Merrie England (opera)

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Rosina Brandram as Queen Elizabeth
Rosina Brandram as Queen Elizabeth

Merrie England is an English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood. It opened at the Savoy Theatre in London on April 2, 1902, then under the management of William Greet, and ran for a total of 176 performances. It starred Henry Lytton, Louie Pounds, Rosina Brandram, Robert Evett and Walter Passmore among other regulars of the Savoy.

The opera became popular and was often performed by amateur groups in the decades following its premiere. In Queen Elizabeth II's coronation year, over five hundred amateur societies staged the piece. Despite its lively and accessible music and libretto, it has fallen into relative obscurity in recent decades, although anniversaries such as that of the Armada in 1988 have seen revivals. Individual songs from Merrie England have been recorded many times although a complete professional recording has not been made in the UK since the early 1960s.

Contents

[edit] Background

Basil Hood's libretto makes heavy use of wordplay for comic (and dramatic) effect. For example the homophones 'fore' and 'four' are used in a scene in the second act where it is explained that a dragon has "four legs, two of which are hind legs and two of which are fore legs" (compare this with the famous 'orphan'/'often' exchange in Act one of The Pirates of Penzance, by Gilbert and Sullivan).

The poem in Act one giving the A to Z of Romeo and Juliet is a particularly fine example of Hood's writing, summarising the plot of Romeo and Juliet through use of the alphabet. The plot, a rustic, romanticised Tudor story, has been criticised for containing too many unimportant characters and historical inaccuracy. It concerns love and rivalries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, a monarch jealous of Sir Walter Raleigh's affection for Bessie Throckmorton, revealed to her by the Earl of Essex.

The music is an example of the style of English light opera made famous in the 1870's and 1880's by Gilbert and Sullivan. It features a prominent chorus and a range of principal numbers including ballads, patter songs, duets and quintets. German had gained a lot of practical knowledge about style and orchestration from completing Arthur Sullivan's score for The Emerald Isle, and he put this into practice in Merrie England, which was his own first large-scale work for the stage.

German's engaging score, evoking the colourful Tudor period, combined pomp and ceremony with ballads and romantic arias. It includes the well known song for the Queen "O peaceful England" and the stirring "Yeomen of England", which became a favourite and was performed at Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee celebrations in 2002.

[edit] Roles

  • Chorus of Lords, Ladies, Townsfolk, and Soldiers

[edit] Synopsis

Two versions of the plot exist: Hood's original from 1902 and a revised one by Dennis Arundell presented at Sadler's Wells in 1960. The opera is set in Windsor Town and makes frequent reference to mythology and folklore (Robin Hood, King Neptune, St. George and the Dragon and witchcraft).

[edit] Act One

The opera starts during the May Day festival with the crowning of the May Queen with "roses white and roses red ... the flowers of Merrie England". Her two guards are introduced - Long Tom and Big Ben - who are brothers identical in all but one thing. The "little difference between them" is that Big Ben (like the other men in Windsor) loves the May Queen, while Long Tom loves Jill (known as Jill-All-Alone). Jill is accused of being a witch by the jealous May Queen and is shunned by the townsfolk.

Bessie Throckmorton, one of Queen Elizabeth's Ladies in Waiting, and Sir Walter Raleigh are in love though they must keep their love a secret as the Queen is also in love with Raleigh. Bessie sings of how she carelessly lost a love letter from Raleigh in the beautiful aria She lost the letter from her love. She worries that the letter may have fallen into Queen Elizabeth's hands and thus reveal their secret love.

The Earl of Essex (Raleigh's rival for the affection of the Queen) is handed the love letter (an acrostic on the name Bessie) by Jill-All-Alone and plans to use it to dispose of Raleigh. Walter Wilkins, a travelling actor, appears and argues that any play can be vastly improved by the addition of song ("if it's played on a big brass band") and claims that "that's where [he] and Shakespeare disagree."

Queen Elizabeth then enters with much ceremony. Long Tom pleads for the Queen's protection of Jill-All-Alone from the townsfolk's persecution. Asking her whether she believes she is a witch, she replies with the paradox that if she were a witch she must know more than the townfolk, therefore she can't be a witch as she would know (as the townsfolk seem to) that she is a witch if she were. She goes on to sing:

I know that love is far above all jewels that are seen,
And I do know that, being so, 'tis wanted by a Queen;
But love, I we'en, must pass her by

This insult angers the Queen, and she joins with the villagers in condemning Jill as a witch, locking her away in the Tower of London for witchcraft.

Essex hands the Queen Raleigh's love letter which she initially mistakes to be meant for her. Raleigh gallantly admits that the letter is in fact meant for Bessie Throckmorton. The Queen is so incensed that she imprisons Raleigh in the Tower of London.

[edit] Act Two

Jill has managed to escape with Raleigh using a secret passage out of the tower.

The majority of act two concerns the staging of a play for Queen Elizabeth. Wilkins works on a version of the story of St. George and the Dragon which does not go down well when presented to the Queen and Essex.

Eventually the Queen is convinced to allow Raleigh and Bessie to love each other, choosing Essex instead for herself.

The opera ends with everyone taking part in a reenactment of Robin Hood's wedding to Maid Marian. Everyone takes roles closely related to their part in the opera (Raleigh becomes Robin to Bessie's Marian).

[edit] Musical numbers

  • Introduction (Includes "Hey, Jolly Robin", the Rustic Dance, and the Jig)

[edit] Act I

  • 1. "Sing A Down, A Down, A Down" (Chorus with May Queen and Butcher)
  • 2. "We Are Two Proper Men" (Long Tom and Big Ben with Chorus)
  • 3. "Oh! Where The Deer Do Lie" (Jill with Chorus)
  • 4. "I Do Counsel That Your Playtime" (Wilkins with Chorus)
  • 5. "That Every Jack Should Have A Jill" (Raleigh with Chorus)
  • 6. "Love Is Meant To Make Us Glad" (May Queen, Kate, Raleigh, Wilkins, and Long Tom)
  • 7. "She Had A Letter From Her Love" (Bessie)
  • 8. "When True Love Hath Found A Man" (Raleigh and Bessie)
  • 9. "When A Man Is A Lover" (Wilkins, Simkins, and Essex)
  • 10. "Who Were The Yeomen Of England, The Yeomen of England" (Essex with Chorus)
  • 11. Entrance Of Queen Elizabeth/"God Save Elizabeth" (Chorus)
  • 12. "O Peaceful England" (Elizabeth with Chorus)
  • 13. "King Neptune Sat On His Lonely Throne" (Wilkins with Chorus)
  • 14. Finale (Ensemble)

[edit] Act II

  • 15. "The Month o' May Has Come Today" (Chorus with Jill)
  • 16. "In England, Merrie England" (Bessie, Jill, Big Ben, Long Tom)
  • 17. "The Sun in the Heaven Is High" (Simkins, the Tailor, and the Butcher with Chorus)
  • 18. "The Big Brass Band" (Wilkins and Simkins with Chorus)
  • 19. "It Is the Merry Month of May" (Jill and Raleigh)
  • 20. "The Queen o' May Is Crowned Today" (Chorus)
  • 20a. Rustic Dance
  • 21. "Dan Cupid Hath a Garden" (Raleigh)
  • 22. "Two Merry Men a-Drinking" (Ensemble)
  • 22a. Exit of Chorus
  • 23. "O Who Shall Say That Love Is Cruel?" (Bessie)
  • 24. "When Cupid First This Old World Trod" (Essex with Bessie, Jill, and Raleigh)
  • 25. "Perhaps You Don't Imagine" (Wilkins)
  • 26. Masque of St. George and the Dragon (Egyptian Dance)
  • 27. "Oh! Here's a To-Do to Die To-day" (Chorus with Wilkins as King)
  • 28. Finale (Ensemble)

[edit] External links

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