Patience (opera)

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"Patience" (video tape cover)

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"Patience" (video tape cover)

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 1292-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." This was the sixth operatic collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.

Background

The opera is a satire on the aesthetic movement of the 1870's 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 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. 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.

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 had received for his very mild satirizing of a clergyman in The Sorcerer, and looked about for an alternate 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. Bunthorne sings to 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, unpretentious milkmaid Patience. Patience herself appears, and, when asked about Bunthorne, confesses that she has never loved him – or anyone else – and is thankful that love has not turned her miserable as it has them ("I cannot tell what this love may be"). Soon, the ladies' old sweethearts, the Dragoon Guards, appear ("The soldiers of our Queen"), only to be coldly rebuffed and mocked by the poetically-obsessed ladies. In contrast, when the poet Bunthorne arrives, announcing himself to be in the throes of poetical composition, he ignores the attention as the ladies throng around him ("In a doleful train") while the Dragoons stand to the side in shock ("When I first put this uniform on").

When Bunthorne is finally left alone, he confesses that his aestheticism is a complete sham, and mocks the field's pretensions ("If you're anxious for to shine"). Soon, Patience approaches and he confesses his love to her, yet she turns him down even after he reveals that he is a fraud. Later, Lady Angela, one of Bunthorne's lovelorn admirers, discusses Patience's inability to love since a 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.

Said opportunity is provided by one Archibald Grosvenor, another aesthete who turns out to be Patience's childhood love. The two declare themselves determined to love one another ("Prithee, pretty maiden"), but are brought up short by the realization that as Grosvenor is perfect in all aspects, for Patience to love him would be a selfish act, and therefore impossible; thus, they must part. Patience goes forth, only to encounter Bunthorne in the act of raffling himself off among his lady followers ("Let the merry cymbal sound"), and proposes to unselfishly sacrifice herself by loving him. A delighted Bunthorne accepts immediately, and his followers, their idol lost, return to the Dragoons to whom they are engaged. All seems resolved, when Grosvenor enters and the ladies, finding him even more aesthetic than Bunthorne, become his partisans instead ("Oh, list while we a love confess"), much to Bunthorne's and Grosvenor's dismay.

Act II

Grosvenor entertains the ladies ("A magnet hung in a hardware shop"), while the Dragoons' Major, Colonel, and Duke attempt to earn their partners' love through aestheticism ("It's clear that mediaeval art"). 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, 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's completely unselfish for her to marry him, which she undertakes to do without delay. The ladies, following suit, return to their old boyfriends among the Dragoons. In the spirit of fairness, the Duke chooses Lady Jane as his paramour, for her very lack of appeal. Bunthorne is left to the love he has claimed (falsely) to desire most of all: poetry and flowers.

Musical numbers

• Overture (includes "Turn, oh turn, in this direction", "So go to him and say to him", and "Let the merry cymbals sound")

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 cannot 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 would 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 third-longest of the Gilbert and Sullivan series, eclipsed only by H.M.S. Pinafore and 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 through 1885, then again in 1888. It rejoined the touring repertory in 1892 and was included in every season until 1955–56. A new production debuted on January 28 1957. The opera returned to its regular place in the repertory, aside 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.

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.

The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime:

Theatre	Opening Date	Closing Date	Perfs.	Details
Opera Comique	April 23 1881	October 8 1881	170
Savoy Theatre	October 10 1881	November 22 1882	408
Standard Theatre, New York	September 22 1881	March 23 1882	177	Authorised American production
Savoy Theatre	November 7 1900	April 20 1901	150	First London revival
Savoy Theatre	April 4 1907	August 24 1907	51	First Savoy repertory season; played with three other operas. Closing date shown is of the entire season.

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:

Role	Opera Comique 1880	Standard Theatre 1880	Savoy Theatre 1900	Savoy Theatre 1907
Colonel	Richard Temple	W. T. Carleton	Jones Hewson	Frank Wilson
Major	Frank Thornton	Arthur Wilkinson	W. H. Leon	Richard Andean
Duke	Durward Lely	Lyn Cadwaladr	Robert Evett	Harold Wilde
Bunthorne	George Grossmith	J. H. Ryley	Walter Passmore	Charles H. Workman
Grosvenor	Rutland Barrington	James Barton	Henry Lytton	John Clulow
Solicitor	George Bowley	William White	H. Carlyle Pritchard	Ronald Greene
Angela	Jessie Bond	Alice Burville	Blanche Gaston-Murray	Jessie Rose
Saphir	Julia Gwynne	Rose Chapelle	Lulu Evans	Marie Wilson
Ella	May Fortescue	Alma Stuart Stanley	Agnes Fraser	Ruby Gray
Jane	Alice Barnett	Augusta Roche	Rosina Brandram	Louie Rene
Patience	Leonora Braham	Carrie Burton	Isabel Jay	Clara Dow

Role	D'Oyly Carte 1915 Tour	D'Oyly Carte 1925 Tour	D'Oyly Carte 1935 Tour	D'Oyly Carte 1945 Tour
Colonel	Frederick Hobbs	Darrell Fancourt	Darrell Fancourt	Darrell Fancourt
Major	Allen Morris	Martyn Green	Frank Steward	C. William Morgan
Duke	Dewey Gibson	Charles Goulding	John Dean	Herbert Garry
Bunthorne	Henry Lytton	Henry Lytton	Martyn Green	Grahame Clifford
Grosvenor	Leicester Tunks	Henry Millidge	Leslie Rands	Leslie Rands
Solicitor	E. A. Cotton	Alex Sheahan	W. F. Hodgkins	Ernest Dale
Angela	Nellie Briercliffe	Aileen Davies	Marjorie Eyre	Marjorie Eyre
Saphir	Ella Milne	Beatrice Elburn	Elizabeth Nickell-Lean	Brenda Thompson
Ella	Phyllis Smith	Irene Hill	Margery Abbott	Rosalie Dyer
Jane	Bertha Lewis	Bertha Lewis	Dorothy Gill	Ella Halman
Patience	Elsie McDermid	Winifred Lawson	Sylvia Cecil	Margery Abbott

Role	D'Oyly Carte 1950 Tour	D'Oyly Carte 1956 Tour	D'Oyly Carte 1965 Tour	D'Oyly Carte 1975 Tour
Colonel	Darrell Fancourt	Donald Adams	Donald Adams	John Ayldon
Major	Peter Pratt	John Reed	Alfred Oldridge	James Conroy-Ward
Duke	Leonard Osborn	Leonard Osborn	Philip Potter	Meston Reid
Bunthorne	Martyn Green	Peter Pratt	John Reed	John Reed
Grosvenor	Alan Styler	Arthur Richards	Kenneth Sandford	Kenneth Sandford
Solicitor	Brian Crossley	Wilfred Stelfox	Geoffrey Lloyd	Jon Ellison
Angela	Joan Gillingham	Beryl Dixon	Peggy Ann Jones	Judi Merri
Saphir	Joyce Wright	Elizabeth Howarth	Patricia Leonard
Ella	Henrietta Steytler	Jean Hindmarsh	Valerie Masterson	Rosalind Griffiths
Jane	Ella Halman	Ann Drummond-Grant	Christene Palmer	Lyndsie Holland
Patience	Margaret Mitchell	Cynthia Morey	Ann Hood	Pamela Field

References

• Allen, Reginald (1975). The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan. London: Chappell & Co. Ltd.

External links

• Patience at The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive

• Patience at The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography

• Article discussing Bunthorne's true identity

• Site containing biographies of the people listed in the historical casting chart