| The Gondoliers |
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''The Gondoliers'' was Gilbert and Sullivan's last great success. In this opera, Gilbert returns to the satire of class distinctions figuring in many of his earlier librettos. The libretto also reflects Gilbert's fascination with the "Stock Company Act", highlighting the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities, which plays an even larger part in the next opera, '' Utopia Limited ''. As in several of their earlier operas, by setting the work comfortably far away from mother England, Gilbert was emboldened to direct sharper criticism at the nobility and the institution of the monarchy itself. BACKGROUND Genesis of the opera ''The Gondoliers'' was preceded by the most serious of the Gilbert And Sullivan collaborations, '' The Yeomen Of The Guard ''. On January 9 1889 , three months into that opera's fourteen-month run, Sullivan informed the librettist that he "wanted to do some dramatic work on a larger musical scale", that he "wished to get rid of the ''strongly marked rhythm'', and ''rhymed'' couplets, and have words that would have a chance of developing ''musical effects''."Jacobs, p. 287 Gilbert counselled strongly that the partnership should continue on its former course: :I have thought carefully over your letter, and while I quite understand and sympathize with your desire to write what, for want of a better term, I suppose we must call 'grand opera,' I cannot believe that it would succeed either at the Savoy or at Carte's new theatre.... Moreover, to speak from my own selfish point of view, such an opera would afford me no chance of doing what I best do — the librettist of a grand opera is always swamped in the composer. Anybody — Hersee, Farnie , Reece — can write a good libretto for such a purpose; personally, I should be lost in it. Again, the success of the ''Yeoman'' {Link without Title} — which is a step in the direction of serious opera — has not been so convincing as to warrant us in assuming that the public want something more earnest still.Jacobs, p. 287 On March 12, Sullivan responded, "I have lost the liking for writing comic opera, and entertain very grave doubts as to my power of doing it.... You say that in a serious opera, ''you'' must more or less sacrifice yourself. I say that this is just what I have been doing in all our joint pieces, and, what is more, must continue to do in comic opera to make it successful."Jacobs, p. 288 A series of increasingly acrimonious letters followed over the ensuing weeks, with Sullivan laying down new terms for the collaboration, and Gilbert insisting that he had always bent over backwards to comply with the composer's musical requirements. Gilbert tried to encourage his collaborator: :You say that our operas are Gilbert's pieces with music added by you.... I say that when you deliberately assert that for 12 years you, incomparably the greatest English musician of the age — a man whose genius is a proverb wherever the English tongue is spoken — a man who can deal ''en prince'' with operatic managers, singers, music publishers and musical societies — when you, who hold this unparalleled position, deliberately state that you have submitted silently and uncomplainingly for 12 years to be extinguished, ignored, set aside, rebuffed, and generally effaced by your librettist, you grievously reflect, not upon him, but upon yourself and the noble art of which you are so eminent a professor.Jacobs, p. 291 Gilbert offered a compromise that Sullivan ultimately accepted — that the composer would write a light opera for the Savoy, and a grand opera ('' Ivanhoe '') for a new theatre that Carte was constructing for that purpose. Sullivan's acceptance came with the proviso that "we are thoroughly agreed upon the subject." Gilbert suggested an opera based on a theatrical company, which Sullivan rejected (though a version of it would be resurrected in 1896 as '' The Grand Duke ''), but he accepted an idea "connected with Venice and Venetian life, and this seemed to me to hold out great chances of bright colour and taking music. Can you not develop this with something we can both go into with warmth and enthusiasm and thus give me a subject in which (like the ''Mikado'' and ''Patience'') we can both be interested....?"Jacobs, p. 294 Gilbert set to work on the new libretto by the early summer of 1889, and by the mid-summer Sullivan had started composing Act I. Gilbert provided Sullivan with alternative lyrics for many passages, allowing the composer to choose which ones he preferred. The long opening number (more than fifteen minutes of continuous music) was the librettist's idea, and it gave Sullivan the opportunity to establish the mood of the work through music. They worked all summer and autumn, with a successful opening on December 7 1889 . Press accounts were almost entirely favourable, and the opera enjoyed a run longer than any of their other joint works except for '' H.M.S. Pinafore '' and '' The Mikado ''. Sullivan's old collaborator on '' Cox And Box '' (and the editor of '' Punch ''), F. C. Burnand , wrote, "Magnificento!...I envy you and W.S.G. being able to place a piece like this on the stage in so complete a fashion."Baily, p. 344 Reaction of the press and public Leslie Baily notes, "The bubbling, champagne-quality of the libretto brought out the gayest Sullivan, and the Italian setting called up a warm, southern response from his own ancestry. The ''Graphic'' (14 December, 1889) pointed out that the music contains not only an English idiom but 'the composer has borrowed from France the stately Gavotte , from Spain the Andalusian cachucha, from Italy the Saltarello and the Tarantella , and from Venice itself the Venetian Barcarolle '."Baily, p. 342 Of Gilbert's contribution, the ''Illustrated London News'' reported, "Mr. W. S. Gilbert has returned to the Gilbert of the past, and everyone is delighted. He is himself again. The Gilbert of ''The Bab Ballads '', the Gilbert of whimsical conceit, inoffensive cynicism, subtle satire, and playful paradox; the Gilbert who invented a school of his own, who in it was schoolmaster and pupil, who has never taught anybody but himself, and is never likely to have any imitator—this is the Gilbert the public want to see, and this is the Gilbert who on Saturday night was cheered till the audience was weary of cheering any more."Baily, p. 344 There was a command performance of ''The Gondoliers'' for Queen Victoria and the royal family at Windsor Castle in 1891, the first such performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be so honoured. End of G&S's golden era ''The Gondoliers'' was Gilbert and Sullivan's last big hit. During the run of the opera, the partners became embroiled in . Gilbert brought legal action against his partners, and it would be four years before Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated again. In neither of their last two works together, '' Utopia Limited '' (1893) and '' The Grand Duke '' (1896), were they able to reproduce the popularity of their earlier collaborations. ROLES
SYNOPSIS Act I The scene opens in Venice with twenty-four young maidens declaring their passionate love for a pair of Gondolier s, Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri. These two gondoliers are so gallant and peerless in their manly beauty that the maidens are waiting for them to select brides before they can consider other suitors. The male chorus of merry gondoliers enters, saying that they adore the young ladies, but the ladies explain that the two brothers must choose first. When the Palmieri brothers enter, the ladies present them with flowers. The two gondoliers amiably offer to pick their two brides in a game of blind man's buff. "As all are young and fair, and amiable besides", they feel it would be unfair to show any favouritism. They appear to be cheating by peeking out from under their blindfolds, however. Eventually, from the crowd of twenty-four maidens, Giuseppe picks Tessa, and Marco picks Gianetta – "Just the very girl I wanted!" (although the two then politely offer to switch girls). All leave to go to church for the double wedding. as The Grand Inquisitor]]His Grace the Duke of Plaza Toro (Count Matadoro, Baron Picadoro), Her Grace the Duchess, their beautiful daughter Casilda, and their drummer boy, Luiz, now arrive in Venice from Spain. They have come to meet Don Alhambra del Bolero, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who has summoned them to Venice. As Luiz goes to announce the Duke's presence, the Duke and Duchess tell their daughter a secret that they have kept for twenty years — when she was only six months old, she was married to the infant son and heir of the King of Barataria (a fictional island kingdom -- in '' Don Quixote '', Sancho becomes the governor of an island called Barataria). She is indignant, since the union was conducted without her knowledge. Also, as we soon discover, she is secretly in love with Luiz. However, the infant prince was stolen from his home by the Grand Inquisitor after the king of Barataria became a Wesleyan Methodist "of the most bigoted and persecuting type", and taken to Venice. The King of Barataria was recently killed in an insurrection, and the lost prince is now king. As the wife of the new king, Casilda is now the reigning queen of Barataria, and her parents have brought her to meet with the Grand Inquisitor to be introduced to her husband. Left alone together, Casilda breaks this news to Luiz, and they resign themselves to a life forever apart, with only their happy memories to comfort them. When the Grand Inquisitor enters, he explains that the prince was raised by Baptisto Palmieri, a humble gondolier, who had a young son of his own about the same age. The gondolier was a drunkard and eventually forgot which boy was his own son and which boy was the prince of Barataria. The two boys (Marco and Giuseppe) grew up and now were both gondoliers themselves. Fortunately, the nurse who took care of the infant prince (and who happens to be Luiz's mother), is now living in the mountains, married to "a highly respectable brigand". Don Alhambra says that he has located her and that she will be able to reveal which of the two gondoliers is the lost prince. If not, he says, "then the persuasive influence of the torture chamber will jog her memory." In the next scene, the two gondoliers have married Tessa and Gianetta, and as they are extolling the virtues of marriage, Don Alhambra arrives and informs them that one of them is the King of Barataria, but no one knows which. Despite being Republicans, the gondoliers and their new wives are delighted, and agree to go to Barataria at once, acting as one individual until the actual king is identified. The Grand Inquisitor tells them, however, that ladies are not admitted until the actual king is identified, and then each couple can be reunited. The Grand Inquisitor neglects to mention that the King is married to Casilda, fearing that it would cause the men to refuse to leave their new wives. As the two wives are imagining what it will be like to be a queen, their friends enter, and Marco and Giuseppe announce their discovery and promise to reign in a Republican fashion. They announce that in their kingdom, "All shall equal be" and will create new posts such as "the Lord High Coachman on the Box, the Lord High Vagabond in the Stocks". All the men then set sail for Barataria, leaving their wives behind in Venice. Act II In Barataria, the chorus of gondoliers are enjoying living under "a monarchy that's tempered with Republican equality". It turns out that Marco and Giuseppe have in fact been doing all the work around the palace for the past three months - it is the privilege of royalty! They are happy enough with this arrangement, except that they are worried about having to share a single portion of rations between the two of them, and they miss their wives. Soon, however, all the ladies arrive, having risked the long sea voyage from Venice -- they could no longer stand the separation. In delight, the reunited couples have a magnificent banquet and a dance (a cachucha). The Grand Inquisitor arrives at the ball and inquires why he saw unimportant servants dancing. Realising that the Republican gondoliers have promoted everyone to the nobility, he explains that there must be some a distinction between commoners and those of rank, because "when ''everyone'' is somebody, then no-one's ''anybody''". He then breaks the news that one of the gondoliers had married Casilda when a baby and therefore is an unintentional Bigamist . The gondoliers attempt to console their wives, who are distraught to discover that neither one will be queen, and that one is married to someone who was already married. The Duke and Duchess of Plaza Toro soon arrive with the beautiful Casilda. They are now dressed in style, and the Duke explains how he was applied for by the public under the Limited Liability Company Act, and how they now earn a very good living. Appalled, however, at the lack of pomp and ceremony with which they were received, he attempts to educate the two monarchs in proper royal behaviour. After a lesson in etiquette, the two Palmieri brothers are left alone with Casilda. She agrees to be an obedient wife, but warns them that she is "over head and ears in love with someone else." Seizing this opportunity, the two men introduce their wives. The three ladies and two men sing a quintet about their unprecedented predicament. Don Alhambra brings in the nurse who had tended the infant prince of Barataria twenty years ago. She reveals that when the Grand Inquisitor came to steal the prince, she had loyally hidden him away, and given Don Alhambra her own young son instead. Thus, the king is neither Marco nor Giuseppe, but her own son, Luiz. This resolves the romantic entanglements to everyone's satisfaction. Casilda finds that she is already married to the man she loves, Luiz. The two gondoliers surrender their crown to Luiz and, though a bit disappointed that neither will be a king, they can return happily to Venice with their wives. There is a final dance for the full company, reprising the gondoliers' Act I duet and the cachucha. MUSICAL NUMBERS
;Act I
;Act II
PRODUCTIONS ''The Gondoliers'' was immediately a hit in London, playing for 554 performances, the fourth longest of the series (after '' The Mikado '', '' H.M.S. Pinafore '' and '' Patience ''). D'Oyly Carte's "E" Company mounted the first provincial production on February 19 1890 in Preston .Rollins and Witts, p. 75. From then on, it was never absent from the touring repertory until it was dropped in the final two seasons (September 1980–February 1982) before the closing of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. The opera fared less well in New York. It opened at the New Park Theatre on January 7 1890 and was immediately panned. Gilbert "refused to indorse {Link without Title} the company sent to New York... because he considered the company a 'scratch' one."1 Carte himself came to New York to investigate, brought in replacements for most of the cast, and remounted the production at a new theatre. However, the damage was done, and the production ran for just 103 performances in total. New York press dubbed the opera "the gone-dollars."Baily, p. 347. The first production on the European continent was given at the Theater An Der Wien , Vienna (as ''Die Gondoliere'') on September 20 1890 .Gänzl, p. 384. The first non-D'Oyly Carte professional production in the United Kingdom was given by Scottish Opera on December 12 1968 , with Ian Wallace as the Duke.Gänzl, p. 385. There was also a production by the New Sadler's Wells Opera in February 1984, with John Fryatt as the Duke and Donald Adams as Don Alhambra.Gänzl, p. 385. The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime: HISTORICAL CASTING The following tables show the casts of the principal early productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to the company's 1982 closure. The roles of Ottavio and the Drummer Boy were credited only in the original production. Notable casting substitutions are shown for the first New York production; otherwise, only first-night casts are shown. NOTES REFERENCES
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