that the songs run into each other. When the pre-London tour reached Edinburgh The Scotsman 's critic commented that if every comic opera had the benefit of a libretto by Gilbert the genre would be even more popular than it already was. Clay's music was thought "light, tuneful and thoroughly congenial", though not of any great originality, and showing some indebtedness to Offenbach . When

10170-403: The second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment , when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, recalling ancient Athens. In

10283-459: The second of these: "The composer is an amateur, but he has shown a dramatic power and a skill in instrumentation that would justify him in entering the lists with professional musicians". Clay had a modest operatic success with a one-act operetta, Court and Cottage , to a libretto by Tom Taylor , produced at Covent Garden in 1862 as an after-piece to Meyerbeer's Dinorah . A second one-act piece for Covent Garden followed in 1865: Constance ,

10396-559: The second verse to Doro without realising that he's a different person. After some confusion, Toto decides that Doro is her real husband and tells Caramel that he is only a dream. Caramel proposes to Jelly. The princess admits that she has been mistaken. Her father appears. Toto agrees to marry Doro (again) and places herself in his hands. N.B. There is no particular significance to why some songs are numbered "9a", "10a" and so on, except 1a (reprise of 1). It probably just indicates that additional songs were added after composing had begun and

10509-431: The smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance". In 1898, Thomas Carlyle comments on the phenomenon: "Smoke cloud hangs over old Edinburgh, for, ever since Aeneas Silvius 's time and earlier, the people have the art, very strange to Aeneas, of burning a certain sort of black stones, and Edinburgh with its chimneys is called 'Auld Reekie' by the country people". The 19th-century historian Robert Chambers asserted that

10622-427: The sobriquet could not be traced before the reign of Charles II in the late 17th century. He attributed the name to a Fife laird, Durham of Largo, who regulated the bedtime of his children by the smoke rising above Edinburgh from the fires of the tenements. "It's time now bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht -cap!". Edinburgh has been popularly called

10735-548: The south, the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, built high on Castle Rock, and the long sweep of the Old Town descending towards Holyrood Palace. To the north lie Princes Street and the New Town. The West End includes the financial district, with insurance and banking offices as well as the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Edinburgh's Old and New Towns were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of

10848-546: The south-west, which is often associated with warm, unstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but considerably colder, and may be accompanied by haar , a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms , can affect

10961-553: The southern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city centre is 2 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi (4.0 km) southwest of the shoreline of Leith and 26 mi (42 km) inland, as the crow flies, from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar . While the early burgh grew up near the prominent Castle Rock, the modern city is often said to be built on seven hills , namely Calton Hill , Corstorphine Hill , Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill , Blackford Hill , Arthur's Seat and

11074-456: The streets of the New Town: for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street; and for the royal family, George Street , Queen Street , Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons). The consistently geometric layout of the plan for the extension of Edinburgh was the result of a major competition in urban planning staged by the Town Council in 1766. In

11187-501: The throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell 's Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650. In the 17th century, Edinburgh's boundaries were still defined by the city's defensive town walls . As a result, the city's growing population was accommodated by increasing the height of the houses. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common, and have been described as forerunners of

11300-412: The tribe, and become a squaw." They leave. Caramel and his band arrives, but his men refuse to give chase. On a tropical island, King Portico's court is still pretending to be Indians. Portico is concerned about how Toto will react when she learns of the deception. Again, Toto is disappointed with the behaviour of the "Indians", who eat caviar and refuse to hunt wild buffalo. Portico is finds out that

11413-538: The two kingdoms in the Kingdom of Great Britain effective from 1 May 1707. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain , which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots, resulting in riots in the city. By the first half of the 18th century, Edinburgh was described as one of Europe's most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns. Visitors were struck by

11526-473: The unique character of the Old Town with its medieval street layout and the planned Georgian New Town, including the adjoining Dean Village and Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city, a higher proportion relative to area than any other city in the United Kingdom. The castle is perched on top of a rocky crag (the remnant of an extinct volcano) and the Royal Mile runs down

11639-551: The west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east. This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags , a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the location of the early burgh. The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built along a series of drumlin ridges south of the city centre, which were deposited as the glacier receded. Other prominent landforms such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are also products of glacial erosion. The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are

11752-479: The works of Fenimore Cooper" and Jamilek speaks in the metre of Longfellow's poem "Hiawatha." Portico threatens Zapeter with execution if news of their embarrassing ruse should get into the papers. They hear a loud soprano voice (Toto's) singing. Zapeter "listens with his ear close to the ground," and impresses the king by deducing that a woman approaches. Toto appears and is intrigued by their primitive appearance. She determines to join them and "perhaps marry one of

11865-433: Was Princess Toto (1875), which had short runs in the West End and in New York. Clay's other compositions include cantatas and numerous individual songs. His last two works were both successful operas composed in 1883, The Merry Duchess and The Golden Ring . He then suffered a stroke that paralysed him at the age of 44 and ended his career. The historian Kurt Gänzl has called Clay "the first significant composer of

11978-420: Was a Radical Member of Parliament and was also well known as a player of and authority on whist . Both parents were musical: Clay's mother was the daughter of a leading opera singer, and his father was an amateur composer. Clay was educated at home in London by private tutors, and studied piano and violin, and later composition under Bernhard Molique . Through the influence of Lord Palmerston , Clay secured

12091-514: Was a matter of great resentment when the two burghs merged in 1920 into the City of Edinburgh. Even today the parliamentary seat is known as "Edinburgh North and Leith". The loss of traditional industries and commerce (the last shipyard closed in 1983) resulted in economic decline. The Edinburgh Waterfront development has transformed old dockland areas from Leith to Granton into residential areas with shopping and leisure facilities and helped rejuvenate

12204-469: Was affected by the 2022 Scotland bin strikes . In 2023, Edinburgh became the first capital city in Europe to sign the global Plant Based Treaty , which was introduced at COP26 in 2021 in Glasgow. Green Party councillor Steve Burgess introduced the treaty. The Scottish Countryside Alliance and other farming groups called the treaty "anti-farming". Situated in Scotland's Central Belt , Edinburgh lies on

12317-549: Was followed by a commission from Kate Santley for an opéra-bouffe , Cattarina, or Friends at Court , with a libretto by Reece. This successfully toured the provinces, with the composer conducting and Santley starring as Pincione; it was given at the Charing Cross Theatre , London, during the winter season of 1874–75. The final collaboration between Clay and Gilbert was a three-act comic opera, Princess Toto , (1876), another vehicle for Santley. On tour and in

12430-523: Was given successfully at the Brighton Festival in 1877, and was later performed elsewhere in Britain and the US. Clay found a lack of opportunity in Britain and moved to the US in 1877. He met with only mixed success there and returned to London in 1881. His last stage works were two collaborations with the librettist G. R. Sims : a "sporting comic opera", The Merry Duchess , (1883) given at

12543-476: Was revived several times. The first production was in a double bill with Sullivan's Cox and Box . Clay dedicated the published score of Ages Ago to Sullivan; at a rehearsal of the piece, probably in 1870, Gilbert met Sullivan for the first time, introduced by Clay. Over the next four years Clay composed four further operatic pieces. The first, The Gentleman in Black (1870, with Gilbert), contained many of

12656-572: Was the home of Muriel Spark 's Miss Jean Brodie, and Ian Rankin 's Inspector Rebus lives in Marchmont and works in St Leonards. Leith was historically the port of Edinburgh, an arrangement of unknown date that was confirmed by the royal charter Robert the Bruce granted to the city in 1329. The port developed a separate identity from Edinburgh, which to some extent it still retains, and it

12769-576: Was to be George Street , running along the natural ridge to the north of what became known as the "Old Town". To either side of it are two other main streets: Princes Street and Queen Street. Princes Street has become Edinburgh's main shopping street and now has few of its Georgian buildings in their original state. The three main streets are connected by a series of streets running perpendicular to them. The east and west ends of George Street are terminated by St Andrew Square and Charlotte Square respectively. The latter, designed by Robert Adam , influenced

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