The Lady of Lyons; or, Love and Pride, commonly known as The Lady of Lyons, is a five-act romantic melodrama written in 1838 by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. It was first produced in London at Covent Garden Theatre on 15 February 1838 and was revived many times over the rest of the 19th century. It was also adapted into two operas, and formed part of the plot of an operetta.
Pauline Deschapelles has jilted the Marquis Beauséant. Claude Melnotte, the son of Pauline's gardener, is in love with her. Beauséant persuades Melnotte to disguise himself as a foreign prince to trick Pauline into marrying him. When Melnotte takes Pauline to his widowed mother's home after the marriage, she discovers the ruse and gets the marriage annulled. Melnotte enlists in the army to assuage his remorse. Pauline's father is then threatened with bankruptcy, and Beauséant is willing to pay the debt if Pauline will marry him. Melnotte becomes a war hero, and Pauline realises that she is truly in love with Melnotte after all.
The play premiered at Covent Garden Theatre in London on 15 February 1838. [1] [2] Helen Faucit played Pauline, with William Charles Macready playing Melnotte. Its first production in America was in 1838 at New York's Park Theatre, with a cast including Mrs. Richardson as Pauline, Edwin Forrest as Melnotte, Charlotte Cushman as the Widow Melnotte, and Peter Richings as Beauséant. [3] The piece received critical praise [4] and was revived many times. [2] An article in 1899 in Hawaiian Star commented: "The play is Bulwer-Lytton's masterpiece for the stage, and has held its place as a standard drama for near on to half a century, being as popular now as when it was first produced." [5]
It formed the basis for the operas Leonora (1845) with music by William Henry Fry, the first grand opera written in America; Pauline (1876) with music by Frederic H. Cowen; and for part of the plot of the operetta Der Bettelstudent (1882) with music by Carl Millöcker.[ citation needed ]
Media related to The Lady of Lyons at Wikimedia Commons
Lady of Lyons public domain audiobook at LibriVox | Plays |
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Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859, choosing Richard Clement Moody as founder of British Columbia. He declined the Crown of Greece in 1862 after King Otto abdicated. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866.
William Charles Macready was an English stage actor.
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Henry Leigh Murray (1820–1870) was an English actor.
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Amy Sedgwick or Sarah Gardiner was a British actress.
Edward Compton was an actor and actor-manager of the Victorian era who enjoyed considerable success in touring the English provinces with plays by Shakespeare, Sheridan and Goldsmith but who met with failure while trying to break into the West End theatre.
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