The Contrabandista

Last updated

Poster for The Contrabandista Robert Jacob Hamerton - Poster for F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan's The Contrabandista.jpg
Poster for The Contrabandista

The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 performances. There were brief revivals in Manchester in 1874 and America in 1880. In 1894, it was revised into a new opera, The Chieftain , with a completely different second act.

Contents

The piece was the first of Sullivan's full-length operas that was produced. It was not a great success, with Burnand's libretto receiving criticism, but its music exhibits many of the qualities and techniques that Sullivan would employ in composing his twenty further comic operas, including the famous series of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan operas produced between 1871 and 1896.

Background

In 1866, F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan, then 24 years old, wrote the one-act comic opera Cox and Box for a private performance at Moray Lodge, where a group of friends called the "Moray Minstrels" gathered regularly. The success of the performance led to productions for charity at the Adelphi Theatre, at Thomas German Reed's Gallery of Illustration (where it would enjoy a long run in 1869), and elsewhere. Burnand had been a pioneer in Britain in the 1860s by collaborating on the creation of comic operas with original scores similar to Jacques Offenbach's highly successful French operettas, which had been a sensation in Paris beginning in the 1850s but were just becoming known in London. This was a departure from the burlesque style of musical theatre that was then popular in Britain, which used musical scores compiled from existing operas, popular songs, music hall and classical music. [1]

St. George's Hall in 1867 St Georges Langham Place.jpg
St. George's Hall in 1867

Buoyed by the success of Cox and Box, Reed commissioned a two-act opera from Burnand, The Contrabandista, with original music by Sullivan, to open his new St George's Opera House, together with adaptations of two short Offenbach pieces, [1] Ba-ta-clan (as Ching-Chow-Hi) and La Chatte métamorphosée en femme (as Puss in Petticoats). [2] This opera did not enjoy its predecessor's popularity, and there was no suggestion of any further Burnand–Sullivan collaborations. The Contrabandista was Sullivan's first produced full-length opera. Although it was not a great success, it initially received some favourable notices. The Musical Times wrote: "The excellent vein of humour so apparent in [Cox and Box], as well as in the more important Contrabandista, justifies us in the hope that Mr. Sullivan may give us, at no distant date, a real comic opera of native manufacture." [3] Sullivan's next operatic effort did not come until Thespis , in 1871, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert , which was followed by another 13 collaborations between Gilbert and Sullivan. The Contrabandista was revived in Manchester in 1874 and was given a production in America in 1880. [1]

In 1894, when Richard D'Oyly Carte needed a successor to fill the Savoy Theatre after the closing of Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia Limited , he commissioned Burnand and Sullivan to revise The Contrabandista. The result was The Chieftain , consisting of a slightly revised and expanded first act and a new second act. It was not successful, and The Chieftain closed after just three months.

The Contrabandista was hardly ever performed in the 20th century. The Comic Opera Guild in the US and Fulham Light Operatic Society in the UK each produced the piece in 1972. [4] A professional concert of the opera was given in 2002 at Cheltenham, England, at the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Festival, with professional soloists and the Cotswold Savoyards. [5] The opera has been seen at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, most recently in 2012 in an updated staging by Glitter & Twisted Theatre Company, which also presented it in Cheltenham. [6] [4] A professional recording by Hyperion Records in 2004 revived some interest in the work. Reviewing the 2004 Hyperion recording, Raymond Walker wrote: "Despite a mundane book about Spanish brigands by Frances Burnand (who would later become Editor of Punch) there are good musical ideas in The Contrabandista. [7] These anticipate the more mature Sullivan of Gilbert & Sullivan fame. In The Contrabandista, Sullivan attempts a good variety of musical styles. At times these are more reminiscent of Offenbach than the German and Italian operatic masters that Sullivan is likened to." [7] Sullivan repeated several of the musical ideas that give The Contrabandista a Spanish flavour many years later in The Gondoliers (1888). [8] The whereabouts of the composer's autograph score were not publicly known until Terence Rees purchased it at auction in 1966. [9]

Roles and original cast

Synopsis

Act I

The action takes place in the mountains of Spain between Compostello and Seville. Inez de Roxas is queen of a gang of bandits, the Ladrones. Their Captain, Ferdinand de Roxas, has been dead for three weeks, and the band cannot agree which of the brigand lieutenants, José or Sancho, should replace him. The Law of the Ladrones holds that when two candidates for Chief have an equal number of votes, then the first foreigner who comes along will be made their leader and Inez's new husband. The Ladrones have abducted Rita, a young lady. In retaliation for her kidnapping, her betrothed, Count Vasquez, fought and killed de Roxas. The Ladrones see a goatherd (actually Vasquez in disguise) and his son on their way home. Inez orders the boy to take a ransom note to Vasquez and presses the old goatherd into service to guard their prisoner, Rita. The goatherd mentions that he has seen a stranger that day. The Ladrones wonder if this could be their new captain sent by fate. Vasquez eventually finds a moment to reveal his identity to Rita.

Adolphus Cimabue Grigg, an English tourist and amateur photographer, enters in search of pretty scenery, but he is lost and finds travelling with his heavy photographic gear difficult. He vows, upon his return to England, to become a farmer and lead a life of happy domesticity. Sancho and José stop him, identify themselves as bandits, and tell Grigg that he must be their new Captain of the Ladrones (or be shot). They force him to dance the Bolero and tell him that he will have to marry Inez. Grigg, who is already married, objects, as he does not want to commit bigamy. He is happy that the wedding will not take place for four days. Grigg is formally betrothed to Inez and is ritually installed as Captain of the Ladrones by means of placing the Sacred Hat upon his head. Meanwhile, José and Inez begin to formulate a plot to get rid of Grigg and Sancho, while all celebrate.

Act II

The next morning, Vasquez slips out. Sancho is on guard duty, but tired from the night's festivities, he falls asleep. Inez confirms to José that she is unhappy at the prospect of marrying Grigg. José explains the plan: Inez will persuade Grigg to kill Sancho; then the angry brigands will murder Grigg in retaliation, leaving her free to marry José, who will become captain. Sancho wakes up and overhears this conversation but pretends to be asleep. Meanwhile, Rita hopes that Vasquez will return soon to rescue her.

Sancho tells Grigg about the plot and hides as Inez and José arrive. They tell Grigg that Inez wants blood, and that the new Captain must be daring: he must bring her Sancho's head according to the Law of the Ladrones. They suggest that he take a drink to inspire him. When they step away, Sancho announces that he is quitting the Ladrone band and runs off, leaving Grigg to face the wrath of the Ladrones. Grigg fabricates a tale of shooting and stabbing Sancho as he fled, but he says that he could not stop Sancho from escaping. Inez and José prepare to light a fuse leading to a store of dynamite that their late Captain had laid in case of a surprise, as it is the Law of the Ladrones that they must all perish together. Before doing so, however, they decide to kill Rita to avenge the late Captain's death.

Rita pleads with Grigg to save her life. Grigg, fearful at first, decides that, as an Englishman, he must be bold to save a female in distress. He offers Rita a pistol, saying "come on"! Vasquez, now in military uniform, bursts in with a Spanish officer. The officer announces that all of the Ladrones have been pardoned, except for their Captain. He moves to seize Grigg, but Vasquez assures him that Grigg is innocent. All the Ladrones decide to join the army, and Rita is free to marry Vasquez. Everyone dances and sings.

Musical numbers

Act I
Act II

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Eden, David and William Parry. Liner notes, 2004, The Sir Arthur Society, from the Hyperion recording of The Contrabandista. CDA67486
  2. ↑ Lamb, Andrew. "Offenbach's conquest of London", About the House, Vol. 5, No. 12, Summer 1980, pp. 35–39. The article was originally published by the Offenbach 1980 Centenary Committee, London.
  3. ↑ The Musical Times, 1 May 1869, p. 76
  4. 1 2 The Contrabandista Archived 2014-03-11 at the Wayback Machine , St. David's Players, accessed August 22, 2012
  5. ↑ Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, #55, Autumn 2002, pp. 2–3
  6. ↑ Walker, Raymond J. "Spanish Brigands Become Modern Guerillas at Buxton", Seen and Heard International, MusicWeb International, August 16, 2012
  7. 1 2 Walker, Raymond Review of The Contrabandista 2004 recording, Hyperion Records webstite, 2004
  8. ↑ Introduction to The Contrabandista at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 3 May 2009
  9. ↑ A list of the sales from that auction is found in the Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, v. 9, no. 3, September 1966, p. 44
  10. ↑ Gänzl, Kurt. "Arabella from Liverpool, or Miss Contrabandista", Kurt Gänzl's blog, 1 May 2018
  11. ↑ Gänzl, Kurt. "The man who might have been George Grossmith", Kurt Gänzl's blog, 2 May 2018

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operetta</span> Form of theatre and a genre of light opera

Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its shorter length, the operetta is usually of a light and amusing character. It sometimes also includes satirical commentaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Sullivan</span> British composer (1842–1900)

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord".

This article is about music-related events in 1867.

<i>The Gondoliers</i> 1889 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan

The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances, closing on 30 June 1891. This was the twelfth comic opera collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. C. Burnand</span> British comic writer and dramatist (1836–1917)

Sir Francis Cowley Burnand, usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera Cox and Box.

<i>Cox and Box</i> English comic opera

Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two lodgers, one who works at night and one who works during the day. When one of them has the day off, they meet each other in the room and tempers flare. Sullivan wrote this piece five years before his first opera with W. S. Gilbert, Thespis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German Reed Entertainments</span> English theatre company

The German Reed Entertainments were founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed (1817–1888) together with his wife, Priscilla German Reed (1818–1895). At a time when the theatre in London was seen as a disreputable place, the German Reed family provided family-friendly entertainments for forty years, showing that respectable theatre could be popular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Edwardes</span> English theatre manager and producer (1855–1915)

George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond.

<i>The Chieftain</i>

The Chieftain is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand based on their 1867 opera, The Contrabandista. It consists of substantially the same first act as the 1867 work with a completely new second act. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 12 December 1894, under the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte, for a run of 97 performances.

<i>The Zoo</i> Comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and B.C Stephenson

The Zoo is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St. James's Theatre in London, concluding its run five weeks later, on 10 July 1875, at the Haymarket Theatre. There were brief revivals in late 1875, and again in 1879, before the opera was shelved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Temple (bass-baritone)</span> English opera singer, actor and stage director

Richard Barker Cobb Temple was an English opera singer, actor and stage director, best known for his performances in the bass-baritone roles in the famous series of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas German Reed</span> English theatrical manager, composer, musical director, actor and singer

Thomas German Reed, known after 1844 as simply German Reed was an English composer, musical director, actor, singer and theatrical manager of the Victorian era. He was best known for creating the German Reed Entertainments, together with his actress wife, a genre of musical plays that made theatre-going respectable at a time when the stage was considered disreputable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelly Bromley</span> English actor and singer (1850–1939)

Eleanor Elizabeth EmilyBromley was an English actress and singer who performed in operettas, musical burlesques and comic plays. She is best remembered today for having created the role of the Plaintiff in Gilbert & Sullivan's first success, Trial by Jury, although she played in that piece for just over three months out of a successful career spanning nearly two decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Sullivan</span> English actor and singer

Frederic Sullivan was an English actor and singer. He originated the role of the Learned Judge in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 comic opera Trial by Jury, providing the model for the comic roles in the later Savoy operas.

<i>Les brigands</i> Operetta by Jacques Offenbach

Les brigands is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Meilhac and Halévy's libretto lampoons both serious drama and opéra comique. The plot is cheerfully amoral in its presentation of theft as a basic principle of society rather than as an aberration. As Falsacappa, the brigand chieftain, notes: "Everybody steals according to their position in society." The piece premiered in Paris in 1869 and has received periodic revivals in France and elsewhere, both in French and in translation.

<i>Les deux aveugles</i>

Les deux aveugles is an 1855 one-act French bouffonerie musicale (operetta) by Jacques Offenbach. The libretto was written by Jules Moinaux and was a condensation of his 3-act Les musiciens ambulants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice May</span>

Alice May was an English singer and actress best remembered as the creator of the soprano role of Aline in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer (1877).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Suart</span> British opera singer and actor

Richard Suart is an English opera singer and actor, who has specialised in the comic roles of Gilbert and Sullivan operas and in operetta, as well as in avant-garde modern operas. He is probably best known for his numerous portrayals of Ko-Ko in The Mikado.

<i>Trial by Jury</i> 1875 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan

Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its popular companion piece, Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole. The story concerns a "breach of promise of marriage" lawsuit in which the judge and legal system are the objects of lighthearted satire. Gilbert based the libretto of Trial by Jury on an operetta parody that he had written in 1868.

<i>The Sultan of Mocha</i>

The Sultan of Mocha is a three act comic opera of 1874 with a libretto by Albert Jarrett and a score by Alfred Cellier. It was first produced at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester in 1874 and revived in London in 1876 and 1887 and in New York in 1880, among others.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.