Introduction

The operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan are much loved and treasured musical gems from a bygone era. They are as popular now as they ever were when written over a century ago - as can be seen by the clamour for tickets, the enthusiasm of audiences and the dedication of amateur societies in London, the provinces and around the world. At the time of writing this particular review I was delighted to have seen a production of “Ruddigore” by the local Gilbert and Sullivan Society in Tynemouth that month.

Depending on your definitions there are fourteen titles in the catalogue (including the now lost “Thespis”). The most popular of the ‘big five’ – and those now most frequently performed – are “The Mikado”, “HMS Pinafore”, “The Gondoliers”, “Pirates of Penzance” and “Iolanthe”. Themes from these operas still have the effect of getting toes tapping and promoting whistling whenever they are played.

The plot

“The Gondoliers” is an opera in two acts. Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri are the eponymous heroes of the title. They are also fervent republicans. The opening of the first act takes place in the main square in Venice where their compatriots and the local girls gather together to choose their partners and future spouses. Marco has already taken a fancy to Gianetta; Giuseppe to Tessa. After much merriment and dancing, the couples pair off and leave to get married. While this matchmaking is going on, an impoverished Spanish nobleman, the Duke of Plaza-Toro arrives with his entourage (his wife, daughter – Casilda – and his personal drummer-boy Luiz). He has come to visit Don Alhambra Del Bolero, the Grand Inquistitor. Casilda was married by proxy as a baby to the infant prince of the King of Barataria (an island monarchy somewhere in the Mediterranean) and the Duke has learned that the king has been killed in an insurrection. Casilda knew none of this and is secretly in love with Luiz.

The plot now thickens. Don Alhambra reveals that to preserve the monarchy, he stole away the baby prince and fostered him with an old gondolier (Palmieri) who brought him up as his own son. Unfortunately before he died, the old man did not reveal which of the sons was the true prince. Consequently Casilda does not know who she is married to. However, Don Alhambra believes that their old nurse (who also happens to be Luiz’s mother) can tell the Gondoliers apart. At this point, he announces the dilemma to the newly married couples and tells them that one of them is the king and is also a bigamist. He instructs Marco and Giuseppe to embark for Barataria where they must assume the throne and rule together until the true identity can be revealed. They can take their male colleagues with them but must leave their brides and the other women behind in Venice. He also sends Luiz off to the mountains to seek out his mother who is living with a band of brigands.

Act Two begins in the Court of Barataria. The royal pair are running the country as a republican monarchy. Everyone has been raised to equal status (Lord High Chancellor, Lord High Kitchen Maid etc) and the dual kings have taken over the servants’ quarters and spend their time carrying out the menial chores. Everyone agrees that theirs is a pleasant existence but there is very little excitement. The girls of Venice decide to break the embargo and go off to join their menfolk taking Tessa and Gianetta with them to Barataria. This leads to great celebrations and more dancing. Don Alhambra arrives to break up the party with the Duke of Plaza-Toro and retinue in tow. Casilda is now introduced to Marco and Giuseppe, only for Tessa and Gianetta to realise that neither of them will be queen. Luiz’s mother is produced to explain the mystery. She reveals that she swapped her own infant son for the prince and it was her son that was handed on to old Palmieri. Therefore Luiz is the true prince and the real King of Barataria. Casilda is delighted that she can take her place as the queen on her true love. Marco and Giuseppe are delighted to be able to return to their more humble republican gondolieri roles and their wives.

Gilbert and Sullivan history

The prior operetta, “Yeomen Of The Guard”, was more serious in its plot and closer to grand opera than their previous collaborations. Sullivan had become increasingly frustrated playing what he believed to be a subsidiary role writing the music for Gilbert’s plots. He yearned for success as a composer of “high brow” classical works but was keenly aware that the Savoy works were his bread and butter and financed his rather extravagant lifestyle. At the time that the “Yeomen” run was winding down, Richard D’Oyly Carte (who had completed the Savoy Theatre and the Savoy Hotel) was planning a new venture – an English Grand Opera House. Encouraged by Queen Victoria herself, Sullivan was prompted to write a formal opera (“Ivanhoe”) to commemorate the opening. He was also increasingly suffering from ill-health, particularly with kidney stones, and took himself off to the Mediterranean to recuperate.

Gilbert was fearful of losing his co-writer but was certain that the public wanted lighter music. Sullivan retorted: ‘If the result means a return to our former style of piece I say at once and with deep regret I cannot do it.’. To Carte, he demanded more control over the stage direction and of the previous collaboration, remarked: ‘They are Gilbert’s pieces with music added by me.’ Gilbert sent a draft of the new opera to Sullivan when the latter had just left Venice. He liked the plot and the musical potential of Italian settings. Consequently during 1889, Sullivan was writing two operas – “The Gondoliers” and “Ivanhoe” – concurrently.

The background

Gilbert borrowed the original plot for “The Gondoliers” from a history of Republicans in Venice in the fifteenth century, updated to the 1700s. The concept of Republicanism was particularly alien to English society at the end of the nineteenth century basking as it was in the splendour of Victorian monarchy. This was the land of the Whigs and Tories, Gladstone and Disraeli. The Labour Party had been founded only the year before by Kier Hardie and female suffrage was another thirty years off.

Gilbert later was to recount an incident in his own life which was also woven into the plot. When he was a baby of two, his family were living in Naples. He was kidnapped from his nanny while being pushed in a buggy by two bandits. He was subsequently ransomed by his father for £25.

“The Gondoliers” opened at the Savoy Theatre, London on December 7th 1889 and was acclaimed as a musical triumph. One newspaper noted: ‘The chorus wore comparatively short skirts for the first time and the gratifying fact is revealed to a curious world that the Savoy chorus are a very well-legged lot’. It ran until the Summer of 1891, a total of 554 performances.

Continued in column 2...

Page added - December 21st 2005
Last updated - April 27th 2019

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The songs

The lively overture introduces the main themes of the opera. There then follows a long (by light opera standards) fully choral introduction lasting some twenty minutes. Song and the dance routines play a larger part in the performance, no doubt reflecting Gilbert’s acquiescence to Sullivan’s demands for grander operatic themes. This does place greater demands on the diction of the performers and the acoustics of the theatre to introduce the story and enable the audience to understand what is going on.

Songs of particular note are:

“We’re Called Gondolieri, But That’s A Vagary” – Marco and Giuseppe
“In Enterprise Of Marshall Kind” – Duke of Plaza-Toro patter song
“When A Merry Maiden Marries” – Tessa
“Then One Of Us Will Be A Queen” (“Oh Tis A Glorious Thing I Ween To Be A Regular Royal Queen”) – Quartet: Marco, Giuseppe, Gianetta, Tessa
“Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes” – Marco
“Dance A Cachuca” – the whole ensemble. (Includes a wild Italian dance)
“I Am A Courtier Grave And Serious” – Gavotte with Duke, Duchess, Casilda, Marco and Giuseppe.

The words and music of these songs are to be found on the Web Opera Pages of the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
(Clicking on the midi file on that page should open your media player and start the melody. To return here close the media player and then press the [BACK] button of your browser)

Stage performances

My grandfather, George Cook, sang the role of Marco in the Leicester Amateur Dramatic and Music Society performance at the Royal Opera House, Leicester during the 1920s. Two superb full plate colourised framed portraits of him in full costume remain – one with my sister and the other with me.

It was a long time coming but I have finally seen a live performance of “The Gondoliers”!. It has been part of the 2003 touring season by the Carl Rosa Opera Company and was staged at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Other resources

This two-disc box CD set is part of the complete set of operas recorded by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and released by DECCA originally on vinyl in the 1960s. This recording is without the spoken dialogue. It features many of the stalwarts of the Company.

John Reed takes great delight in his comedy role of the Duke of Plaza-Toro and shows his skills in the patter songs. The other soloists are in good voice and the orchestra is in its usual sparkling form.

Amazon.com has also provided excerpts from all the tracks of this CD set in either Windows Media or RealOne Player format: “The Gondoliers" at Amazon.com

THE GONDOLIERS - Gilbert & Sullivan (1961)

The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company

The New Symphony Orchestra of London: Conducted by Isidore Godfrey.
Soloists: John Reed (The Duke of Plaza-Toro); Jeffrey Skitch (Luiz)
Thomas Round (Marco); Alan Styler (Guiseppe)
Gillian Knight (The Duchess of Plaza-Toro); Jennifer Toye (Casilda)
Kenneth Sandford (Don Alhambra); Joyce Wright (Tessa)
CD: LONDON 417254-2

LIBRETTO

The Gondoliers or The King Of Barataria
International Music Publications Ltd. £ 4.99

THE VIDEO

“The Gondoliers” is the last of the operettas to feature in the series of specially staged productions (originally by the BBC in 1982) which is now offered both as a series of single DVDs and as a boxed set from Amazon (America). These are currently available only as Region 1 discs. As far as I am aware there is no other complete set of performances of the operas.

As before, the cast is made up of professional vocalists and guest artists supported by the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra. Eric Shilling plays the Duke of Plaza-Toro and, although taking the tempo at a relatively slow pace makes a good effort with the character and the patter songs. Keith Michell, making his third appearance in the series, is the Grand Inquisitor – Don Alhambra.

As with the rest of the series Douglas Fairbanks Junior introduces each act with a short anecdote. There is also a “Life and Times Of Gilbert and Sullivan” storyboard on the DVD.

THE GONDOLIERS Acorn Media DVD AMP5343

Footnote

The first version of this article originally appeared on CIAO on April 2nd 2003.

References

1. Sir Arthur Sullivan Wikipedia
2. W.S. Gilbert Wikipedia
3. Marco and Giuseppe (2003): The Carl Rosa Opera Company
4. Casilda and the Duchess (2003): The Carl Rosa Opera Company
5. The Duke and Duchess (2003): The Carl Rosa Opera Company
6. First Production Poster: Savoy Theatre, London, December 7th 1889:
"Gilbert and Sullivan Down Under": Mel's Gilbert and Sullivan Site
7. Thomas Round and Alan Styler (1961): The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive

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