Advantages: The wit, the songs, the dialogue, the costumes Disadvantages: A satire on anyone who follows the asthetic movement
Patience was the first Gilbert and Sullivan operetta I had any experience of. I was thrilled by the songs, the music, the costumes and the story. It was an unforgettable experience and started off an interest in Gilbert and Sullivan that I will always retain. Fortunately, we are lucky to have a Gilbert and Sullivan society in our area so I do get opportunity to see live performances of many of the operettas.
Patience was the sixth of Gilbert and Sullivan?s operettas. It opened at the Opera Comique on 23th April 1881 and was eventually moved to D?OylyCarte?s new theatre at the Savoy on 10th October 1881. Gilbert followed the tradition of giving contemporary operas an alternative title, Bunthorne's Bride. The libretto is writted by W S Gilbert and the music composed by Arthur Sullivan.
Patience is a basically a story of rival poets ...
Advantages: a range of good music, well-known songs and barbed humour. Disadvantages: Somewhat abstract and distant for a modern audience
?straight? in the role of Bunthorne but easily captures the languid laid-back persona in his solos. The literary notes describe him as a ?Fleshy poet?.
The performance is complete with the spoken libretto.
PATIENCE - Gilbert & Sullivan (1961)
The D?OylyCarteOperaCompany
The New Symphony Orchestra of London: Conducted by Isidore Godfrey.
Soloists: John Reed (Reginald Bunthorne); Philip Potter (The Duke of Dunstable)
Donald Adams (Colonel Calverley); Mary Sansom (Patience)
Gillian Knight (The Lady Jane); Kenneth Sandford (Archibald Grosvenor)
CD: LONDON 414429-2 (£11.99)
Amazon has a web page dedicated to this CD performance which has playable excepts from five of the tracks. The web address is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000041VE/qid=1050341050/sr=1-3/ref=sr133/026-3122673-6366036
LIBRETTO ...
Advantages: Not well known but is an important bridge in the historic cycle Disadvantages: Not well known and quite dated
-disc box set is part of the complete set of operas recorded by the D?OylyCarteOperaCompany and released by DECCA. John Reed gives a creditable account of the grizzled King Gama ? you can almost hear him leer in that ?celebrated sneer?. The other soloists are in good voice and the orchestra is in its usual sparkling form.
The second CD is completed with a performance of the Pineapple Poll ballet suite. This is a pot pourri of snatches of tunes taken from the operas and put together into a short (45 minute) dance story in three scenes. Mackerras notes that it was not unusual for Sullivan to recycle motifs himself. The whole work is a good ?music quiz? for Savoyards and the insert booklet identifies the individual sources for when you get stuck.
PRINCESS IDA - Gilbert & Sullivan (1965)
The D?OylyCarteOperaCompany
The Royal ...
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