King Hildebrand.
Hilarion, his son.
Cyril, }
Florian, } Hilarion's friends.
King Gama.
Avac, }
Guron, }
Scynthius, } Gama's sons.
Princess Ida, Gama's daughter.
Lady Blanche, Professor of Abstract Science.
Lady Psyche, Professor of Humanities.
Melissa, Lady Blanche's daughter.
Sacharissa, }
Chloe, }
Ada, } girl graduates.
[Soldiers, courtiers, girl graduates, "daughters of the plough," etc.]
The scene is laid at King Hildebrand's palace and Castle Adamant; time,
the present.
"Princess Ida" is the least effective of the Sullivan operas. Its
libretto is also the least effective of the Gilbert stories set to the
former's music. At the time it was written the composer was depressed by
a severe family affliction, and at the same time had met the misfortune
of losing all his savings through the failure of those to whom he had
intrusted them. It may have been also that the labored and heavy style of
the story had something to do with the dry and somewhat forced style of
the music, as well as its lack of the brightness and fancy which are so
apparent in "Pinafore" and "Patience."
The first act opens at King Hildebrand's palace, where the courtiers are
watching for the arrival of King Gama and his daughter, the Princess Ida,
who has been promised in marriage to Hilarion, Hildebrand's son. When
Gama finally comes, Ida is not with him, and he explains to the enraged
Hildebrand that she is at Castle Adamant, one of his country houses,
where she is president of a woman's university. Gama and his three sons,
Avac, Guron, and Scynthius, are seized and held as hostages for her
appearance, and in the mean time Hilarion, and his two friends, Cyril and
Florian, determine to go to Castle Adamant and see if they cannot make
some impression upon the Princess.
The second act opens at Castle Adamant, and discloses the pupils of the
university in discourse with Lady Psyche, the Professor of Humanities,
and Lady Blanche, Professor of Abstract Science, who is ambitious to get
control of the institution. Hilarion and his two friends scale the wall
and get into the grounds, and finding some academic robes they disguise
themselves as girls. They first meet the Princess and explain to her that
they wish to enter the university, to which she gives her consent upon
their subscription to the rules. They sign with enthusiasm, especially
when they discover that there is one which requires them to give the
fulness of their love to the hundred maidens of the university. Shortly
afterwards they encounter Lady Psyche, who recognizes Florian as her
brother. They tell their secret to her. Melissa, the daughter of Lady
Blanche, overhears them, and is in raptures at her first sight of men.
She discloses to her mother what she has discovered, but urges her not to
speak of it, for if Hilarion is successful in his suit she (the Lady
Blanche) may succeed to the presidency. At the luncheon, however, the
Princess discovers she is entertaining three men and flees from the spot.
In crossing a bridge she falls into the river, but is rescued by
Hilarion. Her anger is not appeased by his gallantry, and she orders the
arrest of the three. As they are marched off, there is a tumult outside.
Hildebrand, with an armed force and with his four hostages, has arrived,
and gives the Princess until the morrow afternoon to release Hilarion and
become his bride.
The last act opens with the preparations of the Princess and her pupils
to defend themselves, but one after the other their courage deserts them.
Gama proposes that his three sons shall be pitted against Hilarion and
his two friends, and if the latter are defeated the Princess shall be
free. In the contest Gama's sons are defeated, whereupon the Princess at
once resigns and accepts Hilarion. The Lady Psyche falls to Cyril, and
the delighted Melissa to Florian, and it is to be presumed the presidency
of the Woman's College falls to Lady Blanche.
As has already been intimated, the music as a whole is labored, but there
are some numbers that are fully up to the Sullivan standard; among them
Hilarion's ballad, "Ida was a twelvemonth old"; Gama's characteristic
song, "If you give me your Attention," and the trio of Gama's sons, "For
a Month to dwell," in the first act: the Princess's long aria, "At this
my Call"; Lady Blanche's song, "Come, Mighty Must"; Lady Psyche's
sarcastic evolution song, "A Lady Fair of Lineage High"; Cyril's song,
"Would you know the Kind of Maid"; and Hilarion's song, "Whom thou hast
chained must wear his Chain," in the second act: and the Princess's song,
"I built upon a Rock"; Gama's song, "Whene'er I spoke Sarcastic Joke";
the soldiers' chorus, "When Anger spreads his Wing"; and the finale,
"With Joy abiding," in the third act.
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu.
[Comic opera, in two acts; text by Gilbert. First produced at the Savoy
Theatre, London, March 14, 1885.]