Canter, Arthur

Entr'acte

Entr\u27acte: the Opera Supers of Iowa City, July, 1989

Iowa Research Online

The Opera 
Supers of 
Iowa City 
Newsletter 
Entr'acte 
Volume IV, Number 6 July 1989 Editor: Arthur Canter, 3 0 Brookfield Dr., Iowa City, IA 52245 
Letter from the Editor 
This is the last number of ENTRE'ACTE for the 
current volume year. If someone would like to take 
over the task of writing and editing copy for the 
newsletter, this is the opportunity to do so. I am 
quite willing to give up this position. Writing a 
newsletter for the Opera Supers of Iowa City is a 
challenge that can provide an outlet for anyone who 
has an interest in opera or music in general and 
wants to support the productions of the University 
Opera Theater in particular. There are other ways to 
do the newsletter than what I have been doing. I am 
limited in what I can do by virtue of my lack of mu-
sical education and training. I have been able to sat-
isfy my curiosity about things operatic and about 
matters pertaining to the specific operas put on by 
the Opera Theater. I have done the research neces-
sary to satisfy this curiosity for the past four years, 
but now it is time to ask if someone else would like 
to take over the task. However, if there are no tak-
ers, I shall continue in my own personal way, trying 
to be responsive to changes, additions, and sugges-
tions from the readers. Other than my own limita-
tions, there are limitations to the newsletter imposed 
by the production, distribution and costs which any 
new editor would have to take into consideration. 
The major content of this issue of ENTRE'ACTE 
has been determined by my curiosity about this sum-
mer's opera, The Gondoliers. If you are not familiar 
with The Gondoliers, which is very likely, you may 
find some audio recordings and a video disc record-
ing of the opera in the Rita Benton Music Library 
which you can review in the library. The Iowa City 
Public Library also has recordings of many of the 
Gilbert and Sullivan operas, including an LP album 
of The Gondoliers. 
June 12,1989 Meeting Report 
Thirty-one Supers convened for the first meeting 
of the summer. This was a large turnout despite the 
fact that a number of regulars were unable to attend. 
A number of announcements were made: Carmen, 
the spring opera, was a great box office success. The 
music ticket sales idea for admission to some Music 
School concerts and recitals has been tabled for the 
present. More research as to its advisability and fea-
sibility is to be carried out. Rosemary Lack, the grad-
uate student whose career is of interest to many of 
us, won a competition held by the Milwaukee Choral 
Society and will be doing several concerts as soloist 
with that group. Kimm Julian will be singing in Tuc-
son and Phoenix after his stint with Des Moines Me-
tro and then will be doing Jack Ranee in Girl of the 
Golden West for Sacramento Opera in the fall. Pro-
fessor Glass needs a boy super for the drummer boy 
in Gondoliers. He can also use more singers for the 
chorus. Shirley Harrison left word that she is leav-
ing the position as chairperson for the Costume 
Committee. Marlene Stanford agreed to replace 
Shirley. Jean Kern and Jean Walker volunteered to 
do the phone calling for strike party food suppliers. 
The post-performance potluck this summer will be a 
between-performances affair scheduled for 5:00 p.m. 
on Saturday, July 29. Opera Supers were asked to 
help Doris and Bob Eckert with the reception to be 
given after Power Failure, the Paul Dresher/Rinde 
Eckert event at Hancher Friday, October 27. If Kath-
leen Battle, scheduled for Hancher next April, does 
agree to a reception/party, the Supers will conduct 
the event. 
The rest of the meeting was devoted to ideas for 
promoting The Gondoliers. The next meeting will be 
Thursday, June 29. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 to 
celebrate Mona Shaw's birthday with cake and 
coffee. 
William Schwenk Gilbert and Arthur 
Seymour Sullivan: A Commentary 
Most of the operas by Gilbert and Sullivan have 
two titles. There is the main one by which we all 
know the opera, e.g., H.M.S. Pinafore, and then there 
is the second title either giving a hint of the target 
concept of the work or representing a whim or even 
a private joke by the librettist. Thus, it is H.M.S. Pin-
afore, or the Lass that Loved a Sailor. By the way, I use 
the term opera, as most of the G&S works were 
presented that way, or as "opera comique," and gen-
erally as the "Savoy Operas," but you go ahead and 
use the term operetta if it makes you feel better. The 
Gondoliers, or the King of Barataria, "a comic opera in 
two acts," is our summer presentation. 
Why is it "Gilbert and Sullivan" instead of "Sulli-
van and Gilbert"? In the early history of opera, the 
libretto was the dominant factor until the 18th centu-
ry when the composer of the music came to the fore-
front. Quoting Mozart (1781), "In an opera the poet-
ry must be altogether the obedient daughter of the 
music." In no small part the shift in dominance to 
the musical composer came about because of the in-
creased power of the orchestra requiring the singers 
to expand their voices to match this power. Howev-
er, composers, even the most creative among them, 
need a librettist who is capable of doing the job. 
Sometimes the composer himself may write his own 
libretto as did, for example, Wagner. The new-found 
dominance of the composer over the librettist ex-
tended to both the comic opera and opera seria. Just 
as it was a Mozart opera libretto by Da Ponte, a Verdi 
opera libretto by Boito, it was an Offenbach operetta, 
libretto by Meiihac and Halevy. Even in American 
musical theater it has been Rodgers and Hammer-
stein, not the other way around. But when it comes 
to Pirates of Penzance, Trial by Jury, The Mikado, etc., it 
is Gilbert and Sullivan. Is this a matter of dominance 
of the libretto over the music, or of the personality of 
Gilbert, who was after all a most autocratic figure? It 
has been noted by biographers that Gilbert felt frus-
trated and even angry that audiences would leave 
the opera singing or whistling the melody but not re-
membering the words. Gilbert, who was probably 
exposed to opera earlier than Sullivan, took the con-
ventional view that in grand opera, the position of 
the librettist was secondary, but for comic opera it 
was different. His ideas about the proper function of 
music in comedy came from his work in burlesque 
and pantomimes wherein the music consisted of de-
tached songs scattered throughout the action. The 
function of the music, as he saw it, was to add to the 
levity produced by the text. Thus it was that when 
he came to collaborate with composers in theater, he 
adhered to the comedy-with-songs formula. Arthur 
Sullivan, however, was no mere songwriter putting 
music to funny verses. By the time he met Gilbert, 
he was a recognized composer of serious music in 
his own right and was considered by many to be Vic-
torian England's musical genius. He was in a posi-
tion to regard his contribution to any collaborative 
effort as substantial and equal, if not superior, to that 
of the librettist. None of the biographies that I have 
come across adequately attacked the question of 
why the order of names on all their works is always 
Gilbert and Sullivan. The answer appeare to be 
found in the fortuitous combination of ei$gts that 
led to their first collaboration in 1876. It began at the 
instigation of the manager of the then recently 
opened Gaiety Theatre who asked Sullivan to set 
music to a two-act Christmas play that had already 
been written by Gilbert. Thus, it was Gilbert's play 
Thespis and the music for it by Sullivan that was pro-
duced and performed on the Gaiety stage. Thespis 
flopped after an initially good run, and its music has 
been lost. The two men would have gone their sep-
arate ways if it were not for Richard D'Oyly Carte, 
who had taken over the management of the Royalty 
Theatre in 1875 for a season of Offenbach opera-
comique. He was looking for a curtain raiser to put 
on with Offenbach's La Perichole which, while highly 
popular, was too short for an evening's entertain-
ment. He needed a piece that would be very English 
and just as amusing as Offenbach. In walked Gilbert 
by chance and after listening to Carte's description of 
his problem offered him a piece he had written re-
cently about a mock trial, hoping to get Carl Rosa 
(impresario of grand opera) to write the music for it 
and get Rosa's wife, a popular soprano, to appear in 
the lead. Carte, having seen Thespis and being im-
pressed by it, suggested to Gilbert that Sullivan 
should compose the music, not Rosa. At Carte's in-
sistence, Gilbert took the script to Sullivan, who 
agreed to do the music. Thus was Trial by Jury born, 
to appear on a D'Oyly Carte program with Offen-
bach's La Perichole. It was a smash hit with the Eng-
lish, who could enjoy thp ridicule of one of their na-
tional institutions, the legal court system. It was a 
new kind of opera, ridiculous but not rubbish, and 
far more intelligent than the usual comic opera fare 
of the times. Thirteen more comic opera works by 
Gilbert and Sullivan, produced by D'Oyly Carte, 
were to follow. Much has been written about the 
conflict between the two men throughout the years 
of their collaboration. There were clashes of person-
ality, production, content, division of labor and 
spoils, but the works were truly products of collabo-
rative genius. The Goridoliers was the eleventh op-
era written by the two after Trial by Jury. 
A Most Brief Synopsis of The 
Gondoliers, or The King of Barataría 
The story of the opera is based on a favorite 
theme of Gilbert— a child who is stolen at birth. Gil-
bert himself had been kidnapped for a brief period 
during his family's visit to Venice (note the locale of 
the opening of the opera). Two gondoliers, Giu-
seppe and Marco Palmieri, have come into the city of 
Venice to choose brides. The two have been raised 
as brothers, but one of them is supposed to be a 
king's son who had been kidnapped as a baby and 
given away. The trouble is that no one knows which 
of the two brothers is the prince, as the old gondolier 
who had raised them had died without revealing the 
truth. It is decided that both brothers will have to 
reign together, balancing their powers between 
them. Meanwhile, the most regal but broke Duke of 
Plaza-Toro arrives on the scene with his daughter, 
Casida. She was betrothed as a baby to marry the 
prince but is secretly in love with her father's ser-
vant, Luiz. Guiseppe and Marco travel to the king-
dom of Barataria, where they are supposed to rule 
together. The pair try to rule the kingdom following 
the precepts of republicanism (a topic of interest in 
Gilbert's time), with the result of a rather topsy-turvy 
court. The plot unwinds to reveal that, in fact, nei-
ther of the brothers is the lost prince. The real king-
to-be, you guessed it, is Luiz. Thus, Casida is able to 
marry her own true love, and the gondoliers do not 
have to give up the wives they had chosen in Venice. 
Don't be surprised if you think you hear echoes 
of Carmen in the opera. The Daily Telegraph (Lon-
don, 1889) said, "The Gondoliers conveys an impres-
sion of having been written con amore" You should 
not miss it. 
Barataria: Where and What? 
Were audiences of the Gilbert and Sullivan Sa-
voy operas concerned about the location of Baratar-
ia? Did they know, or even care? Should the as-
sumption be that this is just the title of a fabled land 
invented by W.S. Gilbert as one of many inventions 
in his poems, burlesques and puns, or does it have a 
special significance? I had to satisfy my curiosity 
and, as the first step, searched for any references in 
the few biographical sketches of Gilbert and Sullivan 
and the accounts of their works. That having re-
vealed no answer, the next step, of course, was to 
look in geographical atlases and dictionaries. And 
there is a Bay of Barataria located among the island-
dotted bayous of Louisiana! I suppose if I had asked 
a New Orleans native, I would have learned about 
this Bay of Barataria. It was the hiding place of the 
infamous Jean Lafitte, pirate, who operated from 
various parts of the bay. The residents of the area 
were even called Baratarians. If Gilbert had known 
of Lafitte and his hiding place, what possible reason 
would he have for using the name of the bay in the 
opera? Was it something to do with piracy, hide-
outs, or the like? This is not satisfying to any appre-
ciation of the opera or of Gilbert, even though he 
wrote parodies of pirates and pirate hunters in other 
works (Pirates of Penzance). I had to read on. The 
clue came from a reference to Gilbert's being fond of 
Don Quixote by Cervantes. One might have called 
Gilbert a cervantista, who admired the wit, sarcasm, 
and critical parody of treasured social, political, and 
religious institutions that are found in Don Quixote. 
They were certainly close to Gilbert's way of think-
ing. Going through 900-plus pages of the Putnam 
translation of Don Quixote was not a task to my lik-
ing, so instead I focused on the section of notes and 
rapidly scanned them for sight recognition of the 
word Barataria, and lo and behold, there it was! In 
Part II, Chapter XLV, there is a tale relating how San-
cho Panza takes over the governorship of an island 
called Barataria Island. Don Quixote was written 
well before Louisiana was named, let alone any of its 
bays. Barataria, the main village of the island, was 
described as having about 1,000 inhabitants. Cer-
vantes tells us it was named by reason of the barato. 
Barato is a Spanish adjective meaning cheap, but in 
old Spanish it is also a noun signifying "a jest." San-
cho Panza was to govern the land of a joke? Accord-
ing to Putnam, Barataria was said to be a favorite 
"hunting ground for political allusions with cervantis-
tas" In the tale, Sancho is declared Don Sancho, but 
he rejects the title, stating that there never had been a 
don in all the generations of his family. It was his in-
tention to weed out all the dons in Barataria, "who 
were probably numbered more than stones on the 
island." 
Considering the story of The Gondoliers and the 
iconoclastic nature of Gilbert, it makes sense to have 
the subtitle be The King of Barataria. Thus is my curi-
osity satisfied. I venture to guess that the bay off 
Louisiana where Lafitte hid out was named Barataria 
by a cervantista. 
POST SCRIPT: I have fust learned that two operas 
have been written about Sancho Panza's adventure on 
Barataria as described in Cervante's Don Quixote, Part 
II. These are La Insulata Barataria by Arrieta (1864 and 
J « U-- T M(\(\1\ 
c \jtfuvciiiciiiciii uc uflituiu jl axiya uy ¿/C u^ttw- . 
I do not know if they have ever been performed. 
Miscellaneous Notes, News, etc. 
Our special thanks and appreciation go to Shir-
ley Harrison for her having served as the liaison per-
son for Costumes these past four years. Shirley has 
asked to be replaced, and Marlene Stanford has 
agreed to take over that role. 
The post-performance potluck supper after Car-
men was its usual success and well attended by Su-
pers, Opera Theater Staff and, much to our joy, stu-
dent members of the cast. Remember, the potluck 
supper for the summer opera will be a between-
performance affair on Saturday, July 29th, 5:00 p.m., 
at the home of Linda & Douglas Behrendt, 822 Park 
Road, Iowa City. The potluck will feature English 
fare, but bring whatever you like. Please call Linda 
(337-5342), Miriam Canter (338-1217), or Mona Shaw 
(335-1667) if you are planning to come. 
While the horses in Carmen got most of the pub-
licity in the newspapers, it should be known that the 
Big Three Super supers who took roles in the pro-
duction drew accolades for their performances. Af-
ter all, it did take courage to rim out on the stage be-
tween the second and third horses! 
r 
Important Numbers . g X 
Arthur Canter, newsletter, 338-1217 
Miriam Canter, hospitality, 338-1217 
Marlene Stanford, costumes, 354-0600 
Linda Behrendt, publicity, 337-5342 
Mary Wall, scenery, 338-2618 
Marilyn Somville, Director of the School of Music, 335-1601 
Beaumont Glass, Director of Opera Theater, 335-1669 
Mona Shaw, Public Relations Coordinator, 335-1667 
Dwight Sump, Opera Production Manager, 335-1153 
Margaret Wenk, Opera Designer, 335-2899 
Next Meeting: Tuesday, July 18,1989,7:00 p.m., 
Music Building Lounge (Room 1028). 
v- j f\ dT^f1—^. Hpffâs^  1 
The University of Iowa 
Arthur and Miriam Canter 
30 Brookfield Dr. 
Iowa City, IA 52245 
= 1 (1j iLr' The Opera Supers of Iowa City Newsletter 
r . . . . . School of Music : JULIC'39 
Iowa City, Iowa 52242 ü .2 Ö ~ 


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Entr\u27acte: the Opera Supers of Iowa City, July, 1989

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