''Our Island Home'' is a one-act musical entertainment with a libretto by

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most f ...

and music by

Thomas German Reed Thomas German Reed (27 June 1817 – 21 March 1888), known after 1844 as simply German Reed was an English composer, musical director, actor, singer and theatrical manager of the Victorian era. He was best known for creating the German Ree ...

that premiered on 20 June 1870 at the

Royal Gallery of Illustration The Royal Gallery of Illustration was a 19th-century performance venue located at 14 Regent Street in London. It was in use between 1850 and 1873. The gallery was built in the 1820s by the architect John Nash as part of his own house, to displa ...

. The piece has five characters and is "biographical", in that the characters in the original production played themselves, except that they were given personalities opposite to their actual personalities.

Background

This work is the third in a series of six one-act musical plays written by Gilbert for

and his wife

Priscilla Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin ''Prisca'', derived from ''priscus''. One suggestion is that it is intended to bestow long life on the bearer. The name first appears in the New Testament of Christianity variously as ...

between 1869 and 1875. The German Reeds presented respectable, family-friendly musical entertainments at their Gallery of Illustration 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.

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

was played, but most of the entertainments consisted of poorly translated French

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

s, risque

Victorian burlesque Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as travesty or extravaganza, is a genre of theatrical entertainment that was popular in Victorian era, Victorian England and in the New York theatre of the mid-19th century. It is a form of parody music, parod ...

s and incomprehensible broad farce

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. ''Our Island Home'' takes its name from

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

's poem "

The Lotos-Eaters ''The Lotos-Eaters'' is a poem by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, published in Tennyson's 1832 poetry collection. It was inspired by his trip to Spain with his close friend Arthur Hallam, where they visited the Pyrenees mountains. The poem ...

". It is set on the shore of an island in the Indian Ocean. German Reed had hoped that

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

would set the music for the piece and had written to ask him. Sullivan requested a higher price than the Reeds could afford, and so Reed wrote the music himself. This work introduced a number of the characters that Gilbert would use consistently in his later operas, including the overbearing, mature contralto and the meek, submissive baritone. Many of the elements in the piece are precursors to similar elements in

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

's famous 1879 opera, ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 187 ...

''. The pirate "chief", Captain Bang, became the Pirate King in ''Pirates''. Bang was also a precursor to the Frederic character, having been mistakenly apprenticed to a pirate band as a child by his deaf nursemaid. Similarly, Bang, like Frederic, has never seen a woman before. Also, he is affected by so keen a sense of duty as an apprenticed pirate that he is prepared to slaughter his own parents until the discovery of the passage of his twenty-first birthday frees him from his articles of indenture. Captain Bang also exhibits elements of ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

s Captain Corcoran and Sir Joseph, rolled into one: :I'm a hardy sailor, too; :I've a vessel and a crew :When it doesn't blow a gale :I can reef a little sail. :I never go below :And I generally know :The weather from the lee, :And I'm never sick at sea. The original performers in ''Our Island Home'' played themselves. However, in a typical Gilbertian twist, their personae were the opposite of those in real life. As they were personally known to many in their audiences, this was a very successful "in-joke".

Roles

* Priscilla German Reed (

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

) *

(

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

) * Fanny Holland (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

) *

Arthur Cecil Arthur Cecil Blunt (1 June 1843 – 16 April 1896), better known as Arthur Cecil, was an English actor, comedian, playwright and theatre manager. He is probably best remembered for playing the role of Box in the long-running production of ''Cox a ...

(

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

) *Captain Bang, ''A Pirate chief'' ( R. Corney Grain, later Edward (Alfred) Reed)Gänzl, Kurt. ''The British Musical Theatre'', Vol. 1 1865–1914, p. 29, Basingstoke, The Macmillan Press, 1986

Synopsis

The German Reeds' theatre company find themselves on a desert island, having been thrown off their ship on their way back home after an Asiatic tour of ''

Ages Ago ''Ages Ago'', sometimes stylised as ''Ages Ago!'' or ''Ages Ago!!'', is a musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Frederic Clay that premiered on 22 November 1869 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration. It marked the ...

'' for insisting on presenting the work every night on board the ship. The overbearing Mrs. Reed divides the island in quarters and, unfortunately, awards the only fertile part of the island to the despotic Mr. Cecil, who forces the others to rhyme or sing to him (and cook for him) to be fed. He also terrifies the others with his evil glance. Cecil has a soft life and everything he wants... except anchovy paste. Fortunately, a cask washes up onshore filled with anchovy paste. The German Reeds strike a more equitable deal with Cecil: He gets the paste, and they switch sides on the island. Cecil's part of the island turns out to be made of solid gold. Just then, a ship arrives, and with it, the melodramatic Captain Bang: "Oh, tremble! I'm a Pirate Chief; Who comes upon me comes to grief." Bang explains that he is bound by his duty under his pirate indentures to execute his four new acquaintances. He explains his history: :I was the only son of a kind indulgent father and a kind indulgent mother, whose only care was to gratify my smallest whim. On my seventh birthday my kind father asked me what I would like to be. I had always a hankering for a sea-life; at the same time I didn't want to leave them for long, for oh, I was an affectionate son. So I told them I should like to be a pilot. My kind papa consented and sent me with my nurse to the nearest sea-front, telling her to apprentice me to a pilot. The girl – a very good girl, but stupid – mistaking her instructions, apprenticed me to a pirate of her acquaintance and bound me over to serve him diligently and faithfully until I reached the age of twenty-one. We sailed that evening, and I have never seen my native land since. German Reed recognises Captain Bang as his long lost son. Nevertheless, Bang explains that by his articles of apprenticeship, he is bound to slaughter every prisoner he takes, and his indentures do not expire until the next day. However, based on the party's present longitude, it is determined that Bang has just turned 21. Bang agrees to take them all home on his ship.

Musical numbers

*1. Carol – "Rise, pretty one, awaken" (Mr. Reed, Mrs. Reed and Miss Holland) *2. Duet – "Oh Mr. Cecil, Sir, how can you?" (Miss Holland and Mr. Cecil) *3. Trio – "Hurrah, a sail!" (Mrs. Reed, Miss Holland and Mr. Cecil) *4. Quartette – "Cask Catch" *5. Quartette – "Memorandum of agreement" *6. Song – "Oh, tremble! I'm a Pirate Chief" (Captain Bang) *7. Finale – "Hurrah, a sail!"

Notes

References

* * * (with an introduction by Stedman) *

Eaton Faning Joseph Eaton Faning (20 May 1850 – 28 October 1927), known as Eaton Faning, was an English composer and teacher. The son of a music teacher, he became the organist of a church at the age of twelve. He attended the Royal Academy of Music, whe ...

and

Shapcott Wensley Shapcott Wensley was the pseudonym of the English author and poet Henry Shapcott Bunce (1854 – 1 June 1917). Life He was born in Bristol in the summer of 1854. He died in Bristol on 1 June 1917. He married a singer, Alice Mary Wensley, and ...

. Extra Supplement: ''Our Island Home'' in ''Musical Times'', Vol. 55, No. 859 (1 September 1914), pp. 1–12.

External links

''Our Island Home''
at the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography
Online version of the text
{{The Pirates of Penzance Works by W. S. Gilbert English comic operas English-language operas 1870 operas Operas Operas by Thomas German Reed