The Golden Legend (oratorio)
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The Golden Legend is an oratorio by Arthur Sullivan with libretto by Joseph Bennett, who suggested the topic, based on the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Sullivan had been associated with the prestigious Leeds Triannual Festival, both as conductor and composer, ever since 1880, when his choral work The Martyr of Antioch had its premiere at Leeds Town Hall. By 1886, Sullivan was serving as the Leeds Festival's musical director for the third time, and the festival committee commissioned him to compose a new choral work.
With The Mikado drawing large audiences in London and New York, Sullivan began writing the dramatic cantata which became The Golden Legend in Yorktown, Camberley, England, on April 24 1886, and rehearsals began on September 10 1886.[1] The premiere took place on Saturday 16 October, 1886 and the success with audiences and critics alike was immediate.
The Leeds Mercury reported:
- How can we describe the scene which followed the last note of the cantata? Let the reader imagine an audience rising to its multitudinous feet in thundering approval; a chorus either cheering with heart and soul or raining down flowers upon the lucky composer; and an orchestra coming out of its habitual calm to wax fervid in demonstration. Never was a more heartfelt ovation. Ovation! nay, it was a greater triumph, one such as acclaimed the successful soldiers of Rome.
No fewer than 17 performances of the cantata were given in Britain during the first year after its premiere, 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 oratorio was 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."
So frequent were the demands of the numerous amateur choral societies for the work that at one point the composer declared a moratorium on its performance, fearing that it was becoming over-exposed.
After Sullivan's death there was a steady decline in the frequency of performances of "The Golden Legend", in common with all of his serious compositions. Perhaps it was inevitable that in the twentieth century there would be a reaction against works which had been so beloved of the Victorians. Additionally, the arrival of a new generation of composers, notably Sir Edward Elgar brought fresh and vigorous new choral and symphonic works to the British musical scene.
Fortunately in recent years there has been a significant revival of interest in Sullivan's works, including "The Golden Legend" and the first professional recording was finally released in 2001.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] Synopsis
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.
Scene one depicts Prince Henry being tempted by Lucifer. Henry has been stricken with a strange malady, and the doctors of Salerno have told him that the only cure was the blood of a maiden who died for his sake. Viewing this as unlikely, he allows Lucifer to administer alcohol to him.
In the second scene, Ursula and her daughter Elsie are singing a hymn when Prince Henry passes. Upon learning the cure for Henry's illness, Elsie offers herself in sacrifice, despite her mother's misgivings. Elsie hopes that by giving her life for Henry, she'll become closer to Christ. Elsie and Henry ride off together.
Scene three has Elsie and Henry traveling to Salerno, although Henry is disturbed by the fate that awaits Elsie. Their band of pilgrims 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 once again appears, this time disguised as a doctor. When Elsie is given over to him, Lucifer plans to claim her soul for his own rather than let it rise to Heaven. At the last minute, however, Henry breaks down the door and rescues her from the "doctor" and eternal damnation.
The final scene opens with Ursula receiving news that her daughter is not dead. Henry and Elsie are then shown on their wedding day.
An epilogue provides the moral and explains that Prince Henry's malady was cured by love.
[edit] Musical numbers
- Prologue
- Nocte surgentes
Scene 1
- I cannot sleep
- All hail, Prince Henry
- Behold it here
- Drink, drink, and thy soul shall sink
Scene 2
- Slowly, slowly up the wall
- Evening Hymn
- Who was it said ‘Amen’?
- I heard Him call
- My Redeemer and my Lord
- My life is little
Scene 3
- Onward and onward
- Here am I too
- It is the sea
- The night is calm and cloudless
Scene 4
- My guests approach
- Prince Henry enters
- O pure in heart
- Weep not, my friends
- Come with me, this Way
Scene 5
- Virgin, who lovest the poor
Scene 6
- We are alone
- Dear Elise
- In life’s delight
Choral Epilogue
[edit] References
- Jacobs, Arthur (1984). Arthur Sullivan – A Victorian Musican. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Sullivan, Herbert & Flower, Newman (1927). Sir Arthur Sullivan. His Life, Letters & Diaries. London: Cassell & Company Ltd.
[edit] External links
- Libretto
- Information about the score
- 2001 Hyperion Recording
- The Golden Legend at The Gilbert and Sullivan Discography
- Musical analysis of The Golden Legend, comparing it with Lizst's composition on the same subject
