Ages Ago
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...
and music by Frederic Clay
Frederic Clay
Frederic Emes Clay was an English composer known principally for his music written for the stage. Clay, a great friend of Arthur Sullivan's, wrote four comic operas with W. S...
that premiered on 22 November 1869 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration
Royal Gallery of Illustration
The Royal Gallery of Illustration was a performance venue located at 14 Regent Street near Waterloo Place in London, in what was formerly the home of John Nash, designer of Regent Street, Regent's Park, and other urban improvements undertaken at the commission of George IV.From 1855 to about 1876,...
. It marked the beginning of a seven year long collaboration between the two. The piece was revived many times, including at St. George's Hall
St. George's Hall
St. George’s Hall may refer to:*St George's Hall, Bradford*St. George's Hall, Liverpool*St. George's Hall, Reading*One of the state rooms at Windsor Castle*St George's Hall and Apollo Room of the Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg...
in 1870 and again in 1874 and in New York in 1880.
Background
By the 1850s, the London stage had fallen into disrepute. Shakespeare was played, but most of the entertainments consisted of poorly translated French operettaOperetta
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:...
s, risque Victorian burlesques and incomprehensible broad farces. To bring family-friendly entertainment
German Reed Entertainment
German Reed Entertainment was founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed together with his wife, Priscilla Reed née Horton...
back to the theatre, Thomas German Reed
Thomas German Reed
Thomas 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...
and his wife Priscilla
Priscilla Horton
Priscilla Horton, later Priscilla German Reed , was a popular English singer and actress, known for her role as Ariel in W. C. Macready's production of The Tempest in 1838 and "fairy" burlesques at Covent Garden Theatre. Later, she was known, along with her husband, Thomas German Reed, for...
opened their Gallery of Illustration in 1855 and brought in Gilbert in 1869 as one of their playwrights. The Gallery of Illustration was a 500-seat theatre with a small stage that only allowed for four or five characters with accompaniment by a piano, harmonium and sometimes a harp.
After Gilbert's first offering for the Gallery of Illustration – No Cards
No Cards
No Cards is a "musical piece in one act" for four characters, written by W. S. Gilbert, with music composed and arranged by Thomas German Reed. It was first produced at the Royal Gallery of Illustration, Lower Regent Street, London, under the management of German Reed, opening on 29 March 1869 and...
, with music by Reed himself, Gilbert paired with Clay on Ages Ago, the first of a successful series of collaborations between the author and composer that would continue for the next seven years. In the eight months between the productions of No Cards, and Ages Ago, Gilbert's dramatic style had developed. Ages Ago, with its double-layered plot and its complex relationships among the characters, is more sophisticated than No Cards, which was a simple farce. In addition, the lyrics move the plot forward more than in the earlier work. Ages Ago.
Ages Ago earned glowing praise from the critics, outran its companion piece, the 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...
, and was frequently revived over the next decade. It was Gilbert's and the Gallery's greatest success to that date, running for 350 performances in 1869. It was revived several times thereafter and is still performed occasionally. At the 1874 revival, Mrs. German Reed, Leonora Braham
Leonora Braham
Leonora Braham , born Leonora Lucy Abraham, was an English opera singer and actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas....
, Alfred Reed, Stanley Betjeman, Corney Grain
Richard Corney Grain
Richard Corney Grain , known by his stage name Corney Grain, was an entertainer and songwriter of the late Victorian era.-Biography:...
, and the piece itself all received warm praise from the Eras critic. New York's reopened Broadway Opera House was inaugurated in 1880 with a double bill of Ages Ago and Charity Begins at Home.
Gilbert produced four more pieces for Reed, including A Sensation Novel
A Sensation Novel
A Sensation Novel is a comic musical play in three acts written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Thomas German Reed. It was first performed on 31 January 1871 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration...
in 1871 and Eyes and No Eyes
Eyes and No Eyes
Eyes and No Eyes, or The Art of Seeing is a one-act musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music originally by Thomas German Reed that premiered on July 5, 1875 at St. George's Hall in London and ran for only a month. The original music was lost, and twenty years later new...
in 1875. He also wrote several comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s with Clay, the last of which was Princess Toto
Princess Toto
Princess Toto is a three-act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and his long-time collaborator Frederic Clay. It opened on 24 June 1876 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, starring Kate Santley, W. S. Penley and J. H. Ryley. It transferred to the Royal Strand Theatre in London on 2 October 1876 for a run...
in 1876. Thomas German Reed played Ebenezer Tare, while his wife played Mrs. MacMotherly. The piece also introduced Fanny Holland
Fanny Holland
Fanny Holland was an English singer and comic actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in numerous German Reed Entertainments.-Life and career:...
, who would play in many pieces for the German Reeds for years to come.
At a rehearsal for Ages Ago, Clay formally introduced the composer Arthur Sullivan
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...
to Gilbert. The two would later collaborate on a series of fourteen comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s that became the most enduring pieces of musical theatre from the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
. Gilbert would later reuse many ideas and plot elements from these earlier works in the 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.
Synopsis
Second sight
Second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, the supposed power to perceive things that are not present to the senses, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events before they happen , or about things or events at remote locations...
. She tells a tale of the original wicked Sir Roger Bohun (similarly to Dame Hannah's tale in 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 later Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
).
That night, the paintings of the castle's former owners come to life and step out of their frames (as would happen again in Ruddigore). However, a problem ensues: They were all painted at different ages, so Lord Carnaby, painted at age 65, lusts after his grandmother (Lady Maud), painted at age 17. Eventually, though, and after some wrangling, Dame Cherry and Lord Carnaby settle into middle-aged affection, while the "old" young people pair off romantically and get a painting of a solicitor to marry them. At daybreak, they then return to their frames, leaving the deed behind, which gives the property to Hebblethwaite, the poor suitor. He strikes a deal whereby Tare is allowed to stay on if he permits him to marry Rosa, and all ends happily.
Roles
- Sir Ebenezer Tare of the firm of Tare and Tret, Alderman and Tallow Chandler, later Lord Carnaby Poppytop (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...
) – Thomas 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... - Rosa (his niece), later Lady Maud (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...
) – Fanny HollandFanny HollandFanny Holland was an English singer and comic actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in numerous German Reed Entertainments.-Life and career:... - Mrs. MacMotherly, later Dame Cherry Maybud (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...
) – Priscilla German Reed - Mr. Columbus Hebblethwaite, later Sir Cecil Blount (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...
) – Arthur CecilArthur CecilArthur Cecil Blunt, better known as Arthur Cecil was an English actor, comedian, playwright and theatre manager. He is probably best remembered for playing the role of Box in the long-running production of Cox and Box, by Arthur Sullivan and F. C... - Steward later Brown (bass)
- Lady Maud de Bohun, Born 1445
- Came into possession 1469 (Edward IV)
- Painted by Leonardo da Vinci 1472 (Aged 17)
- Died 1473 (Louis XI)
- Sir Cecil Blount, Born 1540 (Elizabeth I)
- Painted by Michael Angelo 1560 (Aged 20)
- Came into possession 1569 (Henry II to IV)
- Died 1579
- Lord Carnaby Poppytop, Born 1648
- Came into possession 1669 (Queen Anne)
- Painted by Godfrey Kneller 1713 (Aged 65)
- Died 1720
- Dame Cherry Maybud, Born 1730
- Came into possession 1769 (George III)
- Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds 1785 (Aged 55)
- Lady Maud -- Picture Costume tenth year of Edward IV
- Sir Cecil -- Picture Costume second year of Elizabeth I
- Lord Carnaby -- Last year of Queen Anne's reign
- Dame Cherry -- Twenty-fifth year of George III
- Brown -- Late 19th century Cockney Dress.
Musical numbers
The numbering of the songs follows that in the vocal score. The printed libretto does not include the songs through number 4, and numbers the song labeled as song 5 below as song 1. Thus, to determine the number given to a song in the printed libretto, subtract 4 from the number assigned to that song below.- No. 1, " Prelude"
- No. 2, Goodbye, Goodbye
- No. 3, When nature sleeps
- No. 4, Eh! What is that ye say
- No. 5, Ha! What was that
- No. 6, It does perplex, annoy and vex
- No. 7, We fly to fields of fancy
- No. 8, Entr'acte and Recit: I breathe, I live
- No. 9, Moments so fleeting
- No. 10, Would you know that maiden fair
- No. 11, In pity tell, O Lady mine
- No. 12, I stand on my authority
- No. 13, At twenty-three Lord Carnaby
- No. 14, 'Tis Done, the spell is broken
- No. 15, The subject drop (Finale)