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.
129-494: The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera , with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan . It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration . The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love , that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876. A young man, Alexis, is obsessed with the idea of love levelling all ranks and social distinctions. To promote his beliefs, he invites
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
387-651: A batch of love potion, sufficient to affect the entire village, except that it must have no effect on married people. Wells mixes the potion, assisted by sprites, fiends, imps, demons, ghosts and other fearsome magical beings in an incantation ("Sprites of earth and air"). The village gathers for the wedding feast ("Now to the Banquet we Press"), and the potion is added to a teapot. All of the villagers, save Alexis, Aline and Wells, drink it and, after experiencing some hallucinations ("Oh, marvellous illusion"), they fall unconscious. At midnight that night ("'Tis twelve, I think"),
516-636: 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
645-509: A collaboration for Carl Rosa in 1875 fell through because Gilbert was too busy with other projects, and an attempted Christmas 1875 revival of Thespis by Richard D'Oyly Carte failed when the financiers backed out. Gilbert and Sullivan continued their separate careers, though both continued writing light opera. Finally, in 1877, Carte organised a syndicate of four financiers and formed the Comedy Opera Company, capable of producing
774-417: A comic baritone character with an autobiographical patter song (J. W. Wells) and a tenor and soprano as young lovers (Alexis and Aline). Those types can be traced back to Italian comic opera and commedia dell'arte . Character roles for a bass-baritone (Sir Marmaduke) and contralto (Lady Sangazure) are also repeated in the later Savoy operas. The vicar's song, "Time was when love and I were well acquainted"
903-563: 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
1032-460: 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
1161-449: A friend of both Gilbert's and Sullivan's. Busy with last-minute cuts and changes the day before the show opened, Sullivan had no time to write an overture and used the "Graceful Dance" music from his incidental music to Henry VIII , together with a few measures of music from "Oh Marvellous Illusion", as an overture. For the 1884 revival, an overture was composed by Sullivan's assistant, Hamilton Clarke . Gilbert's meticulous rehearsal of
1290-486: A full-length work. By July 1877, Gilbert and Sullivan were under contract to produce a two-act opera. Gilbert expanded on his own short story that he had written the previous year for The Graphic , "An Elixir of Love," creating a plot about a magic love potion that – as often occurs in opera – causes everyone to fall in love with the wrong partner. Now backed by a company dedicated to their work, Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte were able to select their own cast, instead of using
1419-438: A general audience's musical knowledge are unrealistic. Without those cues what remains is neither as exotic nor as amusing as Pinafore, Pirates or The Mikado . Still, The Sorcerer packs ample charms, including a felicitous score, a Verdian drinking song turned to teetotal ends, and at least one chorus that has reached the periphery of pop culture. ... the work can entrance a modern audience". However, Isaac Goldberg , one of
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#17327727350111548-521: A meal of one dish at which all classes of the community are to sit down", since he needed to suit needs of both "butcher-boy in the gallery" and "epicure in the stalls"; Crowther argues that he did not succeed as well at this in The Sorcerer as in some of the later works. The opera establishes several important patterns for future Gilbert and Sullivan works. First, several recurring character types that would appear in their later operas are included:
1677-924: A member of the Strand Theatre company in London. There, in January 1853, she played Tom Tug in Charles Dibdin 's ballad opera The Waterman . According to the theatrical newspaper The Era , she made a great hit. She appeared briefly at the Theatre Royal, Cork the following month, returning to the Strand in March to play Captain Macheath en travesti in The Beggar's Opera . In April she
1806-505: 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
1935-604: A month at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in a specially-written sketch, La fille adroit , which was highly praised by Jules Janin in the Journal des débats . Later the same year she acted in her husband's play My Neighbor Opposite and a comic duologue, Locked Out , which proved to be very popular and toured extensively in the provinces. In September 1855 she was engaged at Wallack's Theatre in New York City. Over
2064-458: A part, and he was cast in the role of Dr Daly, the vicar. Her appearance in The Sorcerer proved to be her last London engagement; by this stage in her career her voice was deteriorating. She was engaged to play Cousin Hebe in the next Gilbert and Sullivan production, H.M.S. Pinafore (for which she was to be paid 10 guineas a week "to sing and act as principal contralto during the period of
2193-562: A patter chorus, "Happy are we in our loving frivolity" , a pageant of mismatched couples. The revision changed the setting to nighttime, with a mysterioso trio for Alexis, Aline and John Wellington Wells to sing among the sleeping villagers. The villagers then awaken with a rustic chorus in West Country accent and pair up in the mismatched couples. These revisions were not, however, done very carefully. The Act I Finale still says "Their hearts will melt in half-an-hour / Then will be felt
2322-632: 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
2451-416: A really intelligent appreciation of Sullivan". Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther argues that while both The Sorcerer and H.M.S. Pinafore satirise the idea of love levelling all ranks, the earlier opera attacks it more aggressively, offending audiences with which that idea was popular. Gilbert acknowledged that his position as a dramatist was similar to one of "a refreshment contractor who has engaged to supply
2580-518: A recitative among Alexis, Sir Marmaduke and Dr Daly, is a skit on the excessive politeness associated with early nineteenth-century aristocracy, and the incantation scene is a parody of the similar scene in Weber 's Der Freischütz . Dr Daly accompanies his Act II song on a flageolet . Gilbert satirises the Victorian temperance movement by introducing a non-alcoholic brindisi with jorums of tea; this
2709-514: A reprise of the Brindisi after the "Oh marvellous illusion" chorus, and Constance's Act II song was transposed downwards. Originally, in the Act II finale, there was a second incantation in which J. W. Wells summoned Ahrimanes (to be played by Mrs Paul), who told him that either he or Alexis must yield his life to quell the spell. This scene was cut, although its opening recitative in rewritten form
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#17327727350112838-482: A surprise hit. The piece was witty, tuneful and very "English", in contrast to the bawdy burlesques and adaptations of French operettas that dominated the London musical stage at that time. Trial by Jury proved even more popular than La Périchole , becoming an unexpected hit, touring extensively and enjoying revivals and a world tour. After the success of Trial by Jury , several producers attempted to reunite Gilbert and Sullivan, but difficulties arose. Plans for
2967-1154: 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 . Mrs Howard Paul Isabella Hill (1 April 1833 – 6 June 1879), better known as Mrs Howard Paul ,
3096-570: A visit". By the time the notice appeared she had been taken gravely ill. She was brought to her home in London near Bedford Park , Turnham Green , and on 6 June 1879 she died there. She was buried at Brompton Cemetery in West London. Mrs Paul's obituary in The New York Times said: "She was gifted with a wonderful voice [but] ... nearly all her efforts were made in the lighter branches of dramatic and musical art ... her acting
3225-417: Is French for dexter point, a heraldic term; Sangazure is French for blue blood . Partlet means hen. The two characters sing a duet, "Welcome, joy, adieu to sadness!" that contrasts and combines a "Mozart-like minuet" and rapid-fire patter . Other musical numbers that characterise the opera are the quintet in Act II, "I rejoice that it's decided", which is "one of the prettiest things Sullivan ever wrote in
3354-659: Is John Wellington Wells", the title character of The Sorcerer introduces himself as a tradesman of an ironic kind: "a dealer in magic and spells". Another typical Sullivanian musical technique is the contrapuntal combination of slow and rapid tunes in one song and a tenor aria set in 8 time . Sullivan did this so frequently in the Savoy operas that comedian Anna Russell , in her comedy routine "How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera", exclaimed, "the tenor ... according to tradition, must sing an aria in 8 time". Another repeated musical technique
3483-551: Is also a dig at Italian operas, many of which contained a brindisi scene. Another burlesque of Italian opera is "Prepare for sad surprises", which is similar to Alfredo's denunciation of Violetta in Verdi 's La traviata . Gilbert's satire of these subjects, like most of his satire in the operas, was blunted with gentle humour. As Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther explains, Gilbert characteristically combines his criticisms with comic entertainment, which renders them more palatable, while at
3612-555: 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
3741-445: Is carried out, and left alone together Alexis reveals to his fiancée his plans for practical implementation of his principle that love should unite all classes and ranks ("Love feeds on many kinds of food, I know"). He has invited a representative from a respectable London firm of sorcerers to Ploverleigh ("My name is John Wellington Wells"). Aline has misgivings about hiring a real sorcerer. Nevertheless, Alexis instructs Wells to prepare
3870-519: Is charged with amatory numbers"). However, despite Mrs. Partlet's best attempts at matchmaking, the middle-aged Dr Daly seems unable to conceive that a young girl like Constance would be interested in him. Alexis and Aline arrive ("With heart and with voice"), and it soon becomes clear that his widower father Sir Marmaduke and her widowed mother Lady Sangazure are concealing long-held feelings for each other, which propriety however demands remain hidden ("Welcome joy, adieu to sadness"). The betrothal ceremony
3999-519: Is described as a "Licensed Dealer in Black Art". A drinking-chorus with tea instead of alcoholic drink appeared in Gilbert's The Merry Zingara (1868), a burlesque of The Bohemian Girl . In "My name Is John Wellington Wells", Gilbert reused rhymes from one of his Bab Ballads , The Student . Some commentators have argued that the opera's relatively low popularity is due to satire that relies on Victorian era class distinctions; it may not be clear to
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4128-408: Is not credited in revivals, which used a revised libretto. The Sorcerer has not been recorded as often as most of the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the recordings have not been generally well received. The 1966 D'Oyly Carte Opera Company recording is considered the best of their efforts to record this opera. The 1982 Brent Walker video is considered to be one of the best of that series and
4257-472: Is one of the first in a string of meditative " Horatian " lyrics in the Savoy operas, "mingling happiness and sadness, an acceptance and a smiling resignation". These would allow characters in each of the Savoy operas an introspective scene where they stop and consider life, in contrast to the foolishness of the surrounding scenes. One notable innovation that is characteristic of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and confirmed by its extensive use in The Sorcerer ,
4386-673: Is recommended in Marc Shepherd's Gilbert and Sullivan discography. More recent professional productions have been recorded on video by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival . The Sorcerer has made its way into popular culture. Isaac Asimov wrote a short story, " The Up-To-Date Sorcerer ", a homage to the opera consisting largely of a series of puns on phrases from it. Charlotte MacLeod's 1985 mystery novel, The Plain Old Man concerns an amateur production of
4515-629: Is satire on the aristocracy: while in The Sorcerer Lady Sangazure is in direct descent from Helen of Troy , in The Mikado Gilbert developed this idea, and Pooh-Bah can trace his ancestry "back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule". Gilbert initially wrote a duet for Aline and Lady Sangazure, "Oh, why art thou sad, my mother?" , followed by a ballad for Sangazure, "In days gone by, these eyes were bright" . These numbers were cut before opening night, although
4644-415: Is the employment of the chorus as an essential part of the action. In most earlier operas, burlesques and comedies, the chorus had very little impact on the plot and served mainly as "noise or ornament". In the Savoy operas, however, the chorus is essential, taking part in the action and often acting as an important character in its own right. The Sorcerer also confirms a pattern that had been introduced in
4773-546: The American Savoyards in the United States from the 1950s and by other professional companies in the U.S. thereafter. After 1970, The Sorcerer was included in the D'Oyly Carte repertory through the 1975 centenary season, then dropped for several years, then restored for the company's last few seasons before it closed in 1982. Amateur companies that had dropped the opera restored it to their rotations after
4902-567: The Gaiety Theatre 's holiday season that did not lead immediately to any further collaboration. Three years later, in 1875, talent agent and producer Richard D'Oyly Carte was managing the Royalty Theatre , and he needed a short opera to be played as an afterpiece to Jacques Offenbach 's La Périchole . Carte was able to bring Gilbert and Sullivan together again to write the one-act piece, called Trial by Jury , which became
5031-483: The Gallery of Illustration . After singing for Sullivan, upon meeting Gilbert, Grossmith wondered aloud if the role shouldn't be played by "a fine man with a fine voice". Gilbert replied, "No, that is just what we don't want." The Sorcerer was not the only piece on which either Gilbert or Sullivan were working at that time. Gilbert was completing Engaged , a "farcical comedy", which opened on 3 October 1877. He also
5160-848: The Haymarket ." They included Drury Lane's Christmas pantomime in December 1853, and, the following month, Mark Lemon 's Paula Lazarro , in which she played Juana. At the Haymarket, she again played Macheath from April 1854. In July of that year she married the American writer and actor Henry Howard Paul at St Paul's, Covent Garden in London. Shortly after the wedding the couple went to Switzerland, in August 1854, and performed with success in Geneva. They went on to Paris, where she played for
5289-617: The Olympic Theatre in 1868 she appeared in the title role of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein ; this production also went on tour in Britain. She repeated the role in a French version of this in Paris. At the Drury Lane Theatre in 1869, she played Lady Macbeth opposite Samuel Phelps and Charles Dillon on alternate nights. "Anticipating subsequent actresses, she softened Lady Macbeth, subjugating to conjugal love
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5418-590: The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (1872–73), with music by Hervé and Frederick Clay . In 1877 the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte approached Mrs Paul to play the part of Lady Sangazure in the new Gilbert and Sullivan opera The Sorcerer , which Carte was producing at the Opera Comique . She accepted on condition that her 24-year-old protégé, Rutland Barrington , was given
5547-455: The betrothal of Alexis Pointdextre, the son of the local baronet , and the blue-blooded Aline Sangazure ("Ring forth, ye bells"). Only a young village maiden named Constance Partlet seems unwilling to join in the happy mood, and we learn as she tells her mother that she is secretly in love with the local vicar, Dr Daly ("When he is here, I sigh with pleasure"); and the cleric himself promptly soliloquises that he has been unlucky in love ("The air
5676-566: 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
5805-416: 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
5934-498: 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
6063-568: 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
6192-465: The 1920s and early 1930s. In 1938 and 1939, it was performed only in the company's London seasons, and only for a handful of performances. During the winter of 1941–42, the scenery and costumes for The Sorcerer and three other operas were destroyed in enemy action. The opera was not revived professionally in the UK until 1971. Amateur British companies followed suit, as many dropped it from their repertory of
6321-450: The 1970 revival, and it still receives regular productions, both professional and amateur. The following table summarises the main London productions of The Sorcerer during Gilbert and Sullivan's lifetimes: The early reviews were generally favourable. According to The Times , The Sorcerer "achieved a genuine success, and, moreover, a success in every respect deserved". The Era praised both libretto and music: "the libretto, both in
6450-426: 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
6579-625: 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
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#17327727350116708-411: 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
6837-472: The Gilbert and Sullivan operas during these three decades, although American companies often continued their regular rotation of the eleven operas from Trial through The Gondoliers . Outside the U.K., however, the opera continued to be played regularly in Australasia by the J. C. Williamson Opera Company, and it was revived on Broadway in 1915 with DeWolf Hopper in the title role. It was played by
6966-496: 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
7095-576: The Mendelssohnian manner ... while in the duet that follows between Mr. Wells and Lady Sangazure there is a divertingly sepulchral andante and a no less comic tarentello-like allegro". The Sorcerer has certain technical difficulties in its production. It is the only Savoy opera to require a trapdoor, which many modern theatres do not have, and requires a pyrotechnical effect for a flash in the incantation scene. In addition to Gilbert's story, An Elixir of Love , critics have traced several ideas in
7224-624: 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
7353-544: The Theatre Royal, Melbourne , produced by J. C. Williamson , starring Frank Thornton , Nellie Stewart and Alice Barnett , conducted by Alfred Cellier , although unauthorised productions had appeared by 1879. In the early years of the 20th century, however, The Sorcerer gradually fell out of favour in Britain. As discussed below, it draws on an older theatrical tradition and satirises social and operatic conventions that are less accessible to modern audiences than
7482-399: The ballad was included in the first published version of the libretto. Alexis's Act II ballad ("Thou hast the power") was revised, with the refrain changed from common time to waltz time . Although performed on opening night, it was not included in the original vocal score. Available evidence suggests that the ballad was dropped from the opera, but later reinstated during the original run. It
7611-438: The call of duty? That clever song "The pale young curate", with its charming music, is to me simply painful. I seem to see him as he goes home at night, pale and worn with the day's work, perhaps sick with the pestilent atmosphere of a noisome garret where, at the risk of his life, he has been comforting a dying man – and is your sense of humour, my reader, so keen that you can laugh at that man? Four numbers were encored during
7740-482: The cast was noticed and commented on favourably by the critics, and the opening-night audience was enthusiastic. The Sorcerer ran for 178 performances, making a profit. A touring company also began playing the opera in March 1878. D'Oyly Carte continued touring the piece in the early 1880s. Unauthorised productions played on Broadway and elsewhere in the U.S. beginning by 1879. The original London sets were by W. Beverly, and costumes were by C. Wilhelm . The Sorcerer
7869-477: The casting choice: "He's a staid, solid swine, and that's what I want." Barrington was given the role of Dr Daly, the vicar, which was his first starring role on the London stage. For the character role of Mrs. Partlet, they chose Harriett Everard , an actress who had worked with Gilbert before. Carte's agency supplied additional singers, including Alice May (Aline), Giulia Warwick (Constance), and Richard Temple (Sir Marmaduke). Finally, in early November 1877,
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#17327727350117998-522: The day, particularly tenors . Another piece that they toured was called Thrice Married . Mrs Howard Paul's voice was admired by various composers, who wrote songs for her to premiere. Early in 1867 she returned with her husband for engagements in the United States. In September of that year, she was back in London at the Strand Theatre playing Mrs Dove in her husband's Ripples on the Lake . At
8127-486: The earlier collaborations and would be repeated in the other Savoy operas, except for The Yeomen of the Guard , to begin with a chorus number and end with a relatively short finale consisting of solos and chorus music. Sullivan later told his biographer, "Until Gilbert took the matter in hand choruses were dummy concerns, and were practically nothing more than a part of the stage setting." Another Gilbert innovation, following
8256-453: The ensuing years, at the Haymarket and elsewhere, she became known not only for her Macheath, but also as Apollo in the burlesque of Midas by Kane O'Hara, among other roles. In 1858 she took part with her husband in an entertainment called Patchwork , described as "a clatter of fun, frolic, song, and impersonation carried on by performers of unfailing dash"; they performed this popular piece in London and elsewhere for some years. In July of
8385-469: The example of his mentor, T. W. Robertson , was that the costumes and sets were made as realistic as possible. This attention to detail would be repeated in all of the operas. This was far from standard procedure in Victorian drama, where naturalism was still a relatively new concept, and where most authors had very little influence on how their plays and libretti were staged. The Sorcerer also contained several musical techniques that would become typical in
8514-542: The fearsome Lady Sangazure fixes on him as the object of her affections ("Oh, I have wrought much evil with my spells"). Aline decides to yield to Alexis' persuasion and drinks the potion without telling Alexis. Upon awaking, she inadvertently meets Dr Daly first and falls in love with him ("Oh, joyous boon"). Alexis desperately appeals to Wells as to how the effects of the spell can be reversed. It turns out that this requires that either Alexis or Wells himself yield up his life to Ahrimanes . The people of Ploverleigh rally against
8643-445: The first Gilbert scholars, in 1913 called it "the weakest of Gilbert's productions". The satire in the opera is focused on old-fashioned customs, pastoral opera conventions, the "popularity of curates, the pose of aristocratic benevolence, and the inebriety of the working man" rather than the broad political satire that would feature in many of the later Savoy opera librettos. For example, "Sir Marmaduke, my dear young friend Alexis",
8772-703: 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
8901-413: The kind that has yet been placed on the stage". As with their previous opera, Trial by Jury , the integration of Gilbert's words and Sullivan's music was emphasised. The Times commented that "the music is spontaneous, appearing invariably to spring out of the dramatic situations, as though it was their natural concomitant"; The Musical Times mused that "it seems as if every composition had grown up in
9030-410: The lady. She follows his example, and while one sings a slow movement the other sings the presto movement alternatively". The Era called the quintet "the gem of the opera", because it is "written with delightful fluency and grace, is admirably harmonised, and the melody is as fresh as May dew." Punch argued that "the quintette and the old-fashioned duet with minuet step are the two best numbers" in
9159-477: The last role, that of the title character, John Wellington Wells, was filled by the comedian George Grossmith . Grossmith had appeared in charity performances of Trial by Jury , where both Sullivan and Gilbert had seen him (indeed, Gilbert had directed one such performance, in which Grossmith played the judge), and Gilbert had earlier commented favourably on his performance in Tom Robertson 's Society at
9288-452: The later Gilbert and Sullivan operas. It was their first opera to use all the major character types and typical range of songs that would appear in their later collaborations, such as comic duets, a patter song , a contrapuntal double chorus, a tenor and soprano love duet, a soprano showpiece and so forth. The modest success of The Sorcerer was overshadowed by the extraordinary popularity of Gilbert and Sullivan's later collaborations, and
9417-486: 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
9546-417: The lyric stage instead of being an erratic artist associated with Mr Howard Paul in 'musical and dramatic entertainments,' [she] would have taken the highest position as a contralto." Another contemporary critic considered that she had in fact achieved a high position: Never could the motto "A host in themselves" be more appropriately applied to any party than to this one. Not a hundred Christy minstrels, not
9675-509: 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,
9804-436: The mind of the author as he wrote the words"; and The Pall Mall Gazette called the union between composer and librettist "well-assorted", arguing that "the opera contains several very happily designed pieces, in which one cannot tell (and need not know) whether the merit of the original underlying idea belongs to the composer of the poem or to the author of the score". A dissenting voice was Figaro , which claimed that there
9933-425: The modern audience why a baronet cannot marry a pew-opener, while in the Victorian era it was self-evident. Also, the humour in the piece relies in many instances on parodies of operatic conventions that may be unfamiliar to some audiences. In 1913, E. J. Dent wrote in reference to The Sorcerer : "It seems as if a course of Mozart in English might be the best preliminary step towards educating our on-coming public to
10062-579: 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
10191-626: The next two decades, often on tour, both in Britain and America. She was popular for her musical impersonations of singers of the day. She also played in Victorian burlesque and other theatrical roles, among the best known of which was her Lady Macbeth at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1869. Various composers wrote songs for her to premiere. After The Sorcerer , Gilbert and Sullivan cast Mrs Paul in their next opera, H.M.S. Pinafore , but her vocal abilities had declined so much by that point that they cut parts of her role, and she resigned from
10320-456: 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
10449-722: The now much smaller role of Cousin Hebe. Meanwhile, Mrs Howard Paul had left her husband in around 1877, as he was having an affair with the actress-dancer Letty Lind , by whom he fathered two illegitimate children. His wife continued performing under her married name. Her last performance was in May 1879 in Sheffield as Mrs Denham in James Albery 's comedy The Crisis . On 1 June, a critic in The Era wrote, "We have rarely seen better acting … Mrs Howard Paul as Mrs Denham alone repays
10578-428: The ones explored in the more famous G&S works starting with H.M.S. Pinafore . The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company , which had exclusive rights to the opera in Britain, dropped The Sorcerer in 1901, and its principal repertory company did not play the piece again until 1916, after which it made its first professional London appearance in over twenty years in 1919. The company played the opera only intermittently during
10707-437: The opening night: Aline's aria "Oh, happy young heart", "My name is John Wellington Wells", the Act II quintet "I rejoice that it's decided" and Sir Marmaduke's and Lady Sangazure's duet "Welcome joy, adieu to sadness". The Observer called this duet "a masterpiece of construction. ... The Baronet sings to the accompaniment of a gavotte, and suddenly bursts forth into a rapid semi-quaver passage, expressive of his admiration of
10836-464: The opera have often mentioned both the opera's strong and weak points. Audrey Williamson wrote in a 1982 book that the virtues of The Sorcerer , "in spite of its defects ... justify its place in the repertoire." In 1996, Ian Bradley commented in the introduction to his annotated edition of the Gilbert and Sullivan libretti, "It will certainly be a great pity if it gradually fades away. The Sorcerer contains two of W. S. Gilbert's best-drawn characters,
10965-422: The opera remains one of the team's less popular ones. The satire in the piece concerns Victorian-era class distinctions and operatic conventions with which modern audiences are less familiar. Nevertheless, the opera was important to the development of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and is still regularly played. In 1871, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had written Thespis , an extravaganza for
11094-480: The opera to earlier sources. The concept of a love philtre was widespread in nineteenth century opera, and a philtre that causes people to fall in love with the first person whom they see is found in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . The idea of depicting the sorcerer as a respectable tradesman is comparable to the respectable friar in E. L. Blanchard 's 1863 burlesque , Harlequin and Friar Bacon , who
11223-431: 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
11352-488: The opera. Both revivals during the composer's lifetime were successful. The Times called the 1884 revival "distinctly a step in the right direction" and in 1898 the paper claimed that " The Sorcerer is very far from having exhausted its popularity". A review of the 1886 Australian production ranked the opera in "a middle place in Gilbert and Sullivan compositions. Abounding in tuneful numbers, one or two of which rank with anything that has come from Sir Arthur Sullivan's pen,
11481-554: The opera. A series of seven novels by Tom Holt concern young sorcerers who join the firm of "J. W. Wells & Co": The Portable Door (2003), In Your Dreams (2004), Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard (2005), You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps (2006), The Better Mousetrap (2008), May Contain Traces of Magic (2009) and Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages (2011). In Meet Mr Mulliner by P. G. Wodehouse ,
11610-491: 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
11739-465: The operas. One of the most important ones is the comic baritone's lightly orchestrated, rapid-fire patter song, which would become one of the most distinguishing and popular features of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Following Italian opera precedents, such as " Largo al factotum " from The Barber of Seville , these numbers juxtapose virtuosity in their speed of delivery (requiring clarity of elocution) with their often comic or satiric lyrics. In "My name
11868-458: The orchestration is thin compared with that of his later operas and its melodies have never taken the same popular hold as those of Pinafore , a work of about equal calibre from a musical point of view. ... The libretto is sparkling and pungent, and the idea of presenting a British bagman in the guise of a controller of demons and vendor of family curses is as happy a conception as any which has taken form on this modern stage". Later assessments of
11997-493: The outsider from London and Wells, resignedly, bids farewell and is swallowed up by the underworld in a burst of flames ("Or he or I must die"). The spell broken, the villagers pair off according to their true feelings, and celebrate with another feast (reprise of "Now to the banquet we press"). The Sorcerer opened on 17 November 1877 at the Opera Comique , preceded by Dora's Dream , a curtain-raiser composed by Sullivan's assistant Alfred Cellier , with words by Arthur Cecil ,
12126-479: 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
12255-400: The players under contract to the theatre where the work was produced, as had been the case with their earlier works. They chose talented actors, most of whom were not well-known stars; and so did not command high fees, and whom they felt they could mould to their own style. Then, they tailored their work to the particular abilities of these performers. Carte approached Mrs Howard Paul to play
12384-454: The potion themselves to seal their own love. Aline is hurt by his lack of trust and refuses, offending him ("Thou hast the power thy vaunted love"). Alexis is distracted, however, by the revelation that his upper-class father has fallen for the lower-class Mrs Partlet; he determines to make the best of this union ("I rejoice that it's decided"). Wells, meanwhile, is regretting the results that his magic has caused, and regrets them still more when
12513-420: The potion's power." Similarly, Aline drinks the potion in Act II, and falls insensible, but apparently awakes immediately to fall in love with Dr Daly, instead of falling asleep for twelve hours as the revisions would require. The following tables show the casts of the principal original productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to the company's 1982 closure: This role
12642-519: The production. Mrs Howard Paul was born as Isabella Hill at Dartford in Kent , the daughter of George Thomas Hill, a leather merchant. She was educated in France and Italy, and studied singing under the composer and teacher George French Flowers , whose biographer Louisa Middleton rates her as "perhaps his most distinguished" pupil. Under the name Isabella Featherstone she began her stage career as
12771-401: The proprietor of J. W. Wells & Co., Family Sorcerers, to brew a love potion . This causes everyone in the village to fall in love with the first person they see and results in the pairing of comically mismatched couples. In the end, Wells must sacrifice his life to break the spell. The opera opened on 17 November 1877 at the Opera Comique in London, where it ran for 178 performances. It
12900-415: The prose and poetical portions, displays remarkable facility in writing fanciful and witty dialogue; and the lively flow of Mr. Sullivan's music, always tuneful, bright, and sparkling, and frequently reaching a very high standard of excellence, could hardly fail to please." Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper called it "a very amusing work", and Reynolds's Newspaper proclaimed it "one of the best entertainments of
13029-415: 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
13158-515: The role of Lady Sangazure in the new opera. Mr and Mrs Howard Paul had operated a small touring company booked by Carte's agency for many years, but the couple had recently separated. She conditioned her acceptance of the part on the casting of her 24-year-old protege, Rutland Barrington . When Barrington auditioned before W. S. Gilbert , the young actor questioned his own suitability for comic opera , but Gilbert, who required that his actors play their sometimes-absurd lines in all earnestness, explained
13287-409: The run"). Gilbert made an effort to write an amusing part for her despite Sullivan's reluctance to use her, but her declining abilities were apparent, and cuts were made to her part. By mid-May 1878, both Gilbert and Sullivan wanted her out of the cast; unhappy with the cuts, Mrs Paul left the production. With only a week to go before opening night, Carte engaged the concert singer Jessie Bond to play
13416-534: The same time underlining their truth: "By laughing at a joke you show that you accept its premise." Theatrical critic Allardyce Nicoll compared J. W. Wells' speech about blessings being less popular than curses to Mr. Hen's satiric auction speech in The Historical Register for the Year 1736 by Henry Fielding . The characters in The Sorcerer have family names that characterise them. Pointdextre
13545-669: The same year she was Sir Launcelot de Lake (sic) in the Lancashire Witches, or the Knight and the Giants , a burlesque included as part of an entertainment that opened the Lyceum Theatre . In musical entertainments given by herself and her husband in 1860 and over the next 17 years in London and the provinces, Mrs Paul became a favourite for her impersonations of Henry Russell , Sims Reeves , and other popular singers of
13674-430: 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
13803-766: 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
13932-480: The soulful Dr Daly ... and the flashy but ultimately tragic figure of John Wellington Wells. Sir Arthur Sullivan's music is delightful and guaranteed to weave a magic spell over all those who hear it, if not actually to make them fall instantly in love with their next-door neighbours." The New York Times commented in 2012 that the plot "has not aged especially well. Its references to rank are dated beyond empathy’s reach; filled with sly allusions, its assumptions about
14061-568: The sterner traits ordinarily assigned the character." On the same evenings, she doubled in the role of Hecate in Macbeth . She then toured the provinces with a company of her own, playing a series of drawing-room entertainments. Among the characters that she portrayed through song were the bluestocking Miss Grym, the advocate of women's rights , and Jemimer Cobb ("cruelly deceived by the Footman who wore false whiskers"). In February 1870, she
14190-409: The subject of sneering caricature upon the stage", and Lewis Carroll wrote in his 1888 essay: Mr. Gilbert – to whom we owe a deep debt of gratitude for the pure and healthy fun he has given us in such comedies as "Patience" – seems to have a craze for making bishops and clergymen contemptible. Yet are they behind other professions in such things as earnestness, and hard work, and devotion of life to
14319-439: 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
14448-538: The title hero sings a fragment from Dr Daly's ballad and characterises his nephew as "the sort of young curate who seems to have been so common in the 'eighties, or whenever it was that Gilbert wrote The Sorcerer." It has also been referenced in popular TV series, such as in the Family Guy episode " Patriot Games ", where characters sing the song "If you'll marry me" from Act II. Comic opera Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By
14577-520: 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,
14706-430: The villagers awake and, under the influence of the potion, each falls in love with the first person of the opposite sex that they see ("Why, where be Oi"). All of the matches thus made are highly and comically unsuitable; Constance, for example, loves the ancient notary who performed the betrothal ("Dear friends, take pity on my lot"). However, Alexis is pleased with the results, and now asserts that he and Aline should drink
14835-535: 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
14964-483: Was a substitute for Aline's ballad, "Have faith in me" , which was present in the license copy but cut before the first night and absent from the published version of libretto. Some of the text was reused in "None shall part us" in Iolanthe . The second verse of Constance's Act I aria, "When he is here", was also cut during the original production. The Act I finale was shortened during the original production to omit
15093-424: Was an English actress, operatic singer and actress-manager of the Victorian era , best remembered for creating the role of Lady Sangazure in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Sorcerer (1877). Her stage career began in 1853 in London in ballad operas , such as The Beggar's Opera . In 1854 she married the American writer Henry Howard Paul , in whose comic entertainments the two performed for much of
15222-518: 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
15351-689: Was at once droll and vivacious". Henry Barton Baker, in his History of the London Stage and Its Famous Players , called her "A charming actress and a beautiful singer". Opinions differed on whether she had made the best use of her talents. Joseph Knight wrote in the Dictionary of National Biography : "Mrs Howard Paul was a woman of ability, whose talents were often frittered away in parts and occupations unworthy of them." A writer in The Athenaeum agreed, commenting that "had she adhered to
15480-589: Was cast as Margery in Thomas Arne 's Love in a Village at the Strand. The Era commented, "We take the opportunity of predicting for her much future success. She has an excellent voice and is by no means devoid of acting capabilities." After this, she played Lucy Lockit in The Beggar's Opera . The Era later reported, "Her dashing style and rich, powerful voice at once attracted attention and more important engagements rapidly followed at Drury Lane and
15609-454: Was considered a success by the standards of that time and encouraged the collaborators to write their next opera, H.M.S. Pinafore . The Sorcerer was revised for an 1884 revival, and that version is usually performed today. The Sorcerer was the first Savoy opera for which the author and composer had nearly total control over the production and the selection of cast. Several of the actors chosen went on to create principal roles in most of
15738-406: 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,
15867-410: Was nothing in The Sorcerer that could not have been written by "any theatrical conductor engaged at a few pounds a week". It also criticised Sullivan for wasting his talent on comic opera; such criticism would follow him through the rest of his career. Monthly Musical Record objected to the comic depiction of a clergyman, commenting that "the earnest, hard-working, and serious Clergy should not be made
15996-674: Was playing Drogan in Genevieve de Brabant in New York. She played the title role in H. B. Farnie 's burlesque Little Gil Blas at the Princess's Theatre, London from December 1870. In 1871 she and her husband were living in Liverpool when not on tour; both their occupations were listed as "Musical Artiste" in the census. She was Mistigris in Babil and Bijou by Dion Boucicault at
16125-402: Was present in the first production. The opera was extensively revised for the 1884 revival. An overture was arranged by Sullivan's assistant, Hamilton Clarke , to replace Sullivan's "graceful dance" from his incidental music to Henry VIII . The length of time between the acts was altered from a half-hour to twelve hours, and the Act II opening was rewritten. Act II originally started off with
16254-582: Was revived in 1884, the first of Gilbert and Sullivan's full-length operas to be revived. Its second London revival in 1898 came sooner than any other Savoy opera except for The Mikado . The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company generally played Trial by Jury as a companion piece with the opera. In America, The Sorcerer was played as early as 1879 by the Adah Richmond Comedy Opera Troupe at Boston 's Gaiety Theatre . In Australia, its first authorised production opened on 22 May 1886 at
16383-555: Was sorting out the problems with The Ne'er-do-Weel , a piece he wrote for Edward Sothern . Meanwhile, Sullivan was writing the incidental music to Henry VIII ; only after its premiere on 28 August did he begin working on The Sorcerer . The opening was originally scheduled for 1 November 1877; however, the first rehearsals took place on 27 October, and the title role of J. W. Wells was filled just before that time. The Sorcerer finally opened at Opera Comique on 17 November 1877. The villagers of Ploverleigh are preparing to celebrate
16512-491: Was the emphasis of a single syllable to distinguish otherwise identical lines. For example, in the vicar's Act I song, the same melody is sung in each of the two stanzas using the following text: In the second, the syllable trem has an optional high note to give it a unique character. Several ideas from The Sorcerer were reused in later Savoy operas. Many images from "Have faith in me" , Aline's cut ballad, are present in "None shall part us" in Iolanthe . Another example
16641-685: 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
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