Description
The Gondoliers (or, The King of Barataria) was the twelfth comic opera collaboration of fourteen between librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan – and the last to achieve real success. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 559 performances. The Gondoliers even merited a command performance at Windsor Castle before Queen Victoria – the first such entertainment to take place since the death of Prince Albert three decades earlier.
Although relations between Gilbert and Sullivan had become strained Gilbert’s suggestion of a story centred around Venice and Venetian life had piqued Sullivan’s interest. At the time Sullivan was also frustrated at not being considered a ‘serious’ composer, so perhaps the mid 18th century setting also gave him further artistic scope and satisfaction in embracing styles and ideas from other composers such as Mozart, Bizet, Rossini and Johann Strauss.
The run-up to the opening performance was a frantic rush. It wasn’t until after the first orchestral rehearsal (just five days before opening) that Sullivan put together the overture. Originally the overture ended on a bit of a down note, so a new up-beat ending, incorporating the lively Spanish ‘cachucha’ from the second act, was added by Sir Malcolm Sargent. This ending is incorporated into this arrangement for wind quintet.
