Opera Chapter

About the Opera

Trial By Jury

The theatrical entrepreneur Richard D’Oyly Carte was convinced that English audiences would pay to attend respectable, well-written and well-produced musical entertainments. He was also convinced that he knew who among his contemporaries were most likely to write the works he envisaged. Although Thespis had been a modest success, Carte was sure the team could do even better. He knew that Gilbert was the nation’s best-known wit and dramatist, and that Sullivan was England’s preeminent composer. Given the right encouragement, surely they could work together to produce first-class musical theater. Carte succeeded in effecting this collaboration when he commissioned them to write Trial by Jury. Gilbert had at hand a libretto based on one of his earlier ballads (in the form of a brief operatic sketch) and Sullivan quickly set it to music. The mini-opera was intended to fill out a program built around Offenbach’s La PĂ©richole, and was first performed at the Royalty Theatre on March 25, 1875. Gilbert labeled it “A novel and entirely original dramatic cantata, in one act.” Trial soon became more of an attraction than La PĂ©richole, and Carte knew he had been right in assessing the worth of Gilbert and Sullivan as a team. This view was emphasized by a reviewer for the Times, who wrote that Sullivan’s score fitted Gilbert’s words as though words and music had proceeded from the same brain. This turned out to be an astute observation that was frequently applied to all the pair’s joint operas (178, 275).

Trial by Jury ran for 131 consecutive performances, and still delights audiences everywhere. The plot is simplicity itself. The scene is a courtroom where a jilted bride is suing her former fiancĂ©. After considerable argument –– much of it carried off in mock Italian/Handelian operatic style –– the judge determines to make everyone happy by marrying the plaintiff himself. Being himself a lawyer, Gilbert had no difficulty in poking this sort of fun at the British legal system. There are no spoken lines in the opera and the music sparkles from beginning to end.

Characters

Defendant
The person who stands accused.
Counsel [Counsel for the plaintiff ]
This is the barrister who presents the accusations brought by the plaintiff against the defendant, who will plead his own case aided only by his guitar.
Plaintiff
Person who asks the court for a remedy against another person.
Usher
The doorkeeper and messenger in a court of law, also charged with maintaining dignity and decorum. Knight (178) observes that Gilbert has expanded the fellow’s duties by having him swear the jury, a duty normally reserved for an associate.
Associate [A mime role listed among the Dramatis Personae ]
Goodman (142) says “In this context it means the clerk of the court.” Prestige (154) notes that, “he sits robed beneath the judge and acts as a sort of note taker.” Stone (284) states that Gilbert himself played the role in at least six benefit performances. One such performance was on behalf of burlesque queen Nellie Farren (155).
Barristers
A barrister is a professional trial advocate who until 1990 had the exclusive right to plead cases in the higher courts (both civil and criminal) in England and Wales. A citizen who had need of legal help would approach a solicitor, a pre-trial attorney. If the situation involved a pleading before a higher court, the solicitor would turn the case over to a barrister who specialized in the kind of law involved. Otherwise the solicitor might handle the case without benefit of barrister. Each barrister belonged to one of four independent “Inns of Court,” which had the sole right of licensing barristers to appear in the superior courts. What I describe above applies to the situation in Gilbert’s day (143, 243, 309). Since January 1990, however, the division of advocacy work between solicitors and barristers has been largely removed, although all other divisions of work remain.

Act

Subpoena [Summoned by a stern subpoena ]
suh-PEEN-ah
A legal order to appear in court. Knight (178) points out that a defendant would be notified by a “writ,” but Gilbert needed a word to rhyme with Angelina.
Edwin 
 Angelina [Edwin, sued by Angelina ]
This was a traditional pairing of names of faithful lovers (302). They were linked by Oliver Goldsmith in a ballad, The Hermit, or Edwin and Angelina, written in 1764 (28). The names were also linked in a long series of articles in the then-current periodical Fun (284).
Fortissimo [Usher sings fortissimo ]
Real loud, like an elephant with a bull horn.
Condole [Condole with her distress of mind ]
To join in grief.
Court of the Exchequer
This was a court of common law established to deal with financial disputes between the crown and ordinary citizens. Burgess (60) says it was established by Henry II (who reigned from 1154 to 1189), whereas Knight (178) credits Henry I (who reigned from 1100 to 1135). It was merged with the Queen’s Bench either in 1873 (60) or 1881 (178). Shipley (266) says the term relates to the checkered table and colored counters the king’s counselors used to calculate national revenue. But, why would a breach of promise case be tried there? Knight (178) explains that such a breach would render the injured party unable to pay her taxes to the Crown. A nice example of a legal fiction.
Pecker [Be firm, my pecker ]
We can thank Queen Victoria herself for help here. In a letter to one of her daughters, she wrote that, “Keep up your pecker” means, “Keep up your spirits, and don’t be downhearted” (258). Despite the queen’s implied approval of the expression, American directors may want to effect some discreet substitution. They might try this:

Edwin: Is this the court of family cases? (alarmed) I see no smiles upon their faces!

Or, as suggested by Green (89): “It is, it is the Exchequer.”

Evil star [Your evil star’s in the ascendant ]
Your astrological timing couldn’t be worse.
Damages [dread our damages ]
Compensation paid to an injured person.
Pleadings [On the merits of my pleadings ]
The formal written arguments between the parties in a law suit or action (178).
Tink-a-Tank
Simulated sound of a guitar, or whatever instrument Edwin chooses to play. The OED (229), in its characteristic style, pins it down thus: “Tink: A representation of the abrupt sound made by striking resonant metal with something hard and light. Often reduplicated in imitation of the repetition of such a sound, also with such variations as tink-tank, tink-a-tink, etc.” Kravetz (181) opines that tink-a-tank is too clumsy a sound for a guitar, more like a banjo. Green (145) would seem to agree. Knight, however, votes for a mandolin (178). One cannot be too meticulous in vital matters such as these.
Rover
An irresponsible fellow who toys with a young woman’s affections.
Cad
A low, vulgar fellow (56).
Cloy [And love, unchanged will cloy ]

Become too much, or too sweet, for pleasure. In his Bab Ballad, “Peter the Wag” (127), Gilbert uses it to describe a jam of people: “And flocking crowds completely cloyed the mazes of Soho.”

Reversed in banc [And never be reversed in banc ]
A judgment overturned by a superior court employing a full bench of judges. In those days in England that was the only way of reversing a ruling.
Breach of Promise
Until 1970 in England breaking a marital engagement (normally by a man) was treated as a breach of legal contract and left the man vulnerable to legal action (24).
Called to the bar [When I, good friends, was called to the bar ]
As explained under “Barristers” above, anyone aspiring to such a career must take training at one of London’s four “Inns of Court.” These are ancient institutions fulfilling the role of colleges of legal education for barristers and for maintaining professional standards. In addition to offices, apartments and a dining hall, each institution has a meeting hall, which originally featured a barrier or partition, “the bar,” separating the candidates from the fully-qualified members. When the senior members were satisfied with a candidate’s level of knowledge, that individual would be “called to the bar” to join the privileged members on the other side (54, 106, 178, 245). In short, “to be called to the bar” means to become accepted as a fully qualified barrister. The bar, incidentally, is also a collective term for the entire profession of barristers.
Impecunious [An impecunious party ]
Short of money.
Swallow-tail coat
A coat the back of which is split in two halves that hang down about to the knees, while the front terminates at the waist. Goodman (142) says they are called “morning coats” and are still considered proper court dress for those upper-level barristers known as Queen’s Counsel. On the other hand, for a newly qualified barrister, such attire might have seemed hopelessly old-fashioned (302), and perhaps that “beautiful blue” was too gaudy (257).
Brief [A brief which I bought of a booby ]
The papers summarizing a court case, prepared by a solicitor for the benefit of a barrister. A brief summarizes the history of the case, the witnesses and what they will testify, and facts for cross examination (177).
Booby
Brewer (54) defines a booby as “A spiritless fool, who suffers himself to be imposed upon.” A few have even been known to write lexicons.
Collar [A couple of shirts and a collar or two ]
At the time the opera was written men’s dress shirts were likely to have detachable collars, which were held in place by two little rivets (“collar buttons”) front and back. This allowed the easily soiled collars to be laundered more often than the rest of the shirt.
Westminster Hall
A part of the Palace of Westminster adjacent to the Houses of Parliament. It was used as the High Court of Justice from 1755 to 1883 (60) or 1884 (142).
Semi-despondent fury [I danced a dance like a semi-despondent fury ]
In classical mythology, furies were female divinities who punished crimes at the instigation of the victims (250). The term “semi-despondent fury” should not be taken literally. It is, rather, an example of Gilbert’s fondness for wringing humor from the shotgun wedding of incongruous words.
Third-class journeys
The cheapest form of public transport on British railroads (178).
Pluck [You shall reap the reward of your pluck, my boy, at the Bailey and Middlesex Sessions ]
Courage or spirit. BosdĂȘt (43) observes that “pluck” is a generic term for the liver and lungs of animals, which Americans might call “guts,” which is also a slang term for bravery.
Bailey
Brewer (54) explains that this refers “to the Central Criminal Court of the City of London 
 situated in the thoroughfare of that name.” He goes on to surmise that the word comes from the Latin ballium, meaning enclosure: that area enclosed by the city wall. Walters (301) adds that the outer wall of a castle is called a bailey. The “Ancient Bailey” to which the judge later refers is a variation on its usual sobriquet “Old Bailey.”
Middlesex Sessions

This refers to the magistrates’ courts at the Sessions House in Clerkenwell (99, 177, 283, 300). Middlesex was the county in which London was located. It and parts of other adjoining counties were later administratively absorbed by the area of Greater London (166). Goodman (87) says Sessions is short for “Quarter Sessions, “the quarterly sittings totaling about 100 days. In general such courts handled only limited civil and criminal cases.

Gurneys [At length I became as rich as the Gurneys ]
A family of Quakers who formed a banking house in Norwich in 1770 (178). In about 1800 they opened a branch in London. It became the world’s greatest bill-discounting house and was known as “the bankers’ banker,” taking business away from the Bank of England. The Gurneys went public in 1865, forming a joint stock company with limited liability. In 1866 the London branch failed, in debt £11 million. The Gurney family, however, remained wealthy –– which was probably at least in part the inspiration for Gilbert’s later jabs at limited liability companies (as in The Gondoliers and Utopia Limited) (103). The Norwich branch prospered and was taken over by Barclays in 1896 (48). As an aside, you might want to know that a Gurney relative invented those light carriages on which you recline while being whisked about in hospitals (43).
Incubus [An incubus then I thought her ]
The OED (229) gives several definitions, among the kindest of which is “A person or thing that weighs upon and oppresses like a nightmare.” In medieval times it denoted a demon who had his way with women when they slept. The word derives from the Latin incubare, to lie on (which also gives us incubate). To complete this discourse, perhaps you should know that the female equivalent of an incubus is a succubus. Gentlemen, Beware!
Fudge [Though all my law be fudge ]
Fudge is a colloquialism dating back at least to 1700, when it meant a lie (229). By Gilbert’s time it also meant anything ridiculous or highly unreliable (56, 115). As a verb it means to obscure the truth (142). Knight (178) says the word was not applied to candy until the end of the nineteenth century.
Pianissimo
Very softly, in a stage whisper.
Patent [It is patent to the mob ]
Rhymes with latent
Obvious. See also The Sorcerer.
Mob [It was managed by a job ]
Derived from the Latin mo’bile vulgus (the fickle crowd), and dating back to the time of Charles II (56).
Job
The OED (228) has as one definition: “A transaction in which duty or the public interest is sacrificed for the sake of private 
 advantage.” Another definition is “any unfair arrangement” (115). For our purposes: a deceitful action or dirty trick.
Nob [my being made a nob ]
One dictionary (250) defines this as “A person of wealth or social distinction.” Some believe the word is derived from nabob, which originally meant an oriental chief or viceroy, but later came to mean a person of great wealth, especially one who had acquired that wealth in India. Others (115, 181, 320), however, maintain that it is short for nobility. Prestige (245) interprets it as slang for a person of social distinction.
’Twixt [’Twixt rich and poor ]
Short for betwixt, meaning between.
Lower [Though the tempest lower ]
Rhymes with flower
To threaten or look sullen.
Posies
A posie is defined as a flower, nosegay (bunch of fragrant flowers), or a bouquet.
Passing fair [Though thy beauty rare shame the blushing roses ––They are passing fair! ]
An archaic meaning of passing is surpassingly. Thus, although the flowers are surpassingly beautiful, Angelina is even more so (181, 263, 274). Brewer (56) opines that the expression comes from the Dutch word passen, to admire. See entry for “Passing” in Ruddigore.
Vernal [O’er the season vernal ]
Vernal refers to springtime. The phrase refers to youth.
Substantial damages [Come, substantial damages! ]
Ledbetter (184) says that exemplary damages (i.e., high enough to serve as a warning to others) could arise only in matters of breach of promise and then only when aggravated by seduction. Goodman, however, says he cannot confirm this; he believes it simply means heavy compensation (143).
My lud!
“My lord,” or “m’lud” are standard forms of address to a judge in a British court of law (184).
Supercilious [wear a supercilious smile ]
A smile that is at once haughty, contemptuous, proud, disdainful, and indifferent. Really packed with insolence! Shipley (266) thinks the word is derived from the Latin cilium, eyelash. (When speaking disdainfully you tend to lift the eyebrow.) See also HMS Pinafore.
Camberwell [Camberwell became a bower ]
A rather prosaic working-class residential suburb of London, on the south –– and therefore unfashionable –– side of the Thames (251). Ledbetter (184) says it was in earlier times a pleasant residential area, the birthplace of Robert Browning, and locale where Mendelssohn once stayed. It later became industrialized and heavily populated.
Bower
This could mean either a shelter of leafy branches, a summer house, or an arbor.
Peckham [Peckham an Arcadian Vale ]
The twin of Camberwell. See above. Oliver Goldsmith once taught there in a boy’s school (184). Until about 1850 Camberwell and Peckham were villages separated from London by open fields (142).
Arcadian Vale
Arcadia was a mountainous part of Sparta, famous in song and story for its contented, simple-living people and admiring sheep. Vale means valley.
Otto [Breathing concentrated otto! ]
Derived from attar of roses, i.e., perfume made from rose petals. Knight (178) says some 250 pounds of roses are needed to make a single ounce of attar.
Watteau [An existence Ă  la Watteau ]
Idyllic pastoral setting, as in the paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721).
Trousseau [For the maid had bought her trousseau ]
TRUE-so
A bride’s collection of clothing, linen, and the like, suitable for her new status as a married woman (from the French word for bundle). That’s not the kind of bundle Angelina is looking for now.
Perjured [Oh, perjured lover ]
One who has told a lie. In this case, it means one who has been untrue to his oath of fidelity (15).
Cologne [water from far Cologne ]
Cologne water: Eau de Cologne. Cologne is a major German city on the Rhine. The toilet “water” in question is made by adding aromatic oils to alcohol. It was first produced commercially in Cologne, and no fewer than three companies there claim to being the originator. Ledbetter (184) says Cologne water is now made in France by descendants of its creator. By tradition Cologne water is dabbed on the face or waved under the nose of any lady who has fainted. For an exhaustive treatise on its composition, see The Encyclopedia Americana (105) or Bradley (48).
Submission [with all submission ]
Due respect.
James the Second [In the reign of James the Second ]
The son of Charles I, James II succeeded to the throne in 1685 but abdicated in 1688, when William of Orange forced him out. His was a short, bloody reign, but the Counsel would have us believe that he left his mark on matrimonial law.
Nice [A nice dilemma ]
If we interpret nice in the conventional sense we can conclude that the judge is indulging in irony (as in “a nice mess”). On the other hand, as Asimov (11) says, nice is used by lawyers in the older sense of requiring careful thought and examination. That seems the more likely interpretation.
Breach [A breach ‘twill surely be ]
A breach of promise: In legal matters, a failure to carry out a promise of marriage. Breach means to break.
Prepossessing [I’m not prepossessing ]
Attractive, likely to make a good first impression.
Abatement
A mitigating factor. This is from a pair of lines that are in the score but are omitted from some versions of the libretto. The complete verse, as found in The Savoy Operas (131), is sung by the jury as follows:

We would be fairly acting,

But this is most distracting!

If, when in liquor, he would kick her,

That is an abatement.

Furies [All the legal furies seize you ]
See “Semi-despondent fury” above.
Attorneys [Barristers, and you, attorneys ]
At the time the opera was set (early 1870s) the person briefing a barrister in the Court of the Exchequer would have been an attorney. Shortly thereafter, however, the Judicature Act merged the solicitors and attorneys, and the former title was adopted (178).
Shelf [Put your briefs upon the shelf ]
This should not be taken literally; the judge is telling both parties to shelve (i.e., lay aside) their pleadings.
Knell [The knell is sounded ]
A slow ringing of a bell at a funeral.
Doated [On you he’s doated ]
Bestowing excessive adoration.
Moated [To castle moated ]
Protected by a deep encircling ditch, probably filled with anything but Eau de Cologne.
Tether [In marriage tether ]
A rope or chain used to keep an animal from straying. This is not to be taken literally.
Snob [The defendant is a snob ]
Brewer (56) says this means, “not a gentleman; one who arrogates to himself merits which he does not deserve.”
Fob [I’ll reward him from my fob ]
A small waistband pocket. Since the pocket is a small one, we may infer that the reward was perhaps only loose change. “Another insult, and, I think, a light one!”