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. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (November 18, 1836 – May 29, 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist and illustrator best known for the fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. ... Frederic Clay (born August 3, 1838 in Paris; died November 24, 1889 at Great Marlow) was an English musical composer. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

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. 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. William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... Operetta (literally, little opera) is a performance art-form similar to opera, though it generally deals with less serious topics. ... Photo of Lucky St. ... Thomas German Reed (June 27, 1817–March 21, 1888) was an English composer and theatrical manager best known for creating the German Reed Entertainments, a genre of musical plays that made theatre-going respectable at a time when the stage was considered disreputable. ... German Reed Entertainment: The dramatic and musical entertainment which for many years was known in London by the title German Reed was a form of theatrical enterprise deserving acknowledgement. ...

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.[1]

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.[2] 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. Cox and Box (video tape cover) Cox and Box is a comic opera with a libretto by by Francis Cowley Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the farce Box and Cox, by John Maddison Morton. ... A Sensation Novel is a comic musical play in three acts (or volumes) written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Thomas German Reed. ... Comic opera is a subcategory of opera, and denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature. ...

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. Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (May 13, 1842 – November 22, 1900) was an English composer best known for his operatic collaborations with librettist W. S. Gilbert. ... Comic opera is a subcategory of opera, and denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian Era of Great Britain marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...

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). DVD cover Brigadoon is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, first produced in 1947. ... (FROM: http://www. ... W. S. Gilbert Sir Arthur Sullivan Librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) collaborated on a series of fourteen comic operas in Victorian England between 1871 and 1896. ... Ruddigore, or The Witchs Curse, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. ...

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.

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.

Baritone (French: baryton; German: Bariton; Italian: baritono) is most commonly the type of male voice that lies between bass and tenor. ... Look up soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music, an alto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a soprano. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high vocal range. ... A basso (or bass) is a male singer who sings in the lowest vocal range of the human voice. ...

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)

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)

External Links

• Ages Ago at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
• Song list and links to Midi files
• Ages Ago at the G&S Discography
• Profile of Frederic Clay