The Beauty Stone
The medieval Faustian story concerns an ugly, crippled girl, who dreams of being beautiful and meeting a handsome prince.
It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 28 May 1898, closing on 16 July 1898 after a run of just 50 performances, making it the least successful of Sullivan's operas.
The cast of The Beauty Stone included Savoy regulars Walter Passmore, Rosina Brandram, Ruth Vincent, Emmie Owen and Henry Lytton, as well as opera singer Pauline Joran.
When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership collapsed after the production of The Gondoliers in 1889, their producer Richard D'Oyly Carte struggled to find successful new works to show at the Savoy Theatre.
With Sydney Grundy, Sullivan wrote the nostalgic and sentimental Haddon Hall (1892) then, reunited with W. S. Gilbert, he produced Utopia, Limited (1893).
J. Comyns Carr had earlier written the text for Henry Irving's grand production of the King Arthur legend, for which Sullivan had provided the incidental music score in 1895.
Sullivan had in the past considered the idea of an opera on the same subject and was pleased when Carr offered him a similarly romantic work with a medieval setting.
[3] The Beauty Stone was conceived as a musical drama different in style from the productions that had preceded it at the Savoy Theatre.
[3] In mid-December 1897, he wrote in his diary that his collaborators were difficult; when he asked for changes in the construction of the piece, they refused to make the alterations.
[3] Moreover, the Savoy was not the right place to produce such a drama, because its audience was used to seeing comic operas focused on wit, humour and Gilbertian satire.
To provide them with a mostly dark-toned romantic piece consisting of pseudo-medieval dialogue (and too much of it), lengthy grand-operatic musical numbers and a serious exploration of complex characters turned out to be a grave mistake.
[5] At the same time, competition from the new theatrical art form of George Edwardes-style musical comedy produced at other London theatres offered lighthearted entertainment choices to the Savoy audience, with catchy tunes, dancing and witty banter.
Pinero's book, though overly long, contains vivid characters with psychological depth that Sullivan was able to develop more fully than in his shorter comic operas.
The cast of The Beauty Stone included Savoy regulars Walter Passmore, Rosina Brandram, Ruth Vincent, Emmie Owen and Henry Lytton.
[1] "The Savoy is in the minds of the public so essentially identified with a light after-dinner entertainment that romantic opera is not to the taste of its patrons".
[10] Reviewers noted that the opera was "mounted with the artistic finish, completeness, and liberality customary at this popular theatre.
Sir Arthur has had to deal with a subject differing widely from those which, at the Savoy, his dainty and humorous muse is so thoroughly identified.
[3] In The Saturday Review, Max Beerbohm wrote, "Lyrics written by gentlemen who have had no experience in the difficult art of writing words for music, and sung in a theatre which one associates with Mr. W. S. Gilbert, are not likely to charm the most amenable audience."
"[7] Pinero commented, many years later: "I doubt whether any of us had much faith in The Beauty Stone, as likely to attract the Savoy public in large numbers, but we – Sullivan, Carr and I – did what we wanted to do; and, though it doesn't pay the butcher's bill, there lies the artist's reward.
"[12] Sullivan disagreed, hoping "that one day The Beauty Stone may be revived, with about half the libretto ruthlessly cut away".
They discovered, at the back of The Beauty Stone, the items that had been cut after opening night, which were completely unknown to that time.
Since then, these items have been performed in concert and included on the 2013 Chandos recording, although no full professional productions of the opera have been given since Carl Rosa's over a century ago.
He offers his sympathy, and says that he has an answer to her prayers in the form of a magical stone that confers perfect beauty to anyone who wears it.
She briefly recaptures his attention, but he transfers it immediately to Laine when she enters, now richly dressed in fine robes.
Scene 2 Back in the weaver's home, Joan and Simon have escaped the ruffians that chased them from Philip's castle.
Scene 3 In an open field near the Gate of Mirlemont, the Devil interrogates Jacqueline, whom he has directed to spy on Simon and Saida.
Scene 1 On a terrace in the castle, with the voice of Laine heard singing dolefully in the distance, Saida enters with Simon.
"Though heaven hath set a veil upon these eyes," he says, "love's one star ... Shows clear the way that leads me to thy heart."
Rory Macdonald conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC National Chorus of Wales, and principals include Elin Manahan Thomas (Laine), Toby Spence (Philip), Rebecca Evans (Saida), Alan Opie (The Devil), Stephen Gadd (Simon) and Richard Suart (Nicholas).
[21] A reviewer for MusicWeb International wrote: "This is subtle music that genuinely explores emotional depths and allows characters to develop.
