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“When the night wind howls in the chimney cowls, 
And the bat in the moonlight flies,
And inky clouds, like funeral shrouds, 
Sail over the midnight skies –
When the footpads quail at the night-bird’s wail, 
And black dogs bay at the moon,
Then is the spectres’ holiday – then is the Ghosts’ High-Noon!”

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“Our mortal race
Is never blest.
There’s no such case
As perfect rest;
Some petty blight
Asserts its sway.
Some crumbled rose-leaf light
Is always in the way!”

        –W.S. Gilbert. Utopia, Limited. Act I. 1893.

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The 1953 D’Oyly Carte performance of The Sorcerer.

I’ve found that there’s a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that works for every atmosphere and mood. The Sorcerer is best listened to on a warm, gray day. Sullivan’s music is very evocative of that sort of setting, which I guess is the typical “English village” atmosphere.

It’s true that it’s not their best work, or even close to it. (As somebody once put it: “At times, Gilbert seems to have missed the memo that it was a comic opera.”) But still, it’s pretty good listening if you’re in the right sort of mood.

Also, there is something pretty funny about the fact that when the Sorcerer invokes demons while brewing a love potion, it doesn’t seem to raise any red flags for the hero of the piece. I hope that was intentional on Gilbert’s part.


(Image: Drawing of the incantation scene from The Sorcerer from 1877. Via Wikipedia.)

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“Government by Party! Introduce that great and glorious element… and all will be well! No political measures will endure, because one Party will assuredly undo all that the other Party has done; and… the legislative action of the country will be at a standstill. Then there will be sickness in plenty, endless lawsuits, crowded jails, interminable confusion in the Army and Navy, and, in short, general and unexampled prosperity!”–W.S. Gilbert, Utopia, Limited. Act II. 1893.