Patience (operetta)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride is a two-act operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. It was first performed at the Opera Comique in London, on 23 April 1881. On 10 October 1881, it moved to the Savoy Opera, a new theatre built especially for the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. It was the first theatre to be lit entirely by electricity.
| Patience | |
|---|---|
 Lillian Russell as Patience in 1882 | |
| Written by | W. S. Gilbert (words) Arthur Sullivan (music) |
| Characters | Patience Bunthorne Lady Jane Grosvenor |
| Date of premiere | 23 April 1881 |
| Place of premiere | Opera Comique London, England |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Aesthetic Movement |
| Genre | Operetta |
| Setting | England in the late 19th century |
Patience was the sixth of the fourteen operettas written by Gilbert and Sullivan. It ran for 578 performances. The operetta is a satire on the mores and extravangas of the aesthetic poets of the 1870s and 1880s. Patience was a great success.
Gilbert originally planned to use his Bab ballad, "The Rival Curates", as the basis for Patience, but had second thoughts about two clergymen in a comedy and turned to the poets of the aesthetic movement instead. D'Oyly Carte sent Oscar Wilde on a lecture tour in the United States to prepare Americans for the background of the operetta.
References
change- Brahms, Caryl. 1975. Gilbert and Sullivan: lost chords and discords. Little, Brown. pp. 97-108.
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