Ages Ago

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Ages Ago is a musical entertaiment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Frederic Clay that premiered on 22 November 1869. It marked the beginning of a seven year long collaboration between the two.

1 Background
2 Synopsis
3 Roles
4 Musical numbers
5 References
6 External Links

[edit] Background

By the 1850s, the London stage had fallen into disrepute. Shakespeare was played, but most of the entertainments consisted of poorly translated French operettas, risque burlesques and incomprehensible broad farces.[1] To bring family-friendly entertainment back to the theatre, Thomas German Reed and his wife Priscilla opened their Gallery of Illustration in 1855 and brought in Gilbert in 1869 as one of their playwrights. The Gallery of Illustration was a 500-seat theatre with a small stage that only allowed for four or five characters with accompaniment by a piano, harmonium and sometimes a harp. After Gilbert's first offering for the Gallery of Illustration – No Cards, with music by Reed himself, Gilbert paired with Clay on Ages Ago, the first of a successful series of collaborations between the author and composer that would continue for the next seven years.

In the eight months separating No Cards and Ages Ago, Gilbert's style had developed significantly. No Cards had been Gilbert's first libretto with prose dialogue, a conventional light farce, with some songs loosely tacked on. Ages Ago, with its double plot, is considerably more sophisticated. The lyrics are more integral to the plot, and while the conventional penniless-suitor theme recurs, it is relegated to the framing story. It is the central section, in which the portraits step down from their frames and set up a series of complex relationships with each other, that is at the core of the piece, and it is in this section that the future Gilbert begins to show through ndash; particularly his love of taking an absurd premise to its logical conclusion.[2]

Ages Ago earned glowing praise from the critics and outran its companion piece, the popular Cox and Box and was frequently revived over the next decade. It was the Gallery's greatest success to that date, running for 350 performances in 1869.[3] It was revived several times thereafter and is still performed occasionally. Gilbert produced four more pieces for Reed, including A Sensation Novel in 1871 and Eyes and No Eyes in 1875. He also wrote several comic operas with Clay, the last of which was Princess Toto in 1876. Thomas German Reed played Ebenezer Tare, while his wife played Mrs. MacMotherly. The piece also introduced Fanny Holland, who would play in many pieces for the German Reeds for years to come.

At a rehearsal for Ages Ago, Clay formally introduced the composer Arthur Sullivan to Gilbert. The two would later collaborate on a series of fourteen comic operas that became the most enduring pieces of musical theatre from the Victorian era. Gilbert would later reuse many ideas and plot elements from these earlier works in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

[edit] Synopsis

In the haunted Scottish Castle of Glen Cockaleekie, where the title deed to the castle, much like Brigadoon, is only ever found once every hundred years, Ebenezer Tare has decided that, as "possession is nine-tenths of the law," he might as well be in possession of it until such time as the deed shows up again. Being the type of a Victorian money-grubbing elderly relative, he refuses to let his niece Rosa marry her poor suitor, Columbus Hebblethwaite, who is staying for the night. The Scottish housekeeper, Mrs. MacMotherly, has second sight. She tells a tale of the original wicked Sir Roger Bohun (similarly to Dame Hannah's tale in Gilbert and Sullivan's later Ruddigore).

That night, the paintings of the castle's former owners come to life and step out of their frames (as would happen again in Ruddigore). However, a problem ensues: They were all painted at different ages, so Lord Carnaby, painted at age 65, lusts after his grandmother (Lady Maud), painted at age 17. Eventually, though, and after some wrangling, Dame Cherry and Lord Carnaby settle into middle-aged affection, while the "old" young people pair off romantically and get a painting of a solicitor to marry them. At daybreak, they then return to their frames, leaving the deed behind, which gives the property to Hebblethwaite, the poor suitor. He strikes a deal whereby Tare is allowed to stay on if he permits him to marry Rosa, and all ends happily.

[edit] Roles

Sir Ebenezer Tare of the firm of Tare and Tret, Alderman and Tallow Chandler, later Lord Carnaby Poppytop (baritone)
Rosa (his niece), later Lady Maud (soprano)
Mrs. MacMotherly, later Dame Cherry Maybud (contralto)
Mr. Columbus Hebblethwaite, later Sir Cecil Blount (tenor)
Steward later Brown (bass)
Lady Maud de Bohun, Born 1445
- Came into possession 1469 (Edward IV)
- Painted by Leonardo da Vinci 1472 (Aged 17)
- Died 1473 (Louis XI)
Sir Cecil Blount, Born 1540 (Elizabeth I)
- Painted by Michael Angelo 1560 (Aged 20)
- Came into possession 1569 (Henry II to IV)
- Died 1579
Lord Carnaby Poppytop, Born 1648
- Came into possession 1669 (Queen Anne)
- Painted by Godfrey Kneller 1713 (Aged 65)
- Died 1720
Dame Cherry Maybud, Born 1730
- Came into possession 1769 (George III)
- Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds 1785 (Aged 55)
Lady Maud -- Picture Costume tenth year of Edward IV
Sir Cecil -- Picture Costume second year of Elizabeth I
Lord Carnaby -- Last year of Queen Anne's reign
Dame Cherry -- Twenty-fifth year of George III
Brown -- Late 19th century Cockney Dress.

[edit] Musical numbers

The numbering of the songs follows that in the vocal score. The printed libretto does not include the songs through number 4, and numbers the song labeled as song 5 below as song 1. Thus, to determine the number given to a song in the printed libretto, subtract 4 from the number assigned to that song below.

No. 1, " Prelude"
No. 2, Goodbye, Goodbye
No. 3, When nature sleeps
No. 4, Eh! What is that ye say
No. 5, Ha! What was that
No. 6, It does perplex, annoy and vex
No. 7, We fly to fields of fancy
No. 8, Entr'acte and Recit: I breathe, I live
No. 9, Moments so fleeting
No. 10, Would you know that maiden fair
No. 11, In pity tell, O Lady mine
No. 12, I stand on my authority
No. 13, At twenty-three Lord Carnaby
No. 14, 'Tis Done, the spell is broken
No. 15, The subject drop (Finale)

[edit] References

Crowther, Andrew (2000). Contradiction Contradicted – The Plays of W. S. Gilbert. Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3839-2.
Stedman, Jane W. (1996). W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816174-3.
Stedman, Jane W., Ed. (1969). Six comic plays by W. S. Gilbert. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. (with an introduction by Stedman)