Trial by Jury

"A nice dilemma we have here..."

Creation

In 1875, a theater manager named Richard D’Oyly Carte was looking for a short piece. The Offenbach opera La Perichole was a little too short to make a full program. Carte decided that he needed an English piece to use as a curtain raiser, something that would offset the French piece. Then, all of a sudden Gilbert popped up. Some time ago he had written a short libretto about a breach of promise lawsuit based on one of his Bab Ballads. Now, he decided to try to get someone to set his lyrics to music. Carte persuaded Gilbert to try Sullivan. They went to Sullivan’s house together, Gilbert with his libretto. As Sullivan wrote in his diary:

“He read it through to me in a perturbed sort of way with a gradual crescendo of indignation, in the manner of a man considerably disappointed with what he had written. As soon as he had come to the last word, he closed up the manuscript violently, apparently unconscious of the fact that he had achieved his purpose so far as I was concerned - I was screaming with laughter the whole time.”

In fact, Gilbert nearly tore up the libretto of Trial by Jury, but Carte and Sullivan stopped him. Sullivan also agreed to write the music. He wrote the music very quickly. In fact, the music and all the rehearsals were completed in three weeks. This was probably because Trial by Jury is only 40 minutes long. Trial by Jury opened on March 25, 1875 at Royalty Theatre.

Plot Synopsis

The plot of Trial by Jury is simple. The curtain rises on the Court of the Exchequer, preparing to try a breach of promise of marriage. Edwin, the defendant, had promised to marry Angelina, the plaintiff. However, he broke his promise, because he fell in love someone else, and promised to marry her.

The sight of Angelina and her train of bridesmaids strike the whole court. They agree that they have never “seen so exquisitely fair face”, as Angelina’s. However, “From bias free of every kind, this trial must be tried” so they begin the case. The Judge has a dilemma. Edwin says that Angelina couldn’t stand him a day. He offers to marry her today, and marry the other tomorrow. The Judge thinks that proposition sounds all right. But wait; to have two wives is burglary (a joke of Gilbert’s, of course. To have two wives is bigamy, not burglary)! If Edwin marries Angelina, there will be another breach of promise trial to try. No matter what the Judge suggests, someone objects. Finally, the Judge gives up.

"All the legal furies seize you!
No proposal seems to please you,
I can’t stop up here all day,
I must shortly go away.
Barristers, and you, attorneys,
Set out on your homeward journeys;
Gentle, simple-minded Usher,
Get you, if you like, to Russher;
Put your briefs upon the shelf,
I will marry her myself!"

The curtain closes on a happy scene, as Angelina and the Judge embrace.

Public Reception

Trial by Jury was an immediate success. The audience and reviewers loved it. A critic of the magazine Punch wrote: "In Trial by Jury both Mr. Words and Mr. Music have worked together, and for the first quarter of an hour, the Cantata (as they have called it) is the funniest bit of nonsense your representative has seen for a considerable time." Trial by Jury outlasted the opera it raised the curtain for. It continued to draw people when it was teamed with Lecocq’s La Fille de Madame Angot. All in all, Trial by Jury ran for 300 performances. The only reason it stopped showing, was that Fred Sullivan, one of the principals, died, and they didn’t want to find a replacement for him.