The Chieftain
Encyclopedia
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
and F. C. Burnand based on their 1867 opera, The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 performances. There were brief revivals in Manchester in 1874...
. It consists of substantially the same first act as the 1867 work with a completely new second act. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
on December 12, 1894, under the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
, for a run of 97 performances (by Sullivan's standards, a flop).
The opening cast included Florence St. John
Florence St. John
Florence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
, Courtice Pounds
Courtice Pounds
Charles Courtice Pounds , better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.As a young member...
, Walter Passmore
Walter Passmore
Walter Henry Passmore was an English singer and actor best known as the first successor to George Grossmith in the comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, Richard Temple, Scott Russell
Scott Russell (actor)
Harry Henry Russell, better known as Scott Russell , was an English singer, actor and theatre manager best known for his performances in the tenor roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
, Florence Perry
Florence Perry
Florence Perry was an English opera singer and actress best known for her performances with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Biography:...
, Emmie Owen
Emmie Owen
Emmie Owen was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
, R. Scott Fishe
R. Scott Fishe
Robert Scott Fishe was an English operatic baritone best remembered for creating roles in the 1890s with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Early career:...
and Rosina Brandram
Rosina Brandram
Rosina Brandram was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for creating many of the contralto roles in the Savoy operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
.
Background
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
needed a new piece for the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
. Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's Utopia Limited had closed in June after a comparatively short (by G&S standards) nine-month run. André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
's Mirette
Mirette (opera)
Mirette is an opéra comique in three acts composed by André Messager, first produced at the Savoy Theatre, London, on 3 July 1894.Mirette exists in two distinct versions. The first version of the libretto was written in French by Michel Carré but this was never performed. English lyrics were...
was an unsuccessful stop-gap, and Carte had to close the theatre in August. Desperate for a new work, he commissioned Sullivan and Burnand to patch up The Contrabandista, which could be made ready much faster than a new opera. Mirette was revised and re-opened in October for another two months, and although Mirette was playing strongly, once The Chieftain was ready in December, Mirette was closed, and The Chieftain was mounted.
As Savoy audiences expected an opera conforming to the style that Gilbert and Sullivan had established, the relatively short Contrabandista needed to be expanded. While the basic structure of the first act was retained, the dialogue was rewritten and several songs were added to bring it up to the usual length. The earlier work's second act was entirely replaced with new material.
Although the piece was greeted warmly, as were most Savoy opera
Savoy opera
The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house...
s, audiences did not sustain enthusiasm for the work, and there were numerous revisions, particularly in the first act. The team also rushed an abridged version of the still-popular Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
into production as a curtain-raiser. Nevertheless, The Chieftain closed after just three months. The fault lay partly in Burnand's weak and pun-filled libretto, but also was a result of changing audience tastes, as musical comedy
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
, such as those produced at the Gaiety Theatre
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
by George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
, was supplanting light opera on the London stage. After The Chieftain closed, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
toured the London suburbs, while Carte leased the Savoy Theatre to the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
. The theatre was dark during the summer of 1895, reopening in November for a revival of The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
.
The Chieftain has not received a high-quality professional modern recording, unlike some of Sullivan's other non-G&S operas, although the piece has received a number of modern amateur performances.
Roles and original cast
- Sancho the Badger (1st Lieutenant of the Ladrones) (bass-baritoneBass-baritoneA bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
) – Richard Temple - José the Buck (2nd Lieutenant of the Ladrones) (baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) – M. R. Morand - Inez de Roxas (Chieftainess of the Ladrones) (contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
) – Rosina BrandramRosina BrandramRosina Brandram was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for creating many of the contralto roles in the Savoy operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.... - Pedro Gomez (consulting lawyer, astrologer, and keeper of the archives of the Ladrones) (tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
) – Scott RussellScott RussellScott Russell may refer to:* John Scott Russell , known as J. Scott Russell, Scottish naval engineer* Scott Russell , male javelin thrower* Scott Russell , American motorcycle road racer... - Rita (an English lady engaged to Count Vasquez) (sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) – Florence St. JohnFlorence St. JohnFlorence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:... - Count Vasquez de Gonzago (A Spanish Noble) (tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
) – Courtice PoundsCourtice PoundsCharles Courtice Pounds , better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.As a young member... - Mr. Peter Adolphus Grigg (a British tourist in search of the picturesque) (comic baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) – Walter PassmoreWalter PassmoreWalter Henry Passmore was an English singer and actor best known as the first successor to George Grossmith in the comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.... - Dolly (Mrs. Grigg, Peter A. Grigg's wife) (sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) – Florence PerryFlorence PerryFlorence Perry was an English opera singer and actress best known for her performances with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Biography:... - Ferdinand de Roxas (Chieftain of the Ladrones, disguised as Pietro Slivinski, a Polish courier) (baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) – Scott Fishe
Minor characters:
- Blazzo (baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) – Bowden Haswell - Escatero – Powis Pinder
- Pedrillo (a goatherd) – Master Snelson
- Juanita (the dancing girl of the Ladrones) (sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) – Emmie OwenEmmie OwenEmmie Owen was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company... - Maraquita (sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) – Edith Johnston - Anna (a camerista) – Ada Newall
- Zitella – Beatrice Perry
- Nina – Ethel Wilson
Act I
The action takes place in the mountains of Spain. Inez de Roxas is Queen of a gang of bandits, the Ladrones. Their Captain, Ferdinand de Roxas, has been missing for a year. The Law of the Ladrones holds that the first stranger who comes along will become their Chieftain and Inez's new husband.The Ladrones have abducted Rita, an English lady. Inez orders a shepherd boy to deliver a ransom note, and they hold his elderly father hostage in the meantime. The old shepherd mentions that he has seen a stranger that day. The Ladrones wonder if this could be their new Chieftain. After the Ladrones withdraw, the shepherd reveals that he is Rita's lover, Vasquez, and they sing a jubilant duet.
Act II
The action has transferred to the exterior of an inn where Rita and Vasquez are now staying, in the picturesque village of Dehesas, on the banks of the River Sil. The chorus sings in praise of the gold that they mine from the river. In the intervening time, Vasquez has ransomed Grigg, who is now free to meet up with his wife Dolly, who has come from England to find him. Mr. and Mrs. Grigg arrive, escorted by a Polish courtier, who is actually Ferdinand de Roxas, the real Chieftain, in disguise.Mrs. Grigg is troubled by her husband's evasive explanations of his adventures in Spain. She is therefore unaware of his bigamy with Inez. Vasquez and Rita help him tell a fictional story of his heroic defeat of the Ladrones. Ferdinand, who also hears Grigg's story, now believes that his wife is dead.
The Ladrones enter, dressed as civilians. They are searching for Ferdinand, but run into the Griggs. Dolly befriends Inez, while Grigg is mortified that his wife will discover his duplicity. Realising Grigg's plight, the Ladrones agree to sell him a photograph of his wedding with Inez for £100, so that Dolly will never learn the truth. Ferdinand enters, and the Ladrones recognise him. He tries to escape, but when confronted with pistols, agrees happily to rejoin the band as their Chieftain once again.
Act I
- 1. "Hush! Not a Step" (Sancho, José, and Chorus)
- 2. "Let others seek the peaceful plain" (Inez)
- Alternate 2: "My parents were of great gentility" (Inez)
- 3. "Wanted, a Chieftain" (Inez, Sancho, José, Juanita)
- 4. "The Law of the Ladrones" (Pedro Gomez and Chorus)
- 5. "'Tis very hard to choose" (Inez, Sancho, and José)
- 6. Angelus (Blazzo, Chorus)
- 7. "Only the night wind sighs alone" (Rita)
- Alternate 7: "A lady peers from a tower" (Rita)
- 8. "Hand of fate" (Rita, Inez, Vasquez, Sancho, José and Chorus)
- 9. "A guard by night" (Rita & Vasquez)
- 10. "From rock to rock" (Grigg)
- 11. "Hullo! What's that?" (Grigg, Sancho and José)
- 12. Finale Act I: "The Sacred Hat" (Ensemble)
Act II
- 1. "Wake, then, awake" (Vasquez)
- 2. "The river! the river" (Maraquita and Chorus)
- 3. "Two happy gods" (Rita and Chorus)
- 4. "Ah oui!, j'étais" (Rita and Vasquez)
- 5. "Bustle! bustle!" (Ferdinand and Chorus)
- 6. "'To Spain!' said my husband" (Dolly, with Rita, Vasquez, Grigg and Ferdinand)
- 7. "There are cases" (Rita, Vasquez, Grigg, Dolly and Ferdinand)
- 8. "La Criada" (Ferdinand)
- 9. "There's no one, I'm certain" (Juanita, Inez, Pedro, José and Sancho)
- 10. "What is the matter, Peter" (Dolly, Inez and Grigg)
- 11. "We quite understand" (Juanita, Inez, Pedro, Grigg, José & Sancho)
- 12. Finale Act II: "The Chieftain is found" (Ensemble)