The Pretty Druidess
Encyclopedia
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. It was produced at the opening of the new Charing Cross Theatre
Folly Theatre
The Folly Theatre was a London theatre of the late 19th century, in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. It was converted from the house of a religious order, and became a small theatre, with a capacity of 900 seated and standing. The theatre specialised in presenting...
on 19 June 1869 and ran until September of that year.
The work was the last of five such burlesques that Gilbert wrote in the late 1860s. As in his other operatic burlesques, he chose a selection of operatic and popular tunes and wrote new words to fit them. The plot of the piece was loosely based on Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's 1831 opera Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
, with dialogue in rhyming couplets full of complicated word-play and dreadful puns.
Burlesques of this period featured actresses en travesti
En travesti
Travesti is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. Some sources regard 'travesti' as an Italian term, some as French. Depending on sources, the term may be given as travesty, travesti, or en travesti...
in tights or in dresses as short as possible without provoking the legal authorities. Gilbert later turned against this practice, and in his Savoy Operas no characters were played by members of the opposite sex.
History
Gilbert's four earlier operatic burlesques, Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great QuackDulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack
Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack, is one of the earliest plays written by W.S. Gilbert, his first solo stage success. The work is a musical burlesque of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, and the music was arranged by Mr. Van Hamme...
(1866), La Vivandière; or, True to the Corps
La Vivandière (Gilbert)
La Vivandière; or, True to the Corps! is a burlesque by W. S. Gilbert, described by the author as "An Operatic Extravaganza Founded on Donizetti's Opera, La figlia del regimento." In the French or other continental armies a vivandière was a woman who supplied food and drink to troops in the...
! (1867), The Merry Zingara; or, the Tipsy Gipsy and the Pipsy Wipsy
The Merry Zingara
The Merry Zingara; Or, The Tipsy Gipsy & The Pipsy Wipsy was the third of W. S. Gilbert's five burlesques of opera. Described by the author as "A Whimsical Parody on The Bohemian Girl", by Michael Balfe, it was produced at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 21 March 1868.As in his four other operatic...
(1868) and Robert the Devil, or The Nun, the Dun, and the Son of a Gun
Robert the Devil (Gilbert)
Robert the Devil, or The Nun, the Dun, and the Son of a Gun is an operatic parody by W. S. Gilbert of Giacomo Meyerbeer's romantic opera Robert le diable, which was named after, but bears little resemblance to, the medieval French legend of the same name. Gilbert set new lyrics to tunes by...
(1868) had parodied comic or romantic operas. The critic of The Morning Post had asserted that parodying comic opera was a much more difficult undertaking than parodying tragic opera, and instanced Norma as "an eminently tragic work", far easier to burlesque.
Folly Theatre
The Folly Theatre was a London theatre of the late 19th century, in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. It was converted from the house of a religious order, and became a small theatre, with a capacity of 900 seated and standing. The theatre specialised in presenting...
. It was the last of three pieces on the bill, following a short operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, Coming of Age, and the main item of the evening, a three act drama, Edendale, about families split by the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The part of Norma was taken by Mary Frances Hughes, well-known on the London stage since her debut in November 1853. The hero, Pollio (a tenor in Bellini's original), was played as a breeches role
Breeches role
A breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer...
by Cecily Nott, another favourite, who had made her debut in 1851, aged 18 or 19, a protégée of Louis Antoine Jullien
Louis Antoine Jullien
Louis Antoine Jullien was a French conductor and composer of light music.Jullien was born in Sisteron, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and was baptised Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas...
. The ingénue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
role of the novice Adalgisa was played by Kathleen Irwin, who had made her London debut earlier the same evening, in Edendale.
On the opening night, 19 June 1869, the performance started late because of noisy protests from patrons in the cheap standing area, the pit, about the lack of programmes. Gilbert's burlesque did not begin until after 11:00 p.m. The theatrical paper The Era
The Era (newspaper)
The Era was a British weekly paper, published from 1838 to 1939. Originally a general newspaper, it became noted for its sports coverage, and later for its theatrical content.-History:...
reported, "Although it was nearly half an hour after midnight before the curtain fell, the jokes rattled rapidly off through continuous laughter, and Mr. Gilbert was summoned at the end to receive the congratulations of the house."
The Pretty Druidess was the last of a series of about a dozen early comic stage works by Gilbert, including operatic burlesques, pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s and farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
s. These were full of awful pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
s and jokes as was traditional in similar pieces of the period. Nevertheless, Gilbert's burlesques were considered unusually tasteful compared to the others on the London stage. Gilbert's early pokes at grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
show signs of the satire that would later be a defining part of his work. He would depart even further from the burlesque style from about 1869 with plays containing original plots and fewer puns. The success of these 1860s pieces encouraged Gilbert in his playwriting and led to his next phase, which included more mature "fairy comedies", such as The Palace of Truth
The Palace of Truth
The Palace of Truth is a three-act blank verse "Fairy Comedy" by W. S. Gilbert first produced at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 19 November 1870, partly adapted from Madame de Genlis's fairy story, Le Palais de Vérite. The play ran for approximately 140 performances and then toured the British...
(1870) and Pygmalion and Galatea (1871), and his German Reed Entertainments, which in turn led to the famous 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...
operas.
Cast
As printed in the published libretto:- Norma (Mother Superior of the Pretty Druidess) – Miss Hughes
- Pollio (a Roman Pro-Consul) – Cicely Nott
- Adalgisa (a Novice) – Kathleen Irwin
- Oroveso (Druidic High Priest – father of Norma) – Mr. R. Barker
- Flavius (a Roman Centurion) – Miss Cruise
- Armina (Pretty Druidess) – Miss E. Mayne
- Clotilda (Pretty Druidess) – Miss Stembridge
- Ingonda (Pretty Druidess) – Miss Maxse
- Bellina (Pretty Druidess) – Edith Lynd
- Small Priestess – Miss Barrier
- 1st Soldier – Mr. Barrier
- 2nd Soldier – Mr. Lloyd
Synopsis
The druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
esses are doing needlework, creating work to be sold at fund-raising events in aid of the campaign to drive the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
out of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. The younger druidesses are not keen to see the dashing and handsome Romans driven out, but their Mother Superior, Norma, is adamant. Orovesto reproaches them for their indulgence and holds Pollio up as an example of how irritating the Romans can be. Norma enters and further encourages anti-Roman sentiments, while privately lamenting that driving them out would deprive her of her husband, Pollio, whom she has secretly married. Everyone leaves.
Pollio and Flavius enter surreptitiously, planning to spy on the druidess's secret rites. Pollio, though married to Norma, is smitten by Adalgisa. Hearing Norma's procession about to enter, Pollio cries out for help and alleges that Flavius has profaned the sanctum by embracing Adalgisa. Norma condemns Flavius to death.
Scene II – Norma's Home
Oroveso reflects that he has adopted so many personas over the years that he now longer knows who he really is. Norma and Pollio meet, and she discovers that he no longer loves her. Adalgisa begs Norma to release her from her vows because she is in love with a Roman. When Norma realises that the Roman in question is Pollio both she and Adalgisa turn on him and berate him as he attempts to defend himself.
Scene III – The Temple of Irminsul, prepared for a Fancy Fair
The fund-raising event is in full swing. The junior druidesses make rude remarks about each others' contributions. Oroveso tries to raffle fake autographs, which he has forged, of celebrities of various anachronistic eras, up to the nineteenth century.
Flavius is led out to be burnt at the stake. Norma announces that she too has sinned, by marrying Pollio, and must also be executed. Oroveso is outraged that she has married a Roman and clamours for her immediate death. The other druidesses at once confess that they have all married Romans secretly. Oroveso's lost visiting-card case is found, and he discovers that he is, in fact, Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. He decrees that although the druid law prescribes fire as the punishment for all the druidesses and their spouses, "red fire" – a theatrical lighting effect – will suffice. The red lighting is shone on the cast and all ends happily. Norma addresses the audience with a plea for indulgence:
- So for burlesque I plead. Forgive our rhymes;
- Forgive the jokes you've heard five thousand times;
- Forgive each breakdown, cellar-flap, and clog,
- Our low-bred songs – our slangy dialogue;
- And, above all – oh, ye with double barrel –
- Forgive the scantiness of our apparel!
Musical numbers
The numbers printed in the libretto are:- Adalgisa, Arminia, Ingonda and Chorus – "We're all tatting" ("We're all nodding.")
- Chorus of Priestesses – "Norma's drums are loudly beating" (Bellini, "Norma viene", followed by German ReedThomas German ReedThomas German Reed was an English composer and theatrical manager best known for creating the German Reed Entertainments, a genre of musical plays that made theatre-going respectable at a time when the stage was considered disreputable...
, "Babbletyboobledore.") - Chorus of Priestesses – "Norma now retreat is beating" (Bellini "Norma viene")
- Pollio and Adalgisa – "Pity, pity, take on me" (Trad. "The Bells of Aberdovey")
- Chorus, Norma, Pollio, Adalgisa, Flavius and Oroveso – "Oh, my. Never did I" ("Hot Corn" followed by OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
Ba-ta-clanBa-ta-clanBa-ta-clan is a "chinoiserie musicale", or operetta, in one act by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed at Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, on 29 December 1855. The operetta uses set numbers and spoken dialogue and runs about one...
arr. German Reed as Ching Chow Hi, "Boolabang") - Norma and Pollio – "Oh, vile deceiver" (Donizetti, L'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
,"Egli gallo della checca") - Norma, Pollio, Adalgisa – "See Norma bounding" (WeberCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
, air from Euryanthe) - Norma and Pollio – "Oh farewell, oh farewell all the friends" (GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
, La reine de SabaLa reine de SabaLa reine de Saba is a grand opera in four or five acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's Le voyage en Orient...
, "Berceuse.") - Finale – "Please you, sirs" (Ching Chow Hi, "Boolabang.")
Reporting on the first night, The Era mentioned a parody on "Rise Gentle Moon", sung by Pollio "with good effect".
Critical reception
The notices were generally good. The Gilbert scholar Jane Stedman comments that the magazine Judy had embarked on an anti-Gilbert campaign (Gilbert wrote for Judys rival, FunFun (magazine)
Fun was a Victorian weekly magazine, first published on 21 September 1861. The magazine was founded by the actor and playwright H. J. Byron in competition with Punch magazine.-Description:...
magazine), and denigrated Gilbert's unusually refined libretto by praising a contemporary one by F. C. Burnand at its expense. By contrast, The Era wrote:
The story is perverted with great ingenuity, the lines are as remarkable for correctness of rhythm as for their abundance of puns, and the parodies are written with unusual care to some of the prettiest melodies in the operatic and lyrical repertory. Miss Hughes, who sings with admirable skill and taste a grand scena, is excellent as the High Priestess Norma; and Miss Kathleen Irwin completed her triumph of the night by revealing herself as an accomplished vocalist no less than a pleasing actress as the fair Adalgisa. … Mr R. Barker as the mysterious Oroveso, who, on the restoration of his long-missing card-case, discovers himself to be Julius Caesar, largely contributed to the mirth of the audience.
The Times concurred with The Era: "Mr. W. S. Gilbert ... by his abstinence from the more vulgar jokes, and the polish of his verse, has gained for himself a position apart from that of the ordinary writers of extravaganza." The Morning Post praised the piece highly and added, "as usually happens in burlesques from the pen of Mr. Gilbert, the writing is of a higher order than in the generality of productions in this irreverent department of dramatic literature." Despite Norma's apology for "the scantiness of our apparel", the critic added the reservation that it was not scant enough: "the long dresses in which the female personages are for the most part attired detract from the smartness of the action and the picturesqueness of the general effect."