Everything about Patience Opera totally explained
» This article refers to the Savoy Opera. For other meanings, see Patience (disambiguation).
Patience, or Bunthorne's Bride, is a
comic opera in two acts, with music by
Arthur Sullivan and libretto by
W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the
Opera Comique,
London, on
April 23 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat
Savoy Theatre on
October 10 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the world to be lit entirely by
electric light. Henceforth, the G&S comic operas would be known as the
Savoy Operas, and both fans and performers of G&S would come to be known as "Savoyards."
Patience was the sixth operatic collaboration of fourteen between
Gilbert and Sullivan. It ran for a total of 578 performances, which was seven more than the authors' earlier work,
H.M.S. Pinafore, and the second longest run of any work of musical theatre up to that time, after the
operetta Les Cloches de Corneville.
Background
The opera is a
satire on the
aesthetic movement of the 1870s and '80s in
England, when the output of poets, composers, painters and designers of all kinds was indeed prolific—but, some argued, empty and self-indulgent. This artistic movement was so popular, and also so easy to ridicule as a meaningless fad, that it made
Patience a big hit. The topical nature of the story may make
Patience somewhat less accessible to some modern audiences, and G&S fans tend to have strong feelings one way or the other about
Patience. Modern productions have sometimes "updated" the setting of
Patience to an analogous era, such as a
hippie Patience, where there's a flower-child poet versus a
beat poet.
A popular myth holds that the central character, Bunthorne, a "Fleshly Poet," was intended to satirize
Oscar Wilde. However, this identification is retrospective: In fact, the authors hired Wilde, after the fact, to popularize the opera in America (see below). There is a good case to be made that Bunthorne is based on the
poets
Algernon Swinburne and
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who were considerably more famous than Wilde in 1881. Rossetti had been attacked for immorality by
Robert Buchanan (under the pseudonym of Thomas Maitland) in an article called "The Fleshly School of Poetry", published in the Contemporary Review for October, 1871. Nonetheless, Wilde's biographer Richard Ellmann suggests that Wilde is a partial model for both Bunthorne and his rival Grosvenor. Wilde had recently been satirised by
F. C. Burnand in his play
The Colonel (February 1881), and he wrote to
George Grossmith (who played the role of Bunthorne), having been informed that Bunthorne 'took him off', asking for tickets for the first night.
The makeup and costume adopted by the first Bunthorne,
George Grossmith, used the velvet jacket of Swinburne, the hair style and monocle of the painter
James McNeill Whistler, and knee-breeches similar to those worn by Wilde and others. The title character, Patience, was made up and costumed to exactly resemble the subject of
Luke Fildes's first successful picture, "Where are you going to, my pretty maid?"
Gilbert and Sullivan's partner, the
impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, was also the booking manager for Oscar Wilde. It was he who sent Wilde and his green carnation and knee-breeches to enlighten Americans on the English Aesthetic Movement and, incidentally, to build up the box office for
Patience. Wilde even agreed to attend one of the early performances of
Patience, with suitable publicity arranged by
Helen Lenoir, who would become the second Mrs. D'Oyly Carte.
Gilbert originally conceived
Patience as a tale of rivalry between two curates and of the doting ladies who attended upon them. The plot and even some of the dialogue was lifted straight out of Gilbert's
Bab Ballad "The Rival Curates." During the course of writing the libretto, however, Gilbert took note of the criticism he'd received for his very mild satirizing of a clergyman in
The Sorcerer, and looked about for an alternative pair of rivals. The aesthetes proved to be a gift to topsy-turvydom. Some remnants of the Bab Ballad version do survive in the final text of
Patience. Lady Jane advises Bunthorne to tell Grosvenor: "Your style is much too sanctified—your cut is too canonical!" Later, Grosvenor agrees to change his lifestyle by saying, "I do it on compulsion!"—the very words used by the Reverend Hopley Porter in the Bab Ballad.
Roles
- Colonel Calverly (Officer of Dragoon Guards) (bass-baritone)
- Major Murgatroyd (Officer of Dragoon Guards) (baritone)
- Lieut. The Duke of Dunstable (Officer of Dragoon Guards) (tenor)
- Reginald Bunthorne (a Fleshly Poet) (comic baritone)
- Archibald Grosvenor (an Idyllic Poet) (lyric baritone)
- Mr. Bunthorne's Solicitor (Silent)
- The Lady Angela (Rapturous Maiden) (mezzo-soprano)
- The Lady Saphir (Rapturous Maiden) (mezzo-soprano or soprano)
- The Lady Ella (Rapturous Maiden) (soprano)
- The Lady Jane (Rapturous Maiden) (contralto)
- Patience (a Dairy Maid) (soprano)
- Chorus of Rapturous Maidens and Officers of Dragoon Guards
Synopsis
Act I
In front of Castle Bunthorne, a group of "lovesick maidens" are all in love with the aesthetic poet Bunthorne ("Twenty lovesick maidens we"). Lady Jane, the oldest and plainest of the ladies, informs them that Bunthorne, far from returning their affections, has his heart set on the simple milkmaid, Patience. Patience appears and confesses that she's never loved anyone; and she's thankful that love hasn't turned her miserable as it has them ("I can't tell what this love may be"). Soon, the ladies' old sweethearts, the Dragoon Guards, appear ("The soldiers of our Queen"), led by Colonel Calverly ("If you Want a Receipt for that Popular Mystery"), Major Murgatroyd, and the droopy but immensely rich Lieutenant the Duke of Dunstable. They arrive ready to propose, only to discover their beloveds fawning over Bunthorne, who is in the throes of poetical composition, pretending to ignore the attention of the ladies thronging around him ("In a doleful train"). Bunthorne reads his poem and departs, while the officers are coldly rebuffed and mocked by the aesthetic ladies, who turn their noses up at the sight of the red and yellow uniforms. The Dragoons, reeling from the insult, depart ("When I first put this uniform on").
Bunthorne, left alone, confesses that his aestheticism is a sham, and mocks the movement's pretensions ("If you're anxious for to shine"). Soon, he reveals to Patience that, like her, he doesn't really like poetry, but she tells him that she couldn't love him. Later, Lady Angela, one of Bunthorne's admirers, explores with Patience the latter's childhood crush ("Long years ago"). Lady Angela rhapsodizes upon love as the one truly unselfish pursuit in the world. Impressed by this eloquence, Patience promises to fall in love at the earliest opportunity. That opportunity is provided by the arrival of Archibald Grosvenor, another aesthetic poet who turns out to be Patience's childhood love. He has grown up to be the infallible, widely-loved poet known as "Archibald the All-Right" ("Prithee, pretty maiden"). The two declare themselves in love but are brought up short by the realisation that as Grosvenor is a perfect being, for Patience to love him would be a selfish act, and therefore impossible; thus, they must part.
Bunthorne, heartbroken by Patience's rejection, has chosen to raffle himself off among his lady followers ("Let the merry cymbals sound"), the proceeds going to charity. The Dragoons interrupt the proceedings, and, led by the Duke, attempt to reason with the ladies ("Your maiden hearts, ah, don't steel"), but the ladies are too busy clamouring for tickets to the raffle to listen ("Come walk up"). Just as Bunthorne is handing the bag to the unattractive Jane, ready for the worst, Patience interrupts the proceedings and proposes to unselfishly sacrifice herself by loving the poet ("True Love must single-hearted be"). A delighted Bunthorne accepts immediately, and his followers, their idol lost, return to the Dragoons to whom they're engaged ("I hear the soft note of the echoing voice"). All seems resolved, when Grosvenor enters and the ladies, finding him poetic, aesthetic, and far more attractive than Bunthorne, become his partisans instead ("Oh, list while we a love confess"), much to the dismay of the Dragoons, Patience, Bunthorne and especially Grosvenor himself.
Act II
Lady Jane, accompanying herself on the cello, laments the passing of the years and expresses her hope that Bunthorne will "secure" her before it's too late ("Silvered is the raven hair"). Meanwhile, Grosvenor wearily entertains the ladies ("A magnet hung in a hardware shop") and begs to be given a half-holiday from their cloying attentions. The Dragoons' Major, Colonel, and Duke attempt to earn their partners' love through making an effort to convert to the principles of aestheticism ("It's clear that mediaeval art"). Then, Patience confesses her affection for Grosvenor to Bunthorne, who is naturally furious at the revelation.
Confronting Grosvenor, Bunthorne threatens him with a dire curse unless he undertakes to become a perfectly ordinary young man. Grosvenor, intimidated, but also pleased at the excuse to escape the celebrity caused by his "fatal beauty" agrees to do so. This plot backfires, however, when Grosvenor reappears as an ordinary man; all of the ladies follow him into ordinariness, becoming "matter-of-fact young girls." Patience realizes that Grosvenor has lost his perfection in her eyes – and therefore, it won't be so selfish for her to marry him, which she undertakes to do without delay. The ladies, following suit, return to their old fiancés among the Dragoons. In the spirit of fairness, the Duke chooses the "plain" Lady Jane as his bride, for her very lack of appeal. Bunthorne is left to the "vegetable" love that he's claimed (falsely) to desire most of all. Thus, echoing the subtitle of the piece, everyone sings that "Nobody [is] 'Bunthorne's bride.'"
Musical numbers
Overture (includes "Turn, oh turn, in this direction", "So go to him and say to him", and "Let the merry cymbals sound"). The Overture was orchestrated by Eugen d'Albert, who was then a pupil of Sullivan's.
Act I
1. "Twenty love-sick maidens we" (Angela, Ella and Chorus of Maidens)
2. "Still brooding on their mad infatuation" (Patience, Saphir, Angela, and Chorus)
2a. "I can't tell what this love may be" (Patience and Chorus)
2b. "Twenty love-sick maidens we" (Chorus of Maidens - Exit)
3. "The soldiers of our Queen" (Chorus of Dragoons)
3a. "If you want a receipt for that popular mystery" (Colonel and Chorus)1
4. "In a doleful train two and two we walk" (Angela, Ella, Saphir, Bunthorne, and Chorus of Maidens and Dragoons)
4a. "Twenty love-sick maidens we" (Chorus of Maidens - Exit)
5. "When I first put this uniform on" (Colonel and Chorus of Dragoons)
6. "Am I alone and unobserved?" (Bunthorne)
7. "Long years ago, fourteen maybe" (Patience and Angela)
8. "Prithee, pretty maiden" (Patience and Grosvenor)
8a. "Though to marry you'd very selfish be" (Patience and Grosvenor)
9. "Let the merry cymbals sound" (Ensemble)
1 This was originally followed by a song for the Duke, "Though men of rank may useless seem." The orchestration survives in Sullivan's autograph score, but without a vocal line. There have been several attempts at a reconstruction, including one by David Russell Hulme that was included on the 1994 new D'Oyly Carte Opera Company recording.
Act II
10. "On such eyes as maidens cherish" (Chorus of Maidens)
11. "Sad is that woman's lot" (Jane)
12. "Turn, oh turn, in this direction" (Chorus of Maidens)
13. "A magnet hung in a hardware shop" (Grosvenor and Chorus of Maidens)
14. "Love is a plaintive song" (Patience)
15. "So go to him, and say to him" (Jane and Bunthorne)
16. "It's clear that mediaeval art" (Duke, Major, and Colonel)
17. "If Saphir I choose to marry" (Angela, Saphir, Duke, Major, and Colonel)
18. "When I go out of door" (Bunthorne and Grosvenor)
19. "I'm a Waterloo House young man" (Grosvenor and Chorus of Maidens)
20. "After much debate internal" (Ensemble)
Production history
The original run of Patience in London, split across two theatres, was the second-longest of the Gilbert and Sullivan series, eclipsed only by The Mikado. Its first London revival was in 1900, making it the last of the revivals for which all three partners (Gilbert, Sullivan, and D'Oyly Carte) were alive. Gilbert admitted some doubts as to whether the æsthetic subject would still be appreciated, years after the fad had died out. Gilbert wrote to Sullivan after the premiere of this revival (which the composer was too ill to attend), "The old opera woke up splendidly." (Allen 1975, p. 461).
In the British provinces, Patience played — either by itself, or in repertory — continuously from summer 1880 to 1885, then again in 1888. It rejoined the touring repertory in 1892 and was included in every season until 1955–56. New costumes were designed in 1918 by Hugo Rumbold, and a new production debuted on January 28 1957. The opera returned to its regular place in the repertory, apart from a break in 1962–63. Late in the company's history, it toured a reduced set of operas to reduce costs. Patience had its final D'Oyly Carte performances in April 1979 and was left out of the company's last three seasons of touring.
In America, Richard D'Oyly Carte mounted a production at the Standard Theatre in September 1881, six months after the London premiere. Unlike H.M.S. Pinafore, there were no "pirated" productions before the official version opened, although there were several afterwards, including one starring Lillian Russell. In Australia, its first authorized performance was on 26 November 1881 at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, produced by J. C. Williamson.
Patience entered the repertory of the English National Opera in 1969, in an acclaimed production with Derek Hammond-Stroud as Bunthorne. The production was later mounted in Australia and was preserved on video as part of the Brent Walker series. In 1984, ENO also took the production on tour to the Metropolitan Opera House, in New York City.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a great Gilbert and Sullivan fan, undertook the silent role of Mr. Bunthorne's Solicitor (who oversees the raffle until scared off by the Dragoons) in a 1985 Washington Savoyards production of the piece.
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 original productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to the company's 1982 closure:
Recordings
Of the recordings of this opera, the 1961 D'Oyly Carte Opera Company recording (with complete dialogue), has been the best received. Two videos, Brent Walker (1982) and Australian Opera (1995), are both based on the respected English National Opera production first seen in the 1970s.
Selected recordings
1930 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Malcolm Sargent
1951 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
1961 D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) – New Symphony Orchestra of London; Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
1962 Sargent/Glyndebourne – Pro Arte Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus; Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent
1982 Brent Walker Productions (video) – Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra; Conductor: Alexander Faris; Stage Director: John Cox
1994 New D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: John Owen Edwards
1995 Australian Opera (video) – Conductor: David Stanhope; Stage Director: John CoxFurther Information
Get more info on 'Patience Opera'.
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