Forgotten Musicals - Arthur Sullivan and The Beauty Stone
You’ve probably only heard of Arthur Sullivan writing comic operas with WS Gilbert, but he also wrote a number of other works such as Haddon Hall with lyricist Sidney Grundy. One of the oddest and most controversial of these other works is The Beauty Stone. It isn’t an opera, comic or otherwise, not even a light opera or operetta. Sullivan classed it as a “romantic musical drama”, the libretto by the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero with lyrics by the critic J. Comyns Carr. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London on 28 May 1898 and closed on 16 July after only 50 performances, making it Sullivan’s least successful mature opera.
After the permanent break with Gilbert following The Grand Duke (1896), Richard D’Oyly Carte needed new works for the Savoy. Sullivan, encouraged by the success of his 1897 ballet Victoria and Merrie England, was invited to write another opera. Carr (who had earlier supplied the text for Henry Irving’s King Arthur, for which Sullivan wrote incidental music in 1895) proposed a mediaeval romantic subject. Pinero, then at the height of his fame with plays such as Trelawny of the Wells, joined as co-librettist. Sullivan began work in late 1897 while recovering on the French Riviera and conducted the premiere himself.
The authors deliberately set out to create something different from the comic Savoy tradition. A serious, earnest drama with complex characters and internal conflicts, containing humour but no conventional comic songs. Sullivan described it as “a serious, earnest, romantic drama.” The story draws on a mediaeval settiin Flanders, loosely inspired by Froissart’s chronicles and the idea that true love is recognised only through blindness to outward appearance. The Devil (disguised as a friar) gives a magical beauty stone to Laine, a poor, crippled weaver’s daughter. The stone passes among characters, revealing the emptiness of superficial beauty before true worth is recognised.
At over four hours it was disastrously long and required a large cast of principals. The original production featured Savoy regulars including Walter Passmore (as the Devil), Rosina Brandram, Ruth Vincent (as Laine), and others, with the opera soprano Pauline Joran imported for the role of Saida. Critics praised aspects of Sullivan’s score but found the lengthy pseudo-archaic dialogue, weak lyrics, and lack of humour unsuitable for Savoy audiences. Musical comedies were now the rage and this strange work pleased nobody. Cuts were made soon after opening but the run remained short.
The Carl Rosa Opera Company revived a drastically cut version on tour in 1901–02. Sullivan hoped it might one day be revived with roughly half the libretto removed. Pinero later reflected that the collaborators had done what they wanted artistically even if it did not succeed commercially. The music however is at times beautiful especially Laine’s prayer after she has been mocked as a cripple. The cut version can be seen here:
[media=https://youtu.be/sNSoQToqjz8?is=uAQvg-xyGXAbktQn]
Here is Laine’s prayer from the Chandon recording of the full piece.
[media=https://youtu.be/aZtpc-4ouOQ?is=qFF8MyLAtmledFAn]
After the permanent break with Gilbert following The Grand Duke (1896), Richard D’Oyly Carte needed new works for the Savoy. Sullivan, encouraged by the success of his 1897 ballet Victoria and Merrie England, was invited to write another opera. Carr (who had earlier supplied the text for Henry Irving’s King Arthur, for which Sullivan wrote incidental music in 1895) proposed a mediaeval romantic subject. Pinero, then at the height of his fame with plays such as Trelawny of the Wells, joined as co-librettist. Sullivan began work in late 1897 while recovering on the French Riviera and conducted the premiere himself.
The authors deliberately set out to create something different from the comic Savoy tradition. A serious, earnest drama with complex characters and internal conflicts, containing humour but no conventional comic songs. Sullivan described it as “a serious, earnest, romantic drama.” The story draws on a mediaeval settiin Flanders, loosely inspired by Froissart’s chronicles and the idea that true love is recognised only through blindness to outward appearance. The Devil (disguised as a friar) gives a magical beauty stone to Laine, a poor, crippled weaver’s daughter. The stone passes among characters, revealing the emptiness of superficial beauty before true worth is recognised.
At over four hours it was disastrously long and required a large cast of principals. The original production featured Savoy regulars including Walter Passmore (as the Devil), Rosina Brandram, Ruth Vincent (as Laine), and others, with the opera soprano Pauline Joran imported for the role of Saida. Critics praised aspects of Sullivan’s score but found the lengthy pseudo-archaic dialogue, weak lyrics, and lack of humour unsuitable for Savoy audiences. Musical comedies were now the rage and this strange work pleased nobody. Cuts were made soon after opening but the run remained short.
The Carl Rosa Opera Company revived a drastically cut version on tour in 1901–02. Sullivan hoped it might one day be revived with roughly half the libretto removed. Pinero later reflected that the collaborators had done what they wanted artistically even if it did not succeed commercially. The music however is at times beautiful especially Laine’s prayer after she has been mocked as a cripple. The cut version can be seen here:
[media=https://youtu.be/sNSoQToqjz8?is=uAQvg-xyGXAbktQn]
Here is Laine’s prayer from the Chandon recording of the full piece.
[media=https://youtu.be/aZtpc-4ouOQ?is=qFF8MyLAtmledFAn]
