VIII.
BURLESQUE OF OPERA.
We have already seen that, in burlesquing mythology, faerie, andother matters, our comic playwrights have not been able to resist thetemptation to introduce occasional travesties of things operatic.Opera, indeed, has always had a magnetic power over them. They havebeen unable to maintain their gravity in presence of the singularitieswhich distinguish opera, even in its most modern guise, from the morenatural and realistic drama. Operatic conditions demand, of necessity,certain stereotyped regulations, especially of stage management, whichdetract from probability and excite derision. Especially is this soin the case of the older school of Opera, and notably in that of theItalian school, whose products were largely on the same simple andingenuous model--a model on which the travestie writers were able toconstruct some genuinely entertaining imitations.
Beginning, then, with the Italian school, we note that Donizetti hasbeen particularly favoured by the parodists. His "Lucrezia Borgia,""Linda di Chamouni," "Elisir d' Amore," and "Fille du Regiment" haveall had to submit to deliberate perversion. Of "Lucrezia" there havebeen three notable burlesques--one by Leicester Buckingham, at the St.James's, in 1860; another by Sydney French, at the Marylebone, in 1867;and the third by H. J. Byron, at the Holborn, in 1868. Buckingham's wasentitled "Lucrezia Borgia! at Home, and all Abroad," and had CharlesYoung for the exponent of the title character. Miss Wyndham was JohnnyRaw ("known as Gennaro, through the defective pronunciation of hisItalian friends--a British shopkeeper, who has left for awhile thecountertenor of his way, and is travelling on the Continent for hispleasure"). Miss Cecilia Ranoe was Alfonso, and a small part was playedby Miss Nellie Moore. Lucrezia figures in this piece as a dabbler inmonetary speculations, the failure of which gives opportunity for aspeech parodying some Shakespearean lines with more freshness than suchthings usually possess:--
Oh! that dishonoured notes of hand would melt, Thaw, and dissolve themselves when overdue, And never leave the holder time to sue; Or that in pickle no such sharp rod lay As the unpleasant writ called a _ca sa_! How weary, flat, unprofitable, stale, To kick one's heels inside a debtor's gaol! Fie on't! 'Tis an unweeded garden clearly; Blackguards and seedy swells possess it merely. That it should come to this! At two months' date!-- No, not two months; six weeks is less than eight. So excellent a bill! The blow will floor me! Is this a bailiff that I see before me, A capias in his hand? Come, let me dodge thee; Or in a sponging-house I know thou'lt lodge me. I've turned my back, and yet I see thee still! Canst thou then be two gentlemen at will? Or art thou but a grim dissolving view-- A phantom officer--in short, a _do_? I see thee yet--so palpable in form, My prospects seem uncomfortably warm. Thou marshall'st me to Whitecross Street, I see, Clutching protested bills endorsed by me; Indictments, too, for fraud and false pretences! Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, Or else I'm tight! I see thee still, my man; And by thy side appears the prison van, Which was not so before. There's no such thing!
In the course of the piece, Johnny Raw is poisoned by Alfonso withpublican's port, and afterwards Lucrezia seeks to destroy Orsini andhis companion with London milk. Byron's burlesque on the subject wascalled "Lucrezia Borgia, M.D."
"Linda di Chamouni" exercised the wit both of Mr. Conway Edwardes andof Mr. Alfred Thompson. The former writer's "Linda di Chamouni, or theBlighted Flower," was played at Bath in 1869; the latter's work waspresented, later in the same year, at the Gaiety. In Mr. Edwardes'book one is most struck by the multiplicity and occasional felicity ofthe "word-plays." Here, for instance, is what Pierotto says when he isasked to take a cup of wine:--
Well, if you ask me _what_ I'll take, I think Tea I prefer 'bove every other drink. For when I'm teazed, vex'd, worried beyond measure, A _cup_ of tea's to me a _source o'_ pleasure. Whene'er I play, the game is _tea_-to-tum; My fav'rite instrument's a "kettledrum." I've faith, when suff'ring ills heir to humanity, _In senna tea_ that you may say's _insanitee_. And also p'rhaps a little odd 'twill seem here, That I prefer the scenery of _Bohea_-mia. And if I were engaged in deadly strife, I'd stab my en'my with a _Bohea_ knife.
Two of Donizetti's operas--"L'Elisir d'Amore" and "La Fille duRegiment"--were travestied by Mr. W. S. Gilbert; the former under thetitle of "Doctor Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack,"the latter under that of "La Vivandiere, or True to the Corps." "DoctorDulcamara" was played at the St. James's, with Frank Matthews in thetitle-part. "La Vivandiere" (1868) was written for the Queen's Theatre,where it employed the talents of Miss Henrietta Hodson, Mr. Toole, Mr.Lionel Brough, Miss Everard (the original Little Buttercup), and MissFanny Addison.
Of Verdi's operas two have been singled out for special attention--"IlTrovatore" and "Ernani." The first of these suggested H. J. Byron's"Ill-Treated Trovatore," seen at the Adelphi in 1863, and anotherversion by the same hand, played at the Olympic seventeen years after.Byron also wrote a travestie of "Ernani," which he called "HandsomeHernani" (Gaiety, 1879); but in this he had been anticipated by WilliamBrough, whose work was seen at the Alexandra Theatre in 1865.
Three travesties have been founded on the "La Sonnambula" of Bellini.The first, which was played at the Victoria Theatre in 1835, wasfrom the pen of Gilbert Abbott a'Beckett, and entitled "The RoofScrambler"--a title explained in lines spoken by Rudolpho andSwelvino:--
_Rud._ I tell you, there are beings in their dreams Who scramble 'pon the house-tops.
_Swel._ So it seems.
_Rud._ Roof-scramblers they are called; for on the roofs They walk at night--Molly is one.
Molly is the name here given to Amina; Swelvino, of course, is Elvino.He is a sexton, and has plighted his troth to Lizzy; but before thepiece opens, he has transferred his affections to Molly Brown, acharity girl--"a Greasy Roamer over the tops of houses." Swelvinoand Molly are about to be married, when there arrives at the villageRodolpho, the new Inspector of Police, who introduces himself asfollows:--
Ah, here I am again!--I know this scene, In which, when I was young, so oft I've been. I recognise each spot I see around, The stocks know me, and well I know the pound! The sight of these my eyes with tears is filling: I knew that pound when I had not a shilling!
Molly, walking in her sleep, enters Rodolpho's apartment, and is foundthere by Swelvino, but is vindicated, like her prototype in the opera,by being subsequently discovered in a somnambulant condition. The storyof "La Sonnambula" is, in fact, followed closely, but caricaturedthroughout. W. Rogers, who was the Swelvino, and Mitchell, who was theMolly, appear to have been highly successful in exciting the hilarityof their audiences. The latter portrayed the heroine as "a waddling,thick-set, red-and-ruddy, blowzy-faced goblin, with turn-up nose andcarroty hair, wrapt in a pea-soup or camomile-tea-coloured negligee,and carrying," in the sleep-walking scene, "a farthing rushlight in oneof Day & Martin's empty blacking-bottles." Of Swelvino's appearance wemay judge from a remark made by Molly to her lover:--
I, by looking in your face, can tell What are your feelings excellently well. Oh, yes! the fulness of that ruby nose Your love for me doth passing well disclose; Your agitated whisker shows full well What throbs of passion underneath it dwell!
The two other skits upon the opera were the work of H. J. Byron, whoproduced the first at the Prince of Wales's in 1865, under the title of"La! Sonnambula! or the Supper, the Sleeper, and the Merry Swiss Boy;being a passage in the life of a famous 'Woman in White': a passageleading to a tip-top story." Miss Marie Wilton was the Merry Swiss Boy(Alessio); Miss Fanny Josephs was Elvino; Mr. Dewar, Rodolpho; "Johnny"Clarke, Amina; Miss Bella Goodall, Lisa; Mr. Harry Cox undertaking the_role_ of "a virtuous peasant (by the kind permission of the LegitimateDrama)." This was Miss Wilton's first production at the Prince ofWales's, and it was a great success. In 1878 Byron brought out atthe Gaiety a piece which he called "Il Sonnambulo, or Lively LittleAlessio." In this
he introduced several variations on the operaticstory; making the Count (Edward Terry) the somnambulist, insteadof Amina--in burlesque of Mr. Henry Neville's sleep-walking scenein Wilkie Collins's "Moonstone." Miss Farren was the lively littleAlessio, and Mr. Royce the "local tenor," Elvino.
Of Bellini's "Norma" the first burlesque produced was that which W. H.Oxberry, the comedian, contributed to the Haymarket in 1841. In thisthe title-part was played by Paul Bedford, with Wright as Adalgisa andMrs. H. P. Grattan as Pollio. The piece had no literary pretensions,and it would be unfair to compare it, in that or any other respect,with "The Pretty Druidess, or the Mother, the Maid, and the MistletoeBough," which Mr. W. S. Gilbert wrote for the Charing Cross Theatre(now Toole's) just twenty-eight years later. This was one of the bestof Mr. Gilbert's operatic travesties, the dialogue being characterisedby especial point and neatness. Here, for example, is the advice givenby Norma (Miss Hughes) to the ladies presiding over the stalls at afancy fair. Hamlet's address to the players is very happily suggested:--
With pretty speech accost both old and young, And speak it trippingly upon the tongue; But if you mouth it with a hoyden laugh, With clumsy ogling and uncomely chaff-- As I have oft seen done at fancy fairs, I had as lief a huckster sold my wares. Avoid all so-called beautifying, dear. Oh! it offends me to the soul to hear The things that men among themselves will say Of some _soi-disant_ "beauty of the day," Whose face, when with cosmetics she has cloyed it, Out-Rachels Rachel!--pray you, girls, avoid it. Neither be ye too tame--but, ere you go, Provide yourselves with sprigs of mistletoe; Offer them coyly to the Roman herd-- But don't you "suit the action to the word," For in the very torrent of your passion Remember modesty is still in fashion. Oh, there be ladies whom I've seen hold stalls-- Ladies of rank, my dear--to whom befalls Neither the accent nor the gait of ladies; So clumsily made up with Bloom of Cadiz, Powder-rouge--lip-salve--that I've fancied then They were the work of Nature's journeymen.
The "Gazza Ladra" of Rossini lives on the burlesque stage in thecounterfeit presentment furnished by Byron's "Maid and the Magpie, orthe Fatal Spoon." This was one of the writer's greatest triumphs in thefield of travestie. Produced at the Strand in 1854, with Miss Oliveras Ninette, Miss Marie Wilton as Pippo, Bland as Fernando, and Clarkeas Isaac (the old-clothes man), it at once hit the public taste, as itwell deserved to do, for it is full of clever writing and ingeniousincidents. The best scene of all, perhaps, is that in which thebroken-down Fernando reveals himself to Ninette--a happy satire upon afamiliar melodramatic situation:--
_Ninette_ (_entering_). A stranger here!
_Fernan._ How beautiful she's grown! I say, my dear! (_she starts_) Start not--ha, ha!--do I alarm you?
_Ninette_ (_uneasily_). Rather!
_Fernan_ (_hesitatingly_). Why, miss, you see--the fact is--I'm your father!
_Ninette._ Impossible! I never had one!
_Fernan._ Law!
_Ninette._ That is--I had none that I ever saw.
_Fernan._ Oh, why in battle did no friendly blow Finish her luckless parent long ago? (_in choked accents_) Doth not the voice of nature seem quite clear--eh?
_Ninette._ The voice of nature seems a little beery.
_Fernan_ (_seizing her arm--music piano_). Look at me well!
(_Ninette appears gradually to recognise him._)
_Ninette._ Upon a close inspection, I seem to have a dreamy recollection Of having seen those eyes of yours somewhere, Also that most extensive head of hair; The accents of the voice, too, now I think, Seem broken by emotion, not by drink; Yes, it's all coming back to me, of course.
_Fernan._ Remember, dear, I bought you once a horse, A wooden toy--remember, you had lots-- It ran on wheels--all mane and tail and spots-- Also a dog, a little dog, I vow, Which, when you squeezed it, used to go Bow-wow! Likewise a spade, which, on your nurse's head You broke, and got well spanked and sent to bed----
_Ninette_ (_wildly_). A flood of memory rushes through my brain!
_Fernan_ (_excitedly_). Ninette, my daughter, look at me again.
_Ninette_ (_seizing his nose_). Yes, yes, that nose decides me--yes--you are--
_Fernan._ At last--at last! he--he! she _knows_ her pa!
In a mock love-scene with Ninette, Gianetto (Miss Ternan) draws thefollowing comic picture:--
Fancy a bower with rose and jasmine graced, Such as we see in small tea-gardens placed; Where friendly spiders and black-beetles drop On to your bread and butter with a flop; Where mouldy seats stain sarsnet, satin, silk, And suicidal flies fall in the milk; Where we can scorn the heartless world's attack, Though daddy-longlegs may creep down your back; Smile at society's contemptuous sneer, Though caterpillars tumble in your beer; Where chimneys never smoke, and soot don't fall, Where income-tax collectors never call, Where one's wife's mother never even once Visits her darling daughter for six months; Where bills, balls, banks, and bonnets are not known-- Come, dwell with me, my beautiful--my own.
Turning to the burlesques of opera of the German school, we begin,naturally, with Mozart, whose "Don Giovanni" found humorous reflectionin two pieces, by H. J. Byron and Mr. Reece. The former's "Little DonGiovanni"[45] belongs to 1865, when it was performed at the Princeof Wales's, with Miss Wilton (Mrs. Bancroft) as the hero, Clarke asLeporello, Miss Fanny Josephs as Masetto, Mr. Hare as Zerlina (probablyhis only appearance on the stage in petticoats), Miss Sophie Larkinas Elvira, and Miss Hughes as Donna Anna. Don Giovanni was the lastburlesque part written by Byron for Miss Wilton, and, moreover, it wasthe last burlesque part she ever played. She records in her Memoirsthat an amusing feature of the piece was the spectacle presented inthe last act by the Commandant's horse, which, in allusion to a recentfreak in Leicester Square, had been covered with a variety of spots,and "looked like an exaggerated Lowther Arcade toy." Mr. Reece'sburlesque was called "Don Giovanni in Venice," and came out at theGaiety in 1873.
[45] Byron's "Don Juan," brought out at the Alhambra in 1873, was about equally indebted for its plot to the libretto of Mozart's opera and to Lord Byron's poem.
In 1842 Macready revived at Drury Lane Handel's delightful "Acis andGalatea," and the opera was promptly caricatured by W. H. Oxberry in apiece produced three days afterwards at the Adelphi. The travestie of"Acis and Galatea" which was seen at the Olympic in 1863 was from thepen of Mr. Burnand. Its full title was "Acis and Galatea, or the NimbleNymph and the Terrible Troglodyte"; and the Nimble Nymph (describedas "a Nymph of the Sea, who also visits the land--a nymphibious younglady") was played by Miss Hughes. The puns were prolific, and so werethe parodies, the best of which are written in caricature of the absurdEnglish translations in the operatic "books of the play." Here, forexample, is a setting of the trio in "Trovatore"--"Il tuo sangue":--
_Polyphemus._ With you, oh, sanguine, I'd share your 'art, oh! 'Twould be a stinger, ho! if no go. (_As to her_) Dear! (_as to himself_) Oh, folly! be calm, oh! I'm misty!
(_Holding his hands over his bursting heart--operatically singing_).
Eh, pooh, we've here a lump, oh! (_alluding to his heart_). No, eh, pooh, we've 'ere a Lump, oh no. Ah! de gal, oh, so de gal, oh, so coy, press 'art to (_enraptured_) And it may then end in no go! (_with a tinge of sadness_). And it may then end in no go! I'm a gent, oh, over-misty (_with his hand to his heart_), Cease of her to be fond, ah, no! No! fond! ah! no! Ah! etc.
_Phyllis._ {Come, ah! come, will you o-ver-awe, eh? (_fiercely_). _Galatea._ {Come, ah! come, will you o-ver-awe me? (_distractedly_).
_Phyllis._ {You'll ar-ray, ah! wi' Pol trudge, oh![46] (_fiercely_). _Galatea._ {You'll ar-ray, ah! wi' Pol trudge, oh! (_distractedly
_).
_Phyllis._ {Veep! ye'll ne'er go to rest o' shore, eh! (_fiercely_). _Galatea._ {Veep! we'll ne'er go to rest o' shore, eh? (_distractedly_).
_Phyllis._ {Gay! tomb! ah! one full! no beau! (_wildly and demoniacally_). _Galatea._ {Gay! tomb! ah! one full! no beau! (_wildly and distractedly_).
[46] This, says Mr. Burnand in a note, is the poetic for "You'll get on your bonnet and accompany Polyphemus."
Six years after the production of Mr. Burnand's piece, Mr. T. F.Plowman brought out at Oxford "a piece of extravagance," to which hegave the name of "A Very New Edition of Acis and Galatea, or the Beau!the Belle! and the Blacksmith!"
Of Meyerbeer's operas three have been burlesqued in England--"Dinorah,""L'Africaine" and "Robert le Diable." The first of these was parodiedin "Dinorah under Difficulties," a burlesque by William Brough, whichdates back as far as 1859 (at the Adelphi). "L'Africaine" was handledby Mr. Burnand six years later at the Strand. Three years more, and"Robert le Diable" was being travestied at the Gaiety by Mr. Gilbert,under the title of "Robert the Devil, or the Nun, the Dun, and the Sunof a Gun."[47] This last is on the old lines of "palmy-day" burlesque,and has not much in it that is characteristically Gilbertian. Thelyrics are written chiefly to operatic airs, and there is no room,therefore, for rhythmical invention. In the dialogue, however, onecomes across an occasional passage which strikes one as quiteGilbertian in its cynicism. Take, for example, these lines from thescene in which fun is made of the Tussaud "Chamber of Horrors":--
[47] In this Miss Farren, as Robert, was supported by Miss Constance Loseby as Raimbault, Miss Emily Fowler as Alice, Miss Annie Tremaine as Prince of Granada, and Joseph Eldred as Gobetto.
_Bertram._ These are all statues, raised from time to time To people who're remarkable for crime.
_Robert._ But if their wicked deeds could so unnerve one, Why give them statues?
_Bert._ 'Cause they don't deserve one. That's our strict rule--a rule we never garble-- Good deeds we write in sand, bad deeds in marble.
Some of the puns in the piece are worth recording. Thus, Alice says ofa porter, to whom half a crown has been given:--
He'll spend it all upon his favourite wets-- He tipsy gets with all the _tips he gets_.
Again, Gobetto says of Robert:--
He's smoking to a pretty tune, I'll bet, oh!
_Prince._ That pretty tune must be "Il Cigaretto."
Gobetto says to Robert:--
We saw you through the window, pouring fizz in!
_Robert._ I liked the wines, but didn't like the _quizzin_.
Again:--
_Alice._ Why, Robert, how you've changed in speech and tone! Your forehead, once so smooth, now bears a frown on it; As for your mouth, 'tis evident you're down in it!
_Robert._ Yes, though I'm young, it's plain to all who con it, Down _in_ the mouth before I've down _upon_ it!
Weber's "Der Freischutz" has been travestied both by Mr. Burnand andby H. J. Byron, both productions taking place in 1866, within two daysof each other--the one at the Strand, and the other at the Princeof Wales's. Mr. Reece is responsible for a burlesque of Flotow's"Martha," performed at the Gaiety in 1873, with Miss Constance Loseby,Miss Rachel Sanger, Mr. Lionel Brough, and Mr. Aynsley Cook in theleading parts.
Wagnerian "music-drama" has more than once been desecrated on theburlesque stage. First of all there came, at the Royalty in 1869, the"Flying Dutchman" of William Brough; then Messrs. Green and Swanboroughbrought out at the Strand, in 1876, "The Flying Dutchman" (with M.Marius and Miss Lottie Venne); and the "Little Lohengrin" of Mr. Bowyersaw the light in 1884 at the Holborn Theatre.
So much for the German school. Of the French composers, Auber has hadmore pieces travestied in this country than has any one of his fellows.There is "Masaniello," for instance, and "Fra Diavolo," and "LesDiamans de la Couronne." "Masaniello, or the Fish 'oman of Naples," wasthe title given by Robert B. Brough to the "fish tale, in one act,"which he wrote for the Olympic in 1857. He had, for the impersonator ofhis hero, Robson, whose presence in the cast suggested to Mrs. Wiganthe addition to the mad scene of sundry indications of the actor'sformer successes at the Olympic. The result was very successful.Masaniello came on, crying--
My lord, the Earl of Hammersmith is taken! Stop! That's in _Hamlet_! I'm Masaniello! To be or not to was--that's in _Othello_, Translated into Irish--for Ristori. Pop goes the Weasel--that's from _Trovatore_.
He then breaks off into a portion of the dagger dance from "MacbethTravestie," following this up with a scrap from Italian opera and partof the hornpipe in "The Yellow Dwarf." Then Borella says:--
You are our chief! Do you not know me, sir?
_Mas._ Excellent well! You are a fishmonger! And I'm your chieftain.
_Pietro._ Are you not, my lad?
_Mas._ Ay, every inch a King-fisher--not bad! (_chuckles_). The monarch of the deep--my lord of scales; Here's a discovery--I'm Prince of Whales!... Think not to pierce this hide of Indian rubber (_weeps_). A whale! Oh yes! A whale of tears! All blubber!
_Suzanna._ Oh! this side-piercing sight!
_Mas._ I'm very limp-- And small--and flabby! Hang it! I'm a shrimp!
Then followed a song, in parody of "I'm Afloat":--
I'm a shrimp! I'm a shrimp, of diminutive size: Inspect my antennae, and look at my eyes; I'm a natural syphon, when dipped in a cup, For I drain the contents to the latest drop up. I care not for craw-fish, I heed not the prawn, From a flavour especial my fame has been drawn; Nor e'en to the crab or the lobster I'll yield, When I'm properly cook'd and efficiently peel'd. Quick! quick! pile your coals--let your saucepan be deep! For the weather is warm, and I'm not sure to keep; Off, off with my head--split my shell into three-- I'm a shrimp! I'm a shrimp--to be eaten with tea.
After this, Robson was wont to introduce a bit of "business" from "TheDiscreet Princess," ending with a ditty from the "Medea" burlesque.The travestie of the pantomime-action of the dumb girl Fenella wasnaturally another feature of Brough's work, which had the usual supplyof puns, and, altogether, more than the usual amount of literary anddramatic merit. The little travestie, called "Masse-en-Yell-Oh,"written by Messrs. Harry Paulton and Mostyn Tedde for the Comedy in1886, was an unpretending piece of work, not challenging comparisonwith its predecessor.
Auber's "Fra Diavolo" was another of the operatic originals on whichH. J. Byron based his comic fancies. He wrote, to begin with, "FraDiavolo, or the Beauty and the Brigands," first seen at the Strand in1858; and then, twenty years after, "Young Fra Diavolo," which made itsappearance at the Gaiety. "Les Diamans de la Couronne" fell to the lotof Mr. Reece, who, in 1875, prepared for the Holborn Theatre the pieceentitled "The Half-crown Diamonds," a revised edition of which foundits way to the stage of the Imperial Theatre just five years later.
Herold's "Zampa" was burlesqued by Mr. T. F. Plowman at the Court in1872, and by Mr. J. McArdle for the provincial stage in 1876. The"Mignon" of M. Thomas has also been transmogrified into the "MerryMignon" of Mr. Wilton Jones (1882). The "Carmen" of Georges Bizet hashad its mirthful side portrayed in no fewer than four comic pieces--the"Carmen, or Sold for a Song" of Mr. Reece (Folly, 1879); the "CruelCarmen" of Mr. Wilton Jones (1880); the "Little Carmen" of Mr. AlfredMurray (Globe, 1884); and the "Carmen Up to Data" of Messrs. Sims andPettitt (Gaiety, 1890). The Carmen of the first of these productionswas Miss Lydia Thompson,--of the last, Miss Florence St. John, acharming vocalist, gifted with the true _vis comica_.
But the most popular, by a long way, of all French operas, for purposesof burlesque, has been the "Faust" of Gounod. Of the many travestiesof this, or of the story embodied in it, the earliest was that ofHalford, brought out at the Olympic in 1854. This was followed in1857 by a piece called "Alonzo the Brave," written by Mr. Burnand forperformance by University amateurs at Cambridge, and
mingling the storyof Alonzo, as told in the ballad, with that of Faust, in a fashioneffective, if a little puzzling. In this piece of extravagance (inwhich, by the way, Mr. Burnand played Mephistopheles), Imogene is theheroine, taking the place of Marguerite in the affections of Faust.For a while, in the absence of Alonzo, she yields to the snares of thetempter; but, in the end, her first sweetheart appears to her as hisown ghost, her inconstancy is forgiven, and Faust retires from thescene.
Seven years later Mr. Burnand wrote a burlesque called "Faust andMarguerite" for the St. James's. He had Ashley for his Faust, CharlesMathews and Mrs. Charles Mathews for his Mephistopheles and Marguerite,H. J. Montague for his Valentine, and "Johnny" Clarke for his Martha.In this instance he followed the story of the opera pretty closely tillnear the end, when Faust was sued for breach of promise of marriage,and escaped the clutches of Mephistopheles only by consenting to pairoff with Martha! A visit to a music-hall formed part of the action, andgave occasion for some pointed lines. Said Faust:--
I'm saddened by your modern comic singing;
and Mephistopheles went on to describe the scene:--
There sat the draper's clerk, who wildly loves The tenth-rate _prima donna_ in cleaned gloves; The would-be swell, who thinks it mighty grand To shake the comic singer by the hand; Who pays for his amusement through the nose, And stands not on the order of his "goes." He thinks the dark girls dressed in blue first-raters, And is familiar with the seedy waiters; He sips his sling or takes some sort of toddy, And encores everything and everybody.
Marguerite says at one point--
That _circled orb_, you think, 's the moon; it ain't: We know 'tis but a _circle daub_ of paint.
And she remarks elsewhere that
The minnow is the _minnow_-mum of fishes.
Faust says, in one place--
Our _prima donna_, sir, has gone, I guess, To make herself _primmer_ and to _don her_ dress.
There is a diverting parody on "My Mother":--
Who guided you o'er lake and fell, Who told you all there was to tell, Ne'er missed a place, but showed it well?
Your Murray!
In 1869 Mr. Burnand was to the fore again with "Very Little Faustand More Marguerite," which was played at the Charing Cross Theatre(as the building was then called). A few years later--in 1877--H. J.Byron entered the field with "Little Doctor Faust," in which he hadfor interpreters the Gaiety artists, headed by Miss Farren and Mr.Edward Terry. Later still--in 1885--came a provincial writer with"Faust in Forty Minutes." In 1886 we had at the Royalty a piece called"Mephisto," of which the only characteristic feature was an imitationof Mr. Irving by Mr. E. J. Henley, clever in its way, but not to becompared for sustained truthfulness to the performance given by Mr.H. E. Dixey in "Adonis" (at the Gaiety) a week or two previously.In 1886, also, Mr. Burnand brought out at Toole's--with Mr. Toole asMephistopheles (_a la_ Irving)--"Faust and Loose"; and, two yearsafter, we had at the Gaiety the "Faust up to Date" of Messrs. G. R.Sims and Henry Pettitt, of which more hereafter. A notable fact about"Faust and Loose" is the appearance on the stage, for the first time,of Marguerite's mother--a lady unaccountably neglected by all previouswriters, serious or otherwise! In the burlesque she thus introducesherself:--
My name it is---- Really, I can't state it clearly; But I'll observe, merely, That I'm not to blame. To save further bother, I'm Margaret's mother, And, as I've no other, Why, that is my name.
They can't do without me, The play's all about me, They flout me, they scout me; Oh! I call it mean! Each version where Ma is, In London or Paris, Makes me Mrs. Harris, Much talked of, not seen.
I'm griping and grasping, I'm snoring, I'm gasping, With fear my voice rasping Miss Marguerite fills. They speak thus behind me-- You'll speak as you find me-- But all have maligned me, From Goethe to Wills!
English serious opera has not often fallen a prey to the untendermercies of the parodist. Balfe and Vincent Wallace alone have beenvictimised in that way--Balfe through his "Bohemian Girl" and "Roseof Castile"; Wallace through his "Maritana." The "Bohemian Girl" hastaken four different shapes on the burlesque boards. In 1851, astransmogrified by the Brothers Brough, she figured at the Haymarket as"Arline." In 1864, under the auspices of Messrs. Best and Bellingham,she appeared at Sadler's Wells under the same designation. At thecommand of Mr. W. S. Gilbert she posed at the Royalty in 1868 as "TheMerry Zingara." In 1877, as portrayed by H. J. Byron at the OperaComique and Gaiety, she appeared as "The Bohemian Gy-url." For hisArline Mr. Gilbert had Miss "Patty" Oliver; for his Gipsy Queen,Miss Charlotte Saunders; for his Count Arnheim, Fred Dewar; and forhis Devilshoof, Danvers. Byron's piece was interpreted by the GaietyCompany. "The Rose of Castile," as treated by Mr. Conway Edwardes,was seen in 1872 at the Brighton Theatre as "The Rows of Castile.""Maritana," of course, was the origin and basis of Mr. Burnand's"Mary Turner" (Holborn Theatre, 1867), as well as of Byron's "LittleDon Caesar de Bazan" (Gaiety, 1876), in which Mr. Terry was such anentertaining King Charles.
A Book of Burlesque: Sketches of English Stage Travestie and Parody Page 10
