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The Grand Duke

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The Grand Duke, or The Statutory Duel, was the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7 1896, and ran for 123 performances. The production was a financial failure, and the partnership was apparently exhausted: the two men never worked together again.

In The Grand Duke, Gilbert and Sullivan come full circle, back to the theme of their first collaboration, Thespis: In both works, a troupe of actors takes political power. The plot hinges on the mis-interpretation of a 100 year-old law regarding statutory duels (decided by drawing cards). The baffled central character, Ludwig, becomes engaged to four different women before the plot is resolved. The frugality and phoniness of the wealthy classes and the nobility is lampooned — once again, as in Princess Ida, The Mikado and The Gondoliers, the foreign setting emboldened Gilbert to use some particularly pointed satire here.

Many find that the libretto of The Grand Duke, like that of Utopia Limited, is unfocused, leaving too many plot discrepancies, and believe that its libretto needs pruning or even rewriting. It also requires a larger principal cast than most of the earlier G&S operas. Consequently, it is produced less often than most of the earlier G&S operas (and usually with cuts). Nevertheless, some consider this opera underrated and feel that the story contains characters and situations that are as funny, the settings as fanciful, and music as cheery and flavourful as in any of the earlier G&S works.

Contents

Roles

Synopsis

The Grand Duke is set in the Grand Duchy of Pfennig-Halbpfennig, in 1750.

Act I

The first act takes place in the market square in the capital city, Speisesaal. Ernest Dummkopf's theatrical company, who are to open in Troilus and Cressida that night, are ready to celebrate the wedding of the troupe's leading comedian Ludwig to Lisa, a soubrette of the company. However, the marriage cannot take place yet as there are no parsons available in the city, as all clerics have been summoned to the palace by the Grand Duke to discuss his own forthcoming marriage. This is one more cause for resenting the Grand Duke, and in fact all of the company are members of a plot to blow him up and place a new man on the throne. The secret sign by which members of the conspiracy recognise each other is to eat a sausage roll — a food of which they are by now all heartily sick.

It is clear that Ernest will win the election which is to follow the coup and become Duke, which troubles Julia Jellicoe, the English comedienne. As leading lady of the company, she is bound by contract to play the leading female role in any production. If Ernest, the manager, becomes the Grand Duke, she will have to be the Grand Duchess. This is a repugnant prospect to her (though a delightful one to Ernest), but she declares that she will play the part in a professional manner.

Note: To add to the topsy-turvy nature of the plot, Julia's dialogue is written with a German accent, whereas in the text she is the only English character in Ernest's company. The rest of the dialogue is written with no accent, although the characters are purportedly "German." Modern productions do not always carry out this idea. For instance, in the 1976 D'Oyly Carte recording (which did not include the dialogue), the singer playing Julia did not adopt a German accent in her music.
Meanwhile, Ludwig has met a man who returned his secret salute by eating three sausage rolls. Ludwig took him as a member of the conspiracy and told him all the details: only then did he realise that he had just revealed the entire plot to the Grand Duke's private detective.

The company are aghast, and the principals are wondering how to save their skins, when the Dr. Tannhäuser the notary (lawyer) appears and offers a solution. He explains that a century ago the Grand Duke of the time, concerned about the loss of life in duelling, had created the statutory duel: the duellers draw cards, and the one who draws the lower card loses. He becomes legally dead, and the winner takes over his position: his property, responsibilities and debts. The law regulating statutory duels, like all laws of Pfennig-Halbpfennig, lasts for one hundred years unless revived, and it is to lapse tomorrow.

He counsels Ernest and Ludwig to fight a statutory duel immediately: the loser will be legally dead, and the survivor can go to the Duke and confess the whole plot. As informer he will be spared, while the other party will be dead and so beyond retribution. The next day, the loser will come to life when the law lapses, but since death expunges crime, his character will be unstained.

They fight a duel: Ernest draws a king, but Ludwig draws an Ace and wins.

They leave, and the Grand Duke Rudolph appears, heralded by his corps of chamberlains, and he instructs them in the arrangements for his wedding the next day to Baroness Caroline von Krakenfeld. She arrives, handing him a letter from his detective, and they sing about how exactly in agreement are their ideas on economy. Caroline is disconcerted that Rudolph insists on courting her here, in the market square, but he explains that he has made a law compelling couples to do any courting here in the square, so as to increase the value of his properties around the square. She approves of this example of economy.

Caroline is also upset by a newspaper article which says that Rudolph was betrothed in infancy to the Princess of Monte Carlo, but he explains that it's "practically off": the betrothal lapses when the Princess reaches 21, which will happen tomorrow; but her father the Prince dare not venture out of his house for fear of meeting his creditors.

Once he is alone, Rudolph reads the letter, and discovers about the plot against him. He is despairing his fate when Ludwig enters, intent on denouncing the plot to him. Before he can do so, Rudolph declares that he would give anything to avoid being blown up the next day, and Ludwig sees a way out. He explains statutory duels to Rudolph, and patriotically volunteers to take Rudolph's place while Rudolph can be safely dead until the Act expires the next day.

Rudolph accepts, and palms a king for the duel while Ludwig palms an ace, and wins. Rudolph leaves, not before hearing some very disrespectful remarks from his subjects. Ludwig, now the Grand Duke, promptly extends the Act for another hundred years.

Suddenly Julia Jellicoe appears, and once again asserts that, as leading lady, she must take the leading role of the Grand Duchess. Lisa leaves in tears. Julia points out that if they are to be a Ducal court, they really need something more impressive than their everyday clothes. Ludwig recalls that they have a complete set of brand-new costumes for Troilus and Cressida, which they can use and "upraise the dead old days of Athens in her glory."

Act II

In a room in the Duke's palace, the new Duke, Duchess and court parade in classical costumes, and sing a Grecian chorus. Left alone, Ludwig and Julia fail to agree on how her role is to be played. Caroline von Krakenfeld arrives for her wedding, and is startled at finding Rudolph has been replaced by Ludwig. But once she discovers that Ludwig has beaten Rudolph in a statutory duel, she points out that he must take on Rudolph's responsibilities — including his betrothal to her. So despite being already married to Julia, Ludwig goes off with Caroline to get married, and Julia is left alone to sing a lament before exiting.

Ernest, though legally dead, is desperate for news, and ventures in to try and find out what is going on. He sees the wedding procession in the distance, and assumes that Ludwig is marrying Lisa; but it cannot be so, for Lisa appears. She will not stop, but runs from him as from a ghost. He then supposes that Ludwig must be marrying his Julia — but she too appears. Though also frightened of the "ghost", she stays and tells him what Ludwig has done.

They leave again, and the wedding party come back — Caroline is enjoying the rare pleasure of drinking "when somebody else pays the bill." Yet another unexpected visitor arrives: it is a herald, who announces that the Prince and Princess of Monte Carlo are on their way. Ludwig decides to give him a theatrical welcome, and tells the company to hide.

The Prince of Monte Carlo arrives with his daughter the Princess and a retinue of supernumeraries — out-of-work actors hired from the Theatre Monaco to play the part of nobles. We gather that he has reversed his fortunes by inventing a game called roulette. He has paid off his debts, hired the supernumeraries, and brought his daughter straight to Pfennig-Halbpfennig just in time.

Ludwig and the court reappear, with a lively can-can. The Princess is downcast when she discovers that Ludwig already has three Grand Duchesses, but when he explains about the statutory duel she points out that if he has to take over all Rudolph's responsilities then her claim predates even Caroline's.

Ludwig and the Princess are about to go off to yet another wedding party, when Ernest, Rudolph and Dr Tannhäuser burst in. It appears that the Act regulating statutory duels specifically lays down that the ace shall count as lowest, so Ludwig did not win, was never Grand Duke, and cannot have revived the act.

So "All dance off to get married" — Rudolph and the Princess, Ernest and Julia, Ludwig and Lisa, and (conventionally, though not mentioned in the libretto) the Prince and the Baroness.

Musical numbers

Act I

Act II

Versions of the text

The published vocal score for The Grand Duke was available within days of opening night, and it included all of the music performed at the premiere. Shortly thereafter, there were a number of substantial cuts, which were reflected in the published libretto. It is uncertain whether Sullivan (who was travelling abroad) agreed with these cuts, but the published vocal score was never revised. The libretto and vocal score have thus remained in disagreement.

The cuts involving the music included:

There is no standard performing version of The Grand Duke. While most companies that have produced The Grand Duke have agreed that the first-night version is too long, there is no established tradition about what to cut, and most productions have made their own cuts or even attempted some reorganization or rewriting. The 1976 D'Oyly Carte recording observed the original cuts in Act I, but restored the three deleted numbers from Act II.

References

External links

 

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