National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-09-24
THE NEW OPERA.
Patience" Gilbert a suiiivaB's new
Production-A sketch OFT.

THE NEW OPERA.
Patience" Gilbert q suiiivan's new
Production-A sketch OF It.
Doubt has often been expressed whether
Gilbert & Sullivan's new comic opera, "Patience;
or Bunthorne's Bride" will succeed in this conn
try, It being satire on the esthctic craze in Eng
land, and consequently not likely, II is argued, to
be understood here. We do not share the doubt.
The lbretto is witty enough and the music fine
enough 10 insure appreciation here, even IL the
satire were not understood, as, OH the contrary, II
certainly IS We are not u slow people, and through
the public prints and what we have observed In
our own tourists of the dleIdH just returned
from abroad we have already very fair idea Of
the mine OF fun upon which Gilbert the inimit-
able humorst, has drawn In making his libretto.
The plot is a simple onc Reginald Bunthofne is n
neshy poet" with whom twenty love-lorn
maidens are smittcn unto the extreme verge OF
too too utter passion. lie writes poem. which
he describes as "a Wild weird, heshly thing, yet
very tender, very yearning, very precious;" II Is
called, oh, Hollow Hollow HollowT' Reciting
this he reduces the twenty love sick ones to con-
diton Of sentimental, msthetic idiocy, which fills
their old lovers the officers Of dragons, who wit
ness the performance with an establishment which
they have not yet learned TO style too utter" The
girls pronounce II purely fragrant and earnestly
precious" and when the heavy -hoofed dragons
by telling them that You are not Empyrean; you
are not Della Cruscar you are not even Early
English. Oh, be Early English ere II Is
too latel" Afler all, Bun1ioine Is an impostor,
and he loves, not one of the aesthetic maidens,
but dairy maid with no idea OF the aesthetic, the
heroine, Patience. Discovering this, the maidens
are swim to abandon him and love Aigen0n
Grosrcnor ian idyllic poet" who is supposed to
be the genuine article. Alas GrosreRor also falls
in love with Patience, whom he salutes as he APP
| proaches her thus:
| lIicy, but I'm doenil, willow, willow wallyO
Hey, willow wally,O!
The dragons, In despair of winning their sweet
hearsback from their aesthetic infatuation, essay
| the Early English, the Fra Anglican, and the
Datticelian aud arc modcstly successful. This is
a characteristic stroke. Nobody but Gilbert could
have dreamed of 1t, and nobody but Gilbert could
have worked II out with such delicate play Of
| fancy and grotesque humor. Imagine platoon
| of heavy hoofs assuming long hair and striving to
look like a row of flank, limp lilies" Grostenor
holds them, however, by the spell of such cnchnnt
ment as lies In poems, beginning "Gcntle Jane
was good as gold, ;" " Teasing Tom was a very bad
boy" which have already found their way into
the public prints. lie has n song, Simply I'm
mense," of which we quote the first verse:
A magnet hung In q hardware shop,
Ofscissors aud needles nails aud knives.
| ofering love for all their lives;
| But for iron the magnet felt no within,
aoS me Ss aa Sa 0 ana knc S G ar him
| For he'd set his love on silver churnl
| His most aesthetic
| Very magnetic
Fancy t2ok thl ., turn;
| A knife or needle,
| Why not silver churns"
Patience does not reciprocate the passion OF
BunHioFne. When she tells him that she can't
possibly love him he replies, Every good. Life is
henccfprth blank. have only to ask that you
will not abuse my confidence; though you despise
me. am extremely popular with the other young
women and there's solid comfort In that, (which
nobody can deny" But Pdiieuce remembers that
It is some years since she had love affair. She
confdcs the story to Lady Angdd rapturous
maiden.
Long years ago. fourteen may be,
| When but n tiny babe OF four,
| Another baby played with me,
NV elder by year or more.
And IL she ever loved the object of her anecion
was this little boy. Singuarly enough, Grosrenor
turns out to be her youthful sweetheart, and the
discovery makes him, and her, too, very happy fol
n moment Then she remembers that the trap
turous maidens" have taught her that love must
be unselsh, and ut the thought she recoils from
his embrace with dismay, crying out, "Why, you
are perfection Incomparably beautiful in body
and mind! source of endless ecstasy to all who
know your To which the idylic poet replies
modesty al know am. WellT' All, dreadful
thoughts She cannot love him. There would b
nothing uDsclHsh in loving man who is perfec
toni "Oh, If you were but q thought less beaut
full than you arei Then, oh, then" But he re
spends, would that were but candor com
pels me to admit that I'm not" mo- 1t cannot be
But stay" happy thought strikes her" there 4
nothing to prevent your loving me- l am plain
- nv
love OF such n man MS you for such girl as
must be unselflshp Unselhshness itself!' h
responds; and so 1t Is settled that ne ma.
love her, but she must not love him. Then
, under aesthetic training, she discovers that II 4
her duty to love Bunth0rne whom she regards a
being far from pcrfect-and be sure BHnth0rne 4
nothing loalh. He is pursued by Lady Jane, raptur
Gus maiden, heavy jawed, beetle proved an,
brawny, n slghing, languishing thing, who accom-
, panlos her song upon double-bass He dom
like her, but at last after many complications, h
accepts the situation, and she becomes BunthoyRe'
, bride. Prior to this, however, Bunthor1le AM
+ GroseHor each oppressed In his way
exchange the fatal gifts which max
! the one unattractive to Patience an,
the other too utterly fascinating to everybody. T
his horror BuinhorRe finds that In becoming perfcc
ton in order to make himself irresistible to Pa
thence, he has actually reared q barrier betwee
himself and the maiden with a strong sense OF
duty. She cannot love perfection, for then her Low
=, would not be unselfsh, Alas and alack-a. day
And so It turns out that Grospenor, having becom
something else than perfection through the trad
with poor Bunthorne-oh, joy she may love hir
now. And she does very much-more. in point {
fact than size can express in words; and wit
, the change IN Grosteaor the "rapturou
mailcns" are suddenly restored to the
- right minds and drop the aesthetic to the intens
: qualification of the Dragons who have tired {
,, the terrible bore Of masquerading as nincom
, poops. And so everybody marrics everybody else
and everything turns out well, as everything ougl
to in every flrst-class, moral play. We can Civ
but n faint outline-in our opinion, Gilberts wor
In this opera Is the wlttiest and best he has eve
!. done.
"Patlcnce" will open at Fords Opera HouS
next week.
N.xv Fr.lv,,, xV.rabou.e