WELCOME (?) BACK TO "IOLANTHE" .

The recent production of Iolanthe by Cheam Operatic Society was notable for two items. One was a revival of "Fold your flapping Wings", the other a setting of the Sentry's second song. David Harding, the Society's Musical Director, is well qualified to work on G & S material. He has composed an operetta Rosebud's Ruse, based on the Gilbert play The Fairy's Dilemma with considerable use of Sullivan music, and, above all, of Sullivan's style. For a production of Utopia Ltd. he wrote an overture (one of several around) and a revised Act 2 finale, as well as lesser changes (see The G & S Journal, Spring 1973). It was no surprise, therefore, that his orchestration of Strephon's song was so well in character. As regards the song itself, Beatty-Kingston's well-known original assessment seems very fair: "It jars upon the ear and taste alike". This was not so much an indictment of the song itself as its appositeness in a comic opera, Gilbert's characters are superficial in that, with the obvious exception of Point, they are not given to examination of their more private thoughts and feelings. Gilbert set them in a framework which he knew that the theatre goers of his day could accept. No wonder poor Strephon lost his song. Mr. Gilbert had to safeguard his living. Willis's second song may have been Gilbert's original idea for the opening of Act 2, but in this production was used to get him off stage after the quartet, an equally likely possibility, as his present exit is a little muted. The setting of the song presented a different problem from that faced by Bartlett in his "reconstruction" of the Duke's song in Patience. No music has been proven to be associated with the words; David Harding chose the "orphan" tune from the Iolanthe Overture. It has been suggested [I think by John George originally. Ed.] that this is a fragment of a sketch for the De Belville song (which of course never materialized), but its martial character is more appropriate to Willis. The trouble with the tune is that it is too short, and it is fair to say that the song is short on melodic content. The orchestration is appropriate and quite interesting, but (in my opinion) the song can be faulted on two points. Firstly, it presents severe problems in breath control. The unlucky singer simply cannot cope with some parts of it. Secondly, it should be set down by a tone. There are far too many high Es for a bass-baritone. That said, one is grateful for a chance to hear it. The words are too funny to lose permanently. R.G.CRICK

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