''The Prodigal Son'' is an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

by Arthur Sullivan with text taken from the parable of the same name in the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

. It features chorus with soprano,

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, typica ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing 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 low extreme for tenors is wide ...

and bass solos. It premiered in

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire, England, situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Bles ...

on 10 September 1869 as part of the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...

.Howarth, Paul
"''The Prodigal Son'': Historical Note"
The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 16 September 2003, accessed 18 September 2017 The work was Sullivan's first oratorio, and it was the first sacred music setting of this parable, preceding Claude Debussy's 1884 cantata '' L'enfant prodigue'' and

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

's 1929 ballet '' The Prodigal Son'', Op. 46.

Background

Sullivan was still in his 20s when he composed this piece, which, like many of Sullivan's early works, shows the strong musical influence of Felix Mendelssohn. A rising star of British music, he had already produced his popular incidental music to

Shakespeare's 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 ...

'' The Tempest'', his '' Irish Symphony'', a '' Cello concerto'', his '' Overture in C, "In Memoriam"'', ''

The Masque at Kenilworth ''Kenilworth, A Masque of the Days of Queen Elizabeth'' (commonly referred to as "The Masque at Kenilworth"), is a cantata with music by Arthur Sullivan and words by Henry Fothergill Chorley (with an extended Shakespeare quotation) that premier ...

'', his first ballet, ''

L'Île Enchantée ''L'Île Enchantée'' (literally, The Enchanted Island) is an 1864 ballet by Arthur Sullivan written as a divertissement at the end of Vincenzo Bellini's ''La Sonnambula'' at Covent Garden. It was choreographed by H. Desplaces."Arthur Sullivan ...

'' and two

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

s, ''

Cox and Box ''Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers'', is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce '' Box and Cox'' by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic o ...

'' and ''

The Contrabandista ''The Contrabandista'', ''or The Law of the Ladrones'', is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 ...

'', as well as other orchestral pieces and numerous hymns and songs. Therefore, it was no surprise when Sullivan received a commission to compose an oratorio for the Three Choirs Festival. In the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, large-scale choral works with orchestra were a staple of British musical culture, including oratorios in the mould of Handel and Mendelssohn. Except for theatre pieces, choral works were the only genre in which Sullivan continued to compose regularly after the early 1870s.''The Prodigal Son'' at the G&S Discography

Composition

Sullivan chose his own text for ''The Prodigal Son'' from the gospel of St. Luke and other appropriate books of the bible.Liner notes from the Hyperion recording of ''The Prodigal Son''
/ref> Sullivan composed the music in about three weeks. Rachel Scott Russell, a woman with whom Sullivan was having an affair at the time, copied the music. Sullivan does not change the story much, but he omits the episode in which the elder son questions the mercy shown to the prodigal son. In his preface to the work, Sullivan justifies this on the grounds that the episode has no dramatic connection with the story. Instead, Sullivan focuses his libretto on the story of the son and his father, leading to the dramatic reconciliation between the two. His preface states his concept of the title character: :"...the Prodigal himself has been conceived, not as of a naturally brutish and depraved disposition - a view taken by many commentators with apparently little knowledge of human nature, and no recollection of their own youthful impulses; but rather as a buoyant, restless youth, tired of the monotony of home, and anxious to see what lay beyond the narrow confines of his father's farm, going forth in the confidence of his own simplicity and ardour, and led gradually away into follies and sins which, at the outset, would have been as distasteful as they were strange to him."

Performance and reception

The first performance of the piece was a great success and featured soloists Thérèse Tietjens, Zelia Trebelli,

Sims Reeves John Sims Reeves (21 October 1821 – 25 October 1900) was an English operatic, oratorio and ballad tenor vocalist during the mid-Victorian era. Reeves began his singing career in 1838 but continued his vocal studies until 1847. He soon establ ...

and

Charles Santley Sir Charles Santley (28 February 1834 – 22 September 1922) was an English opera and oratorio singer with a ''bravura''From the Italian verb ''bravare'', to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill ...

; Sullivan conducted. After the premiere, an additional performance was scheduled for 18 December 1869 at

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...

. The performance was rescheduled for 11 December 1869 because Sims Reeves was unable to make the performance date. Reeves missed the rescheduled performance and was replaced by Mr. Perren, while Mlle. Vanzini substituted for Titiens. Sullivan's former teacher, Sir John Goss, attended this performance and cautioned his student: :"All you have done is most masterly — your orchestration superb, and your effects many of them original and first-rate.... Some day you will, I hope, try another oratorio, putting out all your strength, but not the strength of a few weeks or months, whatever your immediate friends may say... only don't do anything so pretentious as an oratorio or even a symphony without all your power, which seldom comes in one fit." In 1870, there was a performance of ''The Prodigal Son'' in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and it was repeated at the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford in September. In November 1870, it was performed in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, with Sullivan conducting. During Sullivan's visit to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to supervise the premiere of ''

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 ...

'', he conducted a performance on 23 November 1879 by the Handel and Haydn Society in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. In 1885, the Canadian premiere took place in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

. The piece continued in the standard choral repertory until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. One modern critic wrote, "Even at the young age of 27, Sullivan's scoring has uncommon freshness and accuracy, particularly his writing for winds, and there's a marvelous "Revel" chorus accompanied throughout by snare drum that texturally speaking recalls early

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

, though the scoring for piccolo and contrabassoon is pure Sullivan. At almost exactly an hour in length, ''The Prodigal Son'' deserves to return to the repertoire of choral societies...." In his 1971 biography, Percy Young wrote:

"''The Prodigal Son'', as Goss suggests, betrays a lack of commitment.... But there are a number of places where the music comes to life, often stimulated by fine details of orchestration.... In 'They went astray' there is some splendidly dramatic writing in gaunt canon – first for soprano and bass, and then for alto and tenor – against an empty orchestral background. Here Sullivan is at his most economical and his most effective, and way ahead of his British contemporaries."

Musical numbers

* No. 1. Introduction * No. 2. Chorus: There is joy * No. 3.

Tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing 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 low extreme for tenors is wide ...

solo: A certain man had two sons * No. 4. bass recitative and Aria: My son, attend to my words * No. 5. Soprano recitative: And the younger son * No. 6. Tenor solo and chorus: Let us eat and drink * No. 7.

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, typica ...

recitative and chorus: Woe unto them * No. 8. Contralto aria: Love not the world * No. 9. Soprano recitative: And when he had spent all * No. 10. Soprano aria: O that thou hadst hearkened * No. 11. Tenor aria: How many hired servants * No. 12. Chorus: There is joy * No. 13. Soprano recitative: And he arose... Tenor and bass duet: Father, I have sinned * No. 14. Bass recitative and aria: Bring forth the best robe * No. 15. Chorus: O that men would praise the Lord * No. 16. Tenor recitative: No chastening for the present... Aria: Come, ye children * No. 17. Unaccompanied quartet: The Lord is nigh * No. 18. Chorus: Thou, O Lord, art our Father

Recordings

A 2003 recording was made by

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label. History Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...

and the New London Orchestra with Ronald Corp conducting. Soloists are Catherine Denley ( mezzo-soprano), Clare Rutter (soprano), Gary Magee ( baritone), and Mark Wilde (tenor), with The London Chorus. Sullivan's '' Boer War Te Deum'' is included on the disc. The Sir Arthur Sullivan Society issued a recording of ''The Prodigal Son'' on cassette tape in 1995. Also on the recording is Sullivan's ''Imperial Ode'' (1887) and his 1895 incidental music t
''King Arthur''
The recording is performed by Imperial Opera, with Michael Withers and Robert Dean conducting. Other individual songs from the piece have been recorded.

References

External links

at ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', with links to libretto, midi files, reviews and other information

* ttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E0D7153AE033A25752C1A9649C94689FD7CF ''NY Times'' review of an 1889 New York performance {{DEFAULTSORT:Prodigal Son, The Compositions by Arthur Sullivan Oratorios Cantatas 1869 compositions