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    Iolanthe: or The Peer and the Peri
    Iolanthe: or The Peer and the Peri
    Iolanthe: or The Peer and the Peri
    Ebook132 pages1 hour

    Iolanthe: or The Peer and the Peri

    By W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

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    About this ebook

    The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. Gilbert’s sharp, funny words and Sullivan’s deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience. Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time. However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That’s quite an achievement. To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible. The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre – The Savoy Theatre. Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateJun 1, 2016
    ISBN9781785437236
    Iolanthe: or The Peer and the Peri
    Author

    W. S. Gilbert

    W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) were theatrical collaborators during the nineteenth century. Prior to their partnership, Gilbert wrote and illustrated stories as a child, eventually developing his signature “topsy-turvy" style. Sullivan was raised in a musical family where he learned to play multiple instruments at an early age. Together, their talents would help produce a successful series of comic operas. Some notable titles include The Pirates of Penzance, The Sorcerer, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Mikado.

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      Book preview

      Iolanthe - W. S. Gilbert

      Iolanthe by Gilbert & Sullivan

      or THE PEER AND THE PERI

      Libretto by William S. Gilbert

      Music by Arthur Sullivan

      The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. 

      Gilbert’s sharp, funny words and Sullivan’s deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience.

      Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time.  However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That’s quite an achievement.

      To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible.  The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre – The Savoy Theatre.

      Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

      Index of Contents

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      SCENES

      MUSICAL NUMBERS

      ACT I

      ACT II

      GILBERT & SULLIVAN – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

      GILBERT & SULLIVAN – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

      Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, debuted at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882, three nights after the final performance of Patience at the same theatre, and ran for 398 performances.

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      THE LORD CHANCELLOR

      EARL OF MOUNTARARAT

      EARL TOLLOLLER

      PRIVATE WILLIS (of the Grenadier Guards)

      STREPHON (an Arcadian Shepherd)

      QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES

      IOLANTHE (a Fairy, Strephon's Mother)

      FAIRIES:

      CELIA

      LEILA

      FLETA

      PHYLLIS (an Arcadian Shepherdess and Ward of Chancery)

      SCENES

      ACT I - An Arcadian Landscape

      ACT II - Palace Yard, Westminster

      MUSICAL NUMBERS

      Overture

      ACT I

      Tripping hither, tripping thither (Celia, Leila, and Chorus of Fairies)

      Iolanthe! From thy dark exile thou art summoned (Queen, Iolanthe, Celia, Leila, and Chorus of Fairies)

      Good-morrow, good mother (Strephon and Chorus of Fairies)

      Fare thee well, attractive stranger (Queen and Chorus of Fairies)

      Good-morrow, good lover (Phyllis and Strephon)

      None shall part us from each other" (Phyllis and Strephon)

      Loudly let the trumpet bray" (Chorus of Peers)

      The law is the true embodiment (Lord Chancellor and Chorus of Peers)

      My well-loved Lord" and Barcarole, Of all the young ladies I know (Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, and Lord Mountararat)

      Nay, tempt me not (Phyllis)

      Spurn not the nobly born (Lord Tolloller and Chorus of Peers)

      My lords, it may not be" (Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, Strephon, Lord Chancellor, and Chorus of Peers)

      When I went to the Bar (Lord Chancellor)

      Finale Act I (Ensemble)

      When darkly looms the day

      The lady of my love has caught me talking to another

      Go away, madam

      Henceforth Strephon, cast away

      With Strephon for your foe, no doubt / Young Strephon is the kind of lout

      ACT II

      When all night long a chap remains (Private Willis)

      Strephon's a member of Parliament (Chorus of Fairies and Peers)

      When Britain really ruled the waves (Lord Mountararat and Chorus)

      In vain to us you plead (Leila, Celia, Chorus of Fairies, Mountararat, Tolloller, and Chorus of Peers)

      Oh, foolish fay (Queen with Chorus of Fairies)

      Though p'r'aps I may incur thy blame (Phyllis, Lord Mountararat, Lord Tolloller, and Private Willis)

      Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest ... When you're lying awake (Lord Chancellor)

      If you go in you're sure to win (Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, and Lord Chancellor)

      If we're weak enough to tarry (Phyllis and Strephon)

      My lord, a suppliant at your feet (Iolanthe)

      It may not be (Lord Chancellor, Iolanthe, and Chorus of Fairies)

      Soon as we may, off and away (Ensemble)

      ACT I

      SCENE.—An Arcadian Landscape.  A river runs around the back of the stage.  A rustic bridge crosses the river.

      Enter FAIRIES, led by LEILA, CELIA, and FLETA.  They trip around the stage, singing as they dance.

      CHORUS

      Tripping hither, tripping thither,

      Nobody knows why or whither;

      We must dance and we must sing

      Round about our fairy ring!

      SOLO—CELIA

      We are dainty little fairies,

      Ever singing, ever dancing;

      We indulge in our vagaries

      In a fashion most entrancing.

      If you ask the special function

      Of our never-ceasing motion,

      We reply, without compunction,

      That we haven't any notion!

      CHORUS

      No, we haven't any notion!

      Tripping hither, etc.

      SOLO—LEILA

      If you ask us how we live,

      Lovers all essentials give—

      We can ride on lovers' sighs,

      Warm ourselves in lovers' eyes,

      Bathe ourselves in lovers' tears,

      Clothe ourselves with lovers' fears,

      Arm ourselves with lovers' darts,

      Hide ourselves in lovers' hearts.

      When you know us, you'll discover

      That we almost live on lover!

      CHORUS

      Yes, we live on lover!

      Tripping hither, etc.

      (At the end of Chorus, all sigh wearily.)

      CELIA 

      Ah, it's all very well, but since our Queen banished Iolanthe, fairy revels have not been what they were!

      LEILA 

      Iolanthe was the life and soul of Fairyland.  Why, she wrote all our songs and arranged all our dances!  We sing her songs and we trip her measures, but we don't enjoy ourselves!

      FLETA

      To think that five-and-twenty years have elapsed since she was banished!  What could she have done to have deserved so terrible a punishment?

      LEILA

      Something awful!  She married a mortal!

      FLETA

      Oh!  Is it injudicious to marry a mortal?

      LEILA

      Injudicious?  It strikes at the root of the whole fairy system!  By our laws, the fairy who marries a mortal dies!

      CELIA

      But Iolanthe didn't die!

      (Enter FAIRY QUEEN)

      QUEEN 

      No, because your Queen, who loved her with a surpassing love, commuted her sentence to penal servitude for life, on condition that she left her husband and never communicated with him again!

      LEILA 

      That sentence of penal servitude she is now working out, on her head, at the bottom of that stream!

      QUEEN 

      Yes, but when I banished her, I gave her all the pleasant places of the earth to dwell in.  I'm sure I never

      intended that she should go and live at the bottom of a stream!  It makes me perfectly wretched to think of the discomfort she must have undergone!

      LEILA 

      Think of the damp!  And her chest was always delicate.

      QUEEN 

      And the frogs!  Ugh!  I never shall enjoy any peace of mind until I know why Iolanthe went to live among the frogs!

      FLETA 

      Then why not summon her and ask her?

      QUEEN 

      Why?  Because if I set

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