Iolanthe
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Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas. It was first produced in London at the Savoy Theatre, on 25 November 1882.
Image:Gilbert and Sullivan Iolanthe.jpg
Iolanthe was an occasion for what must have seemed a truly magical event in 1882. The Savoy Theatre was the first theatre in the world to be wired for electricity, and such stunning special effects as sparkling fairy wands were possible. It was true enchantment for the audiences (but although Iolanthe was the first production to open at the newly illuminated Savoy, Patience had previously transferred there).
Although titled Iolanthe all along in Gilbert's plot book (Tillet et al 1982, p. 5), for a time the piece was advertised as Perola. According to an often-repeated story, Gilbert and Sullivan didn't change the name to Iolanthe until just before the première:
- At the final rehearsal of Iolanthe at the Savoy, Sullivan addressed the assembled company: 'Ladies and gentlemen. You have been rehearsing Perola but when the curtain goes up the opera will be called Iolanthe. Will you please change the name Perola to Iolanthe throughout. (Baily 1952, p. 209).
In fact, the title was advertised as Iolanthe as early as November 13, 1882 – eleven days before the opening – so the cast had at least that much time to learn the name. It is also clear that Sullivan's musical setting was written to match the cadence of the word "Iolanthe," and could only accommodate the word "Perola" by preceding it (awkwardly) with "O", "Come" or "Ah". (Tillett et al 1982, pp. 6–7).
Much of Sullivan's "fairy" music pays deliberate homage to the incidental music written by Felix Mendelssohn for a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The music for the fairies also makes references to the music of other composers, including Richard Wagner. Iolanthe is, of course, more than just a fairy tale, but is a political satire, and even more significantly, a legal satire of the kind Gilbert excelled in.
Captain (later Sir) Eyre Massey Shaw, to whom the Fairy Queen refers in the second act ("Oh, Captain Shaw/Type of true love kept under/Could thy brigade with cold cascade/Quench my great love, I wonder"), was head of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. He was present at the first night of Iolanthe, and the words were directed at him by Alice Barnett as the Fairy Queen, to the great delight of the audience.
There is also an opera with a similar name (Iolanta) by Tchaikovsky.
Contents |
Roles
- The Lord Chancellor (comic baritone)
- Earl of Mountararat (baritone)
- Earl Tolloller (tenor)
- Private Willis, of the Grenadier Guards (bass)
- Strephon, an Arcadian Shepherd (baritone)
- Queen of the Fairies (contralto)
- Iolanthe, a Fairy, Strephon's mother (mezzo-soprano)
- Celia, a Fairy (soprano)
- Leila, a Fairy (mezzo-soprano)
- Fleta, a Fairy (speaking/chorus)
- Phyllis, an Arcadian Shepherdess and Ward in Chancery (soprano)
- Chorus of Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons and Fairies
Synopsis
Act I
Iolanthe, the Mistress of fairy revels, who arranged all the fairy dances and songs, fell in love with a mortal human and married him in secret. However, among fairies such a marriage was forbidden, and Iolanthe was banished to live at the bottom of a stream (notably filled with frogs). As a result of the pleading of several of the fairies, after the passage of many years, the Queen of the Fairies agrees to pardon the Iolanthe for her past sin and restores her place among her kind.
Iolanthe rises from the frog-infested stream that has been her home in exile, and is warmly greeted by the other fairies. She tells them that she has a son, a half-fairy, half-human named Strephon ("He's a fairy down to the waist, but his legs are mortal"). When the fairies depart, Iolanthe meets with Strephon, who is a handsome shepherd boy. He tells her joyously of his love for the Lord Chancellor's current ward of court, beautiful Phyllis. Strephon is despondent, however, as the Lord Chancellor has forbidden them to marry – partly because he feels Strephon is unsuitable for Phyllis, but partly he himself wishes to marry Phyllis. In fact, so do half the members of the House of Lords. Soon after, Phyllis, an innocent (but seductive) young shepherdess, comes into the glen, and she and Strephon share a moment of tenderness as they plan their future.
A cadre of the peers of the realm arrive. They are all, it turns out, completely smitten with Phyllis, and have appealed to the Lord Chancellor to settle the matter and decide who will have her. They send for Phyllis to choose one of their number, but she declares that she won't marry anyone but Strephon. The peers are unhappy at her rejection, and beg her not to scorn them simply because their blood is too blue. Strephon approaches the Lord Chancellor, but he gives the youth a contrived legalistic reason why their marriage is out of the question.
Disappointed, Strephon calls on Iolanthe for help; she appears, and promises to support him in every way. By chance, two of the Peers — the brainless Lord Tolloller and the stuffy Lord Mountararat — are vainly pursuing Phyllis, and three of them stumble upon Iolanthe and Strephon in a warm embrace. All three jump to the obvious conclusion, observing that the centuries-old Iolanthe appears no older than a girl of seventeen. The Peers and Phyllis are convinced that Strephon is cheating on her, and scoff at the seemingly-absurd claim that Iolanthe is Strephon's mother. Phyllis is angry and hurt, and loudly rejects Strephon for this "infidelity". The Peers just laugh and make rude jokes, and even the Lord Chancellor comes to chide Strephon for his unseemly behavior. Strephon, unable to adequately explain himself ("She is, has been, my mother from my birth,"), at last calls for help from the fairies. They appear on cue, but are mistaken by the Peers for a girls' school on an outing. Highly offended, the Fairy Queen pronounce a curse upon the Peers: Strephon shall not only become a Member of Parliament, but will be able to get any bill he proposes passed. He is to be the instrument of fairy vengeance, disrupting Parliament and causing trouble. Phyllis furiously declares she will marry either Lord Tolloller or Lord Mountararat ("...one of you two, and I don't care which!) The curtain closes with all and sundry in a state of despair and confusion.
Act II
The fairies have come to Westminster for the express purpose of mercilessly teasing the unhappy Peers, who are being tormented daily by the dealings and pronouncements of M.P. Strephon. Furthermore, they have become very much attracted to the peers, whom they find handsome and delightful. The fairy Queen is dismayed by this, but it seems that she herself is somewhat smitten with Private Willis of the First Grenadier Guards, who is the sentry on duty.
The fairies have come to oversee Strephon's rising career, and to encourage the trouble he is causing in Parliament. As the Fairy Queen threatened in Act I, Strephon is advancing a bill to open the peerage to competitive examination. As he now "leads the House of Commons", he has presumably risen to become Prime Minister, or at least Leader of the House of Commons if the Prime Minister is one of the half of the House of Peers who was not pestering Phyllis! On top of this, Phyllis cannot seem to decide which of the two selected Peers she wishes to marry as she really doesn't want to marry either of them. The two peers eventually decide that their friendship is more important than fighting over a girl who won't make up her mind, and so the Lord Chancellor proposes to settle the question by marrying Phyllis himself. This plan that evokes horror from Strephon, but more so from Iolanthe — for the Lord chancellor is also her own beloved husband whom she was forced to abandon in his youth, pretending to be dead. To save Strephon from losing his love, and the Lord Chancellor from bigamy, Iolanthe decides to break her word to the Fairy Queen and reveal to the Lord Chancellor that she is his own wife, she is still alive, and that Strephon is his son.
This revelation triggers a flood of change of heart. The Lord Chancellor is delighted to find his beloved wife alive once again. Phyllis finally believes that Iolanthe truly is Strephon's mother, and is reunited with him. The Fairy Queen, on the other hand, is not happy. Iolanthe has betrayed the conditions of her pardon by returning to her human husband, and the Fairy Queen and is now left with no choice but to punish Iolanthe with death. She is distressed when the rest of her fairy court informs her that they've chosen husbands from among the Peers, themselves. The Lord Chancellor suggests a solution: change the law so that fairy ladies must marry mortals. The Fairy Queen, who never wanted to kill Iolanthe anyway, cheerfully agrees and proposes successfully to her handsome soldier, Private Willis, while the peers agree to join the fairy ranks. Presumably they all live happily ever after, and they all sprout wings and leave together to live in fairyland.
Musical numbers
- Overture
Act I
- 1. "Tripping hither, tripping thither" (Celia, Leila, and Chorus of Fairies)
- 2. "Iolanthe from thy dark exile" (Queen, Iolanthe, Celia, Leila, and Chorus of Fairies)
- 3. "Good-morrow, good mother" (Strephon and Chorus of Fairies)
- 4. "Fare thee well, attractive stranger" (Queen and Chorus of Fairies)
- 4a. "Good-morrow, good lover" (Phyllis and Strephon)
- 5. "None shall part us" (Phyllis and Strephon)
- 6. "Loudly let the trumpet bray" (Chorus of Peers)
- 7. "The law is the true embodiment" (Lord Chancellor and Chorus of Peers)
- 8. "My well-loved Lord" (Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, and Lord Mountararat)
- 9. "Nay, tempt me not" (Phyllis)
- 10. "Spurn not the nobly born" (Lord Tolloller and Chorus of Peers)
- 11. "My lords, it may not be" (Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, Strephon, Lord Chancellor, and Chorus of Peers)
- 12. "When I went to the Bar" (Lord Chancellor)
- 13. "When darkly looms the day" (Phyllis, Iolanthe, Queen, Leila, Celia, Strephon, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, Lord Chancellor, and Chorus of Fairies and Peers)
Act II
- 14. "When all night long a chap remains" (Private Willis)
- 15. "Strephon's a member of Parliament" (Chorus of Fairies and Peers)
- 16. "When Britain really ruled the waves" (Lord Mountararat and Chorus)
- 17. "In vain to us you plead" (Leila and Celia with Chorus of Fairies, Lord Mountararat and Lord Tolloller with Chorus of Peers)
- 18. "Oh, foolish fay" (Queen with Chorus of Fairies)
- 19. "Tho' p'r'aps I may incur thy blame" (Phyllis, Lord Mountararat, Lord Tolloller, and Private Willis)
- 20. "Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest" (Lord Chancellor)
- 21. "If you go in you're sure to win" (Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, and Lord Chancellor)
- 22. "If we're weak enough to tarry" (Phyllis and Strephon)
- 23. "My lord, a suppliant at your feet" (Iolanthe)
- 24. "It may not be" (Lord Chancellor, Iolanthe, and Chorus of Fairies)
- 25. "Soon as we may, off and away" (Ensemble)
Deleted songs
- 18a. "De Belleville was regarded as the Crichton of his age" (Mountararat) appeared soon after Mountararat's entry after Phyllis's comment about Strephon going about with a mother younger than himself. After a short dialogue about how people become peers, Mountararat sings a song about De Belville, a polymath whose talents ranged from painting to literature to inventions. Government was at a loss as to how to reward him – until he inherited millions and obtained a seat in Parliament and "a taste for making inconvenient speeches in the House". He was promptly rewarded by being removed from that House by being given a peerage. The song, which is long and must have slowed down the action considerably, was cut soon after the first night. In fact, according to Reginald Allen's The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan, it was not actually sung on the first night, but rather recited, and the middle stanza omitted.
- 21a. "Fold your flapping wings" (Strephon) was sung on the first night and cut soon after. It appeared immediately after #21 and a short recitative given to Strephon. It was a dark song, suggesting that the only difference between the classes was circumstance.