The Gondoliers

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 (at that time the fifth longest-running piece of musical theatre in history), closing on 30 June 1891. This was the twelfth comic opera collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.

The story of the opera concerns the young bride of the heir to the throne of the fictional kingdom of Barataria who arrives in Venice to join her husband. It turns out, however, that he cannot be identified, since he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with his own son. To complicate matters, the King of Barataria has just been killed. The two young gondoliers must now jointly rule the kingdom until the nurse of the prince can be brought in to determine which of them is the rightful king. Moreover, when the young queen arrives to claim her husband, she finds that the two gondoliers have both recently married local girls. A last complicating factor is that she, herself, is in love with another man.

The Gondoliers was Gilbert and Sullivan's last great success. In this opera, Gilbert returns to the satire of class distinctions figuring in many of his earlier librettos. The libretto also reflects Gilbert's fascination with the "Stock Company Act", highlighting the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities, which plays an even larger part in the next opera, Utopia Limited. As in several of their earlier operas, by setting the work comfortably far away from England, Gilbert was emboldened to direct sharper criticism at the nobility and the institution of the monarchy itself.

The Duke of Plaza-Toro, A Grandee of Spain (comic )

baritone

Luiz, his Attendant (lyric baritone or )

tenor

Don Alhambra del Bolero, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain ()

bass-baritone

Marco Palmieri, Venetian Gondolier (tenor)

Giuseppe Palmieri, Venetian Gondolier (baritone)

Antonio, Venetian Gondolier (baritone)

Francesco, Venetian Gondolier (tenor)

Giorgio, Venetian Gondolier ()

bass

Annibale, Venetian Gondolier (speaking role/chorus)

The Duchess of Plaza-Toro ()

contralto

Casilda, her Daughter ()

soprano

Gianetta, Contadina (soprano)

Tessa, Contadina ()

mezzo-soprano

Fiametta, Contadina (soprano)

Vittoria, Contadina (mezzo-soprano)

Giulia, Contadina (mezzo-soprano or soprano)

Inez, the King's foster-mother (contralto)

Chorus of Gondoliers and Contadine, Men-at-Arms, Heralds and Pages

Synopsis[edit]

Act I[edit]

The scene opens in Venice with 24 farm girls declaring their passionate love for a pair of gondoliers, Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri. These two gondoliers are so gallant and peerless in their manly beauty that the maidens are waiting for them to select brides before they can consider other suitors. A large group of merry gondoliers enter, saying that they adore the girls, but the ladies explain that the two brothers must choose first. When the Palmieri brothers enter, the ladies present them with flowers. The two gondoliers amiably offer to pick their brides in a game of blind man's buff. They appear to be cheating by peeking out from under their blindfolds, however. Eventually, from the crowd of maidens, Giuseppe picks Tessa, and Marco picks Gianetta – "Just the very girl I wanted!" (although the two then politely offer to switch girls). All leave to go to church for the double wedding.

Overture

1927 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: ^[49]

Harry Norris

1950 D'Oyly Carte – New Promenade Orchestra, Conductor: ^[50]

Isidore Godfrey

1957 Sargent/Glyndebourne – , Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent^[51]

Pro Arte Orchestra

1961 D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) – New Symphony Orchestra of London, Conductor: Isidore Godfrey

[52]

1972 G&S For All (video; abridged) – G&S Festival Chorus & Orchestra, Conductor: Peter Murray

[53]

1977 D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor: ^[54]

Royston Nash

1982 Brent Walker Productions (video) – Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: ; Stage Director: Peter Wood^[55]

Alexander Faris

1991 New D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: John Pryce-Jones

[56]

The 1927 Gondoliers is admired for its excellent cast. The 1961 D'Oyly Carte recording is a good stereo recording and includes complete dialogue. The 1957 Sargent/Glyndebourne and 1991 New D'Oyly Carte recordings are both musically well regarded.^[47]

More recent professional productions have been recorded on video by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.^[48]

Baily, Leslie (1967). The Gilbert & Sullivan Book. London: Spring Books. Second edition, second impression.

Bradley, Ian, ed. (1952). The Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, Vol. 1. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, Ltd.

; Rowland Grey (1923). W. S. Gilbert: His Life and Letters. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.

Dark, Sidney

Gänzl, Kurt (1986). The British Musical Theatre – Volume I, 1865–1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Green, Martyn, ed. (1961). Martyn Green's Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc. 0-671-22419-0.

ISBN

Jacobs, Arthur (1992). Arthur Sullivan – A Victorian Musician (Second ed.). Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.

Prestige, Colin (1971). (PDF). In James Helyar, ed. (ed.). Gilbert and Sullivan Papers Presented at the International Conference Held at the University of Kansas in May 1970. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Libraries. pp. 113–48.

"D'Oyly Carte and the Pirates: The Original New York Productions of Gilbert and Sullivan"

Rollins, Cyril; R. John Witts (1962). The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas: A Record of Productions, 1875–1961. Michael Joseph. 504581419.

OCLC

Rollins, Cyril; R. John Witts. The D'Oyly Carte Opera company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, Second Supplement 1966–1971; Third Supplement 1971–1976; and Fourth Supplement 1976–1982. Privately printed.