Ballet fantastique in one act premiered on 16th May 1864 at the Royal Italian Opera, London

Choreography: Henri Desplaces

Music: Arthur Sullivan

Premiers Rôles

The Queen of the Fairies: Guglielmina Salvioni

The Mariner: Henri Desplaces

Fairies: Misses Carmine, Navarre and Assunta

Gnome: Mr W H Payne

Plot

On a seashore, satyrs enter and wake sleeping nymphs. A storm frightens the fairies away and washes on shore an exhausted shipwrecked sailor. He awakes to find himself on an island whose residents are mythical creatures. He is enchanted by the Fairy Queen, who brings him to the magical fairy bower. The sailor encounters other nymphs who test his faithfulness. After scenes of jealousy involving the characters’ former lovers, the Queen of the Fairies and the sailor fall in love, leaving the jilted lovers behind. The Fairy Queen and the sailor finally kiss, transforming the Fairy Queen into a mortal, and she bestows her hand upon him.

History

Original Production

L’Île Enchantée (The Enchanted Island) is an 1864 ballet by Arthur Sullivan written as a divertissement to follow Bellini‘s La Sonnambula at Covent Garden. It was choreographed by Henri Desplaces with scenic design by William Beverley.

Arthur Sullivan was the organist for the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden, precursor to the Royal Opera, under the direction of Sir Michael Costa. He had made a sensation at The Crystal Palace with his incidental music to The Tempest in 1862.

In the Victorian era, it was customary for opera companies, when performing a shorter opera, to present a short ballet as an afterpiece on the programme. As Sullivan was its house organist, the Royal Italian Opera looked to him to compose a ballet to follow its production of La Sonnambula starring Adelina Patti, and so Sullivan’s second major composition became l’Île Enchantée. It was first performed on 16 May 1864, just after the composer’s 22nd birthday, and enjoyed 13 performances in all, also appearing after Flowtow’s Stradella, Rossini’s Otello, Donizetti’s La Figlia del Reggimento and L’Elisir d’Amore, and Verdi’s La Traviata, and it was presented in concert at The Crystal Palace in 1865.

The ballet consists of thirteen different numbers that break down into a total of approximately 30 independent melodic sections. A review in The Orchestra dated 21 May 1864 called the music “unusually picturesque and beautiful.” Sullivan’s holograph full score was thought lost, although the surviving orchestra parts permitted a reconstruction of the piece in the 1980s. Since that reconstruction, Sullivan’s holograph came into the collection of the curator and collector Fredric Woodbridge Wilson, who donated it to the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, in 1996, and it is now publicly available.

Parts of the music in the ballet were reused in several of Sullivan’s later works including: Thespis (1871), The Merchant of Venice (1871), The Merry Wives of Windsor (incidental music; 1874), Macbeth (1888), and his other ballet Victoria and Merrie England (1897).

Barnard also wrote:

“[T]he music … shows both Sullivan’s strengths and limitations as a composer. L’île Enchantée was his first experience of writing a ballet. … Part of the concept of 19th Century Grand Opera was the inclusion of a ballet. …. Given that the opera alone is a good two and a half hours, tacking fifty minutes of a new ballet on afterwards would test the concentration of any audience. The general acclaim the score received – it was performed thirteen times within the season – would indicate that the audiences [were] entertained. …

The orchestrations are always effective, the melodic flow attractive and indeed often memorable. … What it lacks – and what it did not really need in its original context – is emotional and dramatic weight. This is just what it says on the tin – a divertissement. [T]he music has little if any dramatic context – there is a storm sequence and a Scène de jalousie but otherwise this is simply a vehicle to display the dancing talents of the performers. … Mendelssohn is the predominant influence. Intriguingly there are little glimpses in the galops especially of the kind of nimble patter songs that would be such a key part of the Gilbert & Sullivan legacy. The music is always fluent, certainly enjoyable, skillfully and aptly written in a way that few if any of Sullivan’s British contemporaries could match. But … [a]way from the [Gilbert and Sullivan] operettas that have ensured his enduring fame Sullivan was rather too content to write in styles and genres that supported rather than challenged convention.”

A review in The Orchestra shortly after the première was glowing in its praise, calling the music, by turns, “sparkling”, “unusually picturesque and beautiful”, “charmingly appropriate” and “bright and spirited.” Of the love scene between the shipwrecked mariner and The Queen of the Fairies, the reviewer commented:

“The descriptive force of the music which accompanies this scene is especially remarkable.”

London Revivals

1896 Revival

The 1896 season was to be the final season for which William Thompson would serve as balletmaster at Covent Garden. For his benefit, Thompson would collaborate with the composer Auguste Péchard, who would provide the music for Thompson’s final magnum opus: The Swords of Toledo. Additionally, Thompson would present his final revival of The Buccaneers the same season, another lavish revival with a greatly expanded third act, complete with the participation of students from the Royal Ballet School.

Both The Swords of Toledo and The Buccaneers were to be revived with Sarah Nicholson as the première danseuse. Since the 1894 retirement of Marta Draeger, Nicholson had been the reigning première at Covent Garden, and would remain as such until the 1898 elevation of Harriet Linwood to the rank of première by Thompson’s successor, Richard Hague. However, it would have been infeasible for Nicholson to carry the season alone, and so Linwood was appointed to be her alternate for her rôle of Jovita in The Buccaneers. For her rôle of Léonor in The Swords of Toledo, however, Nicholson would retain that for herself, though Rinaldi was cast in the seconde danseuse rôle of Isabel. 

The Swords of Toledo and The Buccaneers were not to be the only ballets given during the 1896 season, as a diversion was also to be given: the evergreen The Vivandiere. By 1896 The Vivandiere was very usual at Covent Garden, being almost the standard diversion given after operas, if a ballet was to be given after the opera. Linwood was dancing the rôle of Kathi by 1896, having successfully managed to usurp the rôle from Lucia Rinaldi in 1895, using some of her connections to do so. However, once cast as Nicholson’s alternate in The Buccaneers, Linwood herself needed an alternate in The Vivandiere. To prevent Rinaldi from reclaiming her rôle, Linwood arranged for the rôle of Kathi to be covered by a promising sujet, Giulia Moretti. Moretti would later be promoted to première danseuse in 1901, and her casting in the rôle of Kathi could be considered to have been a key point in her trajectory.

As for Rinaldi, once ousted from The Vivandiere, a rôle she had debuted in 1890, she had comparatively little to dance in the 1896 season. She had been cast as Inès in The Buccaneers and was to create the rôle of Isabel to Nicholson’s Léonor in The Swords of Toledo. Linwood had attempted to have herself cast as Isabel, but Thompson selected Rinaldi for the rôle meaning Linwood had to content herself with creating one of the sujet variations in the Grand Pas d’Action of the first act. However, both Inès and Isabel were mere sujet rôles in comparison to the leading rôle of Kathi that had been taken from her. As such, Rinaldi appealed to Thompson for a ballet of her own. Thompson could not give Rinaldi The Vivandiere without upsetting management, and so instead offered to plan a revival of new diversion for her as compensation: The Enchanted Island.

Thompson had had his eye on reviving Sullivan’s diversion for years, potentially as early as 1889 for the visiting danseuse Joséphine Decoin (Diavolina was eventually revived for Decoin instead). Thompson may also have considered reviving the ballet the previous year in 1895 for the visiting danseuse Anita Ramos, but he eventually revived The Harvest Festival for her instead. He clearly had long since had designs on reviving this “British ballet”, and as he was to retire at the end of the 1896 season, this would be his last chance to do so. Thus, he approached Sullivan for his permission (which was given) and prepared to revive the ballet for Rinaldi, who, despite her apparent indifference to the subject, accepted the rôle. Sullivan seems to have offered to revise his score for Thompson but Thompson seems to have declined the offer, preferring to have Péchard revise the score instead. Péchard and Sullivan famously did not much like each other, so it can be speculated that Thompson’s refusal was in some part influenced by Péchard. 

The characters of “The Queen of the Fairies” and “The Mariner” were renamed by Thompson to “Mab” and “Arthur” respectively. Thompson initially considered using “Titania” for the Queen of the Fairies, but was discouraged from doing so to prevent the public from conflating the ballet with Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Arthur was named after Sullivan himself, who, though he attended the première, was not much pleased with this attempt at homage. Sullivan did not like the revival and is alleged to have stated that:

“The revisions which M. Péchard has seen fit to introduce have been so extensive that the ballet now bears scarcely any resemblance to the work I composed some years ago.”

Despite Sullivan’s personal dislike for the revival, the ballet was well enough received by the critics and remained in the repertory until 1904. 

Rôles

Mab, The Queen of the Fairies: Lucia Rinaldi

Musical Revisions

A Variation was interpolated for Rinaldi following her entrance to allow her more to do. The variation had originally been composed by Péchard for the 1894 revival of Jean Morel’s Her Ladyship’s Joke (1873) at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, revived by John D’Auban. It was the second of the of two variations commissioned by the Italian première danseuse herself to be inserted into Morel’s score, as she was dissatisfied with the variations Morel had provided and was impressed by Péchard’s 1893 score for Pygmalion.

A Pas des Fées was arranged from Sullivan’s music, the argument of which consisted of the fairies testing Arthur by attempting to seduce him with their charms. Arthur duly resists, and as such proves his love for Mab. Péchard composed a new Coda for the Pas des Fées.

A Mazurka that originally preceded the Scène des Disparitions, was moved to the Pas d’Action as a ballabile for the corps de ballet. It was originally used as a Pas de Trois.

New Variations for both Arthur and Mab were added to the Pas d’Action, both newly composed by Péchard. In fact, none of Sullivan’s original solo variations were retained as they were all replaced by Thompson.

Résumé des Scènes et Danses

1) Prélude 

2) Scène 1re  

3) Pas de Châles – Danse des Nymphes et Satyres 

a) Entrée 

b) Andante

c) Coda

4) Scène 2e 

a) Action

b) Danse de Mab (supplemental variation for Juliana in the 1894 revival of Her Ladyship’s Joke)

6) Pas des Fées

a) Adage

b) Mazurka 

c) Coda

6) Scène des Disparitions 

7) Valse 

8) Scène de Jalousie 

9) Pas d’Action

a) Andante

b) Mazurka (moved)

c) Variation d’Arthur

d) Variation de Mab

e) Coda

10) Scène Finale

Interpreters of the Rôle

Though the ballet was considered a mere trifle in comparison to the other dramatic works that were given at Covent Garden, Rinaldi was well enough received as Mab, which Thompson tailored especially to her strengths. Maria Nardella debuted as Mab in 1897, as she had been invited by Richard Hague to make a guest appearance as Médora in The Corsair, attempting to engage her as première danseuse to fill the position left vacant by Marta Draeger‘s 1894 retirement. Nardella did not much care for the ballet, and ended up dancing only two performances as Mab, allowing Rinaldi to take on the majority of the performances. However, Nardella elected to not stay in London, and thus Rinaldi continued with the ballet for her final season in 1898.

Following Rinaldi’s 1898 retirement, the ballet passed to Louise Grignon in 1899, though both Giulia Moretti and Harriet Linwood unsuccessfully attempted to secure it. Moretti instead had Diavolina revived for her and Linwood was second cast of Galatée in Pygmalion and Lise in The Wayward Daughter, the first cast of both ballets being Sarah Nicholson.

However, Grignon’s gifts and style of dancing were not entirely in alignment with Rinaldi’s. Moretti may have been the more natural choice, but Hague instead revised parts of the choreography to better suit Grignon, including the interpolation of a new pizzicato variation into the Pas d’Action to replace the variation that Péchard had written for Rinaldi in 1896. The variation had originally been written by François Bardet in 1887 for Ivy Gregson in a revival of The Harvest Festival. The variation had resurfaced when Gregson interpolated it into Diavolina for her performances as the titular heroine in 1892.

In 1900, Grignon was cast as Nourreda in Naïla, the Comtesse in The Devil to Pay and Diane in The Beauty of Ghent. Though all sujet rôles, the workload of the season required her to step down as Mab for the season. Several sujets went for it (including Lily Clifford, Elisabeth Charron and Ada Ross) but Hague eventually gave the rôle to Teresa Montoro. Montoro was much closer in style to Rinaldi than Grignon, and so Hague reversed much of the revisions he had made for Grignon, including the restoration of Rinaldi’s variation in the Pas d’Action.

The following year, in 1901, Grignon’s workload decreased and she wished to return to Mab so that she would have a leading rôle. Due to the death of Queen Victoria on the 22 January 1901, the number of performances of the ballet was greatly reduced from what Grignon might have expected, and the ballet was only to be given once during the summer season. This was, however, not a matter on which Grignon could hope to object, and so was forced to content herself with her one performance.

Montoro was not pleased with the development of Grignon returning to Mab, nor was she pleased that she would not dance the rôle in the 1901 season and so sought to prevent this from happening. Grignon and Montoro would share the rôle until 1903, and in 1904, Grignon finally managed to oust Montoro from Mab, though Hague compensated Montoro with the rôle of Kathi in The Vivandiere. The ballet was retired from the repertory at the end of the 1904 season. Grignon would eventually be promoted to première danseuse between the 1904 and 1905 seasons.

1913 Revival

In 1913 the ballet was revived for Johanna Overbeck, a promising sujet. Overbeck retained Rinaldi’s 1896 variation in favour of Grignon’s insertion.

The year of 1913 contained several debuts of sujets in leading rôles to whom Hague was giving opportunities: the debuts Alice Frost as Justine in The Two Peasant Girls, the debut of Mathilde Casterman as Kathi in The Vivandiere and the debut of Overbeck as Mab in The Enchanted Island.