Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-02-24
" PATIENCE"
The Great Esthetic Craze Opera as
endered by Abbott

The Great Astheuc Craze Opera as
endered by Abbott
Following is partial synopsis of the
great popular opera IS Patience" which is
keen satire upon the modern aesthetic craze,
of which Oscar Wilde is the representative,
" Patience" will be produced by the EN-
ma Abbott Company at Staubs Opera
house Saturday night:
The opera opens with scene represent
ing glade close to an ancient castle, where
twenty 'rap1urous maldens" dressed in
aesthetic draperies, playing lutes and
mandoiins, sing in the last stage of despair,
all their love being concentrated on male
aesthetic, Reginald Bunthorne. A troop of
dragons comes on the scene of their
former heart conquests, but are chagrined
to find their old sweethearts changed and
INDUCING in the gushing jargon of pseudo
astheticlsm, and refusing to listen to the
suits of fieshy warriors. They have
reached, as one character says, that
transcendalism of delirium, that acute ac-
centuatiOn of supremest ecstacy, which the
earthly might easily mistake for indigestion.
but which Is aesthetic TRANSPORTATION.
The hard hearted colonel and lieutenant
colonel of the regiment are converted by
sheer pressure of the surroundings and be-
come aesthetics in their own despite. BY
the time this is accomplished, however, the
girls themselves have got tired of the tut
terly intense;" they sigh for the flesh pots
of former social lite aud retrograde to the
plane of ordinary human beings more rap
Idly than they had assembled from it. The
consequence is that everybody drops
festhercsm, and the finale leaves them all
clothed and in their right mind. The chief
exemplars of the satire are Bunthorne and
Lady Jane. The former a ''heshy poet
with all his weight below tie brain, en-
thuses the silly maidens with mystical and
subiimely foolish verses which are charac-
terized by his converts us purely fragrant"
earnestly precious" and everything else
that is WIDELY ungramatical. He is finally
found out and discarded to content him.
self with "a tulip or lily" Lady Jane is
/ an old maid, who seeks to balance her lack
of personal charms by out-Bunthorning
| Bunthorne in her wild devotion to the
Empyrean and Della Cruscan." Like
| him, " soulfully intense; )" she is "Gmp"
and she ceilings "-to any male aesthetic
| in arms length. Patience is a mIlkmaid,
upon whom Bunthorne fixes his elevated
affections. She loves Grosvenor, an
''Idyllc poet" and detests Bunthorne.
But having been persuaded that love is
utter unselfshness," she consents to
marry Bunthorne because she detests him.
| To this proposition Grosvenor's principles
| compel hum to accede, in spite of his love
for, the "slave of duty" and the two
part in despair. Of course everything
| comes right III the end, when they have re-
| gained their wits The hbretto is full of
the quips and cranks and queer rhymes that
are peculiar to Gibert's work.
| The arrangement of the opera is better
| than the tuneful firm have shown in any of
| their former works, and the ensemble more
| striking and dramatic; for example, that of
| the officers and ladies IN the first act. The
music is of the erratic order, made familiar
| by Sullivan's former efforts; the score is a
| compilation of solos, choruses and con-
certed numbers without any specific bearing
upon the story or result, but full of melody
and therefore suited to the popular taste.
1t must be confessed that the opening
numbers of the opera, although pretty, are
rather Disappointing, and it is only when
| we come to the coloDePs song, 1.-The Heavy
| Dragon" that the talents of the composer
begin to appear. From this time on the
score is stream of melody rollicking in it,
humor or satirical III the exaggerated gray
ity of the more earnestly utter passages
Lady James ditty, ''Silvered is the kave1
HAIR" with its absurdly solemn recitation
is about the most sublimely ridiculous thing
that ever was written. Among the othel
numbers noticeably attractive are Bun
thorne's song, IF You're Anxious Il
Shine" with its charming bit of orchestra
ton, and the duet Long Year Ago, -Four
teen May be-" for Patience and Angela.