Ghost of Sunday Classics: Prince Hilarion's mission of the heart

"The world is but a broken toy": Disguised as students of the woman's college established by the Princess Ida, Florian (William Whitefield), Cyril (Patrick Hogan), and Prince Hilarion (Colm Fitzmaurice) meet Ida, Hilarion's betrothed (Kimilee Bryant), in the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' January 2008 Princess Ida.

by Ken

We've already dealt somewhat with the more martial aspects of Princess Ida, the mortal struggle between Kings Gama and Hildebrand -- the fathers of the bride and groom, respectively -- over the consummation of the union between Princess Ida and Prince Hilarion plighted when she was a 12-month-old and he was twice as old, he's told. The hitch, now that Ida is 21 and Hilarion 22, is that the princess has had quite her fill of men and has sequestered herself in Castle Adamant as the headmistress of a woman's college.

The arrangement ordered by King Hildebrand, you'll recall, is that Gama and Ida's "three hulking brothers" are to be held hostage (an exceedingly kindly and gracious hostagedom, as it turns out) while Hilarion avails himself of one opportunity to persuade his child bride to accept him. Naturally Hilarion chooses to have his childhood friends Cyril and Florian at his side, and one of the keys to the flood of amazing music Sullivan produced, especially in Act II, is this core trio he had at his disposal. As we've often remarked, something about the trio medium set his genius ablaze, and that extends to "expanded" trios -- trio-plus-one quartets (of which we'll hear an instance today) and trio-plus-two quintets (of which we'll hear an instance next week).

In last night's preview we made the acquaintance of the prince himself. Now without further ado, here is Hilarion announcing what we might call --

THE PLAN

I should probably say something about the performances, which span three-quarters of the century, dipping back into the acoustical era. You can follow individual performances throughout our excerpts, or listen to the very different treatments accorded individual numbers. There seems to me no question, though, that the strongest "Hilarion and Friends" trio, is that of the 1954 Decca recording -- with a just-right pair of tenors and a fine baritone. The 1965 Decca team (with the same baritone) holds its own, though.

Princess Ida: Act I, Recitative and Trio, "Come, Cyril, Florian" . . . "Expressive glances shall be our lances"

Recitative, Hilarion
Come, Cyril, Florian, our course is plain,
tomorrow morn fair Ida we’ll engage;
but we will use no force her love to gain,
nature has armed us for the war we wage!
Trio, Hilarion, Cyril, and Florian
HILARION: Expressive glances
shall be our lances,
and pops of Sillery
our light artillery.
We’ll storm their bowers
with scented showers
of fairest flowers
that we can buy!
CHORUS: Oh, dainty triolet!
Oh, fragrant violet
Oh, gentle heigho-let
(Or little sigh).
On sweet urbanity,
through mere inanity,
yo touch their vanity
we will rely!
CYRIL: When day is fading,
with serenading
and such frivolity
we’ll prove our quality.
A sweet profusion
of soft allusion
this bold intrusion
shall justify.
CHORUS: Oh, dainty triolet! etc.
FLORIAN: We’ll charm their senses
with verbal fences,
with ballads amatory
and declamatory.
Little heeding
their pretty pleading,
our love exceeding
we’ll justify!
CHORUS: Oh, dainty triolet! etc.

Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Leon Darnton (t), Cyril; Sydney Granville (b), Florian; Light Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Harry Norris, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 14, 1924

Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Charles Goulding (t), Cyril; George Baker (b), Florian; D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 27, 1932 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Thomas Round (t), Prince Hilarion; Leonard Osborn (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded cOct.-Dec. 1954 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Phiip Potter (t), Prince Hilarion; David Palmer (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. Decca, recorded May 1965

John Bernard (t), Prince Hilarion; Christopher Swanson (t), Cyril; Bradley Wilson (b), Florian; Ohio Light Opera Chorus and Orchestra, J. Lynn Thompson, cond. Newport Classic, recorded live at the 1999 Ohio Light Opera Festival


PENETRATING THE PERIMETER

In due course Hilarion and Friends make their way inside the castle grounds. As to Ida's college, you will always read about Princess Ida that it's a satire of Victorian notions of women's education blah-blah-blah. It always seems to me, though, as with observers who imagine that Mozart's Così fan tutte is making fun of the women, that if you have eyes and ears, and a brain, you can hardly fail to notice that the behavior of the men makes that of the women look like models of sense.

Princess Ida: Act II, Hilarion, Cyril, and Florian, "Gently, gently, evidently we are safe so far" . . . "They intend to send a wire to the moon"

Gardens in Castle Adamant. A river runs across the back of the stage, crossed by a rustic bridge. Castle Adamant in the distance. Enter HILARION, CYRIL, and FLORIAN, climbing over wall, and creeping cautiously among the trees and rocks at the back of the stage.

ALL: Gently, gently
evidently
we are safe so far,
after scaling
fence and paling,
here, at last, we are!
FLORIAN: In this college,
useful knowledge
everywhere one finds,
and already,
growing steady,
we’ve enlarged our minds
CYRIL:We learnt that prickly cactus
has power to attract us
when we fall.
HILARION and FLORIAN: When we fall!
HILARION: That nothing man unsettles
like a bed of stinging nettles,
short or tall.
CYRIL and FLORIAN: Short or tall!
FLORIAN: That bulldogs feed on throttles --
that we don’t like broken bottles
on a wall.
HILARION and CYRIL: On a wall!
HILARION: That spring-guns breathe defiance!
And that burglary's a science
after all!
CYRIL and FLORIAN: After all!
Recitative
FLORIAN: A Woman’s college! maddest folly going!
What can girls learn within its walls worth knowing?
I’ll lay a crown (the Princess shall decide it),
I’ll teach them twice as much in half-an-hour outside it.
HILARION: Hush, scoffer; ere you sound your puny thunder,
lst to their aims, and bow your head in wonder!
Trio
HILARION: They intend to send a wire
to the moon --
CYRIL and FLORIAN: To the moon.
HILARION: And they’ll set the Thames on fire
very soon –
CYRIL and FLORIAN: Very soon.
HILARION: Then they'll learn to make silk purses
with their rigs--–
CYRIL and FLORIAN: With their rigs.
HILARION: From the ears of Lady Circe’s
piggy-wigs --
CYRIL and FLORIAN: Piggy-wigs.
HILARION: And weasels at their slumbers
they trepan --
CYRIL and FLORIAN: They trepan.
HILARION: To get sunbeams from cucumbers
they've a plan --
CYRIL and FLORIAN: They’ve a plan.
HILARION: They’ve a firmly rooted notion
they can cross the Polar Ocean,
and they’ll find Perpetual Motion,
if they can --
ALL: If they can.
These are the phenomena
that ev’ry pretty domina
is hoping at her Universitee
we shall see!
CYRIL: As for fashion, they forswear it,
so they say --
HILARION and FLORIAN: So they say.
CYRIL: And the circle -- they will square it
some fine day --
HILARION and FLORIAN: Some fine day.
CYRIL: Then the little pigs they’re teaching
for to fly –
HILARION and FLORIAN: For to fly.
CYRIL: And the niggers they’ll be bleaching,
by and by --
HILARION and FLORIAN: By and by!
CYRIL: Each newly joined aspirant
To the clan --
HILARION and FLORIAN: To the clan.
CYRIL: Must repudiate the tyrant
known as Man --
HILARION and FLORIAN: Known as Man.
CYRIL: They’ll mock at him and flout him,
for they do not care about him
and they're "going to do without him"
if they can --
ALL: If they can!
These are the phenomena, etc.
In this college
useful knowledge
everywhere one finds,
and already,
growing steady,
we’ve enlarged our minds.

Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Leon Darnton (t), Cyril; Sydney Granville (b), Florian; Light Opera Orchestra, Harry Norris, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 13, 1924

Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Charles Goulding (t), Cyril; George Baker (b), Florian; D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 27, 1932 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Thomas Round (t), Prince Hilarion; Leonard Osborn (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded cOct.-Dec. 1954 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Phiip Potter (t), Prince Hilarion; David Palmer (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. Decca, recorded May 1965

John Bernard (t), Prince Hilarion; Christopher Swanson (t), Cyril; Bradley Wilson (b), Florian; Ohio Light Opera Orchestra, J. Lynn Thompson, cond. Newport Classic, recorded live at the 1999 Ohio Light Opera Festival


NEW IDENTITIES

Hilarion's troupe stumbles on a rack of robes of the kind worn by Ida's students, and pounce on the opportunity to disguise themselves as such.

Princess Ida: Act II, Hilarion, Cyril, and Florian, "I am a maiden cold and stately"

HILARION: I am a maiden, cold and stately,
heartless I, with face divine.
What do I want with a heart, innately?
Every heart I meet is mine!
ALL: Haughty, humble, coy, or free,
little care I what maid may be.
So that a maid is fair to see,
every maid is the maid for me!
[Dance.]
CYRIL: I am a maiden, frank and simple,
brimming with joyous roguery;
merriment lurks in every dimple;
nobody breaks more hearts than I!
ALL: Haughty, humble, coy, or free, etc.
FLORIAN: I am a maiden coyly blushing,
timid am I as a startled hind;
every suitor sets me flushing,
I am the maid that wins mankind!
ALL: Haughty, humble, coy, or free, etc.

Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Leon Darnton (t), Cyril; Sydney Granville (b), Florian; Light Opera Orchestra, George Byng, cond. EMI, recorded Feb. 3, 1925

Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Charles Goulding (t), Cyril; George Baker (b), Florian; D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 27, 1932 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Thomas Round (t), Prince Hilarion; Leonard Osborn (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded cOct.-Dec. 1954 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Phiip Potter (t), Prince Hilarion; David Palmer (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. Decca, recorded May 1965

John Bernard (t), Prince Hilarion; Christopher Swanson (t), Cyril; Bradley Wilson (b), Florian; Ohio Light Opera Orchestra, J. Lynn Thompson, cond. Newport Classic, recorded live at the 1999 Ohio Light Opera Festival


CONTACT WITH THE ENEMY

In time our heroes make contact with the grown-up Princess Ida herself, and attempt to persuade her to take them on as initiates. Naturally it's in their interest to agree with whatever their would-be patroness says.

Princess Ida: Act II, Quartet, Princess Ida, Hilarion, Cyril, and Florian, "The world is but a broken toy"

PRINCESS IDEA: The world is but a broken toy,
its pleasure hollow -- false its joy.
Unreal its loveliest hue, alas!
Its pains alone are true, alas!
Its pains alone are true.
HILARION: The world is ev'rything you say.
The world we think has had its day.
Its merriment is slow, alas!
We've tried it, and we know, alas!
We've tried it and we know.
ALL: Unreal its loveliest hue,
its pains alone are true --
PRINCESS IDA: Alas!
ALL: The world is but a broken toy,
its pleasure hollow — false its joy.
Unreal its loveliest hue, alas!
Its pains alone are true, alas!
Its pains alone are true.
FLORIAN: Unreal its loveliest hue.
HILARION, CYRIL, and FLORIAN: Unreal its loveliest hue.
ALL: Unreal its loveliest hue, alas!
Its pains alone are true, alas!
Its pains alone are true.

Winifred Lawson (s), Princess Ida; Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Leon Darnton (t), Cyril; Sydney Granville (b), Florian; Light Opera Orchestra, Harry Norris, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 13, 1924

Muriel Dickson (s), Princess Ida; Derek Oldham (t), Prince Hilarion; Charles Goulding (t), Cyril; George Baker (b), Florian; D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 27, 1932 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Victoria Sladen (s), Princess Ida; Thomas Round (t), Prince Hilarion; Leonard Osborn (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded cOct.-Dec. 1954 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

Ellizabeth Harwood (s), Princess Ida; Phiip Potter (t), Prince Hilarion; David Palmer (t), Cyril; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Florian; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. Decca, recorded May 1965

Julie Wright (s), Princess Ida; John Bernard (t), Prince Hilarion; Christopher Swanson (t), Cyril; Bradley Wilson (b), Florian; Ohio Light Opera Orchestra, J. Lynn Thompson, cond. Newport Classic, recorded live at the 1999 Ohio Light Opera Festival


AND THERE THE STORY RESTS FOR NOW

What further adventures lie in store for our trio of adventurers? Tune in next time.

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