Opera · Opera in English

Trial by Jury

25 March 1875, Royalty Theatre, London

Arthur Sullivan · libretto by W. S. Gilbert

A jilted bride sues her faithless young man for breach of promise of marriage; the judge, having explained how he got on in the law by courting a rich attorney's elderly ugly daughter, resolves the deadlock by marrying the plaintiff himself. Forty minutes long, in one act, and the only Gilbert and Sullivan work with no spoken dialogue at all, it was the piece that turned a casual collaboration into a partnership and gave Richard D'Oyly Carte the idea of a company built on it.

How to spot them

▸A single act in a Victorian courtroom; the whole thing sung throughout
▸An action for breach of promise of marriage, with the plaintiff arriving in full bridal dress
▸Bridesmaids who double as a chorus and flirt with the bench
▸A judge who admits from the bench that he made his career by courting an attorney's plain daughter
▸Forty minutes long, and written to be played after somebody else's opera

Arias & moments — listen

"When I, good friends, was called to the bar, I'd an appetite fresh and hearty" — how a briefless barrister got on by falling in love with a rich attorney's elderly, ugly daughter (1875)

The Learned Judge's song, ending 'And now I am a Judge! And a good Judge too!'

"When first my old, old love I knew, my bosom welled with joy" — a defendant explains that he simply became another person (1875)

Edwin's entrance: 'I fell in love with someone else… I could not eat my breakfast'

"A nice dilemma we have here, that calls for all our wit" — the whole court freezes into a mock-Italian ensemble over a point of law (1875)

A straight parody of the grand operatic concerted number, in the manner of Bellini and Verdi

"Oh, gentlemen, listen, I pray" — a proposal to marry the lady today and the other one tomorrow, which counsel rules is burglary (1875)

Edwin's offer; the Counsel for the Plaintiff objects that marrying two wives at once is 'Burglaree!'

"Swear thou the jurymen!" — the Usher instructs the court to dismiss all prejudice, then denounces the defendant in the same breath (1875)

'From bias free of every kind, this trial must be tried' — and then a broadside against the ruffian

The judge throws the law aside, declares it a nice dilemma no longer, and marries the plaintiff himself (1875)

The final topsy-turvy twist: 'Though homeward as you trudge, you declare my law is fudge'

Quick-fire facts

•Premiered on 25 March 1875 at the Royalty Theatre, Soho, and ran 131 performances, outlasting the main piece it was written to follow.
•It was commissioned by Richard D'Oyly Carte as an afterpiece to Offenbach's La Périchole — the meeting that made Carte the third member of the enterprise.
•It is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera with no spoken dialogue, and the only surviving one in a single act.
•The libretto grew out of a short Gilbert sketch published in the magazine Fun in 1868.
•Gilbert had been called to the bar in 1863 and practised, unsuccessfully, before turning to writing.
•The Learned Judge was created by Fred Sullivan, the composer's elder brother; Fred's death in January 1877 is associated with Sullivan's writing of the song 'The Lost Chord'.
•Breach of promise of marriage was a genuine cause of action in England until it was abolished in 1970.
•It was the second Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration; the first, Thespis (1871), was a Christmas entertainment whose music is almost entirely lost.
•The characters have no proper names beyond the lovers, Edwin and Angelina, the rest being the Learned Judge, Counsel for the Plaintiff, the Usher and the Foreman.

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources

The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive — Trial by Jury
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Trial by Jury: operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan
Arthur Jacobs — Arthur Sullivan: A Victorian Musician