page_title: The Golden Legend (cantata)
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: The Golden Legend (cantata) / Synopsis
caption_attribution_description: English: Source: Project Gutenberg e-book: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28352/28352-h/28352-h.htm Illustration from The Children's Longfellow, by Doris Hayman (1920), a retelling of some of Longfellow's poems - this illustration is of part of the story of The Golden Legend (1851).
context_page_description: The Golden Legend is an 1886 cantata by Arthur Sullivan with libretto by Joseph Bennett, based on the 1851 poem of the same name by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The piece premiered at the triennial Leeds Music Festival. At least 17 performances of the cantata were given in Britain during the first year after its premiere in October 1886, and during Sullivan's lifetime it was widely considered his greatest and most successful work of serious music. Indeed, outside of the comic operas with W. S. Gilbert, this cantata was widely regarded as Sullivan's most successful large-scale composition.
  A few days after the first performance, Gilbert wrote to Sullivan, "I congratulate you heartily on the success of the Cantata which appears from all accounts to be the biggest thing you've done." In May 1888, there was a performance of the work at the Royal Albert Hall by command of Queen Victoria. She sent for Sullivan after the performance and said, "At last I have heard The Golden Legend, Sir Arthur ... You ought to write a grand opera – you would do it so well."
context_section_description: The Prologue depicts a storm raging around Strasburg Cathedral as Lucifer and his spirits of the air try to tear down the cross from the spire, only to be chased away by the ringing of the bells. This failure foreshadows Lucifer's ultimate defeat.
  Scene one depicts Prince Henry of Hoheneck at his Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine being tempted by Lucifer. Henry has been stricken with a strange malady, and the famous physicians of Salerno have told him that the only cure is the blood of a maiden who shall, of her own free will, consent to die for his sake. Viewing this as unlikely, he gives way to despair and allows Lucifer, disguised as a travelling physician, to administer alcohol to him in such measure that he is deprived of his position in society and power as a ruler, and becomes an outcast.
  In the second scene, Prince Henry finds shelter in the cottage of one of his vassals, Ursula, whose daughter, Elsie, moved by great compassion for him upon learning the cure for his illness, offers herself in sacrifice, despite her mother's misgivings. Elsie hopes that by giving her life for Henry, she will become closer to Christ. Elsie and Henry set out for Salerno.
  Scene three has Elsie and Henry travelling to Salerno, although Henry is disturbed by the fate that awaits Elsie. They pass a band of pilgrims, which is joined by a friar who is really Lucifer in disguise. Lucifer gloats over Elsie's fate, and Elsie and Henry find comfort in each other.
  The couple arrive in Salerno in scene four, where Lucifer reappears disguised as Friar Angelo, a doctor of the medical school. Despite the opposition of the Prince, who now declares that he intended to do no more than test her constancy, Elsie persists in her resolve to die for him. Lucifer plans to claim Elsie's soul for his own rather than let it rise to Heaven. He draws Elsie into an inner chamber, but at the last minute, Henry breaks down the door and rescues her from the "doctor" and eternal damnation.
  In the fifth scene, a forester brings the news to an anxious Ursula that her daughter is not dead.  Miraculously healed, Prince Henry marries Elsie and is restored to his rightful place. The final scene finds Henry and Elsie on the evening of their wedding day. An epilogue provides the moral and explains that Prince Henry's malady was cured by love. Elsie's devotion is compared to the course of a mountain brook that cools and fertilises the arid plain.
caption: The Prince and Elsie – illustration to Longfellow's poem
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