The Contrabandista
Encyclopedia
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...
by 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...
and F. C. Burnand
Francis Burnand
Sir Francis Cowley Burnand , often credited as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and dramatist....
. It premiered at St. George's Hall
St. George's Hall (London)
St. George's Hall was a theatre located in Langham Place, Regent Street in London, built in 1867, which closed in 1966. The hall could accommodate between 800 and 900 persons, or up to 1,500 persons including the galleries...
, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of 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...
, for a run of 72 performances. There were brief revivals in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1874 and America in 1880. In 1894, it was revised into a new opera, The Chieftain, with a completely different second act.
The piece was the first of Sullivan's full-length operas that was produced. Although it was not a great success, it helped to establish him as a composer of theatrical works. The piece exhibits many of the qualities and techniques that Sullivan employed in composing his twenty further comic operas, including the famous series of fourteen 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 produced between 1871 and 1896.
Background
In 1866, F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan, then 24 years old, wrote the one-act comic opera Cox and BoxCox 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...
for a private performance at Moray Lodge, where a group of friends called the "Moray Minstrels" gathered regularly. The success of the performance led to productions for charity at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
, at Thomas German Reed's Gallery of Illustration (where it would enjoy a long run in 1869), and elsewhere. Burnand had been a pioneer in Britain in the 1860s by collaborating on the creation of comic operas with original scores similar to Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques 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....
's highly successful French operettas, which had been a sensation in Paris beginning in the 1850s but were just becoming known in London. This was a departure from the burlesque style of musical theatre that was then popular in Britain, which used musical scores compiled from existing operas, popular songs, music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
and classical music.
Buoyed by the success of Cox and Box, Reed commissioned a two-act opera from Burnand, The Contrabandista, with original music by Sullivan, to open his new St George's Opera House
St. George's Hall (London)
St. George's Hall was a theatre located in Langham Place, Regent Street in London, built in 1867, which closed in 1966. The hall could accommodate between 800 and 900 persons, or up to 1,500 persons including the galleries...
together with two adaptations of short Offenbach pieces. This opera did not enjoy its predecessor's popularity, and there was no suggestion of any further Burnand–Sullivan collaborations. The Contrabandista was Sullivan's first produced full-length opera. Although it was not a great success, it initially received some favourable notices. The Musical Times wrote: "The excellent vein of humour so apparent in [Cox and Box], as well as in the more important Contrabandista, justifies us in the hope that Mr. Sullivan may give us, at no distant date, a real comic opera of native manufacture." Sullivan's next operatic effort was Thespis
Thespis (opera)
Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, is an operatic extravaganza that was the first collaboration between dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. No musical score of Thespis was ever published, and most of the music has been lost...
, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert
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...
, in 1871, although he also composed incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
to several plays early in his career. The Contrabandista was revived in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1874 and was given a production in America in 1880.
In 1894, when 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...
needed a successor to fill 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,...
after the closing of 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, he commissioned Burnand and Sullivan to revise The Contrabandista. The result was The Chieftain
The Chieftain
The Chieftain is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand based on their 1867 opera, The Contrabandista. It consists of substantially the same first act as the 1867 work with a completely new second act...
, consisting of a slightly revised and expanded first act and a new second act. It was not successful, and The Chieftain closed after just three months.
The Contrabandista was hardly ever performed in the 20th century. Fulham Light Operatic Society produced the piece in 1972. A professional concert of the opera was given in 2002 at Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, England, at the Sir 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...
Society Festival, with professional soloists and the Cotswold Savoyards. A professional recording by Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
in 2004 revived some interest in the work. Reviewing the 2004 Hyperion recording, Raymond Walker wrote: "Despite a mundane book about Spanish brigands by Frances Burnand (who would later become Editor of Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
) there are good musical ideas in The Contrabandista. These anticipate the more mature Sullivan of Gilbert & Sullivan fame. In The Contrabandista, Sullivan attempts a good variety of musical styles. At times these are more reminiscent of Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques 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....
than the German and Italian operatic masters that Sullivan is likened to." Sullivan repeated several of the musical ideas that give The Contrabandista a Spanish flavour many years later in The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
(1888).
Roles
- Sancho the Lion (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...
- José the Wolf (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...
- 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...
- 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...
- Count Vasquez de Gonzago (Captain of the Guard) 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...
- 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...
- A Spanish Officer 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...
Act I
The action takes place in the mountains of Spain between Compostello and SevilleSeville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. Inez de Roxas is queen of a gang of bandits, the Ladrones. Their Captain, Ferdinand de Roxas, has been dead for three weeks, and the band cannot agree which of the brigand lieutenants, José or Sancho, should replace him. The Law of the Ladrones holds, in that case, that the first stranger who comes along will become their leader and Inez's new husband. The Ladrones have abducted Rita, a young lady. In retaliation for her kidnapping, her betrothed, Count Vasquez, fought and killed de Roxas. The Ladrones see a goatherd (actually Vasquez in disguise) and his son on their way home. Inez orders the boy to take a ransom note to Vasquez and presses the old goatherd into service to guard their prisoner, Rita. The goatherd mentions that he has seen a stranger that day. The Ladrones wonder if this could be their new captain sent by fate. Vasquez eventually finds a moment to reveal his identity to Rita.
Adolphus Cimabue Grigg, an English tourist and amateur photographer, enters in search of pretty scenery, but he is lost and finds the travelling with his photographic gear difficult. He vows, upon his return to England, to become a farmer and lead a life of happy domesticity. Sancho and José stop him, identify themselves as bandits, and tell Grigg that he must be their new Captain of the Ladrones (or be shot). They force him to dance the Bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
and tell him that he will have to marry Inez. Grigg, who is already married, objects, as he does not want to commit bigamy
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
. He is happy that the wedding will not take place for four days. Grigg is formally betrothed to Inez and is ritually installed as Captain of the Ladrones by means of placing the Sacred Hat upon his head. Meanwhile, José and Inez begin to formulate a plot to get rid of Grigg and Sancho, while all celebrate.
Act II
The next morning, Vasquez slips out. Sancho is on guard duty, but tired from the night's festivities, he falls asleep. Inez confirms to José that she is unhappy at the prospect of marrying Grigg. José explains the plan: Inez will persuade Grigg to kill Sancho; then the angry brigands will murder Grigg in retaliation, leaving her free to marry José, who will become captain. Sancho wakes up during this conversation but pretends to be asleep. Meanwhile, Rita hopes that Vasquez will return soon to rescue her.Sancho tells Grigg about the plot and hides as Inez and José arrive. They tell Grigg that Inez wants blood, and that the new Captain must be daring: he must bring her Sancho's head according to the Law of the Ladrones. They suggest that he take a drink to inspire him. When they leave, Sancho announces that he is quitting the Ladrone band and runs off. Grigg tells the Ladrones a tale of shooting and stabbing Sancho as he fled, but he says that he could not stop Sancho from escaping. Inez and José prepare to light a fuse leading to a store of dynamite that their late Captain had laid in case of a surprise, as it is the Law of the Ladrones that they must all perish together. Before doing so, however, they decide to kill Rita to avenge the late Captain's death.
Rita pleads with Grigg to save her life. Grigg, fearful at first, decides that, as an Englishman, he must be bold to save a female in distress. He offers Rita a pistol, saying "come on"! Vasquez, now in military uniform, bursts in with a Spanish officer. The officer announces that all of the Ladrones have been pardoned, except for their Captain. He moves to seize Grigg, but Vasquez assures him that Grigg is innocent. All the Ladrones decide to join the army, and Rita is free to marry Vasquez. Everyone dances and sings.
List of Numbers
Act I- 1. "Hush! Not a Step" (Sancho, Jose & Chorus)
- 1a. "Let others seek the peaceful plain! (Inez)
- 2. "Hand of fate!" (Jose, Vasquez, Sancho, Inez & Rita)
- 3. "Only the night-wind sighs alone" (Rita)
- 4. "A guard by night" (Vasquez & Rita)
- 5. "From rock to rock" (Mr. Grigg)
- 6. "Hullo! What's that?" (Trio)
- 7. Bolero (Grigg, Sancho & Jose)
- 8. Finale Act I: "Hail to the ancient hat!"
Act II
- 9. "Wake, gentle maiden" (Vasquez)
- 10. "Let Hidalgos be proud of their breed" (Inez & Jose)
- 11. "My Love, we'll meet again" (Rita)
- 12. "Who'd to be robber-chief aspire?" (Inez, Jose & Mr. Grigg)
- 13. "I fired each barrel" (Mr. Grigg)
- 14. Finale Act II: "Have pity, Sir!"