The Standard Cantatas: Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers / A Handbook

by George P. Upton

SULLIVAN.

Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born in London, May 13, 1842. His father, a band-master and clarinet-player of distinction, intrusted his musical education at first to the Rev. Thomas Hilmore, master of the children of the Chapel Royal. He entered the chapel in 1854 and remained there three years, and also studied in the Royal Academy of Music under Goss and Sterndale Bennett, during this period, leaving the latter institution in 1858, in which year he went to Leipsic. He remained in the Conservatory there until 1861, when he returned to London and introduced himself to its musical public, with his music to Shakspeare’s “Tempest,” which made a great success. The enthusiasm with which this was received, and the favors he gained at the hands of Chorley, at that time musical critic of the “Athenæum,” gave him a secure footing. The cantata “Kenilworth,” written for the Birmingham Festival, the music to the ballet “L’Île enchantée,” and an opera, “The Sapphire Necklace,” were produced in 1864. In 1866 appeared his first symphony and an overture, “In Memoriam,” a tribute to his father, who died that year. The next year his overture “Marmion” was first performed. In 1869 he wrote his first oratorio, “The Prodigal son,” in 1873 “The Light of the World,” and in 1880 “The Martyr of Antioch;” the first for the Worcester, the second for the Birmingham, and the third for the Leeds festival. The beautiful “Overture di Ballo,” so frequently played in this country by the Thomas orchestra, was written for Birmingham in 1870, and the next year appeared his brilliant little cantata, “On shore and Sea.” On the 11th of May, 1867, was first heard in public his comic operetta, “Cox and Box.” It was the first in that series of extraordinary successes, really dating from “The Sorcerer,” which are almost without parallel in the operatic world, and which have made his name, and that of his collaborator, Gilbert, household words. He has done much for sacred as well as secular music. In addition to his oratorios he has written numerous anthems, forty-seven hymn tunes, two Te Deums, several carols, part-songs, and choruses, and in 1872 edited the collection of “Church Hymns with Tunes” for the Christian Knowledge Society. His latest works are the opera “Ruddygore” and the cantata “The Golden Legend,” both written in 1886. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Cambridge in 1876, and from Oxford in 1879, and in 1883 was knighted by the Queen.

On Shore and Sea.

The cantata “On Shore and Sea” was written for the London International Exhibition of 1871. The solo parts are allotted to La Sposina, a Riviera woman, and Il Marinajo, a Genoese sailor. The action passes in the sixteenth century, at a port of the Riviera and on board of a Genoese and Moorish galley at sea. The cantata opens with a joyous sailors’ chorus and the lament of the mothers and wives as the seamen weigh anchor and set sail. The scene then changes to the sea. On board one of the galleys, in the midnight watch, the Marinajo invokes the protection of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, for the loved one left behind. The scene next changes to the return of the fleet, triumphant in its encounters with the Moorish vessels. The women throng to the shore, headed by La Sposina, to welcome the sailors back, but the galley on board which her lover served is missing. It has been captured by the Moors, and in a pathetic song she gives expression to her sorrow. In the next scene we find him toiling at the oar at the bidding of his Moorish masters. While they are revelling he plans a rising among his fellow-captives which is successful. They seize the galley and steer back to the Riviera, entering port amid choruses of rejoicing. The cantata is full of charming melodies, the instrumentation is Oriental in color, and the choruses, particularly the closing ones, are very stirring.

The Golden Legend.

“The Golden Legend” was first produced at the Leeds Musical Festival, Oct. 16, 1886. The story of the legend has already been told in the description of Mr. Buck’s cantata by the same name, which took the Cincinnati Festival prize in 1880. The adaptation of Mr. Longfellow’s poem for the Sullivan cantata was made by Joseph Bennett, who while omitting its mystical parts, except the prologue, has confined himself to the story of Prince Henry and Elsie. All the principal scenes, though sometimes rearranged to suit the musical demands of the composer, have been retained, so that the unity of the legend is preserved.

The prologue, representing the effort of Lucifer and the spirits of the air to tear down the cathedral cross, is used without change. The part of Lucifer is assigned to the barytone voice, the spirits of the air to the sopranos and altos, and the bells to the tenors and basses, the whole closing with the Gregorian Chant. The orchestral accompaniment is very realistic, particularly in the storm music and in the final number, where the organ adds its voice to the imposing harmony. The first scene opens with the soliloquy of Prince Henry in his chamber (“I cannot sleep”), followed by a dramatic duet with Lucifer, describing the temptation, and closes with a second solo by the Prince, accompanied by a warning chorus of angels. The second scene opens before the cottage of Ursula at evening, with a short alto recitative (“Slowly, slowly up the Wall”) with pastoral accompaniment, followed by a very effective choral hymn (“O Gladsome Light”) sung by the villagers ere they depart for their homes, the Prince’s voice joining in the Amen. The remainder of the scene includes a dialogue between Elsie and her mother, in which the maid expresses her determination to die for the Prince, and a beautiful prayer (“My Redeemer and my Lord”) in which she pleads for strength to carry out her resolution, closing with her noble offer to the Prince, which he accepts, the angels responding Amen to the blessing he asks for her.

The third scene opens with Elsie, the Prince, and their attendants on the road to Salerno where the cure is to be effected by her sacrifice. They fall in with a band of pilgrims, among whom is Lucifer in the disguise of a monk. The two bands part company, and as night comes on the Prince’s attendants encamp near the sea. The continuity of the narrative is varied by a simple, graceful duet for the Prince and Elsie (“Sweet is the Air with budding Haws”); the Gregorian music of the pilgrims in the distance (“Cujus clavis lingua Petri”); the mocking characteristic song of Lucifer (“Here am I too in the pious Band”), interwoven with the chant; the song of greeting to the sea by the Prince (“It is the Sea”); and a very effective solo for Elsie (“The Night is calm and cloudless”), which is repeated by full chorus with soprano obligato dwelling upon the words “Christe Eleison.” The fourth scene opens in the Medical School at Salerno, and discloses Lucifer disguised as the physician Friar Angelo, who receives Elsie and takes her into an inner apartment, notwithstanding the protests of the Prince, who suddenly resolves to save her, and finally effects her rescue. The music to this scene is very dramatic, and it also contains a short but striking unaccompanied chorus (“O Pure in Heart”).

The fifth scene is short. It passes at the door of Ursula’s cottage, where a forester brings the mother the news of Elsie’s safety and of the Prince’s miraculous cure. The dialogue is followed by a prayer of thanksgiving (“Virgin, who lovest the Poor and Lowly”). The last scene opens on the terrace of the castle of Vautsberg. It is the evening of the wedding day, and amid the sound of bells heard in the distance the Prince relates to Elsie the story of Charlemagne and Fastrada, at the close of which the happy pair join in an exultant duet. The cantata ends with a choral epilogue, worked up to a fine fugal climax in which Elsie’s “deed divine” is compared to the mountain brook flowing down from “the cool hills” to bless “the broad and arid plain.”