The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876. A young man, Alexis, is obsessed with the idea of love levelling all ranks and social distinctions. To promote his beliefs, he invites the proprietor of J. W. Wells & Co., Family Sorcerers, to brew a love potion. This causes everyone in the village to fall in love with the first person they see and results in the pairing of comically mismatched couples. In the end, Wells must sacrifice his life to break the spell.
The opera opened on 17 November 1877 at the Opera Comique in London, where it ran for 178 performances. It was considered a success by the standards of that time and encouraged the collaborators to write their next opera, H.M.S. Pinafore. The Sorcerer was revised for an 1884 revival, and that version is usually performed today. The Sorcerer was the first Savoy opera for which the author and composer had nearly total control over the production and the selection of cast. Several of the actors chosen went on to create principal roles in most of the later Gilbert and Sullivan operas. It was their first opera to use all the major character types and typical range of songs that would appear in their later collaborations, such as comic duets, a patter song, a contrapuntal double chorus, a tenor and soprano love duet, a soprano showpiece and so forth.
The modest success of The Sorcerer was overshadowed by the extraordinary popularity of Gilbert and Sullivan's later collaborations, and the opera remains one of the team's less popular ones. The satire in the piece concerns Victorian-era class distinctions and operatic conventions with which modern audiences are less familiar. Nevertheless, the opera was important to the development of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and is still regularly played.
Background In 1871, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had written Thespis, an extravaganza for the Gaiety Theatre's holiday season that did not lead immediately to any further collaboration.Ainger, p. 94 Three years later, in 1875, talent agent and producer Richard D'Oyly Carte was managing the Royalty Theatre, and he needed a short opera to be played as an afterpiece to Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole.Ainger, p. 108 Carte was able to bring Gilbert and Sullivan together again to write the one-act piece, called Trial by Jury, which became a surprise hit.Ainger, p. 109Stedman, pp. 128–29 The piece was witty, tuneful and very "English", in contrast to the bawdy burlesques and adaptations of French operettas that dominated the London musical stage at that time.Stedman, pp. 129–30 Trial by Jury proved even more popular than La Périchole,The Times, 29 March 1875, quoted and discussed in Ainger, p. 109 becoming an unexpected hit, touring extensivelyAinger, pp. 111; 117–18 and enjoying revivals and a world tour.Gänzl (1886), pp. 89–90
After the success of Trial by Jury, several producers attempted to reunite Gilbert and Sullivan, but difficulties arose. Plans for a collaboration for Carl Rosa in 1875 fell through because Gilbert was too busy with other projects,Stedman, p. 132Ainger, p. 112 and an attempted Christmas 1875 revival of Thespis by Richard D'Oyly Carte failed when the financiers backed out.Ainger, pp. 113–14 Gilbert and Sullivan continued their separate careers, though both continued writing light opera.Ainger, p. 110 Finally, in 1877, Carte organised a syndicate of four financiers and formed the Comedy Opera Company, capable of producing a full-length work.Ainger, p. 130 By July 1877, Gilbert and Sullivan were under contract to produce a two-act opera.Ainger, p. 131 Gilbert expanded on his own short story that he had written the previous year for The Graphic, "An Elixir of Love,"Ainger, p. 132In the short story, the elixir is used to help the villagers overcome the difficulty that they have in expressing their true feelings and achieving domestic happiness in the face the convoluted Victorian rules of courtship. creating a plot about a magic love potion that – as often occurs in opera – causes everyone to fall in love with the wrong partner.The device of a magic potion can also be found in some of his earlier works: a Bab Ballad 'The Cunning Woman' and his first early Victorian burlesque, Dulcamara, as well as later works, such as Foggerty's Fairy and The Mountebanks. See Bradley (1996), p. 43
Now backed by a company dedicated to their work, Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte were able to select their own cast, instead of using the players under contract to the theatre where the work was produced, as had been the case with their earlier works. They chose talented actors, most of whom were not well-known stars; and so did not command high fees, and whom they felt they could mould to their own style. Then, they tailored their work to the particular abilities of these performers.Jacobs, p. 111; Ainger, pp. 133–34 Carte approached Mrs Howard Paul to play the role of Lady Sangazure in the new opera. Mr and Mrs Howard Paul had operated a small touring company booked by Carte's agency for many years, but the couple had recently separated.Mrs Paul left her husband (Howard Paul, 1830–1905) around 1877, as he was having an affair with the actress-dancer Letty Lind, with whom he sired two illegitimate children. However, she continued performing under this name, often humorously impersonating the famous tenor Sims Reeves. See Barrington, p. 21 She conditioned her acceptance of the part on the casting of her 24-year-old protege, Rutland Barrington. When Barrington auditioned before W. S. Gilbert, the young actor questioned his own suitability for comic opera, but Gilbert, who required that his actors play their sometimes-absurd lines in all earnestness, explained the casting choice: "He's a staid, solid swine, and that's what I want."Ayre, p. 48 Barrington was given the role of Dr Daly, the vicar, which was his first starring role on the London stage.Stone, David. "Rutland Barrington" at the Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte website (G&S Archive), accessed 9 March 2008
For the character role of Mrs. Partlet, they chose Harriett Everard, an actress who had worked with Gilbert before. Carte's agency supplied additional singers, including Alice May (Aline), Giulia Warwick (Constance), and Richard Temple (Sir Marmaduke).Ainger, p. 134 Finally, in early November 1877, the last role, that of the title character, John Wellington Wells, was filled by the comedian George Grossmith.In 1876, it was announced that the composer's brother, Fred Sullivan, who had originated the role of the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury, would be involved with the next Gilbert and Sullivan opera, but he became ill and died in January 1877. See Gänzl (2021), p. 22 Grossmith had appeared in charity performances of Trial by Jury, where both Sullivan and Gilbert had seen himGrossmith profile at the Memories of the D'Oyly Carte website, accessed 9 March 2008 (indeed, Gilbert had directed one such performance, in which Grossmith played the judge),Ainger, p. 138 and Gilbert had earlier commented favourably on his performance in Tom Robertson's Society at the Gallery of Illustration.Ainger, p. 136 After singing for Sullivan, upon meeting Gilbert, Grossmith wondered aloud if the role shouldn't be played by "a fine man with a fine voice". Gilbert replied, "No, that is just what we don't want."Ayre, p. 137
The Sorcerer was not the only piece on which either Gilbert or Sullivan were working at that time. Gilbert was completing Engaged, a "farcical comedy", which opened on 3 October 1877. He also was sorting out the problems with The Ne'er-do-Weel, a piece he wrote for Edward Sothern. Meanwhile, Sullivan was writing the incidental music to Henry VIII; only after its premiere on 28 August did he begin working on The Sorcerer.Ainger, pp. 134–35 The opening was originally scheduled for 1 November 1877; however, the first rehearsals took place on 27 October, and the title role of J. W. Wells was filled just before that time. The Sorcerer finally opened at Opera Comique on 17 November 1877.
Roles
Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, an Elderly Baronet (bass-baritone) Alexis, of the Grenadier Guards, his son (tenor) Dr Daly, Vicar of Ploverleigh (lyric baritone) Notary (bass) John Wellington Wells, of J. W. Wells & Co., Family Sorcerers (comic baritone) Lady Sangazure, a Lady of Ancient Lineage (contralto) Aline, her Daughter, betrothed to Alexis (soprano) Mrs. Partlet, a Pew Opener (contralto) Constance, her Daughter (soprano (1877); mezzo-soprano or soprano (1884)) Hercules (speaking role) Chorus of villagers
Note: In the 1877 production, Constance was played by a soprano, Giulia Warwick. Parts of the role were lowered in 1884 for mezzo-soprano Jessie Bond.An examination of the 1877 and 1884 scores shows the lowered keys. David Mackie, the associate musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1976 to 1982, wrote and presented 14 interval talks on BBC Radio 2, for the network's 1989 series of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan operas. In his talk on The Sorcerer, broadcast on , he stated that the keys were lowered to accommodate Bond.
Synopsis
Act I The villagers of Ploverleigh are preparing to celebrate the betrothal of Alexis Pointdextre, the son of the local baronet, and the blue-blooded Aline Sangazure ("Ring forth, ye bells"). Only a young village maiden named Constance Partlet seems unwilling to join in the happy mood, and we learn as she tells her mother that she is secretly in love with the local vicar, Dr Daly ("When he is here, I sigh with pleasure"); and the cleric himself promptly soliloquises that he has been unlucky in love ("The air is charged with amatory numbers"). However, despite Mrs. Partlet's best attempts at matchmaking, the middle-aged Dr Daly seems unable to conceive that a young girl like Constance would be interested in him.
Alexis and Aline arrive ("With heart and with voice"), and it soon becomes clear that his widower father Sir Marmaduke and her widowed mother Lady Sangazure are concealing long-held feelings for each other, which propriety however demands remain hidden ("Welcome joy, adieu to sadness"). The betrothal ceremony is carried out, and left alone together Alexis reveals to his fiancée his plans for practical implementation of his principle that love should unite all classes and ranks ("Love feeds on many kinds of food, I know"). He has invited a representative from a respectable London firm of sorcerers to Ploverleigh ("My name is John Wellington Wells"). Aline has misgivings about hiring a real sorcerer. Nevertheless, Alexis instructs Wells to prepare a batch of love potion, sufficient to affect the entire village, except that it must have no effect on married people.
Wells mixes the potion, assisted by sprites, fiends, imps, demons, ghosts and other fearsome magical beings in an incantation ("Sprites of earth and air"). The village gathers for the wedding feast ("Now to the Banquet we Press"), and the potion is added to a teapot. All of the villagers, save Alexis, Aline and Wells, drink it and, after experiencing some hallucinations ("Oh, marvellous illusion"), they fall unconscious.
Act II