Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience - D'Oyly Carte Opera Company > Reviews > Prettily pattering, cheerily chattering Operetta

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money

Advantages:	The wit, the songs, the dialogue, the costumes
Disadvantages:	A satire on anyone who follows the asthetic movement

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

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’Oyly Carte’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 Bunthorne and Grosvenor. It is set in a village where most of the menfolk have enlisted in the Dragoon Guards and are absent. Bunthorne is one of the few men left in the village. He is a romantic poet and all the women of the village are infatuated with him. The Dragoon guards return and are dismayed to find their fiancées in love with the poet. Bunthorne however is desperately in love with Patience, the village milkmaid. She does not return her love and reveals that the only people she has loved are her great aunt and her childhood friend, Archibald Grosvenor. She is told that love is the most unselfish of all emotions. At this she feels that she must be very wicked for not ever having loved and resolves to love somebody at once. By an odd coincidence, Grosvenor just happens to return to the village. He is also a poet. Patience wants to resume their relationship but realizes that loving him would not be unselfish. So she dejects him and decides to marry Bunthorne. Grosvenor is the more attractive of the two poets and the village women immediately turn their affections to him abandoning Bunthorne. The second act of the operetta brings things back to normality. The contrast emphasinf the satire on the aesthetic superficiality. Patience eventually comes to her senses and deserts the aesthetic Bunthorne for Grosvenor who now appears dressed in ordinary clothes, the Duke chooses the elderly Lady Jane as his bride; the Colonel selects Saphir and the Major takes Angela. Meanwhile the chorus of maidens follow Grosvenor's example and giving up their aestheticism they return to the prettily pattering, cheerily chattering, every-day young girls they were before and pair off with their orginal fiancées the Dragoons.

The operetta is a satire on the aesthetic movement of the nineteenth century. Gilbert directs his libretto at some of the notable aesthetic trend setters of the time, Oscar Wilde is particularly spotlighted in the line ‘if you walk down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in your medieval hand’’. Story has it that Wilde used to buy a single lily for Mrs. Langtry, the actress known as the Jersey Lily, and walk down Piccadilly carrying the solitary bloom.The biggest irony of the operetta is that the aesthetic Bunthorne is left the only person without a partner.

Some of the move memorable songs include the chorus by the village women Twenty love-sick maidens we, Patience’s soloI cannot tell what this love may be that cometh to all, but not to me, a Quintet, If Saphir I choose to marry.

The best way to experience Patience is undoubtably by watching and listening to a live performance. If however you do get the opportuninty for this, there are DVD and CDs available.

The London Symphony Orchestra have recorded Patience on DVD with an introduction by Douglas Fairbanks. This retails from about £18.75 and is available in most music stores.
Austalia Opera have recorded Patience on DVD which is available through the internet on Amazon from £13.78.

There are also a number of CDs available containing some or all of the operetta. Gilbert & Sullivan: The Gold Collection, which includes four tracks from Patience (The soldiers of our queen, Am I alone and unobserved?, If you're anxious to shine, So go to him and say to him). It is performed by th D’Oyly Carte Opera Chorus and produced by the Decca label. It is available from about £8.99 so is pretty affordable.

Gilbert and Sullivan: Yeoman of the Guard:
Patience also performed by the D’Oyly Carte company on the Sanctuary label. This contains all the songs from the operetta and retails from about £10.99.

The Naxos CD, Patience, is probably the best option. Performed by the D’Oyly Carte chorus and orchestra and recorded in 1951. It as available from only £4.99