Rossini and beyond

Interpolations in the Lesson Scene in "Barbiere"

Speranza

Rather pedantically, I am tempted to entitle the thing, now:

"Rossini and beyond: towards a
catalogue raisonné of interpolated arias
for the singing lesson in "Barber of Seville"

and make it a "dall'A alla Z" -- more material below -- and again, thanks
to all!

Cheers,

Speranza

--
(a)
Pedantic as it may sound, the term seems to be indeed "interpolation", as
I read from the (never pedantic) Met archives, when, for one occasion, it
signals:

"The program did not specify
the selection sung by Sembrich during
the Lesson Scene. On all other occasions
this season, when her *interpolation* [emphasis mine -- Speranza] was
listed, the soprano
invariably performed Voci di primavera (Strauss)."

There are various things to consider here, as listers have. These include:

* Rossini, obviously, had something pretty specific in mind. And _his_
aria is *usually* (now almost invariably) sung -- as IT SHOULD. The practice
allows you not to have to BOTHER to justify a different criterion for choice
(even if realise that there is charm in the proceeding).

* As a matter of fact, as I learn from browsing the Met archives, ROSSINI
provided, for some reason, an 'alternate' (interpolated) aria, which was
also sung occasionally: "La mia pace, la mia calma". I would think this was
the first 'interpolation' ever.

* Then the implication started that the soprano could sing 'something
else' -- the implicature: rather than Rossini's intended aria. I would love to
think that it was Patti who started the practice with her memorial of "Home
Sweet Home" (in East Hampton).

* The custom then seems to have been, perhaps to enhance the whole comical
effect, to INTRODUCE something NOTABLY *different* (even anachronically)
from Rossini's fare -- and there is a point by an earlier reviewer -- in the
Met archives -- on precisely this.

* I'm sure, as we browse biographies of divas, etc. that a few NOTABLE
ANECDOTES relate to this scene and choice of alternate aria. I would like to
think that even Wellings had something to say about a Rosina interpolating
his "Some Day" for an occasion -- a song that the reviewer in the Met
archives maliciously describes as "too, too trite", though.

In any case, if anyone is interested in 'helping improve' wiki, there's
room for expansion in wiki's current note in "Barbiere", which reads:

"For the singing lesson in Act II [of Rossini, "Barber of Seville"]
sopranos have often inserted a song of their own choice. Pauline
Viardot began the practice of inserting Alabiev's "Nightingale". Callas
sung a cut-down version of Rossini's own "Contro un cor.""

--
(b) Dall'A alla Z: towards THE (alphabetic) CATALOGUE RAISONNE ITSELF.

ACH ICH LIEBTE
(Mozart, Ratto del Seraglio). Interpolated by Pons

AH NON GIUNGE
Bellini, Sonnambula.
Interpolated by SEMBRICH.

AH NON SAI QUAL PENA
Mozart
Interpolated by Barrientos

AH VOUS DIRAI-JE MAMAN
From "Le Toreador" (Adam)
Interpolated by Pons.

AL PENSAR EN EL DUENO (from Las Hijas del Zewbedeo -- Chapi) -- Elvira de
Hidalgo.

AN DER SCHOEN BLAUEN DONAU (Strauss) -- Hempel

BACIO, Il (Arditi) -- Hempel

BEL RAGGIO (Rossini, SEMIRAMIDE) -- Sayao.

CHARMANT OISEAU (from La Perle du Bresil (David)) -- Antoine.

CONTRO UN COR CHE ACCENDE AMORE -- NOT an interpolation: Rossini's original
idea for the thing.

DEH TORNA MIO BENE (Prosch)

DEH VIENI NON TARDAR (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro) SAYAO.

FAUVETTE, LA -- from "Zemire et Azor" (Gretry, La Forge) -- Pons

GRANDE VALSE (Venzano) -- De Pasquali

****************

HOME SWEET HOME.
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble there's no place like home!
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere:
Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home!
|: There's no place like Home! :|
2. I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child
As she looks on the moon from our own cottage door
Through the woodbine whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.
3. An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain
Oh, give me my low, thatched cottage again,
The birds singing gaily that come at my call,
Give me them with that peace of mind, dearer than all.
4. How sweet 'tis to sit neath a fond father's smile,
And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile.
Let others delight 'mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh give me the pleasures of home.
5. To thee I'll return overburdened with care,
The hearts dearest solace will smile on me there
No more from that cottage again will I roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

ICH MUSS NUN EINMAL SINGEN (Taubert) -- Sembrich
INCANTATRICE, L' (Arditi) -- Ottein
JE VEUX VIVRE (Romeo e Giulietta) -- Cora Chase.
Là là là air chéri (La stella -- Meyerbeer)-- Sembrich.

LAST ROSE OF SUMMER, The (PATTI)
The Last Rose of Summer is a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore, who was a
friend of Byron and Shelley. Moore wrote it in 1805 while at Jenkinstown Park
in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Sir John Stevenson set the poem to its
widely-known melody, and this was published in a collection of Moore's work
called Irish Melodies (1807–34). In Ireland, it is claimed that the melody was
composed by George Alexander Osborne, a composer from Limerick City. Ludwig
Van Beethoven composed Theme and Three variations for flute and piano, Op
105, based on the song late in his life.Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy composed
a Fantasia in E major, Op. 15, based on the song (1827?, publ. London,
1830). Friedrich von Flotow uses the song in his opera "Martha," premiered in
1847 in Vienna. It is a favorite air ("Letzte Rose") of the character Lady
Harriet. The interpolation works, and indeed the song helped popularize the
opera. (According to the 1954 Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the
opera grew from an 1844 ballet-pantomime, "Lady Henriette," for which
Flotow wrote the music to Act One. Burgmuller and Deldevez wrote the rest of
the music; "Lady Henriette" was produced in Paris.) It has been arranged into
a set of extremely difficult variations by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst for the
violin. The song is mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses.[1] It is also
mentioned by Wilkie Collins in The Moonstone. Opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini
began with the song in her free public concert in the streets of San
Francisco, California on Christmas Eve, 1910. [2] As well as being a common
phrase[citation needed], the poem is alluded to in the Grateful Dead song "Black
Muddy River". Clannad released a rendition of the song on their album Crann
Úll. Sarah Brightman recorded the song for her album The Trees They Grow So
High. It was made popular in the twenty-first century in a recording by
Charlotte Church and the Irish Tenors. It is sung in the musical group Celtic
Woman by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and Hayley Westenra. Chloë Agnew's solo version
is recorded on her self-titled album. In the Celtic Woman: A New Journey
tours, she sang duets with Ní Mhaolchatha, Westenra, and the
vocalist-guitarist of the same group, Lynn Hilary. Agnew and Hilary are performing the
same version in the Isle Of Hope tour. Ní Mhaolchatha's solo version is
included in her Celtic Journey album. In the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan it
is the character Joe Pendelton’s inability to play “The Last Rose of Summer”
on his saxophone anything other than badly which allows him to prove that
he is alive in another man’s body; all the other characters think he is
the dead man from whom he got the body, but when he plays the sax for his old
boxing manager, he uses the same wrong note in the melody as he always
did, and which thus confirms his story of coming back from the after-life. In
the 16th (final) episode of the 6th season of the UK Channel 4 television
show Shameless, the song was sung by Jamie Maguire (played by Aaron
McCusker) at the funeral of his sister Mandy Maguire (Samantha Siddall). In the
1995 film An Awfully Big Adventure, the song is used as P.L. O'Hara's theme
music and is a recurrent musical motif in the film's score. The song was
featured in Ric Burns' documentary series, New York: A Documentary Film,
broadcast on PBS in the USA. The song was used in the game Endless Ocean: Blue
World as the theme of the Depths area of the Zahhab Region. It is also
playable on the jukebox that the player can purchase in-game. Off their 1977
album "Sin After Sin", Judas Priest recorded a song entitled "Last Rose of
Summer". Written by Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton, the song is all about
"unyielding love". A 1977 3 hr. Science Fiction BBC radio production written by
Stephen Gallagher. Fionnuala Sherry of the New Instrumental duo Secret Garden
released a version of the song titled "The Last Rose" on her solo debut
album "Songs From Before". February 2011, the song was featured in FOX TV
series,"The Chicago Code" Season 1 Episode 2, "Hog Butcher". This traditional
Irish song was sung by Jason Bayle, as the uniformed officer during the
memorial service of fallen Chicago police officer Antonio Betz. Laura Wright
recorded a version, featured on her album The Last Rose (2011)
'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.
So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered,
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?
'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone
All her lovely companions are faded and gone
No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh

To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them
Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead
So soon may I follow when friendships decay
And from love's shining circle the gems drop away
When true hearts lie withered and fond ones are flown
Oh who would inhabit this bleak world alone?
This bleak world alone.

L'INUTILE PRECAUZIONE (Pietro Cimara) -- arietta -- using the words from
the opera, written in 1941, at the suggestion of Bidu Sayao.

LO, HEAR THE GENTLE LARK -- Bishop -- PONS. Of note is Bishop's 1819
musical comedy adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, which
included the popular coloratura soprano aria "Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark".

MAIDEN'S WISH, The (Chopin) -- Sembrich

MAZURKA (Chopin) -- Sembrich

MERE La Birding (Chopin) -- SEMBRICH.

NACQUI ALL'AFFANO (Rossini, La Cenerentola) -- Tourel.

NIGHTINGALE, The (Alabiev, Roze) -- Lipkowska

O LUCE DI QUEST'ANIMA (Donizetti, "Linda") -- Munsel.

OU VA LA JEUNE (Lakme) Pons

PARLA (Arditi) -- Nielsen

PUR DICESTI (Lotti) -- Berger

QUEL BONHEUR JE RESPIRE -- Fra Diavolo, in Italian -- Peters.

QUI LA VOCE

SHADOW SONG -- from Dinorah

SOME DAY (Wellings) -- "too, too trite".

SWISS ECHO SONG

VILLANELLE -- (dell'Acqua) -- Pons

VOCI DI PRIMAVERA (waltz) Strauss -- SEMBRICH.

----
(c) Appendix: some of the DOCUMENTS (from Met archives):

"Galli-Curci's BEST [emphasis mine -- Speranza] singing was reserved for
the lesson scene in the last act. Here she sang the "Qui la voce" aria from
"Puritani" with immense popular success. Then, waving the pseudo
music-master from his seat at the piano, she moved to the instrument, and, following
her custom, gave "Home, Sweet Home," in English."

"Again and again she was called upon to bow, and in vain the actors
attempted to proceed with the scene. A male voice paused in the midst of a
scarcely audible recitative, and applause burst out in another storm. Finally
Gennaro Papi solved the situation and saved the recently emphasized no-encore
rule in the face of the audience by starting the orchestra, and the opera
went on to its gay end."

"In the Lesson Scene Galli-Curci sang "Je suis Titania" from Mignon and
"Home sweet home" from Clari (Bishop)."

"There was a real outburst of enthusiasm after she sang the polonaise from
"Mignon" in the lesson scene. It is interesting to note that in this scene
Rosina always sings something that was composed long after "II Barbiere di
Siviglia." It would be a novel experiment for some Rosina to unearth an
aria from some forgotten seventeenth century opera, in the later years of the
century, for instance, when operas were full of vocal fireworks."

"In the Lesson Scene Galli-Curci sang Deh torna mio bene (Proch) and Home
sweet home from Clari (Bishop).]"

"In the lesson scene she sang the antiquated variations of Proch in a dull
and listless style except for the easy staccati and followed it with "Home
Sweet Home," given in an equally pallid manner."

"In the Lesson Scene Galli-Curci sang Deh torna mio bene (Proch) and Home
sweet home from Clari (Bishop)."

"The lesson scene brought a captivating rendition of the "Shadow Song" from
"Dinorah," followed by her own personally accompanied 'Home Sweet Home" in
English. The distinctive and flower-petal quality of Galli-Curci's
fragrant voice was in rich evidence, lifting and winging its way into memories of
the listeners. Where in all the garden of birds, is there such another as
this human heaven-soaring songster?"

"Throughout this season, the aria sung by Rosina in the Lesson Scene was
Contro un cor."

"In the Lesson Scene Sembrich sang Deh torna mio bene (Proch), Wiegenlied
(Ries) and Ich liebe dich (Foerster)."

"It was in the music lesion scene that Mme. Sembrich most thoroughly
captivated her hearers last evening and in that, of course, the music was not
only not Rossini's but was utterly unlike Rossini in every feature. The song
and variations, by Proch, first sung in this country by Mme. Peschka-Leutner
14 years ago, was the first selection introduced by Mme. Sembrich in this
division of the opera, and the dazzling brilliancy of her execution of this
bit of music teacher's work, and the ease with which she overcame the
difficulties of its most bewildering bars fully merited the wild applause which
followed it. Afterwards she sang, with much grace and tenderness, two
German love songs."

"In the Lesson Scene Sembrich sang Proch's "Deh torna mio bene," the Queen
of the Night aria from Die Zauberflöte "Gli angui d'inferno," and "Someday"
an English song by Wellings."

"In the lesson scene SEMBRICH sang Proch's aria and variations, and the
grand scene from "Il Flauto Magico," arousing the greatest enthusiasm."

"As for the extra songs SEMBRICH sang, according to time-honored custom, in
the scene, we should have preferred almost anything to Proch's
"Variations," and that too, too trite "Some Day!" (Beautifully sung as they were)."

"In the Lesson Scene Patti sang Eckert's "Swiss Echo Song," and then
supplemented this selection with "Home sweet home" and "The Last Rose of
Summer.""

"In the Lesson Scene, Sembrich sang Strauss's "Voci di primavera," which
had been dedicated to her by the composer."

"In the Lesson Scene, Sembrich sang Voci di primavera (Strauss), Ah non
giunge from La Sonnambula and The Maiden's Wish (Chopin)."

"SEMBRICH chose for her songs of display the waltz, "Voci di Primavera" by
Strauss; Chopin's "Mère la Birding," which she sang in Polish, accompanying
herself at the piano in a most musicianly way, and "Ah non Guinge" from
"Sonnambula.""

"In the Lesson Scene Munsel sang L'Inutile Precauzione by Pietro Cimara.
The arietta, using the words from the opera, was written in 1941 at the
suggestion of Bidú Sayao."

"In the Lesson Scene Sayao sang Bel raggio from Semiramide."

"In the Lesson Scene Reggiani sang Il Carnevale di Venezia (Benedict)."

"In the Lesson Scene Antoine sang Charmant oiseau from La Perle du Brésil
(David)."

"In the Lesson Scene Pons sang Ah vous dirai-je maman from Le Toréador
(Adam)."

"In the Lesson Scene HORNE sang "La mia pace, la mia calma," an alternate
aria composed by Rossini for this scene."

"In the Lesson Scene Horne sang Tanti affetti from La Donna del Lago by
Rossini."

"Contro un cor che accende amore," (Victoria de los Angeles) the aria that
Rossini wrote to be sung at this point.

"It is such a wonderful display-piece and so dramatically effective that
one wonders how the custom of interpolating another aria here was ever
started."

"In the Lesson Scene Berger sang Pur dicesti (Lotti)."

"In the Lesson Scene Peters sang "Quel bonheur je respire" from Fra Diavolo
in Italian."

"In the Lesson Scene Munsel sang O luce di quest'anima from Linda di
Chamounix."

"In the Lesson Scene Pons sang La fauvette avec ses petits from Zemire et
Azor (Grétry, La Forge)."

"In the Lesson Scene Sayao sang Deh vieni non tardar from Le Nozze di
Figaro."

"In the Lesson Scene Tourel sang Nacqui all'affanno from La Cenerentola."

"In the Lesson Scene Pons sang Villanelle (Dell'Acqua)."

"In the Lesson Scene Pons sang Où va la jeune Indoue from Lakmé."

"In the Lesson Scene Pons sang Villanelle (Dell'Acqua) and Ach ich liebte
from Die Entführung aus dem Serail."

"In the Lesson Scene Pons sang Deh torna mio bene (Proch) and Lo Hear the
Gentle Lark (Bishop)."

"In the Lesson Scene Morgana sang Ô légère hirondelle from Mireille."

"In the Lesson Scene Elvira de Hidalgo sang the Shadow Song from Dinorah
and Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores from Las Hijas del Zebedeo (Chapí)."

"In the Lesson Scene Ottein sang L'incantatrice (Arditi)."

"In the Lesson Scene Cora Chase sang Je veux vivre from Roméo et Juliette."

"In the Lesson Scene Barrientos sang Ah non sai qual pena (Mozart)."

"In the Lesson Scene Hempel sang An der schönen blauen Donau (Strauss)."

"In the Lesson Scene Nielsen may have sung Parla (Arditi), the selection
scheduled by Hempel, who was replaced as Rosina by Nielsen."

"In the Lesson Scene Hempel sang Il Bacio (Arditi)."

"In the Lesson Scene De Pasquali sang Grande Valse (Venzano)."

"In the Lesson Scene Lipkowska sang The Nightingale (Alabiev, Rôze)."

"In the Lesson Scene Sembrich sang "Voci di primavera" by Strauss, "Ah non
giunge" from La Sonnambula, and a Mazurka by Chopin, the latter with her
own piano accompaniment."

"In the Lesson Scene, Sembrich sang Strauss's "Voci di primavera" and "Ah,
non giunge" from La Sonnambula. She followed these selections by going to
the piano and playing and singing Chopin's "The Maiden's Wish.""

"In the Lesson Scene Sembrich sang Strauss's "Voci di primavera" and
Taubert's "Ich muss nun einmal singen." In response to the audience's demands
for more, she took a seat at the piano and sang a Chopin song, playing her own
accompaniment."

"In the Lesson Scene Sembrich sang Là là là air chéri from L'Étoile du Nord
(Meyerbeer)."

"In the Lesson Scene Sembrich sang the Bolero from I Vespri Siciliani."

The Savoy Theatre, London

Speranza

Savoy Theatre
Original facade of the Savoy Theatre, 1881
Address	Savoy Street
City	Westminster, London, England
Coordinates	51°30′37″N 0°07′16″W / 51.510139°N 0.121°W / 51.510139; -0.121Coordinates: 51°30′37″N 0°07′16″W / 51.510139°N 0.121°W / 51.510139; -0.121
Architect	C. J. Phipps
Owned by	Ambassador Theatre Group
Capacity	c. 1,150 on 3 levels
Type	West End theatre
Opened	10 October 1881 (1881-10-10)
Rebuilt	1929 Frank A. Tugwell 1993 William Whitfield
www.ambassadortickets.com/Savoy-Theatre/Information

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, which became known as the Savoy Operas as a result.

The theatre was the first theatre, and the first public building in the world, to be lit entirely by electricity.^[1]

In 1889, Richard D'Oyly Carte built the Savoy Hotel next to the theatre.

For many years, the Savoy was the home of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and it was run by the Carte family for over a century.

Richard's son Rupert D'Oyly Carte rebuilt and modernised the theatre in 1929, and it was rebuilt again in 1993 following a fire.

It is a Grade II* listed building.^[2]


Apart from The Mikado and other famous Gilbert and Sullivan premières, the theatre has hosted such notable premières as Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit in 1941.

In recent years it has presented opera, Shakespeare and other non-musical plays, as well as musicals, including revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Carousel, and new shows like Never Forget.

The original London production of Legally Blonde played from December 2009 to April 2012.

The House of Savoy was the ruling family of Savoy descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia (or "Maurienne"), who became count in 1032. The name Sabaudia evolved into "Savoy" (or "Savoie"). Count Peter (or Piers or Piero) of Savoy (d. 1268) was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, queen-consort of Henry III of England, and came with her to London.

The Savoy Palace

King Henry made Peter Earl of Richmond and, in 1246, gave him the land between The Strand and the Thames where Peter built the Savoy Palace in 1263. On Peter's death, the Savoy was given to Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster, by his mother, Queen Eleanor. Edmund's great-granddaughter, Blanche, inherited the site. Her husband, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, built a magnificent palace that was burned down by Wat Tyler's followers in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. King Richard II was still a child, and his uncle John of Gaunt was the power behind the throne and so a main target of the rebels.

In about 1505, Henry VII planned a great hospital for "pouer, nedie people", leaving money and instructions for it in his will. The hospital was built in the palace ruins and licensed in 1512. Drawings show that it was a magnificent building, with a dormitory, dining hall and three chapels. Henry VII's hospital lasted for two centuries but suffered from poor management. The sixteenth-century historian Stow noted that the hospital was being misused by "loiterers, vagabonds and strumpets". In 1702, the hospital was dissolved, and the hospital buildings were used for other purposes. Part of the old palace was used for a military prison in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the old hospital buildings were demolished and new buildings erected.^[3]
In 1864 a fire burned everything except the stone walls and the Savoy Chapel, and the property sat empty until Richard D'Oyly Carte bought it in 1880 to build the Savoy Theatre specifically for the production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, of which he was the producer.^[4] The new theatre was built speedily, and accounts noted that it "was situated on a site which, though rich in historical associations, was also rich in the olfactory sense. Mr Rimmeil's scent factory was close by as was Burgess's Noted Fish-Sauce Shop."^[3][5]

 

Original interior of Savoy Theatre, 1881

Carte bought the freehold of the site, then known as "Beaufort Buildings", early in 1880 for £11,000, but had begun planning his theatre several years before. In 1877, he employed Walter Emden, an architect whose work includes the Garrick and the Duke of York's theatres.^[6] Before purchase, Carte had been assured by government officials that they would open a new street on the south side of the plot, provided he paid half the cost. He paid his half in March 1880, but the officials caused lengthy further delays. Carte told The Times, "I am struggling in the meshes of red tape".^[7] He finally received the necessary agreement in June. At the same time he ran into another obstacle: Emden suddenly revised his estimate of building costs upward from £12,000 to £18,000. Carte dismissed Emden, who sued for £1,790 for services to date and £3,000 for wrongful dismissal.^[6]
Design of the theatre was given to C. J. Phipps. The builders were Patman and Fotheringham. Plans were drawn up and executed with speed and efficiency. Nonetheless, the advertised opening date had to be put back several times while the innovative electrical work was completed.^[6]

The Savoy finally opened on 10 October 1881.^[8] Carte had at one time intended to call it the Beaufort Theatre,^[9] but he announced in a letter to The Daily Telegraph in 1881, "On the Savoy Manor there was formerly a theatre. I have used the ancient name as an appropriate title for the present one."^[6]

1896 programme with Savoy Coat of Arms

On the opening night Phipps took curtain calls along with Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte.^[6] The Times commented, "A perfect view of the stage can be had from every seat in the house."^[1] The decoration by Collinson and Locke was "in the manner of the Italian Renaissance", with white, pale yellow and gold predominating, including a gold satin curtain (instead of the usual printed act-drop), red boxes and dark blue seats. Exits on all four sides of the theatre were provided, and fireproof materials were used to ensure maximum safety.^[1] There were three tiers with four levels: stalls and pit, balcony, circle, and amphitheatre and gallery at the top. The total seating capacity was 1,292.^[10] The proscenium arch was 30 feet (9.1 m) high by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and the stage was 27 feet (8.2 m) deep from the proscenium to the back wall.^[11] The theatre originally had its main entrance on the Embankment. The parcel on which it was built is steep, stretching from the Strand down to the Embankment along Beaufort Street. After Carte built the Savoy Hotel in 1889, the entrance to the theatre was moved to the hotel's courtyard off the Strand, where it is today.
The Savoy was a state-of-the-art theatre and the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity.^[12] Sir Joseph Swan, inventor of the incandescent light bulb, supplied about 1,200 Swan incandescent lamps, and the lights were powered by a 120 horsepower generator on open land near the theatre.^[1][13] Carte explained why he had introduced electric light: "The greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of the theatrical performances are, undoubtedly, the foul air and heat which pervade all theatres. As everyone knows, each gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as many people, and causes great heat beside. The incandescent lamps consume no oxygen, and cause no perceptible heat."^[14] The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire front-of-house was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until 28 December 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped on stage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of the new technology. The Times described the electric lighting as superior, visually, to gaslight.^[15] Gaslights were installed as a backup, but they rarely had to be used.^[6] The Times concluded that the theatre "is admirably adapted for its purpose, its acoustic qualities are excellent, and all reasonable demands of comfort and taste are complied with."^[16]

Carte and his manager, George Edwardes (later famous as manager of the Gaiety Theatre), introduced several innovations including numbered seating, free programme booklets, proper whisky in the bars, the "queue" system for the pit and gallery (an American idea) and a policy of no tipping for cloakroom or other services.^[17] Daily expenses at the theatre were about half the possible takings from ticket sales.^[12][18][19]

1881 Programme for Patience

The work that opened the new theatre was Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Patience, which been running since April 1881 at the smaller Opera Comique.^[17]

The last eight of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas were premièred at the Savoy: Iolanthe (1882), Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore (1887), The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) The Gondoliers (1889), Utopia, Limited (1893), and The Grand Duke (1896), and the term Savoy Opera has come to be associated with all their joint works.

After the end of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, Carte, and later his widow, Helen (and her manager from 1901–1903, William Greet), staged other comic operas at the theatre by Arthur Sullivan and others, notably Ivan Caryll, Sydney Grundy, Basil Hood and Edward German.^[20]

The Savoy Operas of the 1890s, however, were far less successful than those of the Gilbert and Sullivan heyday.

After Carte's production of The Chieftain ended in March 1895, the Theatre briefly hosted the Carl Rosa Opera Company and then closed until late 1895, when Carte resumed productions at the theatre. Sullivan died in 1900, and Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901.^[21]

In 1903, the theatre closed and was reopened under the management of John Leigh and Edward Laurillard from February 1904 (beginning with a musical, The Love Birds) to December 1906.^[9]

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company returned to the Savoy for repertory seasons between 1906 and 1909, in which year C. H. Workman took over the management of the theatre.

He produced, among other works, Gilbert's final opera, with music by German, Fallen Fairies in 1909–10, which ran for only 51 performances.^[22] He also produced Two Merry Monarchs and Orpheus and Eurydice in 1910, the latter of which starred Marie Brema and Viola Tree in the title roles.^[23] The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company did not play in the theatre from 1909 until 1929,^[24] instead touring throughout Britain and playing London seasons in other theatres, and other works held the stage of the Savoy. George Augustus Richardson managed the theatre from November 1911 to February 1915.^[9]

[edit] Rupert D'Oyly Carte's theatre

In 1915, Richard D'Oyly Carte's son, Rupert D'Oyly Carte, took over management of the theatre.^[9] After serving in the navy in World War I, Carte decided to bring the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company back to London in first-rate style. He began to mount seasons of updated and refreshed Gilbert and Sullivan productions at first at the Prince's Theatre in 1919.^[17] J. B. Fagan's adaptation of Treasure Island first played in December 1922 at the Savoy Theatre with Arthur Bourchier as "Long John Silver".^[25] This was so popular that it was revived every Christmas until the outbreak of WWII.^[26]

1926 costume for The Mikado

On 3 June 1929, Carte closed the Savoy Theatre, and the interior was completely rebuilt to designs by Frank A. Tugwell with elaborate décor by Basil Ionides. The ceiling was painted to resemble an April sky; the walls, translucent gold on silver; the rows of stalls were all richly upholstered in different colours, and the curtain repeated the tones of the seating. Ionides said that he took the colour scheme from a bed of zinnias in Hyde Park.^[17] The entire floor space had been replanned: the old cloakrooms and bar at the back of the theatre were relocated to the side, and instead of 18 boxes there was now only one. The new auditorium had two tiers leaving three levels: stalls, dress, and upper circle. The capacity of the old house, originally 1,292, had been reduced to 986 by 1912,^[27] and the new theatre restored the capacity almost completely, with 1,200 seats.^[28] The new stage was 29 feet, 4 inches wide, by 29 feet, 6 inches deep.^[9]


The theatre reopened on 21 October 1929 with a new production of The Gondoliers designed by Charles Ricketts and conducted by Malcolm Sargent.^[29] In the only box sat Lady Gilbert, the librettist's widow.^[17] There were Gilbert and Sullivan seasons at the Savoy Theatre in 1929–30, 1932–33, 1951, 1954, 1961–62, 1975, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Other famous works presented at the Savoy included the première of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit (1941, which ran 1,997 consecutive performances, setting a new record for non-musical theatre runs), Robert Morley in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and several comedies by William Douglas-Home starring, among others, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, and John Mills.
After Rupert D'Oyly Carte's death in 1948, his daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte, succeeded to the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and became a director and later president of the Savoy Hotel group, which controlled the theatre. Management of the theatre was assumed in 1948 by Sir Hugh Wontner, chairman of the Savoy hotel group.^[9] The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company closed in 1982, and Dame Bridget died childless in 1985, bringing the family line to an end. Wontner continued as chairman of the theatre until his death in 1992.^[30]

The Savoy Theatre was refurbished in the early 1990s

While the theatre was being renovated in February 1990, a fire gutted the building, except for the stage and backstage areas. Tugwell's and Ionides's designs had been preserved, however, allowing the accurate restoration of the theatre under the direction of the architect Sir William Whitfield, Sir Hugh Wontner and the theatre's manager, Kevin Chapple.^[31] It reopened on 19 July 1993. The present theatre has a capacity of 1,158. During the renovation, an extra storey was added above the theatre that includes a health club for the hotel and a swimming pool above the stage. The reopened theatre was the venue for the World Chess Championship in 1993, won by Garry Kasparov.
In 1993, Noël Coward's Relative Values, played at the theatre, having premièred there in 1951. Tom Stoppard's Travesties, with Anthony Sher was next, and in 1994 the musical She Loves Me played, with Ruthie Henshall and John Gordon Sinclair. These were followed by Terry Johnson's Dead Funny; Alan Ayckbourn's Communicating Doors (which transferred to the theatre in 1996), with Angela Thorne; J. B. Priestley's When We Are Married, with Dawn French, Alison Steadman, and Leo McKern; and Ben Travers' Plunder, with Griff Rhys Jones and Kevin McNally. In 1997, a group led by Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen was given management of the theatre by The Savoy Group. Productions that followed included Simon Callow in The Importance of Being Oscar; Pet Shop Boys in concert, Ian Richardson in Pinero's The Magistrate; Edward Fox in A Letter of Resignation; the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Richard III, with Robert Lindsay; and Coward's Hay Fever, with Geraldine McEwan in 1999.

The Savoy Theatre and hotel entrance in 2003

In 2000, the briefly reconstituted D'Oyly Carte Opera Company produced H.M.S. Pinafore at the theatre. Donald Sutherland then starred in Enigmatic Variations, followed by a second D'Oyly Carte season, playing The Pirates of Penzance.^[32] In 2002, a season of Return to the Forbidden Planet was followed by the D'Oyly Carte productions of Iolanthe, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Mikado, and then a revival of Yasmina Reza's Life x 3. In 2003, the company revived Pinafore, followed by Bea Arthur at The Savoy, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Peter Pan and Pirates. These were followed by The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville performed by The Savoy Opera Company in 2004. Next were seasons of Lorna Luft starring in Songs My Mother Taught Me and the new salsa musical Murderous Instincts. Coward's Blithe Spirit was revived in 2004–05.^[32]
The Savoy Hotel group, including the theatre, was sold in 2004 to Quinlan Private which, in turn, sold the theatre in 2005 to the Ambassador Theatre Group (selling the Savoy Hotel to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal).^[33][34] Productions under the new ownership have included The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas, which closed in October 2006, and a new musical version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, directed by Trevor Nunn, which premièred in 2006. Fiddler On The Roof, starring Henry Goodman as Tevye, played at the theatre from May 2007 to February 2008^[35] and has been followed mostly by other musicals, including Legally Blonde, which played from January 2010 to April 2012.^[36][37]

[edit] Recent notable productions

• Never Forget (7 May 2008 – 15 November 2008), a new musical with a book by Daniel Brocklehurst, Guy Jones and Ed Curtis based on the 1990s songs of the band Take That and the music and lyrics of Gary Barlow.
• Carousel (29 November 2008 – 20 June 2009) by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, starring Lesley Garrett
• Dreamboats and Petticoats (22 July 2009 – 12 September 2009)
• Legally Blonde (13 January 2010 – 7 April 2012)
• The Sunshine Boys starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths (17 May 2012 – 28 July 2012)^[38]
• Soul Sister (August 2012 – September 2012)
• Cabaret (October 2012 – )

[edit] Nearby tube stations

• Charing Cross
• Embankment
• Covent Garden

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "The Savoy Theatre", The Times, 3 October 1881
2. ^ Details from listed building database (427797) - Grade II*. Images of England. English Heritage.
3. ^ ^{a b} Somerville, Robert. The Savoy: Manor, Hospital, Chapel (1960) London: Duchy of Lancaster.
4. ^ "Savoy 2009 Leading the Past", Savoy Hotel website, 2009
5. ^ D'Oyly Carte Opera Company website, on Patience accessed 1 March 2007
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "100 Electrifying Years", The Savoyard, Volume XX no. 2, D'Oyly Carte Opera Trust, September 1981, pp. 4–6
7. ^ Carte, Richard D'Oyly. "Building Difficulties", The Times, 22 May 1880, p. 6
8. ^ Rollins and Witts, p. 8
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Howard, p. 214
10. ^ 18 private boxes (72 seats); 150 stalls, 250 pit, 160 balcony, 160 circle, and 500 (maximum) amphitheatre and gallery. "The Savoy Theatre", The Times, 3 October 1881
11. ^ Who's Who in the Theatre, 1912, p. 297. Chapple, p. 11, and Howard, p. 214, give the dimensions as 60 feet wide by 52 feet deep, but those measurements included the wing space and the scene dock at the rear.
12. ^ ^{a b} Burgess, Michael. "Richard D'Oyly Carte", The Savoyard, January 1975, pp. 7–11
13. ^ Gooday, Graeme. Domesticating electricity: technology, uncertainty and gender, 1880-1914. Pickering & Chatto, 2008, p. 107, accessed November 30, 2010
14. ^ "Richard D'Oyly Carte", at the Lyric Opera San Diego website, June 2009
15. ^ Description of lightbulb experiment in The Times, 28 December 1881
16. ^ "The Savoy Theatre", The Times, 11 October 1881
17. ^ ^{a b c d e} Bettany, unnumbered page (there are no page numbers in the book)
18. ^ Dark and Grey, p. 85
19. ^ The Strand, including the Savoy Theatre, and a depiction of Richard D'Oyly Carte, are featured in Nicholas Meyer's 1976 novel The West End Horror.
20. ^ Rollins and Witts, pp 16–19
21. ^ Wilson and Lloyd, p. 52
22. ^ Rollins and Witts, p. 22
23. ^ Wearing, vol. 1, p. 24
24. ^ Rollins and Witts, pp. 22–154.
25. ^ "London Life - a commentary" The West Australian 31 January 1923 p. 10
26. ^ Chapman, p. 32
27. ^ Who's Who in the Theatre, 1912, p. 297. The seating plan in that edition shows only 8 boxes instead of the original 18, and reduced numbers of seats in the Dress (156) and Upper Circle (127) (as they were by then named).
28. ^ "Reopening of the Savoy", The Times, 21 October 1929.
29. ^ Rupert D'Oyly Carte's 1929–30 Season at the G&S Archive
30. ^ The Times, obituary of Hugh Wontner, 27 November 1992
31. ^ Kevin Chapple obituary, The Stage, 8 January 2008, accessed 30 November 2011
32. ^ ^{a b} Information from the Ambassador Theatre Group's website
33. ^ Walsh, Dominic. "Savoy Group changes name after deal", The Times, 25 January 2005
34. ^ Bawden, Tom. "Curtain rises on new Savoy Theatre owner", The Times, 13 October 2005
35. ^ Fiddler on the Roof 2007 production at ThisIsTheatre.com
36. ^ Legally Blonde, SavoyTheatre.org, accessed 18 October 2011
37. ^ "Legally Blonde Ends West End Run Tonight", BroadwayWorld.com, April 7, 2012
38. ^ "Danny DeVito makes West End debut with Richard Griffiths in Sunshine Boys", What'sOnStage, 30 January 2012

[edit] References

• Allen, Reginald (1975). The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan (Centennial Edition ed.). London: Chappell & Co. Ltd.
• Chapman, Don. Oxford Playhouse: high and low drama in a university city, University of Hertfordshire Press (2009) ISBN 978-1-902806-86-0
• Chapple, Kevin and Jane Thorne (Eds.) Reflected Light: The Story of the Savoy Theatre (1993) Dewynters plc
• Bettany, Clemence (1975). D'Oyly Carte Centenary 1875–1975. London: D'Oyly Carte Opera Trust.
• Dark, Sidney; Rowland Grey (1923). W. S. Gilbert: His Life and Letters. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
• Earl, John; Michael Sell (2000). Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950. London: Theatres Trust. pp. 139–40 ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
• Howard, Diana (1970). London Theatres and Music Halls 1850–1950. Old Woking, England: The Library Association; Gresham Press.
• Rollins, Cyril; R. John Witts (1962). The D'Oyly Carte Company, A Record of Productions. London: Michael Joseph.
• Wearing, J. P. The London Stage, 1910-1919: A Calendar of Players and Plays, Scarecrow Press (1982) ISBN 0-8108-1596-6
• Savoy Theatre Programmes, 26 March 1975 and March 2002.
• Savoy Theatre History With Images, and Archive material.
• Savoy Theatre on thisistheatre.com
• Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, 1st edition, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, London, 1912
• Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, 10th ed., revised, London, 1947, p. 1184.
• Wilson, Robin; Frederic Lloyd (1984). Gilbert & Sullivan – The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Savoy Theatre

• Official Savoy Theatre website
• Description of the theatre in The Times, 3 October 1881
• Description of the first opening night at the theatre in The Times, 11 October 1881
• Information about the 1929 re-opening of the theatre

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Categories:

• West End theatres
• 1881 establishments in England
• Buildings and structures completed in 1881
• Theatres completed in 1929
• Theatres in Westminster
• Grade II* listed buildings in London
• Charles J. Phipps buildings
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Savoy

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