description Patience Overview
Gilbert’s Patience, premiered in 1881, offers a satirical look at the Aesthetic movement’s pursuit of beauty divorced from practicality. The operetta utilized innovative electric lighting at London's Savoy Theatre, marking a significant moment in theatrical history. Sullivan’s music and Gilbert’s witty libretto engage audiences interested in Victorian social commentary and the burgeoning world of British operatic entertainment. It is primarily for those studying or appreciating late 19th-century English opera and its cultural context.
help Patience FAQ
Who are the main characters in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, and what are they satirizing?
The poet Reginald Bunthorne and his rival Archibald Grosvenor satirize the Aesthetic movement's poseurs — most directly Oscar Wilde and Algernon Charles Swinburne. The opera mocks the Victorian fascination with art-for-art's-sake and the cult of personality around poets like Wilde.
When and where did Patience premiere?
Patience premiered at the Opera Comique in London on April 23, 1881, before transferring to the new Savoy Theatre later that year. It was the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera to play at the Savoy and the first theatre production in the world to be lit entirely by electric light.
Was Patience the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration?
No — Gilbert and Sullivan had already written The Sorcerer, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance before Patience. Patience was their sixth full-length operetta and the one that opened the Savoy Theatre, giving its name to the rest of their 'Savoy Operas.'
Did Oscar Wilde himself have any connection to the Patience production?
Wilde was famously the target of the satire, but rather than being offended, he leaned into the publicity. He actually accepted an invitation to lecture in the United States in 1882, riding the wave of attention Patience had brought to aestheticism.
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