|
| |
|
Title |
|
Iolanthe or The Peer and the Peri |
| Composer |
|
Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842 - 1900) |
| Librettist |
|
William Gilbert (1836 - 1911) |
| Genre |
|
Light opera (two acts) |
|
First performance |
|
Savoy Theatre, London, 25 November, 1882. |
| Time of
action |
|
Between 1700 and 1882. |
| Place of action |
|
- An Arcadian landscape.
- Palace yard, Westminster,
London
|
| Main parts |
|
The Lord Chancellor |
comic tenor |
| |
|
Earl of Mountararat |
baritone |
| |
|
Earl Tolloller |
tenor |
| |
|
Strephon |
baritone |
| |
|
Private Willis, of the Grenadier
Guards |
bass/baritone |
| |
|
Queen of the fairies |
contralto |
| |
|
Iolanthe, a fairy, Strephon's
mother |
soprano |
| |
|
Phyllis, an Arcadian chepherdess
and ward in chancery |
soprano |
|
Prominence of chorus |
|
Lots of chorus. |
|
Orchestra |
|
2 flutes,
1
oboe, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2
French horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, kettle-drums, percussion, strings.. |
|
Special demands |
|
None. |
|
Full score and orchestral parts |
|
Available. |
|
Level |
|
Not difficult. |
|
Length |
|
About 2½ hours, two acts. |
| Music |
|
Among the works of Gilbert and Sullivan Iolanthe
stands out for the high level of refinement the composer achieved. The music
combines a Mendelssohnian lightness and charm befitting a fairy-tale, with the
pump-and-circumstance associated with the House of Lords. Librettist
Gilbert, too, is at his hilarious best in this wonderful amalgam of
political satire, absurdism and poetry. |
| Story |
|
Strephon, son of the Lord chancellor and
Iolanthe, who is a fairy, is in love with Phyllis, a shepherdess and a "ward
in chancery", i.e. a minor under the guardianship of the High Court of
Justice. By reason of his parentage Strephon is half-human and half fairy,
which leads to many complications. Phyllis has three more suitors: two of
them members of the House of Lords and one of them the Lord Chancellor
himself. Led by the Fairy Queen, the fairies put a spell on the members of
the House of Lords. The Fairy Queen falls in love with the soldier on guard
before the Houses of Parliament. Phyllis catches Strephon at a rendezvous
with a young lady; in vain he explains that the young lady is his mother:
Phyllis does not know that, after eighteen, fairies do not age. In the end,
after considerable jurisprudential ingenuity on the part of the Lord
Chancellor, all turns out well. The Lords are turned into fairies and there
is a general pairing off to everybody's satisfaction. |
|
Costumes |
|
Men: members of the House of Lords.
Women: fairies. |
|
