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Ivanhoe

The Music

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It is an enigma that Sullivan's music, which came in for so much praise in 1891, should subsequently be as belittled as it has been. It has, surely, something to do with modern taste. A parallel can be seen in Balfe's The Siege of Rochelle which was such an enormous success when it was first produced and has now faded into total obscurity.

Its composition

The composition of Ivanhoe is covered fully in the chapter on the opera in Sullivan and Flower's biography of the composer. He began composing at Grove House, Weybridge, Surrey, on 17th May 1890, but only worked hard on it from the September of that year. He was highly self-critical, going so far as to destroy most of the music he had written for Act One, and started all over again. At other times he reshaped the plot and much of the music became useless. He finished the composition at 6 p.m. on 31st December 1890.

Dramatic aspects of the music

Since Ivanhoe is essentially a pageant with music, truly dramatic events tend to be few and far between. Dramatically exciting moments are the following:

Act One - Scene One

Ivanhoe's assertion that the English knights were "second to none". Sullivan sets these words to their natural speech rhythm and has them sung on an E flat, a very powerful note, not so high as to make the words unintelligible yet high enough to ring clearly round an auditorium. The Chorus reacts to this in a rhythmically confused passage over a fast running triplet line in the violins. Sullivan's use of harmony is notable here: a diminished seventh on A natural follows Ivanhoe's "second to none" on E flat, thereby preparing the way for Ivanhoe to elucidate his statement.

The Templar's revelation of Ivanhoe's name is led up to by a rapid ascending chromatic scale in the violins, rather conventional, but effective all the same. The revelation is followed by a short comment from the orchestra which is both rhythmically and harmonically confused and then the horns blare out in octaves the rhythm of the Templar's next phrase ("I have named his name"). The word "Silent" then follows in the score.

Act One - Scene Two

Ivanhoe's revelation to Isaac that the Templar plans to capture him is treated conventionally. Isaac's "Of Torquilstone? O name of dread! Castle of Torment! Woe's me" etc is accompanied by a number of diminished sevenths rising chromatically.

Act One - Scene Three

The moment in this scene when Ivanhoe has his helmet removed and his true identity is revealed is very effectively handed by Sullivan. Here he anticipates the choke in Caractacus's voice which Elgar used so effectively in his cantata. Rather than having Rowena sing the moment she recognises Ivanhoe, he allow her one "choked" bar before her shriek of "Wilfred" .

Act Two - Scene One

This is essentially a comic scene of light relief and the only section of real dramatic interest occurs near the end when Locksley (Robin Hood) rushed in to tell King Richard that Ivanhoe has been captured by the Templar and De Bracy.

Locksley enters to a diminished seventh and his appeal for help is sung in a sort of arioso over a tremolo accompaniment. The Chorus react to his appeal and the scene ends in a jubilant D major, replete with trumpet fanfares as the outlaws set off for Torquilstone.

Act Two - Scene Two

There is little of purely dramatic interest on the stage in this scene. However, the climax of the Templar's great aria "Woo thou thy snowflake" shows what Sullivan was capable of writing in the right circumstances .

Act Two - Scene Three

The trumpet call which alerts the Templar to the peril the castle is in occurs at a very effective point in the drama. It is obviously meant to be a judgement on the Templar since Rebecca's words before it are "God judge thee and not I!" . The prolongation of the duet after the summons is dramatically redundant since the Templar has already said that he must leave. It makes a good rousing conclusion to the scene, however.

Act Three - Scene One

The assault on Torquilstone would have been more satisfactory if it could have actually been seen rather than reported by Rebecca (this was achieved in the 1910 Beecham revival). However, Sullivan does make use of off-stage choruses and trumpets so that at least the assailants are audible. At the height of the battle Rebecca and Ivanhoe sing a duet against the voices of the assailants outside, which is effective. This leads straight into Rebecca realising that the castle is on fire, so that the musical impetus built up is continued.

Above swirling diminished sevenths Rebecca screams for help for Ivanhoe while the Templar carries her off . Right at the height of the excitement, when the assailants enter, King Richard's true identity is revealed by Ivanhoe, pianissimo over tremolo strings. Immediately, attention is drawn back to the flaming castle, complete with burning crone in the shape of Ulrica, and returning to the scene's opening music.

Act Three - Scene Two

This scene is almost entirely lyrical in nature.

Act Three - Scene Three

Ivanhoe's arrival to free Rebecca is heralded by held diminished sevenths and triplets in the bass, and then by his leitmotiv . His fight with the Templar is accompanied by the same music as that used at the height of the assault on Torquilstone. The same swirling diminished sevenths occur and then there is complete silence when the Templar drops dead , followed by three pizzicato chords .

In order to increase dramatic tension and build excitement, Sullivan frequently uses ostinati. Cedric's drinking song in Act One Scene One has one in the accompaniment which stops abruptly at the words "gone is the ancient fame" . When Cedric resumes his song, and the key changes to the tonic major, the ostinato returns.

Another example occurs in the same scene when Ivanhoe tells the assembled crowd the names of those who fought in Palestine . Eventually the rhythm slows to syncopated quavers when Ivanhoe pretends that he cannot remember the name of the last one who fought (i.e. himself).

In the second scene of the same act, Rowena's excitement excitement at being able to get first-hand news from the Palmer of Ivanhoe manifests itself in the accompanying ostinato .

Ulrica's spinning wheel in Act Two Scene Three is suggested by the strings playing another ostinato figure. This is a minor key version of the figure Sullivan's first use to represent Phoebe's spinning wheel at the opening of The Yeomen of the Guard . In the same scene, Rebecca's aria "Lord of our chosen race" uses an ostinato figure throughout the first two verses (this clip uses the Edith Evans recording of 1916 which makes the figure more audible) .

Ostinati are also used during the assault on Torquilstone to build up tension. This figure turns eventually into in this , and then switches between the two as the action demands. They are used to fill almost 100 bars.

Another feature of Sullivan's music in the more dramatic sections are the large number of rapid passages for high violins. The first of these occurs in the prelude to Act One . Another occurs in Act One Scene Two before Ivanhoe's aria "Like mountain lark my spirit upward springs" , and one also in the final scene when the Grand Master sentences Rebecca to death .

Comic scenes form an important part of Ivanhoe. In these, Sullivan was able to entertain the audience he had won at the Savoy, and also create separate "numbers" that could be widely performed outside the opera. His characterisation of Friar Tuck is one of the best in the opera. Of course, these scenes serve as little more than light relief and do little to further the plot. Act Two Scene Two contains two such songs, "I wish not wealth" and "Ho Jolly Jenkin" (heard here in an early recording by David Bispham).

Songs and Arias

Each of the principal characters has a solo song which is clearly defined within its scene.

Cedric has the drinking song "Drink, drink ye all".

Rowena has the aria "O moon thou art clad" - with a strikingly delicate accompaniment for flute, oboe, harp and strings .

Ivanhoe big aria is the one he sings after his interview with Rowena, "Like mountain lark", effective because of the heroic vocal line and triplet quaver accompaniment .

The King's and Friar Tuck's songs in Act Two are separate "numbers" in their own right and could easily be sung outside the context of the opera. They do nothing to progress the drama, but "Ho Jolly Jenkin" is so good it doesn't really matter.

The Templar's aria is "Woo thou thy snowflake", probably the nearest that Sullivan ever got to conveying passion in music.

Ulrica's Death Song, which appeared in Scott's novel as a spinning song, has an ostinato throughout.

Rebecca's aria is "Lord of our chosen race". This has a viola ostinato in the first two verses, a sustained cor anglais solo in the second verse and uses a Jewish phrase Sullivan had heard in a Leipzig synagogue.

Duets

Ivanhoe contains three set number duets. Two are for Ivanhoe and Rowena, the first occurring in Act One and the other, a love duet, in Act Three.

The other duet is between Rebecca and the Templar in Act Two. In this Rebecca's leitmotiv becomes prominent while a phrase from "Woo thou thy snowflake" is used for the Templar.

Ensembles without chorus

The opera has two major ensembles. The first is between Rowena, De Bracy and Cedric. Rowena has a long, flowing line in which she pleads for Ivanhoe. De Bracy tells Rowena that she must marry him if Ivanhoe is to live. His line ascends in semitones, while Rowena's descends in the same way. Cedric begs Rowena to ignore De Bracy.

The other ensemble is in Act Three Scene Two and involves Rowena, Ivanhoe, Cedric and the King. The music is repeated in the opera's final chorus.

Ensembles with chorus

The chorus plays a vital part in Ivanhoe. Sullivan was praised by his contemporaries for the way in which he made them living characters, rather than a group of singers. Frequently the men are used alone, as in the first scene of Act One. Sullivan takes the tenors as high as B flat in all-male sections.

The first time the full chorus appears is in the list at Ashby. The various voices are given solo lines which are an effective way of transferring the shouts of a crowd into music. When the royal party arrives, Sullivan provides a set-piece patriotic double chorus in his best Savoy manner .

An off-stage chorus is used during the assault on Torquilstone. Is it too far-fetched to see a parallel here with the church scene in Peter Grimes? It may be, but the contrast between the foreground drama between Rebecca and the Templar, and the background drama as the the castle is stormed, in undeniably effective.

The only dance in the opera features the chorus at the opening of Act Three Scene Two, "Light foot, upon the dancing green". Again, we are in classic Savoy Opera Opening-of-Act-Two territory here, without a couple of Mendelssohnian horn calls thrown in for good measure .

The full male chorus is used in the unison opening of the final scene of the opera, when the Templars process on to the stage singing a Latin hymn . The Templars' hymn here is a close relative of the monks' hymn in Sullivan's The Golden Legend .

Leitmotivs

Sullivan's use of leitmotivs is different from Wagner's. Whereas Wagner developed them and used them seamlessly, Sullivan tends to stop, play the leitmotiv, and then restart.

Both the Saxons and the Normans have leitmotivs based on arpeggios figures. The Saxon one appears at the opening of the opera and is rugged and inelegant. The Norman one , by contrast, is suave and courtly.

Isaac of York, the Jew, has a hesitant, weary-sounding leitmotiv which appears every time he enters.

Ivanhoe's leitmotiv is first heard at the Templar's words "Show me thy pledge, thou graceless pilgrim" in Act One Scene One . It reappears at Ivanhoe's entry as "Il Desdichado".

Rebecca's leitmotiv is the Jewish phrase from "Lord of our chosen race" .

Both Ulrica and King Richard have phrase from their main songs quoted at other points in the opera, but they are not really used as leitmotivs.

Orchestration

Sullivan, in common with other English composers of his generation and the one following, including Elgar, Coleridge-Taylor and Edward German, was a master orchestrator. He owed much of this ability to his father who taught him, while still young, all the orchestral wind instruments and several non-orchestral ones as well. Whereas Elgar is noted for his stunning string writing, it is frequently Sullivan's writing for wind which commands our attention.

In his "Irish" Symphony of 1863-4 the horn is given a fine, idiomatic solo in the slow movement, the clarinets having an effective "keening" passage in the same movement. The oboe plays a leading role in the third movement.

Freed from the restraints of the usual small orchestra used in the Savoy operas, in Ivanhoe, Sullivan sought to evoke an "old English" atmosphere and introduced two unusual instruments to his orchestra:

two orchestral innovations...the 'G' flute, which has all the brightness of the piccolo without the harshness of its upper notes or the weakness of its lower; and the bass trumpet, made especially for the production, and consisting of a combination of the old-fashioned slide trumpet with the modern valve appliances

The Times, 6th February 1891

One is tempted to wonder if Sullivan - or was it D'Oyly Carte? - was trying to parallel Wagner's special tubas. Was the Royal English Opera House meant to be the new Bayreuth?

It is interesting to note that Sullivan also used "old German trumpets" at the Leeds Festival in 1886; an early example of the use of "authentic" instruments.

The delicate accompaniment for Rowena's aria "O moon, thou art clad" , and the interesting use of cor anglais and low violas in the second verse of Rebecca's "Lord of our chosen race" , have already been mentioned. Other interesting features of orchestration are the pizzicato octave accompaniment at the end Act One Scene Two, and the pastoral woodwind solos in Act Two Scene One.

Fanfares play an important part in Ivanhoe. Trumpets are always sounded at a challenge and it is the fanfare in Act Two Scene Three which announces the onset of the attack on Torquilstone, and saves Rebecca from the Templar. The leitmotivs for both the Saxons and Normans are based on fanfares.

Nationalistic features

As Ivanhoe was intended to be the epitome of English opera, and indeed it was praised for being such, what would have appeared to someone in 1891 to be "particularly English"?

The Illustrated London News of 7th February 1891 gives a general contemporary answer to this question:

The story is told to music which is, above and before everything, English. 'In spite of all temptations to belong to other nations' [a quotation from HMS Pinafore] - Wagner exhorting to be unmelodious and to transfer what tunes he may have from the performers' mouths to the orchestra, Gounod whispering him to leave all and follow Faust, Verdi and Ponchielli inviting his to be that 'devil incarnate, an Englishman Italianate' [a quotation from Roger Ascham, in The Scholemaster (1535) based on the Italian "Inglese Italianato è un diabolo incarnato", referring to Machiavelli], - Sir Arthur remains an Englishman. Sir Arthur ... has always been among the musical stay-at-homes. ... The prevailing character of his music is breadth and simplicity in rhythm, robustness in style. It is the music proper to the novelist's "Merrie England".

The opera contains plenty of work for the chorus, reflecting the English choral tradition's influence. Much of the opera takes place in a pastoral setting, so Sullivan can slip into a comfortable 6/8 in such songs as "I ask nor wealth" and Rebecca's "Ah, would that thou and I might lead our sheep".

Sullivan had already attempted to create a archaic atmosphere in The Yeomen of the Guard where he uses, amongst other devices, a tune in the Lydian mode, and alternations between 5/4 and 4/4. The opening of the Tournament Scene in Ivanhoe (Act One, Scene Three) uses a syncopated melody against a strictly rhythmical accompaniment in much the same way. This must have seemed, to the late Victorians, suitably archaic.

This was written in 1977 as part of my Bachelor of Music degree at Royal Holloway College, University of London.