Eyes and No Eyes, or The Art of Seeing is a one-act musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music originally by Thomas German Reed that premiered on July 5, 1875 at St. George's Hall in London. The original music was lost, and twenty years later new music was composed by "Florian Pascal" (a pseudonym for Joseph Williams, Jr., a music publisher who acquired the copyright to the show).[1][2] 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. ... 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. ... 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. ... July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Background

This work is the last in a series of six one-act musical plays written by Gilbert for Thomas German Reed and his wife Priscilla between 1869 and 1875. The German Reeds presented respectable, family-friendly musical entertainments beginning in 1855, at a time when the theatre in Britain had gained a poor reputation as an unsavory institution and was not attended by much of the middle class. 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. ...

While written before Trial by Jury, this work was not staged until afterward. It is the most tightly written of Gilbert's libretti for the German Reed Entertainments.[3] Eyes and No Eyes is Gilbert's version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes. Like A Sensation Novel, the work was rescored by Florian Pascal two decades later. The music is reminiscent of early Debussy, but it seems to fit this work.[4] Trial by Jury is a comic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in one act (the only single-act Savoy Opera). ... 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. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Close-up of three stamps showing scenes from the story The emperor in procession by Edmund Dulac The Emperors New Clothes is a Danish fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen and first published in 1837, as part of Eventyr, Fortalte for Born (Fairy Tales, Told for Children). ... A Sensation Novel is a comic musical play in three acts (or volumes) written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Thomas German Reed. ... Claude Debussy Claude Achille Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918), composer of impressionistic classical music. ...

Roles

• Cassandre, a wealthy farmer, in love with Nicolette (Bass)
• Columbine and Clochette, his nieces (mezzo-soprano) and (soprano)
• Arlequin, brother of.... (baritone)
• Pierrot (tenor)
• Nicolette, an old coquette (contralto)

A basso (or bass) is a male singer who sings in the lowest vocal range of the human voice. ... A mezzo-soprano (meaning medium soprano in Italian) is a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker (or lower) vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that... Look up soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Baritone (French: baryton; German: Bariton; Italian: baritono) is most commonly the type of male voice that lies between bass and tenor. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high vocal range. ... In music, an alto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a soprano. ...

Synopsis

The story is built on symmetry: There are two pairs of young lovers and one pair of old dotards. During the first half, there is a non-existent cloak said to be visible only to true lovers. In the second half there is a real cloak supposedly visible only to the eyes of flirts.

Twin brothers, Arlequin and Pierrot, love Columbine and Clochette (although they love them equally and have not decided which belongs to which). Columbine has lost the cloak that she has just bought for her uncle, Cassandre, and the girls fear his anger when he finds the money gone and no cloak. The girls observe that their uncle and the others are all very flirtatious. They decide to pretend that the non-existent cloak is "visible only to true lovers, and absolutely invisible to flirts of every degree". They pretend to admire it on each other and convince the boys that it is real. Uncle Cassandre is engaged to Nicolette, who is an "acquired taste". He has spent thirty years acquiring a taste for all her odious attributes. Columbine convinces them, too, that she has acquired a magic cloak visible to only true lovers.

Just then, however, Clochette finds the original cloak that the girls had purchased. Columbine is afraid their uncle will beat her when he hears of the deception. Clochette has a bright thought: "Tell him you made a mistake, and that it’s visible to flirts and coquettes but invisible to true lovers." This they do, and sure enough, Cassandre and Nicolette pretend not to be able to see the cloak. The brothers now return, having "reformed" and are overjoyed to be able to see the cloak. Now the brothers and the older pair both demand to know what is the true nature of the magic. Thinking fast, the girls reply, "Well, uncle, in a kind of way you’re both right. It’s visible to true lovers under thirty, and invisible to true lovers over thirty." Everyone is very satisfied by this, and the uncle now offers the girls to the boys. He flips a coin to decide which boy gets which girl. Once assigned, the boys complain that each loves the other girl, and the girls feel the same. They surreptitiously switch back, and all ends happily.

Musical numbers

• Introduction
• No. 1. "As I at My Wheel Sit Spinning" (Clochette)
• No. 2. "Yes, Yes, I Am That Miserable Beauty" (Nicolette)
• No. 3. "Of Our Parents Each Child is the Son" (Clochette, Pierrot, and Arlequin)
• No. 4. "Well, Here's a Very Pretty State of Things" (Clochette, Columbine, Pierrot and Arlequin)
• No. 5. "When You Were Eight and Twenty" (Cassandre and Nicolette)
• No. 6. "As I Was Going Along the Road" (Columbine) (DELETED)
• No. 6. "Now, Columbine, the Magic Cloak Produce" (Cassandre, Nicolette, Columbine, and Clochette)
• No. 7. Finale — "Agony and Fell Dispair"

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

• Eyes and No Eyes at the G&S Archive, including links to the libretto, score and Midi files
• Eyes and No Eyes at the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography
• Contains link to a well-formatted libretto
• Brief discussion of the piece