Opera Chapter

About the Opera

Cox and Box

This mini-opera by Burnand and Sullivan is often given as a curtain raiser for Savoy operas. Based on John Maddison Morton’s 1847 farce Box and Cox, the musical version was put together by F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan during a three-week period in 1866. That was for a private gathering; but the “triumviretta” was considered such a gem that it was given a public showing at a charitable performance in the Adelphi Theatre on May 11, 1867. A week later Cox and Box was given a second benefit performance, at another theater, and the reviewer for Fun magazine was none other than W. S. Gilbert, who was not to meet Arthur Sullivan face to face for another two or three years. (His astute comment on the music was to the effect that Sullivan’s notes were too good for the words.)

Cox and Box is a frothy bit of foolishness but it has its virtues, being simple to produce and full of sprightly music. Although out of place chronologically here, it seems appropriate as a brief curtain call.

My libretto is that published by Samuel French of London (undated).

Characters

Journeyman [A Journeyman Hatter ]
The OED (228) tells us that a journeyman is a skilled craftsman who works for another. He ranks between a master and an apprentice. We might add that the term is derived from the French word jour for day, i.e., a journeyman is one who is paid by the day. Doesn’t this exciting start make you thirst for further knowledge? Read on.
Bouncer [Sergeant Bouncer ]
The name has several derogatory slang associations, including cheating, boasting, and telling fibs. The sergeant is well-named.
Dampshire [Late of the Dampshire Yeomanry ]
In England, when one wishes to refer to an imaginary shire in the West Country, one may call it “Mummerset” (to rhyme with Somerset). Here Burnand is rhyming with Hampshire.
Yeomanry
Yeomen were small landowners. The Yeomanry was a volunteer British cavalry force made up chiefly of men of the yeoman class and an equal mix of presumably non-volunteer horses.

Act

Peremptory [the most … peremptory of hatters ]
Imperious, allowing no room for debate.
Colonel Cox
Bouncer usually addresses Cox as “Colonel,” but when irritated (a few lines later) he demotes him to “Captain.” We may infer that Cox claims to have seen military service at one time, or perhaps this is Bouncer’s standard form of flattery.
Protuberant [with a protuberant bolster ]
Bulging out, like Cyrano’s proboscis.
Bolster
A firm pillow, usually of cylindrical form.
Glass [Looking glass ]
Mirror.
Cravat
Necktie.
Militia
Citizens trained for military emergencies, like the National Guard in the USA.
Hobby [Ah! now he’s off on his hobby ]
At this point Bouncer usually makes his broom into a hobby horse, and there you have another pun. Sorry.
Chargers
Horses trained for cavalry service.
Laurels
Crowning wreaths awarded heroes in ancient Greece and Rome. More broadly, “laurels” were honors, in this case for military valor.
Bays [and rode on our bays ]
Reddish-brown horses. Since bay is another name for “laurel,” honors are sometimes referred to as “bays.” Behold, another pun!
Yeomen
See entry for “Yeomanry” above.
Van [In the rear and the van ]
The vanguard or leading units of an advancing army. (“Hey, what am I doing here?”)
Rataplan
Hyder (161) defines it thus: “This is an onomatopoetic word suggesting the beating of a drum, much used in French comic operas with a military theme, and here used mockingly by F. C. Burnand.” MacPhail (194) adds that Verdi uses the word in Forza del Destino and Donizetti does the same in La Fille du Régiment. Moreover, he adds, “It’s a bit ironic that if Burnand, Sullivan’s first librettist, provided him with a ‘Rataplan’ song, so too did his final collaborator, Basil Hood: a Rataplan song in The Emerald Isle was one of the lyrics the composer set in his final comic opera before he died.” Finally, Kravetz (182) has this simple explanation: “Rataplan” is the French equivalent of “rat-a-tat.”
Emulating [instead of emulating ]
Seeking to equal or excel. A secondary meaning, appropriate here, is “imitating.”
Dissemble [Yes, I must dissemble ]
Hide the truth. See also HMS Pinafore.
Sure as eggs is eggs
In those days this was a popular phrase meaning “without a doubt.” It was probably a corruption of the logician’s formula “x is x” (115).
Lucifers [My lucifers, candles, sugar and wood! ]
Matches. Named in honor, of course, of Lucifer, the chief recalcitrant angel who was thrown out of Heaven and then reigned over the nether regions. The first mass-produced friction matches were sold under the trade name “Lucifer Sticks” (103). Hyder (161) relishes the line, “I did think my lucifers would be sacred.”
Dodger [Bouncer is a dodger! ]
A haggler, or one who engages in shifty maneuvers.
Cat [the cat in the Army’s abolished ]
Bouncer is setting up a smoke screen by switching the topic from felines to multi-thonged whips. Captain Corcoran uses the same pun, as you may recall, in H.M.S. Pinafore.
Leaders [setting up long leaders for a daily paper ]
Editorials.
Naps [hats with naps ]
Woolly or velvety surfaces.
Effluvia [If he objects to the effluvia of tobacco ]
A smoker’s euphemism for the more accurate and scientific term stench.
Domesticate [he had better domesticate himself in some adjoining parish. ]
Find lodging.
Parish
A subdivision of an English county, or an ecclesiastical district.
Evolution [there’s one evolution I should much like to see you perform ]
A planned military movement.
Venerable [to get rid of that venerable warrior ]
Worthy of respect by virtue of advanced years.
Rasher [I’ve got a rasher of bacon ]
A thin slice.
Penny roll
An inexpensive roll; the smallest item of bread one may buy in a bakery. See also The Grand Duke.
Purloins [he purloins my coals ]
Steals.
Gridiron
A metal cooking device consisting of a frame supporting closely-spaced parallel bars, used to hold food over a fire.
Nid [Soon I’ll be nodding, nodding, nid ]
One dictionary (108) assures us that this means “to nod slightly,” and quotes Burns as writing, “We’re a’ noddin, nid nid noddin.”
Phiz [on showing my phiz in his shop ]
Short for “physiognomy,” or face.
Brighton [Visions of Brighton and back, and of Rosherville ]
A well-known seaside resort in Sussex county. An English friend once told me it was a popular place for a “dirty weekend.”
Rosherville
The British cultural equivalent of Coney Island, later made famous by John Wellington Wells. See The Sorcerer.
Squash [already the squash I feel ]
The press of the crowd.
Mackintosh [put on my mackintosh I will! ]
A raincoat made of two layers of cloth held together by something like rubber cement. The fabric was invented by Charles Macintosh (1766-1843), who, you may notice, spelled his name without the K in the middle. See also Ruddigore and Cox and Box.
Dejunay [Now for my breakfast, my light dejunay ]
day-djun-A
A corruption of déjeuner, the French word for “lunch.” A “light dejunay” means breakfast.
Zounds
An archaic oath, presumably a corruption of God’s wounds.
Tinder [lights it with a piece of tinder ]
Usually scorched linen impregnated with saltpeter; used for kindling a fire from a spark.
Vociferate [I’ll instantly vociferate “Police!” ]
Yell.
Animosity [no violent animosity ]
Strong hatred.
Antipathy [any rooted antipathy to you ]
Intense dislike.
Mead [The buttercup dwells in the lowly mead ]
Meadow.
Lay [to sing my lay ]
A short poem intended to be sung.
Floweret [The floweret shines on the minaret fair ]
A modest young flower, like Mad Margaret’s poor lonely violet in that nest of weeds and nettles.
Minaret
One of those slender towers of a mosque from which the Islamic faithful are called to prayer. The word is derived from the Spanish word for “lighthouse.” Use that to impress your friends.
Dahlia
You may already know that this is a flower of the aster family. Perhaps you would also like to know that it was named for the eighteenth century Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.
Cockchafer [The cockchafer sighs in the midnight air ]
A variety of beetle (of the coleopterous clan), well known in England.
Dicky bird
Any small bird (but none more famous than the one whose suicide is recounted by Ko-Ko).
Concertina
A small musical instrument somewhat like an accordion.
Opera hat
A man’s tall silk hat, which can be collapsed. The stage directions call for Cox to play on the gridiron like a guitar, while Box uses an opera hat in imitation of a concertina.
Bradshaw [Have you read this month’s Bradshaw, sir? ]
This line, following a tender serenade, is a gross non sequitur. The literary work to which Box refers is the British railroad timetable, Bradshaw’s Railway Guide, which was printed at monthly intervals from 1841 to 1961. My reference is a more interesting Bradshaw (50) slightly modified by (56). The turnabout here is based on the typical, stern Victorian husband who would not allow his wife to read spicy novels. Here’s a wife who won’t let her husband read a timetable. Sorry to beat this joke to death; let’s press on.
Bathing machines
A horse-drawn wheeled vehicle used as a dressing room by modest Victorian bathers to enter the water without having to parade across the beach.
Defunct [I’ve been defunct for the last three years! ]
Dead or extinct.
Stop [whereby a man . . . can leave this world, and yet stop in it ]
Go on living, as in a stop-over.
Doating [only one obstacle to my doating upon her ]
Former spelling of doting, to be foolishly sentimental or sloppily affectionate.
Romance [(stage direction) ]
A sentimental and expressive musical number.
Ramsgate
A holiday resort town in Kent. Stedman (273) notes that Burnand lived there after he retired.
Margate
Another holiday resort town in Kent. Those gates have nothing to do with hinged doors; they come from the Danish word for “road” and are an echo from the ancient days of the Scandinavian immigrations.
Life Guards
A regiment of the Household Cavalry (142). For more details see Utopia, Limited.
Blues
A slang term applied to certain companies of soldiers distinguished by their blue uniforms. (142, 158).
Basin called slop
An awkward way of saying slop basin, which can be a bowl for holding the dregs from tea cups at the tea table, or a container for kitchen garbage, or (shudder!) a chamber pot! (142, 320).
Put … back … up
“To put one’s back up” means to antagonize (274) or annoy (142). I suppose it is derived from the way a threatened cat arches its back. (The clumsy way Burnand expresses this shows why he could not compete with Gilbert as a librettist.)
Baited
Harassed or tormented.
Fraction [Between you, then, there was a fraction? ]
A break, a falling-out, a domestic spat.
Action [threatened with an action ]
Probably a court action for breach of promise.
Ablution [when I had finished my ablution ]
Washing –– usually hands and face.
Hose [my hose, my socks ]
Tight-fitting breeches or pants.
Linen for nose
A clumsy way of saying “handkerchief.”
Under the rose
A colloquialism for “in secret” or “in confidence” (115). Presumably derived from the Latin sub rosa (which has the same meaning) “from the ancient use of the rose at meetings as a symbol of the sworn confidence of the participants” (250).
Tiff [you left in a tiff? ]
In a huff.
Dulcet [sort of a dulcet dirge ]
Sweet-toned.
Dirge
Funeral music, from the Latin dirige, the first word of the prescribed service for the dead. See also The Yeomen of the Guard.
Verge
The very edge (of the cliff).
Throe [in an agony throe ]
Violent pang.
Chalked [where the Coast Guard’s way was chalked ]
Two interpretations can apply. One proposal is that the coastal patrol’s path showed up white on the chalk cliffs that are characteristic of the English south coast (251). The other is that the Guard’s route was shown by chalk marks on stones (142). My vote is with the first interpretation. Readers may want to know that in the days before electronic communications, Coast Guardsmen patrolled the shore on foot watching for vessels in distress.
One pound seventeen and sixpence
In the old British monetary system, this meant one pound, seventeen shillings, and six pennies. There were twenty shillings to the pound, and twelve pennies (or pence) to the shilling. In our opinion the system was invented to confuse American tourists, and we are gratified that the British gave it up. Now if they would just learn to drive on the righteous side of the road.
Barnet Races
Horse races at the Barnet fair, in the environs of London.
Half-crown
A British coin worth two shillings and six pence, or about sixty cents (American) at that time.
Toss up
Flip a coin.
Sixpence [my tossing sixpence ]
A coin worth six old pennies or half a shilling. Prestige (245) proposes that a “tossing coin” is one with two heads or two tails. In the conAct that seems altogether likely.
Shilling
A coin worth one-twentieth of a pound sterling.
Leads [I’ve a mind to pitch you out on the leads ]
leds
Sheet-lead roof covering.
Boulogne
boo-LONE
A French seaport on the English Channel, popular with the British upper crust. As Rees (251) puts it, “Mrs. Wiggins was really moving above her station in Boulogne. Ramsgate and Margate were visited more commonly by the Coxes and Boxes of this world.”
Colonial Office
This is the ministry that administers most of Britain’s overseas empire. Box’s business there is probably imaginary. Hyder (161), however, proposes that Box is planning to escape Penelope Ann by emigrating.
Cab [A cab’s drawn up at the door! ]
A light carriage drawn by one horse (75).
Twopenny omnibus
TUPP-enny …
In those days an omnibus was a horse-drawn public conveyance, seating perhaps six to eight inside and about as many on the roof. The fare was plainly marked on the outside. For an illustration see the entry for “Threepenny bus” in Patience.
Brigadier [a note for Brigadier Cox! ]
Shortened form of “Brigadier General,” an officer in command of an army brigade. There is a hint here that, in wooing Penelope Ann, Cox may have inflated his supposed erstwhile military rank. Or is this more of Bouncer’s flattery?
Apprize [I hasten to apprize you ]
Inform.
Strawberry mark [Have you such a thing as a strawberry mark on your left arm? ]
A soft reddish birthmark, supposed to resemble a strawberry (122). This revelation parodies the melodrama’s common use of a birthmark to recognize a long-lost relation.
[Final Note on Cox and Box]
So much for the first encore. What to do for the second? Well, since in the normal course of human events all lists end with the letter Z, what better than The Zoo?