Savoy Curtain-Raisers ed. by Christopher O’Brien (review)

Although the Gilbert and Sullivan canon has received substantial attention in the secondary literature (not only the occasional scholarly study, but also an astounding number of specialist treatments produced by the most diligent of the innumerable devotees), many aspects of the immediate periphery of Gilbert and Sullivan have remained less examined—in particular their impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, his production companies, and his Savoy Theatre and Hotel. The most brilliant exploration of the economic forces driving the Savoy complex is Regina Oost’s Gilbert and Sullivan: Class and the Savoy Tradition, 1875–1896 (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009), a monograph deserving much wider attention than it has yet received. Oost uncovers audience expectations for a night (or afternoon) at the Savoy, and scrutinizes Carte’s attempts to anticipate his audience’s desires and spending habits. While hardly one of Carte’s significant innovations, his use of companion pieces—either a “curtain-raiser” before the feature presentation, or an “after piece” to follow it—is noteworthy because of the creators he secured to write them. Alfred Cellier, Harry Greenbank, George Grossmith, Basil Hood, and Edward Solomon each made his name in more substantial ways than writing companion pieces, but their careers owed something to Carte’s investment in their creative capacities.

While the companion pieces sometimes enjoyed revivals (i.e., an old curtain-raiser brought back in a pairing with a new larger work), they were not expected to be anything more than ephemeral, and they have all but disappeared from the stage. Some indeed have virtually ceased to exist, with perhaps only a printed libretto extant. Sometimes vocal scores were published, or a few songs issued individually, which suggests that they held some market share in the glut of Victorian music publishing. Chappell & Co. had the monopoly on publishing most of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations, and it may be significant that the companion pieces were often issued by more marginal publishers—an indication, perhaps, that Chappell did not think them a worthwhile investment. In any case, the known surviving materials can but offer an incomplete picture of a complex theatrical milieu.

The editorial committee of Musica Britannica is therefore to be commended for backing Christopher O’Brien’s edition of Savoy curtain-raisers, even if this volume’s main accomplishment is to give us an impression of the amount of material that has been lost. O’Brien has selected two works, each by a composer who had served as one of Sullivan’s assistants: François Cellier’s Captain Billy (1891), and Ernest Ford’s Mr Jericho (1893), both with librettos by Harry Greenbank (whose most memorable works were the musical comedies A Gaiety Girl and The Geisha, collaborations with Sidney Jones). To a certain extent O’Brien’s selection is dictated by source situation. In this respect Captain Billy is an obvious choice: O’Brien had access not only to the autograph full score, but also three distinct sets of orchestral parts, as well as two “editions” (or, to be more accurate, issues) of the contemporaneous vocal score as published by Chappell & Co; moreover, a prompt book from the Savoy Theatre and the proof copy of the libretto submitted to the Lord Chamberlain’s office for licensing round out a nearly comprehensive set of sources. Mr Jericho is a very different matter: no full score (neither autograph nor manuscript copy) is known; a complete set of orchestral parts exists, although it is split between two different owners; the published vocal score is...