Review

"The Daily Telegraph", 1 June 1870, p. 5

On Thursday night an additional attraction was provided, under the familiar title of “The Gentleman in Black.” The musical legend, as the novelty is called, is also in two acts; but here we have Mr. W.S. Gilbert as author, linked with Mr. Frederic Clay as composer. The entertainment, though supplied with dialogue in prose, is essentially an extravaganza of the wildest description, albeit the aid of an orchestra considerably increased in number imparts to the production an operatic dignity. Indeed, it is sufficiently evident that the writer of the music, having had to work with performers who have not made singing a professional study, has taken unusual pains with the instrumentation on that account. The result is in every respect perfectly satisfactory; and the reputation Mr. Frederic Clay has obtained by the sparkling songs which fall so agreeably on the ear at the Gallery of Illustration during the performance of “Ages Ago” will be fully sustained by the continuous flow of melody pervading the succeeding “musical legend” of “The Gentleman in Black.” A fantastic notion, wrought out some thirty years ago in a story which appeared in “Blackwood’s Magazine,” under the title of “The Old Gentleman’s Teetotum,” may have suggested the idea of the slight plot; but Mr. Gilbert has amusingly supplemented the original conceit with an odd fancy from one of his own “Bab Ballads.” A certain diabolical personage, whose name is euphemistically conveyed in the title, transfers the soul of a wicked and turbulent German Baron into the body of a simple-minded peasant, whilst the Baron in like manner receives the soul of the rustic. The two personages preserve their outer forms, but exchange the moral attributes which had appertained to them. The agreement is to be in force for a month; but, owing to a decree of the Emperor that the new style should be adopted during the time, the term of the covenant is abridged eleven days, and in the interval the peasant has discovered that he has been changed at nurse with the Baron, so that the confusion becomes worse confounded. Ultimately the rustic is allowed to retain baronial dignity, with the advantage of the pretty village girl for his wife, whose beauty originally led the Baron to sign the compact, and the Baron, reduced to the humble lot of the peasant, is saddled with the obnoxious wife and five children he had hoped to evade by his change of condition. The audience appeared to highly enjoy the intentional incomprehensibility of the story, and seized every opportunity of encoring the tuneful songs and concerted pieces by which it was illustrated. Two ballads—“Am I to blame for that?” and “Once he loved me”—are excellent specimens of the composer’s fluent fancy, and, being rendered with much piquancy and delicacy of expression by Miss Emmeline Cole, as Bertha, were enthusiastically redemanded. A clever concerted piece, in which the Baron, humorously represented by Mr. E. Danvers, addresses the village girls in turn, shows some originality and much ingenuity. The accompaniments are, indeed, throughout most skillfully harmonised. Miss Fowler sustained with animation the part of the peasant, Hans Gopp, whose experience of metempsychosis is at least encouraging to a belief in the advantage of being content with one’s own body; and Mr. Flockton, as the “Gentleman in Black,” proved to be a faithful transmitter of the traditional Mephistophelian movements of hands and eyebrows. Mr. W. M. Terrott, as the wicked baron’s steward, is provided with a lively song, in which the cracking of a whip is effectively introduced; and Mr. F. Robson as a loquacious burgomaster, and Miss M. Dalton, Miss Rose Roberts, and Miss Helen Maxe, as the village coquettes and the obtrusive Baroness, agreeably shared the light burden of their respective vocal responsibilities. Mr. Frederic Clay was called forth to receive congratulations at the end of the first act, and was again complimented at the fall of the curtain, in company with his collaborateur, Mr. W.S. Gilbert. A success so fairly gained will, it is to be hoped, encourage the production of more musical pieces on the English stage equally as creditable to the composer, and as acceptable to the audience.

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